Sentimental

Click here to bid

My sister-in-law has a special fondness for primroses. They remind her of her mother, who loved those little bright spots of color, and always had them in her spring garden.

Red Cyclamen

Click here to bid

Rainy day, good day for painting!

Signs of Spring

Another painting of the daffodils and narcissus from our garden.

Daffodils and Narcissus

Click here to bid

The first signs of spring are beginning to show in our part of the Northwest. This photo picked up quite a bit of glare, so I may retake it once the painting is a bit more dry.

Salt and Pepper

This painting is 16"x12" - a larger size than I'm used to working on. Although it took longer, I think it was easier than the 6"x6".  It was a nice break to try something different.

Hope

Click here to bid

I made an effort to squint when painting this. I realized that I usually squint when looking at my subject, but once I transfer my gaze to the canvas, I open my eyes...this time I squinted throughout the painting process. I kind of like how this one turned out.

Our son-in-law's brother was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday evening, he received a call from UCLA Medical Center that his surgery was cancelled. His insurance company was denying payment. How does that happen after initial preauthorization approval? It's a tangled knot, and after a conference call, they (insurance company) said they will make a decision today...so once again, Dan is waiting. He will either have surgery at UCLA, or will need to go to OHSU. Time is of the essence, so we are waiting and hoping for the best.

Click here to bid

Thinking up descriptive new names for paintings is difficult for me...how many times can you title a painting, "Mums" or "Flowers"? These flowers are mums that I got from the market. They look cheery and joyful, so I've named them, "Joy."

Blue Vase with Mums

Click here to bid

Today I'm thinking a lot about my son-in-law's twin brother, Dan. Dan is going in for a very serious surgery at UCLA Medical Center tomorrow.  We all feel like we're in a state of suspended animation...holding our breath until it's over, hoping we'll hear good news tomorrow night. We love you, Dan, and are holding you in our prayers.

Tulips and Mums

Click here to bid

Flowers are really amazingly beautiful little things and I love to paint them.  I have to work quickly, though, because they move around so much. I took a short break from this painting and found when I got back to the easel that the tulips had rearranged themselves!

Iris and Tulips

Sold

These flowers are from our local market. There are many bulb plants poking up in our garden, so I'm hoping to paint some home-grown flowers soon.

Single Red Rose

Click here to bid

Another attempt at painting a rose.

Three Roses

NFS

These are roses from a beautiful Valentine's bouquet and were quite a challenge to paint. I'll definitely be doing more rose paintings in the future.

Jersey Bounce

Click here to bid

My tulips are getting a little blowsy, but they still bounce and swing. They put on quite a show.

I'm listening to Benny Goodman this afternoon - gotta love big band music!

In The Mood

Click here to bid

As I was finishing this painting, Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" was playing on Pandora. I'm in the mood for spring!

Tulips

Sold

I'm trying to remember to load my brush and lay down one stroke at a time. I'm also trying to keep my brushstrokes loose...easier said than done!

We still have a lot of snow on the ground. These tulips are a reminder than spring is just around the corner.

The Thank You Note

Sold

It's been snowing like crazy for the past two days and now we have freezing rain. I don't mind the snow so much, but freezing rain strikes fear in my heart. Roads are skating rinks and a good number of folks in the Eugene/Springfield area are without power tonight.

The forecast is for weather in the 40s tomorrow. We'll be thankful for that!

Tea and Rose

Sold

My husband brought home champagne and roses on my last day of work to celebrate the good things to come. The champagne is now a delicious memory, this little rose is the last of the beautiful bouquet, but the future is rosy and bright.

Pink Primrose

Sold

This is my first painting after the Carol Marine workshop. The workshop was all I'd hoped for and more. Each day just flew by. Carol is an excellent teacher and my classmates were great. It was a wonderful experience. I feel that I learned so much.

This is also the first painting of my retirement! Yay! I plan to do lots of painting now that I have the time.

Red Pear with Grapes and Lemon

This is a do-over of a painting that I did a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't happy with the original, so decided to experiment with it. I got rid of the plate and added a white cloth, muted the lemon a bit, and tried to bump up the contrast. I'm learning more about notan in composition, and intend to do some practicing with light/dark.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Carol Marine workshop. I have all my gear packed and am ready to go. I can hardly wait!

Red and Yellow Peppers

Click here to bid

This is a quick sketch of peppers in a glass pitcher. I'm still working on my fracturing technique. Sometimes I feel confident that I get it, but many times uncertainly creeps in and I feel that I'm floundering. That's just my learning style - more of a learning spiral rather than a learning curve. I suspect that it's how many folks learn. There are some folks who easily grasp new concepts - not me. I need to keep poking and prodding and examining an idea from all angles before I'm confident that I understand - thus the need for constant practice.

The Carol Marine workshop is week after next, then one last week of work and I'll be free to practice to my heart's content.

Red Pear with Lemon and Grapes

I'm really excited...the countdown to retirement is almost over. I have been a project manager for a health insurance company for 20 years. As you can imagine, I'm SO done with it and now I'm ready to spend my days painting. Although my last day of work is January 31st,  I only have 15 actual working days left. I have the great, good fortune to have a spot reserved in Carol Marine's workshop January 20-24, just the week before I retire. Carol also lives in Eugene, and will be giving her workshop in Eugene's twin city, Springfield. So much to look forward to this month!

This painting is another attempt at fracturing. I love the technique and will keep practicing.

Pinecones, Mandarins, and Cranberries

I spent another day at home, painting. Tomorrow I will return to work - the weather has warmed up considerably, and I imagine we'll be able to travel down our hill without problem. When it first began snowing, we put cables on our tires, but they weren't much help. After struggling to get them off this evening, we agreed that we will buy snow tires so we won't be stuck at home next winter.

This is another seasonal painting.  I don't plan to put it up for auction yet because I've reverted to my "slow-dry" paint.  I love it because it is so easy to work with, but it takes the painting about 2-3 weeks to dry.

Cup of Cheer

It's been cold and snowy in Eugene, Oregon. We're not used to such cold weather. We live on a hill that is somewhat steep and curvy. Even with chains, it's quite a scary experience to drive down the hill when it is icy, so I've taken advantage of being "snowed in" to do some painting. Yes, I know, it's a shame to have to stay home, drink coffee, and paint...I'd much rather go to work (NOT!).

I'm in a holiday mood, so spent my time practicing the fracturing technique on a Christmasy painting (see Julie Ford Oliver's blog to see how a pro does it).

Here's our cozy house in the snow...

Christmas Ornaments

It's been awhile since my last blog entry. Much excitement around here, so painting took a backseat. My newest grandchild and first granddaughter, Nora Susanna, was born November 5th. She's absolutely perfect, and we're all wild about her...

Pretty cute, huh?

Pumpkin with Squash

Click here to bid

I've been trying to focus on color and form rather than the subject matter, itself. Mixing color and applying it to canvas is such a pleasant, meditative pastime!

Covered Bridge at Dorena

Sold

I spent some more time on this painting and like it better. Perhaps this one has a bit more depth and interest than the one posted previously. I felt I was beginning to slip back into old habits, so watched Julie Ford Oliver's tutorial on fracturing again. After viewing the tutorial, I approached the painting more assertively, and I like the result - it reminds me of the beautiful day we drove down to Cottage Grove so I could paint the old covered bridge.

Time for Witches

Click here to bid

This is the time of year to snuggle under warm covers and read a really good, really scary book!

The Chief

Sold

My two little grandsons, ages four and seven, stayed with us this weekend. It was too rainy and wet to ride bikes at the park, so we took a trip to GoodWill to see if we could find some fun toys and puzzles to play with at Nana's house.

Graham, my four year old guy, spotted this nifty red fire truck. It is metal rather than plastic and has a silver bell that rings. A real treasure. He had fun with it this weekend and then left it here for his next visit. Nana got to play with it, too...with a paintbrush!

September Challenge #30

Click here to bid

Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay! This the last day of the challenge and painting #30. Whew!

Well, for all my whining and fussing, I really did have fun with this challenge. I've learned a lot. While I'm glad to be done with the daily pressure of producing a finished painting, I'll continue to make a concerted effort to be at the easel every day. Not only does the practice help with improving skill, I believe strongly in the meditative benefits of painting. Isn't it wonderful that something which brings such pleasure can also be good for one's mental and spiritual health?

I've also enjoyed visiting the blogs of other challengers, and so appreciate the kind comments left on my blog. All in all, a fabulous experience.

September Challenge #29

One day left! Because my little grandsons are spending the weekend with us, this was painted very quickly, very early this morning. It needs more work, but for the purposes of the challenge, I'm calling it done for now.

September Challenge #28

NFS

This is "Autumn Harvest," It's painting #28, so there are only two more to go...hooray! I had so much fun painting this one. It just seemed to flow. The pressure of having to produce one painting every evening has taught me to be more frugal with my brushstrokes. I've been told that paintings come together more easily when there is less fiddling. I need to keep that in mind - fixing and re-fixing is a hard habit to break, though.

September Challenge #27

Click here to bid

We're heading into the home stretch. This is #27 - only three left to do. This is another painting of mums. I love autumn flowers - painting them is almost a meditative process.

September Challenge #26

Click here to bid

I'm crazy about sunflowers -they're just so cheery!

I asked my husband what he thought this painting should be called.  He suggested "Solar Eclipse." I thought that was a great name for a painting of sunflowers. They do look like little solar eclipses.

September Challenge #25

This is the same oak leaf I painted for Challenge #6. The leaf has been sitting in my studio, turning brown. I thought it would be interesting to try it again using the fracturing technique.

Only 5 days left in the 30 day challenge. I've learned a lot during this time. I've adopted the painting technique created by Julie Ford Oliver, and I'm beginning to be more adventurous with color and brushstrokes. Still not where I want to be, but I feel that I've made a little bit of progress this month. Composition is a weak area for me, and I can see that weak composition results in a weak painting.

During this challenge, I have used a slow-dry medium that Mark Carder recommends. Mark is a realist painter and has an interesting theory about color. It's worthwhile to watch his videos. If you click on his name, it will take you to his site. He also gives a recipe for his medium. It makes oil paint behave like soft butter and it stays open for several days. I love the stuff.

The down side is that paintings take more time to dry. I have an embarrassing situation right now -  one of my paintings sold and I can't ship it yet because it's still wet...a very amateur mistake. At any rate, I'm going to hold off posting to Daily Paintworks until I'm sure the paint is dry enough to ship.

The big lesson for me is that it's not realistic for me to paint every day while I'm working at an outside job. Practice is so important, but for me it has to be balanced with my other responsibilities. I like the discipline that comes with painting, so will probably try to paint on weekends and 2-3 times during the week.  I'll be retiring next June, and then I can devote more time to painting.

I'm eager to hear what other artists have discovered during the month. Hopefully, Leslie will offer a "lessons learned" session in October.

September Challenge #24

My husband found this hand-painted rose coffee mug in a little gift shop in Salem. He bought it for me, thinking I might like to paint it. It's a cute little thing, but I was a tad apprehensive about using it in a painting. It combines the two elements that strike mortal fear and terror in my heart - ellipses and roses! Yikes! Nevertheless, it was a kind thing for him to do, so tonight I got a grip and painted the thing.

I added the doughnuts to go with the coffee cup...and since it would have been a shame to throw them out, my husband and I ate them after I finished the painting. I suppose it's time to find some healthier food choices as painting subjects.

September Challenge #23

Click here to bid

I was able to complete a second painting today. That will give me a bit of a breather this week as long as I stay current and paint every evening. By being one ahead, I can post in the morning.

I painted a key lime tart this afternoon. Key lime pie is my husband's favorite dessert, but we're both trying to watch our diet, so we rarely have it. Today we went to lunch at a local bakery and these tarts were in the display case. We justified buying the tart because it seemed like a perfect subject to paint.

I spent the afternoon painting it, and then we split it for dessert! It was delicious!

September Challenge #22

SOLD

This is a bouquet I brought home from our local market.  After the challenge is over, I'd like to attempt to do a larger floral painting. I think I would need to spend some time on it; I couldn't finish a larger painting in one day. Today is the day I'm going to try to catch up with the challenge. If I can do one more painting this evening, I'll feel better about going into next week.

I wonder how other folks are doing with the challenge. The paintings on Leslie Saeta's blog have been amazing. There are a lot of wonderful artists out there.

09/23/13 Update: So delighted to report that this painting was one of the paintings selected to be a Daily Paintworks Facebook Pick of the Day. This just made my day!

September Challenge #21

SOLD

Day 21 of the 30 day challenge. It was nice to have some time to paint today without feeling so stressed about the time. I did take the morning to do some housekeeping tasks that have been sitting undone for the past week...and, I created a new shadow box using PVC pipe based on Carol Marine's tutorial. I had been using a big cardboard box that finally came crashing down last evening as I was cleaning up after painting. It was a precarious contraption and I should have expected the inevitable.

At any rate, I have a new shadow box now, and I like it! Not so sure about this painting, though. Need to step away from it for awhile.

September Challenge #20

Wow! It's day 20 of the September Challenge. Only 10 more days to go. This is a small painting - 5"x5", and I was able to finish it by 7:30 this evening. My husband looked up the name of this squash - it's called "Festival", and is a type of acorn squash...so this is another painting of acorn squash with acorns.

September Challenge #19

Click here to bid

Well, it's another late evening for me.  This is the last hurrah for these flowers, and frankly, good riddance - I'm sick of painting them.  The squashes are "decorative gourds" from the market. I didn't know acorn squash was a gourd...I'll have to look up that definition. The pumpkin is quite a small one, but it was difficult to paint. Anyhoo, since I was painting way into the evening, I thought I'd call this one "Autumn Evening." Not very original, but it's all I got!

September Challenge #18

Click here to bid

I finished this by 9:00 p.m. this evening. Moving a bit faster, but getting tired of painting every evening. It's hard for me to see this painting. You folks who are painters know what I mean...sometimes you stare at something for so long that it's almost impossible to judge what you're seeing. I'll look at this tomorrow - maybe I'll be able to see more clearly in the morning.

September Challenge #17

I'm really pushing the time limit on these paintings this week.  I'm trying to concentrate on the painting, but feeling a bit rushed. Hurry up, weekend - I need more time to paint!

These yellow flowers are a type of mum. I attempted to paint them once before without much success. They're about to fade so I thought I'd give them another shot before they are thrown away. It's good to to see the squash and gourds in the market. Soon there will be pumpkins!

My husband picked up the little acorns on a lunch time stroll at work because I'd been complaining that there were no uneaten acorns in our yard. The neighborhood squirrels have been chomping them all!

September Challenge #16

NFS

Whew! I'm still in the challenge (although nobody's counting but me). This is the chocolate sunflower that gave me such fits last night. It gave me fits tonight, too, but at least I finished it. I need to get one extra painting done to take the pressure off of having to get the paintings posted the same evening they're painted. Maybe I'll paint two on Saturday.

September Challenge #15

SOLD

We're midway through the 30 Day Challenge. Having the goal of creating 30 paintings in 30 days has really helped spur me to practice regularly. Bit by bit, I'm finding ways to incorporate painting into my everyday life.

I'm continuing on with fracturing. Perhaps this new technique is also helping me practice because I am having the best time with it. I start the painting with a general idea of what I want to accomplish, then the painting seems to paint itself. What a wonderful feeling!

September Challenge #14

SOLD

These hibiscus are among the few remaining summer flowers in the garden. It's a time of transition and the mums and zinneas are just beginning to put on their autumn show.

I'm continuing to practice the fracturing technique that was created by Julie Ford Oliver. I'm trying to paint more loosely and add an element of abstraction to my paintings. It feels a little like jumping into a lake. Fun and exhilerating, but a bit scary.

September Challenge #13

Click here to buy

Are there scents or fragrances that pull you back in time to when you were young? This perfume does that to me. It's called "Youth Dew," and it was the fragrance of choice for me and many of my friends in California's Central Valley back in the 1960s. It seemed so sophisticated and wonderful at the time.

I hadn't thought of this perfume for years. This summer we visited family in Nebraska and my sweet sister-in-law was wearing Youth Dew during that visit. It evoked such strong, pleasant memories that I immediately bought a bottle when we returned home. I've been wearing it ever since.

It's funny how a little thing that gives pleasure, like a certain perfume, can be forgotten for years, yet upon rediscovery bring such joy.

September Challenge #12

Click Here to Buy. Free Shipping!

Hooray! I finished my painting before midnight! I'm posting it this evening and will add it to the 30 Day Challenge tomorrow morning. Last evening's painting was really difficult, but this seemed to go pretty smoothly. When a painting starts going south, there is probably a point when it's better to give up and start over.

Anyway, this was fun to paint. I'm a fracture convert!