Beni

This is Beni, a shiba inu who belongs to a friend and colleague. A slow-dry medium was used for this painting and I was surprised at what a difference it made. I like to do alla prima, but am a slow painter and often find that the paint begins to dry on the canvas before I have a chance to finish the painting. The painting will take longer to dry, but that's ok...there's no rush.

Plein Air at the Alpaca Farm

I spent the morning at the alpaca farm, trying my hand a plein air. Even though my painting didn't turn out, I had a wonderful time - it was so beautiful outside. I'll just keep painting until I get it right!

The Sunbathers

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Let's pretend it's warm and dry, and the sun is shining...

Ginger Cat

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Ginger is one of the adoptable cats at our local Humane Society.

Lucia

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Graham

Graham Underpainting

This is the underpainting for a portait of my grandson, Graham. Graham just turned four in January. He has an infectious laugh, and loves to play. Superman is his favorite superhero. He's my sweet guy!

Apple

A Fuji apple.

Teacup with Flowers

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This painting was a bit of a bear to paint because of all the white. It took me a couple of days, so I am for sure out of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. That's ok, though. I think I'm going to spend more time on my paintings. It's enjoyable to have something on the easel that I can work on in my spare moments, and it takes the pressure off trying to produce something every evening.

Three Flowers

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I'm back from my trip to Bend and ready to start painting again. I got off to a good start with this painting but got lost about midway through. I'd like to try painting these flowers again, but with more attention to value and less to detail.

I've posted this to the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, but I know I haven't got a prayer of catching up. The challenge is now on day 25, and this is only painting 19 for me...sigh. Well, who knows - maybe I can pull a miracle out of the hat.

Mums

Mums generally bloom in the fall, so I imagine these are hothouse flowers. It's too soon for spring flowers to bloom in our area. It's still cold, dark and damp. We're eager for spring to arrive.

Flowers and Kisses

I'm enjoying painting flowers. Next time I'm going to try a darker background.

Carnations

The same carnations. The color on this looks a little funky. I may try to photograph it again tomorrow in the daylight (that's assuming we have daylight tomorrow).

01/20/13: I updated the photo this morning. The colors in the photo are a little bit closer to the colors in the painting.

I'm going to attempt to catch up to Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. The challenge is on day 19, and I'm only on day 16 (3 down).  I've missed some posting days, but I think I might be ok if I post more than one painting in a day. It will be a horse race (I think I can, I think I can....).

Blue Vase and Carnations

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These carnations were given to me by a co-worker yesterday afternoon. A little hint of spring on a dark and foggy day.

I Got Nada

Well, I'm extremely griped. It's 12:30 a.m, I've been painting since 7:00 p.m., and all I have to show for my effort is a wiper. Dang it!

This throws me out of the painting a day challenge. I was already one day behind. Now it's two days, and next week I'll be out of town on business for three days. I'm disappointed and grouchy.

 Oh well. No big deal. I'm going to continue to paint every evening as often as possible. I learn something each time I sit down at the easel. I even learned a few things tonight.

Wine with Apple and Walnuts

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I'm an Oregon girl, so it stands to reason that my favorite wines would be pinots - the grapes grow well in the Willamette Valley and the wines are heavenly...but, to quote my brother-in-law, "I've never met a wine I didn't like." This is a cab-merlot that tastes quite nice on a cold winter evening.

Cyclamen

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For the most part, I'm happy with the way this turned out. I spent more time mixing color and trying to match values than painting. I'm learning a lot by painting every day.

Rosie's Eyes

This is my daughter's cat, Rosie. Rosie's eyes are an amazing color - I wasn't able to do justice to them in this painting.

I'm one day behind on the Painting-A-Day Challenge. I was hoping to catch up this weekend, but painting always takes me longer than I anticipate. Since we have 48 hours to turn in the paintings I'm still within the timeframe, but I'll need to crank it up because I've got some stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks that will keep me away from the easel.

Maddi

This is a painting of my grandson's dog, Maddi. She's an Australian Cattle Dog mix and has the sweetest disposition. She's a love.

Peppers

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Painting #9 for  Leslie Saeta's Painting a Day Challenge. Keeping pace so far. I think I'm going to spend some time experimenting with different shades of grey for background colors. This one is a mix of ultramarine blue, cad red light, yellow light and titanium white. 

Pitcher

Another one done! Only day 8 and I'm beginning to have trouble finding items to paint. 

Lemon and Orange with Cranberries

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Whew - another day, another painting. I wish I had the whole day to paint - painting after work is a bit tough sometimes. I have plans tomorrow evening so won't be able to paint. I'll get two done on Saturday to make up for the lost day.

Orange with Pear and Grapes

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I like the colors in this painting. I've had a hard time getting my colors right and still tend to paint what I think I see instead of what I see. Tonight I also changed the lighting a bit, and took off my glasses. I think that helped!

Red Pear

The photo appears more bright than the painting. On the easel, the colors looked a little more subdued.

Grapes

This gets me back on track with the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Only 26 more to go...!

Apple with Grapes

Yesterday was a pretty busy day and I wasn't able to get to my easel, so I'll try to get two paintings done today in order to stay in the "30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge." I think there is a 48 hour window, so I may still have time to post this one for yesterday.

Total Domination with Peanuts

Here's another kind of brew. "Total Domination" is an IPA from "Ninkasi," a local Eugene brewing company. It's a favorite.

Morning Brew

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Day one of Leslie Saeta's Painting-a-Day challenge. Pretty fun!

Pear with Lemon Slice and Cranberries

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Warmest wishes for a Happy New Year!

Raised Doughnut and Glass of Milk

Getting into the painting-a-day groove.

Pink Ladies

Leslie Saeta has posted a "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. The challenge begins on January 2nd, and runs for the month. This is just what I need to get back into the daily painting habit. I love, love, love to paint, but often find reasons why I don't have time. The truth is, we always have time to do the things we think are important, right? I've decided that painting is important enough to me that I will find the time to paint everyday.

Santa's Pocket Watch

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Warmest wishes for a magical holiday season. 

Waiting for Santa

This painting is for a gift exchange at my husband's office. As a rule, I'm not fond if mice, but I kind of like this little guy!

Daisy

This is Daisy! Isn't that a perfect name for this little girl?

Weston Touch Up

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Here's Weston again. The painting didn't look finished to me. I reworked the eyes, lightened the background, and did some general clean-up. I like this version better.

Ginger

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This is Ginger, Ellie's companion. The shadows look more purple in the photo than they do on the panel. I plan to let this painting rest for a day and then will look at it again to be sure that it's the camera's interpretation and not the painting itself that looks so purple.

Ellie

SOLD

I was surprised when I realized that I haven't posted for over a month. It's been a busy summer with guests and activities and DIY home improvement projects. Recently I've been painting walls rather than gessoboard panels...not nearly as much fun.

I was happy to have a reason to get back to my oil paints. This painting is one of two that I'm doing for my brother as a gift for his lifelong friend. I'll be starting on "Ginger" tomorrow.

When you've been away from it for awhile, it's easy to forget what a joy it is to slap paint on a panel!

Singing Lesson

I'm not sure whether this painting is finished. I've been working on it most evenings for the past two weeks and need to step away from it for awhile. I've just been too close to it.

This figurine is one of a pair of Hummels that sit in our china cabinet. I've also been working on the other piece, which is a little girl feeding chickens, "Feeding Time." My husband looked them up on the internet and found their names.  He bought these in Oberammergau in 1966, three years before we were married. We've had them a very, very long time. We're showing our age, but these Hummels don't look a day over six!

Rocky

This is my little Rocky guy. He's a love.

Summer Rose

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The roses have been spectacular this year. I don't know the name of this rose - it was in the garden at the Hopewell B&B.

Just Ducky

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I like this little toy - it waddles when you pull it. My grandson kindly lent it to me to paint. When I asked what the duck's name was, he said, "He doesn't really have a name...he's just 'Ducky'."

Little Red Truck

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This little red truck was the DPW painting challenge of the week. I especially enjoyed it because it's a local Eugene truck. I love Eugene, and it makes me happy to read that Carol Marine and her family enjoy living in the Eugene area.

Lily

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This lily is from our garden. The flowers have been so beautiful this summer...they're beautiful every summer!

Bowl of Cherries 2

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Here's the re-do of the previous painting. I like using black-toned panels and plan to use them more often.

Bowl of Cherries

This painting needs more work. Lots of errors need to be fixed.  I thought I was being careful with the proportions of the bowl, but apparently not careful enough. I also see that the composition could have been better. The cherry stems on both the right and left sides lead your eye away from the painting. I do like the way cherries turned out, though.

A bowl full of cherries is such a simple subject, but boy,  is it ever giving me fits.

Butterscotch

I've been researching information on hues, values, and chroma. This painting is an experiment using some of the information I've gleaned. It's a re-do of an earlier painting. I'm happy with the way this one turned out. It will have a home on my husband's desk.

I'm working on a couple of paintings using the realism techniques that Jelaine Founce described in the Daily Paintworks ArtBytes. It's a slow process, but lots of fun to do. I'll post them when I've finished.

Spot

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This was a lot of fun to paint. I'm lucky to have grandsons who are willing to share their toys with their nana!

Buddy

This is my third attempt at Buddy. I've softened the shadows a bit, and changed the background. Since Buddy is white, I realized that I needed a little more color in the background. I wanted to keep it in the grey range to keep the background from taking over the painting.

I think I'm done with this one. I plan to send it to Mike and Penny at Hopewell Bed and Breakfast . We had such a nice time there, and we really enjoyed spending some time with Buddy.

Jeff's Green Blanket

This is a  painting of Jeff resting on his green blanket.

I still have a lot to learn about Photoshop. For example, there is a great deal of glare on this photo. I think it may be possible to remove it, but I'm not sure how to do it. Also, the yellow strips are really more of an ochre color, but they turned out quite yellow in the photograph.

Oliver

SOLD

After a good night's sleep, I took a second look at this painting and decided that the background needed to be calmed down. I also adjusted the muzzle a bit so it's not so lopsided, and then added more shadow. I think it's a bit better.

Norman

SOLD

This is a commissioned painting of Norman. I've started work on his dog buddy, Oliver.