May 5 - Lesson Painting, Harness Tracks Auction Piece

Do you have those days when your work just seems to not be "good enough"? I'm going through one of those phases, common to all artists, wherein the work one does just doesn't seem "good enough". It doesn't mean quitting. It doesn't mean I hate what I do. It doesn't even mean that I'm stuck! What it means is my head is ahead of my hands. Happens all the time. My brain knows a whole bunch of stuff, but my brain-to-hand connection doesn't know how to get it out on a canvas.

So what to do? I go to my library, and start studying various chapters and parts of books I have there. Over nine shelves of art books have been welcomed to my studio over the years, and in them I can find answers. I seek bits and pieces of knowledge from them. I invite them to come sit on my taboret, and then I paint. I paint with new knowledge and renewed vigor for the task of creating truly "good" art.

This 12 x 16 oil is a start for a painting for the Harness Tracks of America auction, one I enjoy entering with up to three pieces each year. You can find out more about it here. This one won't be for sale when it is done, but will be up for auction in October of this year.

I've laid in the larger darks and some of the mid-tones on this piece, and will be adding the horse, cart, driver, bridge and bushes tomorrow. Very pastoral. Oh, the Springbok painting is on hold while I absorb more knowledge.

Congratulations to Louise Mellon on her addition of the oil "By the Stream" to her collection!
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Quick Note and Explanation

In trying to figure out why folks weren't getting the dailies, I inadvertently removed the address to send it to all of you on the mailing list two days ago. I'm so sorry you missed your morning coffee image! With this email, it should be fixed now. Thanks to all who wrote.

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May 4 - Roses of Love 12 x 9 acrylic

Remember my mention of the roses brought to me by my beloved spouse of ten years? Of course I needed to paint them! Picking subjects that are near and dear to one's heart is a good start for a good painting. One must remember, though, that the painting and the subject are not as important as the learning that takes place when you do the creating! Many times artists put 'way too much of themselves into a work, erroneously measuring their total success against the success of that one painting. Bad idea. If the painting doesn't work out, learn from it and move on (and paint it out at the first opportunity!)
So paint with joy, and choose meaningful subjects to create. Just remember that the end product ought only be a stepping stone on your progress as an artist.

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May 3 - (Late, hey, it was our Anniversary!) Springbok detail

OK, anniversary and my beloved took me away from the easel for an evening out to celebrate ten years last night, so I didn't post my work until this morning. Priorities!

This is a detail shot of the Springbok as I am working on them. The ones on the right are more complete than those on the left side, and I'm starting to "marry" the foreground to the sky with the addition of a mid-ground off in the distance behind the critters.

Some have asked why they aren't hopping like popcorn, but that's a characteristic of the Impala. I didn't choose to paint Impala for two reasons--one, the Springbok were almost wiped out by over hunting at one point, and I'm concerned about such issues, and second, I liked the dark stripe separating their fawn topside from their white underbelly.

In other news, I have two demonstrations for art groups coming up in So. Cal. next week, one in Murrieta, and one in Upland. If you can come to either (daytime for both), let me know. The only workshop I'm doing in California in Murrieta on the 15th already has applicants. Full day of color for $45!!

I am going back to blogger postings, as it just is easier on me..and I need an assistant!

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May 2 - Working on the Springboks, 48 x 60 canvas

I was able to take the oh-so-wet painting out into the sunlight and get an accurate color photo of it, so far. Today's work was spent in planning and plotting the locations of the Springbok. I have scraped the extra paint from the canvas in the area where they are to go, and sketched in the general position of each of the animals. Now, the sketches I sent out yesterday had them all going to the right! But as sometimes happens, a change was in order to help the composition. By making them go "stage left", I see the composition with more continuity and less weight in that sunlit area. Better design! There will be vegetation and trees in the lower third of the canvas as well, coming tomorrow.

However, tomorrow is our tenth wedding anniversary, so we'll see just how much or how little I get done! Beloved husband already came in with a bottle of Wilson Creek's Almond Champagne, a dozen roses and a card! I'm so lucky to be in his life!


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May 1 - Sketches for the "big one", Springboks and Clouds

I'm sending a smaller image to see if the folks missing the emails might get this one. It is "just" one of the pages of my sketchbook, covered in Springbok sketches, as I work out the positions of the herd that will soon be coming across the top of the small ridge in the foreground of the 48 x 60 inch canvas I started yesterday. When dealing with animals, I like to do these kinds of sketches, loosely, to get the "feel" of the movement rather than the details. I can always paint details, and who wants to do them over and over? Called "gesture drawing", this is one of the foundation skills developed in most life drawing classes. Comes in REAL handy when planning imagery!

Those collectors who wrote asking how to get one of the Turf Club cards, I asked the representative if anyone can buy them. He said, 'Absolutely not. These are for the VIPs, the press, the owners and trainers only." I was told that cards can be purchased after the close of the racing season--September 5. Since he was comfortable with the question, I am thinking these are sort of a collectors' item!


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April 30 - Lesson painting on the African Series, Springbok 48 x 60 Oil

Oh Goodness! What a marathon day of painting! I hit the inch and a quarter filbert and went to town on the backdrop for the herd of Springbok that will be bouncing and running across this sky. I'm so pleased with how much I have gotten done, and will be looking to plant those mammals tomorrow. I'll do some correcting on the sky as well when the final layers go on.

I have looked at every Springbok in my files and on the 'Net to where my head's spinning. I know the proportions of leg joints to body thickness, and of course having drawn hundreds of ungulates in my career, pulling off a herd of them from sketches ought to be, well, not quite a piece of cake.

On another note, I received in the mail the Del Mar Race Track's 2007 Turf Club Pass with my painting on it. Every person who purchases a pass for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Racing season this year will have my painting in their hand when they go through the gates! How fun is that? I'm honored to have my image (and name!) on every card for this season.


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April 29 - Starting the Big One, 48 x 60 Oil

Time to begin the big one, and I can already see it finished in my mind. That completely takes out any trepidation. The canvas is a 4 x 5 FOOT gallery wrap, which means the canvas goes all the way around the edges. I'd mentioned that I'd wanted to do the more common African mammals--the lions and the zebra, but I remembered the Springbok, and how elegant they are! Combining that with a tumultous cloud backlit sky, and I think I'll have my painting!

So here I've taken an image of my studio setup, with this huge canvas on my Hughes easel, and it has the tone to get rid of the white canvas already on it. I've sketched in the cloud structure lightly, which makes up the abstract framing element to bring attention and eye direction down to the group of Springbok that are going to be backlit. It's a bit hard to see from this angle. Goodness, photographing this will just have to happen outdoors!
If you have any questions about the easel setup or the taboret shown, please ask. I'm so used to it, that I might overlook something you'd enjoy knowing more about. The hanging covered trash receptacle is a nifty device available from simplehuman.com and it uses ordinary grocery bags. No fumes from paint towels!

Congratulations to new collector Anthepy Nelson of Timonium, Maryland on purchasing "The Red Barn" from the dailypaintings site from June of last year. Thank you so much!


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April 28 - LONG ride, and 95 degrees

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the terrain I rode over with 20 other riders today. I led a ride up on Box Springs Mountain for my riding club, and we enjoyed five hours in the saddle with a lunch break, and some quite steep pitches. This image isn't a painting, but shares with you that being almost 60 doesn't mean one has to slow down at all! I love to ride Raindance, and today's ride with friends and cowboys was a real corker.

Tomorrow I'll begin the big paintings for you. Tonight I'm dog tired, and fun relatives are visiting, so I will get some sleep and hit the brushes tomorrow!

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April 27 - Desert Plants from Arizona 8 x 10 acrylic

Thank you to all who wrote saying they were getting their morning (mostly) fix of daily painting emails! I'm so glad to hear from you and yet I worry about those who said they weren't getting them! Still haven't figured out what's going on.

We all wonder when a painting's finished, right? When can you stop? Well, in my case, I know when a painting ISN'T finished--it shows up without a signature. I ran across this acrylic, started while in the Arizona mountains at Grapevine Canyon, and decided that it needed to go the mile to the finish line tonight. So what did I do? I added the necessary contrast to perk it up--using layers of acrylic color to both bind and unify the design, creating the spiral wherein your eye traverses around the image, and finally finding a resting point somewhere in the middle of the cactus on the left--between the areas of yellow ochre and violet. Another artist might work an additional umpteen hours pulling out all sorts of details. I tend to stop when I get the visual feedback that the design is working. This original 8 x 10 acrylic will be going up on my ebay store in a couple of days for $120.

Tomorrow I lead a ride of perhaps 20 riders up my mountain and out on the trails for a five hour ride. I'm looking forward to it, although the temperature finally went above 85 today. Warm! And then company is coming over for an overnight and movie in our theater. I hope I can keep my eyes open!


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April 26 - Skies Over Sylvan Meadows, 12 x 9 Oil

The second of the two paintings done on location on Wednesday--found out that there were others there painting, but we didn't get in contact/phone numbers in time, so Betty and I just painted our brushes off and then went to dinner. This one happened later in the afternoon, when the "mare's tails" of clouds were coming in to indicate a change of weather. Wonderful skies, and Betty is such a sky painter, that it was fun to do one while she was nearby.

Today I said goodbye, as she left for parts north on her way home to Idaho. I'll miss her, but we both benefited greatly from the time together, and she stored about 25 of her paintings here for the show this September! They'll continue to inspire me.

One of my little paintings from 2006 is going to be in an 8th grade English literature textbook to be published next fall. Funny how stuff happens. I paint a pair of socks because I run out of new ideas for subjects to paint, and THAT painting is selected for publication! Amazing who is coming through my web sites, isn't it? It's going to be tied to a poem about socks. It's from the month of August 2006 (opens new page), created on the 25th of that month, so scroll down.
I'm getting ready to start the big paintings after I finish up one commission, and I'll do those as lesson pieces for your enjoyment.

For some reason several of you haven't been receiving "the dailies" and I haven't been able to figure out what's going on. I hope that the glitch in the 'net is open again. I would always check the blog if I've missed a day. The link is below.

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April 25 - Sylvan Meadows Water Trough, Oil

On location this afternoon painting with Betty Billups, who will be leaving after a grand visit with me for the past month. I'll miss her humor and good friendship. We went up to my favorite places to paint, the Santa Rosa Ecological Preserve near Murrieta, hoping to meet up with other Plein Air Artists of Riverside (PAAR). A horseback rider said she'd seen one other, but we didn't find her. Now I've brought Raindance up here to ride myself, and know the area well. Thus I decided to paint the water trough where well water comes in and over flows to water the thirsty horses. This is a 10 x 8 oil, and will be up on my ebay store in a couple of days.
Interesting that using a new tripod had me standing to paint, and I can see the difference in my horizon lines in this piece. The horizon line is well up above the mid-point of the painting. (This is good.)
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April 24 - Zebras and a New Show

Sorry about the late post on this one. Our Netgear wireless hiccupped last night (at midnight) so although I was having the best of intentions, nothing hit the airwaves!
I have a bit of news to share with you, which happened because of my web sites and blog. I've been contacted by representatives from the Colony Theater in Burbank to hang a show of my large African wildlife works during the run of a play with that theme this fall. They are interested in the big pieces, and I have three in the series which were found on my big website. (Scroll down). In the series are giraffes, cheetahs, and elephants. I need to fill it out with BIG canvases (4 x 5 feet and larger!) of zebras and lions. Oh! I do love to paint large!

So I start with some small studies, which are actually nice little paintings. This is an 8 x 10 acrylic study of a Grevy's zebra. I'm thinking I don't want to do the pencil-striped zebras for the big one or else I'll be completely nutziod when it's done! Yes, there are zebras "of a different stripe" out there!

This original is available through my ebay store for $140.

Congratulations to new collector David Eversdyk of Angleton, Texas, on the purchase of "Pasture Light", an original 24 x 30 oil from the big website
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April 23 - On location once again

I have to admit that painting along side Betty Billups (or at least in the vicinity of) sure kickstarts the color and choice of subject! There is pure artistic energy when artists get together to paint, and even moreso when the artists have as many miles of canvas under their brushes as Betty and I.
I encourage all artists to get to where they can be influenced by others (classroom, workshop or just getting together!) because it is true that the sum is more than its parts when applied to artists painting together!

This 12 x 9 oil came off the brushes as the day turned cooler and windier on Earth Day. I love the way the fog comes in over the Cleveland National Forest and the coastal range of mountains in Southern California. Since I considered the buildings to be incidental to the scene, they are bit players for that sky. Interesting though, that the light posts jut up into that space, connecting and also saying "look at me" the way humans and human-created things tend to do.

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And the entire collection of artwork is here.
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April 22 - Earth Day Plein Air

Off to the celebration of Earth Day and vendors in a local shopping center. I painted this 8 x 10 oil feeling as though I was being disloyal to my own definition of Earth Day standing where I was. I left out the hordes of people--guess I'll add 'em later.
This shopping complex and bunch of homes sits on what used to be an old quarry which had gone below the water table with the result being two lakes. A haven for wild birds, these two lakes with their island were stopovers on the flyways of migrating birds. What has replaced them is two concrete-edged-and-lined ponds with a man-made waterfall between them. No self-respecting migratory bird would waste their time in those waters. Anchored with a Starbucks, the stores and other vendors did a thriving business with balloons, politicos celebrating relationships with developers, and "working to the betterment of the community" speeches. Bleagh. I noticed no birds anywhere on the grounds.

I hunkered down and looked up and painted clouds. Did a second one which I will share with you tomorrow.


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April 21 - The Commission Finished

Finished up this portrait of Meg, and the individual who requested this commission is just thrilled. I'm really pleased with it as well, since it not only allows me to do something meaningful for someone, but it also allows me to think through the puzzle of solving the issues unique to the task.

Sorry about the flub-up on yesterday's subject line. That happens when I type in a date--last year's subject automatically slips in, and I just forgot to update it. Been to Hawaii, not going back any time soon.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and Betty and I will be heading over to a special event at Dos Lagos near Corona to paint "en plein air'. I will be saying goodby to her next Wednesday, and she already knows how sad that will make me. It's been great fun having such an accomplished artist and friend to interact with, and I'll miss her conversations and good heart.

So tomorrow's painting will be one of the two or more I'll do while on location. See ya then!


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April 20 - The Jack Russell Terrier Commission Continues

Interesting evening. Saw a movie "Big Fish" and it made me think about reality, and where I may be as an artist. We are all at some point on the road to artistic expression, and tonight's movie just helped me to explore my perception of where I am. It isn't a static, no-change location, which is reassuring. As I continue to practice my art, I get better. I learn, I make fewer mistakes, and what I'm doing is very personal and expressive of who I am at this particular moment in time. And moments in time change, so no matter how I feel at the moment, change is inevitable. Perhaps these thoughts are what keep me painting.

I had a wonderful afternoon with Judy Johnson, an artist from Michigan, visiting my studio and meeting her for the first time. Some people are as comfortable as an old sweater--familiar and warm. Judy's that way--and we thoroughly enjoyed one another's company.
And today's work on the commission continues... Now I'm putting in the lighter values, covering the canvas with the shapes and hues of the dog, the patches of snow(!) and the tree trunks. Each element of these added pieces are carefully thought out to enhance the design and keep the viewer's eye within the composition. I minimized the heavier weight of the dog by putting the lower torso in shadow, and having late afternoon light coming in from the right to illuminate the head and chest, keeping the focal point in that area. More work tomorrow!
Complete blog here. You can email me if you like, by clicking here.

April 19 - Laying in the Background on the Commission Dog

This is where the fun begins--not with the focal point, the dog, but with the background, laying in all those interesting thin color layers, using more transparent pigments such as sap green and burnt umber. I'm starting to get those big shapes in place that will be "noodled" later on to be more interesting. Work on the dog? Nawww, not time yet!! I wait, knowing that if I get the background to look interesting, then it will be my goal to make the dog even MORE interesting. If I get the background too important at this stage, then when I go to work on the dog, everything will be screaming for attention. So I lay in the background areas, making them "nice" but not "TOO" nice! These areas you see today don't have the details yet, that also comes later, as I bring the design to a crescendo for the ultimate finish. Hmmmm, a lot like music. By the way, my muse is imaginary. My hubby would never come in scratching himself and saying I could do better!

Complete blog here. You can email me here.

Tomorrow a collector from Canada is coming by for a visit--I plan tea and enjoying meeting Judy, whom I've only known through emails and shipping paintings. It will be a joyous visit to the Two Trees studio!

April 18 - Meg the Dog Commission, Beginnings

Many wrote with preferences for picking a sketch from yesterday's choices for the upcoming comission, and I appreciate the wonderful reasons for your selections. All are valid. However the muse came in, snorted in disgust and said I could do better. Knowing he was probably right, I got out the pencils and went back to work. The final sketch loosely done with brushwork shows up on this 11 x 14 inch canvas as I begin the work for Marti's memories of Meg. I drew the dog, compositing her from many other dog images, a background from one of the submitted images, and also from having a terrier myself. Nothing like rubbing a hand over a dog to give you ideas on muscles and structure. (Wonder if I can deduct her as a model? Hmmmm.)
This first pass is over a quick removal of the white canvas with a mixture of Australian Red Gold (Artist Spectrum, manufacturer) and Sap Green (Classic Artist Oils). This under layer was wiped with a paper towel, and then the drawing of the background and dog was done with burnt umber. I've started to do the large dark shapes when I remembered, "Elin, take a PICTURE!!". So here ya go! My muse is back on his tuffet, too, hoisting a brew.

April 17 - Learning Opportunity, Jack Russell Commission

I'm starting the planning stages for a commission of a Jack Russell terrier, and have been given some free rein to do what I like with it. The dog is gone, and it always touches a place of sadness when I am asking my abilities to give the gift of a memory to someone. But I cannot not do it, because I have been so touched by the love of dogs and cats, and their memories are precious to me, too.

I'm working through some ideas for plotting the placement and activity of this JRT, doign what she loved (chasing squirrels) and yet capturing the bundled up energy of this breed. She's mostly white with a tan head. While I work out the design issues, I am thinking about the dog, and studying the three images I have been sent of her. They are small, and don't show a lot of detail. I'm going to have my work cut out for me. AFter I figure the pose, I'll get to working on arranging the background.
Here's one of the source photos:

April 16 - Sharing the Joy, Betty Billups Mural in Progress

In my outer studio (which measures 28 x 22 feet), Betty has set up the mural commission she's doing for Mt. SAC (Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California), and I thought it would be fun for you to see it at this stage--about sixty to seventy percent finished. The mural measures six feet tall and sixteen feet long. The image only shows about fourteen feet of it--couldn't get the camera to take in the right side! Each panel (from 1x4 feet to 4 x 4 feet) is assembled separately, and the final presentation will be with a 1/2 inch gap between the separate pieces, with charcoal gray in between. Makes transporting them a bit easier!

Betty does these murals as commissions and has given me permission to share with you her web page for these beautiful projects! I'm so tickled to have her stay with us while this unfolds. A great opportunity to see a pro do her stuff. I hope you enjoy it. You can go here for her mural page.

OK, so I didn't send one of mine! I'm working on a commission though, which I'll begin to share with you tomorrow as a lesson painting. Another beloved pet, recently gone over the Rainbow Bridge. (This is a particularly nice version of the poem. Anyone who has lost a pet might enjoy seeing this one.)

April 15 - Leaving with Mr. Ugly

Like after a long night in a bar, when everyone looks a whole lot better the later the hour, I woke up this morning and looked at yesterday's painting and said, "Yeow!! Who hit you with the ugly stick?"
OK, all right, so it wasn't that bad, but finding a need to "finish" it made me grab up the brushes and add one more layer. I sought softer desert grays, and made one of the palms shorter for better design (not like two equal eyeballs looking at you!). It's still just a 7 x 5 inch acrylic, but a nice one for $100, soon to be on the ebay store.
On another note, there are still some spots in the next workshop in June, at Shaker Village, near Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. You get to stay, eat and paint an historic town, and it promises to be a fun-filled acrylic three-dayer. I'll hope to meet some more of you in person! Check out the link for information!
Congratulations to new collector Denise Gutnisky of Covington, Louisiana, on her purchase of two paintings today from my collector's web site, "Evening at the Santa Rosa Plateau" and "Canyon Sunset". Thank you!

April 14 - Washingtonian Palms of the Desert

An evening out, with a strawberry margarita, some espresso/vodka and wonderful Italian cuisine, finished up with spumoni ice cream and I'm not bent for making masterpieces, I can tell you. But this 7 x 5 acrylic of the Washingtonian palm trees of the low desert came off the brushes in spite of the funny pleasure of good company and good food earlier in the evening! Discipline. Definitely. And certainty of knowing which color to use, and where.
Acrylics are wonderful, fast and flexible. Now that I have my new tripod for plein air, I think I'll switch back to oils. Betty Billups is back from the on-location work for the mural, and the painting--all 16 feet of it--is now in my outer studio. It will be fun to have her here working on it again!
Complete blog here.
G'night all!

April 13 - No bad luck here! Painting update and the Muse

When is a painting finished? Last night when this painting came to you, it was signed, and yet there was that itty-bitty bit of doubt that something was missing. Then an email from Cincinnati from a friend in illustration pointed the way. She acknowledged that the horse's stride would make those splashes, but that their repetition and cadence were eye-grabbing, even moreso than the horse itself. So, the solution was to bring the painting up for one more go-pass, and the addition of a large tree shading the water, and those splashes going down in contrast and becoming less repetitive. I also needed to lighten the distant trees making more value changes in them to create more form. Out came the plastic wrap, and up went the leaves (daub, daub, daub!). Once dry, glazes of other colors made those daubs much more interesting.

The lighting on this one tonight, for photography, isn't the best--tomorrow I'll cart it out doors and get an accurate one. Too much glare affecting the curve of values. I can assure you it looks much better in person!

So when is a painting finished? When you can figure out what to do, and when the muse stops poking you in the nether regions with his pencil. My muse is now snoring off a couple beers back in his corner.

Congratulations to Linda McFadden of Murietta, California, on her purchase of "Santa Rosa Plateau, Sylvan Meadows, April" from my big web site's page of paintings from the Santa Rosa Ecological Preserve. Thank you!

April 12 - Finished Rolex Competitor

I finished up the 12 x 16 acrylic of the Rolex Three Day Event rider, putting many glazes of gel medium and veils of color on the distant trees, the water and the rest of the composition to unify and create visual interest. It sure was fun to paint the water! Not at all like the photo, which showed a muddy, murky splash. I like the greens much better! I think I'm going to hold this one for a show coming up later this year. I think it might do well.

And congratulations to Charlotte McDavid of Birmingham, Alabama, on her acquisition of my painting of Vincent Van Goat. The purchase was made through my ebay store. That's a fast, easy way to make a purchase because of all the different ways of making payment. I like that it is up there 24/7 so many people can view the works.

April 11 - Celebrating 543 daily paintings today.

Now take a look at how this acrylic painting is developing! Such fun to add layers on top of what was there yesterday, and start to build the contrast and movement! Although my source material (Rolex, equestrian three-day-event) was much larger, I want the horse and rider to fit into the scenery, so as they head pell-mell through the water (yes, that will be water, just not tonight!), the surrounding scenery will play like the backdrop of a huge stage, with the spotlight on the rider and horse. Do you see how all that mish-mash of brushwork under this focal point now works like the myriad instruments of a symphony? All the players are important when brought together, yet each has its individual "loudness".
Couple other things. One, ebay hiccupped my store into oblivion, so I had to rebuild it with the listings for my paintings today. The link is here, and this'll allow you to revisit some of your favorites. I'll add more paintings in the next couple of days.

And I accidently deleted some forty emails from the google group that receives these messages. If you're wondering what happened, it was me. I do hope you'll email if you've missed a few days so I can put you back on.

April 10 - The Muse is Back, Acrylic Lesson

Now take a look at this canvas surface, and compare it to yesterday's underpainting. An idea of a painting has come to me, and it will be fun to pull it out of this sketchy-skritchy brushworked background! I have set up the major values and color scheme, without any focal point yet, as I want this background to play a subordinate part in this 12 x 16 acrylic. Yes, it will be horse-related! Even though you can see the underlying abstract structure of the painting-to-be, I doubt very much that you can tell how the finished work is going to look! That's the fun of being an artist--sometimes the path I take to the destination of a finished canvas goes through some mighty interesting territory!
The lighting on this will be overcast, and diffuse. There will be a bit of backlighting on this one though! (Oh, I do love backlit subjects...)
The entire blog is here.

April 9 - When the Subject Won't Come

Sometimes the muse that sparks one's creativity takes a serious hike. What do you do when the muse is on vacation, and you have to create? I find that if I'm IN the workspace, and start noodling around with a canvas, an idea will come. Thus it is tonight. After a LONG ride (again six hours in the saddle, pre-riding the trails on the mountain behind the studio for a ride scheduled two weeks from now), I have a mind of mush and the creative energy of a snail. So into the studio I go (the discipline of doing 540+ paintings in the past 18 months helps), and I get out a 12 x 16 board, and start "funnin' around" with some acrylic color and gel medium, alcohol (not for me) spray and daub a bit here and there.... and an idea starts. This painting is going to be a really textured pastoral scene, lots of blades of grass, bushes, and horses. Haven't figured out the lighting yet, but misty sounds good, as does low evening light across pastures.
I can see these paintings finished almost, once the idea is there. My muse is back home again, chuckling and chortling in the corner. I gave him a beer. Let's see where this one goes tomorrow, OK?
Complete archives of all those paintings here.

April 8 - Nearer My God to Thee

After thinking for many hours what I could possibly do that would convey my feelings, my thoughts, and share my heart with all of you, the following painting came into my head, and I could see it finished even before I chose the 12" round, beveled edge canvas. I found the material I needed, but wanted to place the lilies above the horizon, as if lifted themselves to the light. I turned the one to face that direction to make the connection. I have an inner feeling of great peace with the completion of this work, and am just humbled by the gift of art that I can share on a daily basis with you.

May you each have a peace-filled, loving celebration in the comfort of your places, based upon your own religious beliefs. The song "Nearer My God to Thee" came to mind as I put the final strokes on the lily. It's one I play on the piano almost every session.

This painting is for sale through my ebay store.

April 7 - Vincent van Goat

In getting ready to go to my sister's for a day-early Easter dinner, I painted this 9 x 12 oil of Vincent van Goat from reference material taken yesterday. Betty is just as good with a camera as she is with a brush, and the close-up reference shot of Vinny was just too good to ignore. I know I will treasure this painting of "my boy", one of the friendliest and willingest Saanen wethers I've ever known. He was born in Spring, and fell into my hands. i had Tappy, his mom, as a milk goat. He seems to be looking back over his own life, with many trails and places. New life begins in the spring--I discovered a nest of house sparrows in the electrical box of my camper today! But along with new life, comes the loss of old life.
House guest Betty Billups received news of the death of someone close to her, and she's heading north to the funeral. The mural will be on hold for a few days. So many people seem to die in Spring...I think that is purposeful, to get us to move on into summer and get on with our own living, and to rejoice with all the new life in the cycle of the seasons.

Many have asked what I'm going to paint tomorrow--but I have no idea yet, except to say it will be from my heart. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

April 6 - Plein Air as a Diversion

I finally pried Betty Billups away from her mural commission and said, "We need to go paint!" She listened, and we headed out with the pack goat loaded with our gear. Up the mountain behind my studio we went, and had a wonderful afternoon of painting--just enough time for her to regroup and we both painted while Vincent van Goat lay in the shade of one of the many rocks strewn around the landscape. After about an hour, we headed back another way, through the riparian habitat below the house--keeping Vincent away from the poison oak!

This is an original oil, 8 x 10 inches, for sale for $120 through my ebay store.

Congratulations to Debbie Sullivan--the first signup for the Georgia Workship in September!

April 5 - Gateways, Passages and Light

This 16 x 20 oil came off my brushes today and is called "Passages #3"; there is just a great load of symbolism in it for me. I travel the road in the lower portion never quite soaring though life, but with beautiful sights to see along the way. The fence represents the limits we place on ourselves, preventing us from doing more, sharing more, enjoying more. Notice how flimsy it is? It truly is a flimsy reason for not getting out there "off the beaten path". I am headed for the gate at the end of my life, and I know I will slip through that little gap when my time comes, and go into the area I can't see right now. That's where we all will be some day, and the misty blues of that distant place ought not to scare nor keep us from our journey. For me, I know I will meet my mom and dad, and as I age, many more friends and family will be there.
"Passages #3" is for sale from my ebay store for $400.

Congratulations to returning collector Cindy Jaeger of Quail Valley on adding "The Studio Cat (head study)" to her collection!

April 4 - My Journey Begins, Mom

Last year on this date, I painted a small 5 x 7 of an Oahu sunset, having heard from the doctor that Mom probably wasn't going to pull through this. My sister has that painting now. It's here. If you're interested, you can find the complete month ofApril 2006, and you can scroll down to the bottom to see the series. I don't know why I'm reliving that week, but I must, so the paintings are showing how different the perception is now that time has passed, and how I've dealt with the grief of losing such a treasured advisor and friend. I know I did some of my most powerful paintings during that week, especially this one.

Today's painting was done in a very short time, from no reference other than a small toddler in a dress throwing something--a photo I took ages ago--that started the process. The rest has come from my memories--Lake Barcroft in Virginia, where I spent age 8 through 12, being a tomboy. That's Beach 3 across the water, and that's me about age 11, complete with glasses, a totally outdoors kid. I'm tossing petals of memories from the basket out to float on the water, sharing some of them with you today and through this week. This 12 x 9 oil painting is not for sale.

April 3 - The Studio Cat 5 x 7 acrylic

The result of today's painting session is a closeup study of Pesto, one of the studio cats. She is a calico, and has the most gentle nature, but in this image, she is gazing with that typical "cat intensity". I'm painting her to celebrate the cover of the American Veterinary Medical Association--I've had many nice emails from folks out there who have seen the cover. I need to put it on my web site!

On a sadder note, each time I put in the date in the title, Blogger remembers what i last typed. And last year this time began the week of ministrations to my mother as she declined and died finally on the 8th. I wonder what I will paint on that day, this year?

This acrylic for today is SOLD, but was available through my ebay store here.

April 2 - Finished the backlit Pasture Scene, and April Fools for yesterday!

I finished the lesson painting in acrylics, spending most of the work on the details and glazing over to create the illusion of atmosphere and dust. These horses are in a drylot, which means dust and no grass--just hay in the feeder. I enjoyed making the highlights on each of the horses a slightly different color, and then unifying the complementary colors with the glazes using gel medium and thinned colors. I hope you enjoy it!

In other news, I received my advance copy of the American Journal of Veterinary Medicine, with my painting "Lesson Cat" on the cover. You can see the painting in September 2006 of my dailypaintings.com site! It's sold, of course, and I even had some folks trying to buy it again! Oh dear. Maybe I need to paint more cats... I do so love them!

Yesterday's silly Photoshop'd image of that celebrity had a few of you going for a while... April Fools!

Complete blog here.

April 1 - Portrait Commission!

I am so excited to share with you some really incredible news--I have been working on a portrait of a famous celebrity... can I possibly hold it in??? I could just die with the excitement of it ! I don't know why I've been so lucky, but her publicist has been on the phone with me for hours over the last few weeks. Sometimes things just happen the way they are supposed to, and this event is no exception. I'm presenting the finished painting here for you to see first, since it has been under wraps for the last few weeks. Yes, I can finally share! She's coming to pick it up tomorrow, and my husband is just BEYOND excited to actually get to meet this star when her limosine comes up the driveway. It has been quite a day! Now I don't want you to be envious... but all these daily paintings have finally paid off! I have to tell you that getting the chihuahua "just right" was a bit of a challenge, because he just wouldn't hold still for the photo session. However, I think I've successfully captured his manic look.

I imagine that this work of art will go down in the annals of history as a contemporary example of exemplary portraiture, don't you think?

March 31 - Trail Ride and 90% Finished Horses

After a six hour ride up and over the mountain behind my studio, I came home with one tired mare, and a bit achy myself. Organized trail rides can be great fun, unless you end up behind a complete idiot, which I did for part of this ride. Makes for some very challenging moments, however my mare came through fine. Today's ride was a good one for a pre-ride for the one I'm leading next month. Knowing how tired my mare is, I can easily see her in this painted pasture, resting with her buddies, glad to be home. So the painting progresses with real-life experience to back it up.


That said, tonight's work on the 11 x 14 acrylic brought it almost to completion, with the light just about in place, and with tweaking that will not majorly change it to come on the morrow. Most of the added paint is in the form of glazed layers, with come opaque areas created to bind and unify the colors and composition. Playing wiht the layers and texture in the foreground will come next, as will the dust, which is only partly in place right now. Fun!

Complete lesson here.

March 30 - Acrylic Backlit Horses, 11 x 14 Lesson Painting

Here's the second step in my painting process using acrylics. I go for the darks, laying in the abstract structure with value contrast and not worrying about edges at all. It is a lot of fun painting with different colors over the underpainting--one person said it reminded her of the cave paintings!
You can see the values and the backlighting coming to the fore as I put umbers, alizarin crimson, untramarine blue and yellow ochre mixes creating the value structure. I am not looking at any source material at this point--letting my innate design sense tell me where to put those darks.

Complete blog here.

March 29 - Beginning a Lesson Acrylic 11 x 14

I have had so many people inquiring about the upcoming acrylic lessons DVD that I can do no less but give you a lesson on how I handle acrylics. Although this one won't be in the DVD, you can certainly enjoy how it comes together. The first layer of this 11 x 14 canvas board is covered with soft gel medium mixed with a couple of colors to make a more neutral red orange, and then before it is dry, patted with a wad of plastic wrap to give it interesting texture, both real and illusionary. Those peaks of gel medium are then gently wiped away as it begins to dry, to keep the actual texture under control.
The second layer is again a mixture of soft gel medium, but this time with two blues. Only bits and pieces of these two layers will show through the final painting, but they will be ever so much more exciting than plain white canvas!
I now take a brush handle and sketch in the location of the horses, their shadows and the landscape shapes that will define this painting. It will be another pastoral scene, backlit, as I'm enjoying them immensely. (Perhaps that's because I've done with taxes and it isn't as bad as I'd feared?) No matter, painting is solace, rejuvenation and pleasure. Houseguest Betty Billups is up near Walnut doing her mural for the next couple of days, so life here is full of her paintings, but without her joyful personality.

Congratulations to Lorna McPhee of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on acquiring yesterday's Belted Galloway acrylic! Thank you!

March 28 - Belted Galloway Cow, 5 x 7 Acrylic

I really liked that pastoral painting of the two cows a couple days ago so since it is late and I'm a tad tired, I decided to just do a smaller version. But not the same, for that wouldn't be as interesting as changing the cow. So now we have a small black and white "Oreo" cow, called a Belted Galloway--an interesting breed, brought to my mind by one of the list artists in wood and who lives in Pennsylvania. He does the Belteds on wood for a niche market and has shared with me his process. So now a Belted Galloway comes full circle! SOLD.

March 27 - A Rose is a Rose 5 x 5 acrylic

A Rose is a Rose, and yet this one isn't really... it is done from a nicely colored SILK rose, yet it has done a Pinocchio-come-to-life under my brushes. This is a 5 x 5 inch acrylic, matching in texture the earlier peony from a week or so ago.

It is done wiht thin veils of dark values beneath and behind the flower, which is painted with white and other opaque pigments to have it float on the surface of the canvas. I learned this method from Al Brouillette back in the mid 80s. He has passed away, but his artwork and spirit lives on with his teaching.

This painting is available from my ebay store.

March 26 - Still Life with Betty Billups

Dueling Brushes!! Betty Billups and I laughed ourselves silly while we set up and painted these sunflowers tonight, starting at 8:30 tonight and finishing up an hour later. What fun!

We were painting kinda in the dark in the big studio, and both of us did 16 x 12 oils, each in our own style. Here's Betty's painting, full of THICK paint!



Mine will be going up on my ebay store in a couple days, but right now I'm HUNGRY! Painted right through dinner time!

March 25 - The Pastoral Cow Painting Finished

You can see that I kept the grays intact for this one, and held to the complimentary color scheme of purple and yellow green and the mid range of values. The highest value contrast comes in the vicinity of the cows, so that holds your eyes, and there is an implied line created by the direction of the cows (the way they are facing) that brings the viewer into the scene, and allows one to "visit" with the rest of the composition.
This original painting is available for $295 as an 11 x 14 original on my ebay store.

March 24 - The Pastoral Painting Continues

As you can see, this painting is all about the grays! As I move across the surface, I continue to combine mixes of ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, burnt umber, thalo green, yellow ochre and white to fill in the canvas areas that are distant and cool. I paint the near cow with some more of these mixes, and they are thin enough to be underpainted areas. As I paint, I am always mindful of contrasting areas, where the light area of a cow will be against a darker passage of foliage. And so the painting continues! 11 x 14 oil.

March 23 - How Now Black and Brown Cow? (Oil Lesson, 11 x 14)

Busy day today, getting ready for the get together tomorrow for plein air artists in Riverside to meet Betty Billups and her work here. She's been working prepping the many canvases that will be her four foot by 16 foot plein air mural next week, and I have been catching up on my bookkeeping and taxes. So tonight I started an 11 x 14 oil of a very pastoral scene--which will be focusing on grays. The color scheme will be complimentary purple and yellow green, and the value balance will be midtones. I'm looking forward to how this one will turn out! There will be some plein air painting in between the start and finish... the weather has been fantastic for the last few days--into the low 70s and breezy--perfect for on location painting!
My art instruction DVDs are here.

March 22 - Betty's Here

Betty Billups arrived this afternoon, and I had my eye on the skies all day, looking at the clouds. I did this because her mural commission up at Mt. San Antonion College is supposed to be with clouds over the San Gabriel mountains. I guess I got a few of them in my head, because when I came in to paint tonight, this 7 x 5 acrylic just FELL off my brush. We've had a great time talking and going out to dinner, and I'm so looking forward to the next few days.
This little painting is available for $100 from my ebay store listing.

March 21 - Jake Finished, 12 x 16 oil commission

A good day in the studio! I finished up Jake, the Beagle mix for my friend in Georgia, and have received the approval for it. I bet you didn't notice the halo suggested in the space above his mischieveious head, eh? He was truly a character, and it was my hope that I could paint him to life for the viewer.
I'm going to have an artist friend visit me this week, Betty Billups is coming in after driving around the Southwest plein air painting and gallery shopping/visiting. During these colder, snowy months, she comes out of Idaho and either goes on painting trips, or visits the galleries carrying her work. We met during a plein air event in Chico a couple years ago, and have enjoyed a vibrant friendship ever since. This will be her first visit to the new studio, and I can hardly wait to share it with her. BJ is the one who taught me that getting up before the roosters and first light was worthwhile, since you could paint the true dawn on location. She's a signature member of the Plein Air Painters of America and a dedicated artist. We'll have loads of fun painting together this week!