PEPPER DUO

 
Sometimes it pays off not to exercise. Yesterday I had time to paint or exercise so....I painted in my exercise clothes. Does that burn calories? I am very glad that I chose to paint because I am happy with the way this 8 x 10" piece turned out. The colors in the peppers were so delicious and it was my first attempt with the blue tinted jar. I may paint in my exercise clothes more often.

strumming in asheville

 
This is painted on a 5 x 7" canvas. I am finding it harder and harder to paint this small. I love small paintings so think it was tough because I have been painting larger canvases lately.
I took this photo in Asheville, NC. One of the coolest cities around. So much to do and see there. Indoors and outdoors. My 6'5" baby brother and his family live there and my parents have a home thirty minutes outside of the city.
Probably one of my favorite areas anywhere. I have several more shots of this musician and plan to paint him larger next time.

Sitting Pretty

sold
This Rooster is painted on a 6 x 12" gallery wrap canvas. I took a photo of this rooster at a feed store close to my sister's home. Fun to work with the shadow colors.
Have not had as much time to paint lately because I am packing up for a one day show this coming Saturday. It is taking place at Children's Harbor at Lake Martin. Fifteen percent of the proceeds go to Children's Harbor which is a foundation dedicated to helping familes that have children with chronic illnesses. They will also have live music and activities for children. The weather is supposed to be good so it should be a fun day.

squatter

This 16 x 20" painting is painted from a photograph I took at the Lake Eden Arts Festival close to Asheville, NC last Fall. Love the little girl's colorful outfit. It was really muddy that day at this campground so she had a good coating of mud on her knees. Good time had by all! Especially my friend JC who got to see the Cowboy Junkies.
I have seen a pattern in many of my children paintings. Lots of squatting going on. Squatting kids are cute! What makes squatting cute? What makes holes in your face cute?(dimples) I am thankful that I like to squat so that I can get down their on their level to photograph. I don't think it's cute when I squat.
I wish I had holes in my face but I don't.

# 7 at Maggie Valley

 
This is painted on a 10 x 20" canvas. Loved working with the strong light in this photo. I painted most of this with a pallete knife. Pretty fun.
This is a photo of my son who is spending his first day in China today. Finishing up his degree during the next five weeks. Not a bad way to finish out your college career.

Mr Wonderful strikes a pose

 
This is a 5 x 7" piece that I painted a few months back. This rooster is only 10" tall but thinks he is much bigger. He has beautiful colors and attitude.

teetering on the edge-

Another good of painting vase and egg plants. I love the color play between the egg plants and green apples. The vase has been a great tool to create a fun composition.
I know you are not really supposed to talk about your family but I am going to break that rule (again) today. I am pereparing to go celebrate one of my son's graduation from college this weekend. And...to celebrate that he got a job offer from a company that he is very excited about. Headquartered in New Orleans!
Clint is such a great young man. He has been one of my biggest encouragers in this art thing. He has always shown interest and support in my endeavors. I think that is a rare thing for a young person. I know I was all about me when I was his age. I am so honored and proud to have a son like him. My other sons are pretty sorry. Totally kidding about that. Just needed a little humor to dry my tears.

apple tower

 
Got this 10" clear vase at a dollar store and am having fun with it. What a bargain! This is painted on an 11 x 14" gallery wrap canvas. Spotted the baby eggplants at a vegetable market close to my home. Think their size is much more easy to work with compostionally than the fully grown elongated egg plants. And...if you have ever read my blog before you know I have a thing for pears. Baby eggplants are very similiar in shape and size. Maybe I will develop a new crush.

Radishes and Apples

 
Have not had a lot of time to paint in the last few days. Painted this on an 11 x 14" gallery wrap canvas a few days ago. The colors in the radishes were so nice that I decided to highlight them in a vase.
I have a curiosity that I am sure others have experienced. I am trying to learn to not always trust my instincts when it comes to the success of a painting. There have been at least two occasions when I was in an art show and I debated about including a painting or not. On both occasions, I took the paintings and they were one of the first paintings to sell. On the reverse side of that, paintings that I felt so good about did not sell. Can't believe not everyone has my same taste! The moral of this story is.... some people like crappy paintings? Kidding.

sold

cousins

I painted this a little over a year ago. The children in the painting are my son and my niece. Missy is getting married tomorrow and my son is graduating college next weekend!! Time really flies. Both great kids who have matured into wonderful adults. So thankful for the hundreds of photographs and video I have taken in my lifetime. Helps to keep special memories alive.

Close of a good day

Just finished this 12 x 24" painting. The painting turned out almost as well as the day. I have a good friend who loves to share her beautiful home on Lake Martin with friends. She has more energy than anyone I know and is always cooking up another trip.
I started a new painting class today. Barbara Evans is a wonderful local artist who does incredible figurative, still life, abstract, landscape, you name it. She has great style and a wonderful sense of color. She has a fun personality but is very truthful in giving constructive critcism and praise. I also look forward to working with and learning from fellow artists in the class. I have mostly been painting by myself so I really need extra eyes to help me work through some things.sold

What are you looking at?

Just got back from a visit with my mother in law who lives on a farm in east Tennessee. Beautiful area. Rolling green hills with the Smoky mountains in the distance.
I was able to get up close and personal with a few cows during my visit. This one belongs to my Uncle Don. I think he has such an interesting face. He was really staring me down. There were no bulls in the pasture so I felt safe to walk around the cattle. It was a little scary when a couple of them started following me pretty closely on my way out.

This is painted on a 12 x12" gallery wrap canvas.

onions # 1

This is painted on a 5 x 7" canvas. Sometimes it works out when you leave fruit or vegetables a little too long before you get to paint them. This onion sprouted and helped make for an interesting composition.

sold

One cute Chick

This is painted on a 5 x 7" gallery wrap canvas. This is one of my sister's chicks. They are so cute when they are little. Wish I had more photos of baby chicks. I had an incident where I had one out to photograph and he got away from me. He ran under a group of bushes and I totally lost him. I looked for him for 30 minutes before a terrible thunderstorm came up and made me abandon the search. I went in the house just grief sricken. I was a chick killer.
I haven't mentioned all the cats my sister owns. Alot. Really bright to get out a baby chick with stalkers all around. How could I have forgotten all the Sylvester and Tweety bird cartoons I used to watch?

Long story a little shorter, about an hour later, after the storm passed, my brother in law Hamilton noticed one of the cats stalking the bushes where I lost the chick. Ta Da....Hamilton went out there and found the chick. I always knew he was a chick magnet.
Are we supposed to talk about art in these blogs? sold

Marshall Tucker

Yes, I gave my froo froo shih tzu dog a macho name. Marshall Tucker was one of my favorite bands in high school so my dog pays homage to them. He does not really like their music. A little too much energy. You can tell from this pose that he likes the slower tunes like James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg. Those loud tunes interrupt his naps. I chose this pose for Tucker because this is the way I usually see him. He really is a great dog and so much fun to have around now that my sons are all in college. Yes, three in college. Two to graduate this summer.

turnips and yellow pepper

This piece is 5 x 7". First time I have painted on a small canvas in a while. I love the quick and fresh results. My favorite color is purple so I guess that is one reason I like to paint turnips. I am very happy with how the pepper turned out. There is not much better than painting an item with as few brush strokes as possible.SOLD Unfortunately I don't get that lucky very often. Happy.

Beer and Pretzels

Just finished this 11 x 14" piece today. Glad to get back to painting. I spent a couple of days cleaning out and rearranging my studio. I use the term "studio" lightly because I paint in part of our basement right next to my car. The gas fumes are really mind freeing. And... I get great reflections off of my silver car.
As I was cleaning my space I came to the realization that I am a canvas hoarder. I own WELL over 100 canvases. A&E may need to do a show on me. Art supply hoarder. Not sure my reasoning for having so many. Maybe I have a fear of being caught without a canvas. I think the real problem is that I need to be off of a well known art supply dealer's e mail list. I get at least one e mail a day from them with deals I can not pass up. Anyway.....I am glad I took the time to clean up and realize that I do not need any more canvases. Now I need to start painting them. 99 5 x7" canvases on the wall, 99 5 x 7" canvases on the wall, take one down...
Next blog I will discuss why I have nine cans of cream of mushroom soup in my pantry.

Pears on Vietri

This is painted on a 12 x 24" gallery wrap canvas. The vietri platter is hand made so it is not perfectly symetrical. Think I have it right? Headed to Lake Martin today for fun and photos.

blue vase and green apples

Wow. Maybe I should take a week off from painting more often. Just finished this 8 x10" piece. Pretty happy with it. Since I am pretty new at this photographing my work thing....do you fellow artists find yourself going back and correcting things in your painting after you photograph it? It is amazing to me how many things I see in a photo that I don't see in the painting. I go back and forth multiple times after I take a picture of it. I will probably tweak a few things on this one tomorrow.

sold

Nancy

Finally getting back to painting after getting ready for and participating in an art show last Saturday. We had great weather and a really good turn out.
This is a commission piece for a friend. Pretty pleased with the results. The challenge I faced was white dress on white chair on white porch. This is painted from an 18 year old photo so I did not have anything to do with the pose. Any hints for facing all this white?

sold

runaway rooster

This is painted on a 24 x 36" gallery wrap canvas. Painted it a few months ago. The bright colors really make a statement from pretty far away.

sold

Sunflowers and Turnips

Just finished this piece yesterday. Big feat for me. It is painted on an "enormous" 18 x 24" canvas. That really is big for me and I am happy with the results. I have said before that I mostly paint on smaller canvases. So.....all's good. Except the glare on this picture of the painting . I have so much to learn. I photograph outside with the painting in a lid size box. The painting's back is to the sun. I really did not have a box large enough to contain this "huge" painting so some sunlight crept in around the sides.

Turnips and Flowers

This is a 6 x 12" painting that I did yesterday and tweaked today. I really like the colors in turnips. That is all I like about turnips. Definitely will not eat one.
I have been painting lots lately. Getting ready for a show April 10. The Mt Brook art association has a one day, outdoor show for it's members. Lots of work and fun. Hope we have good weather. If it rains on Saturday, we have it the next day if weather permits.

sold

Spring calf

I took a photo of this calf this weekend. He looks so content. The cows were not having a whole lot to do with me. They were not interested in looking at my camera. I was able to get a few photos to work from. This piece is painted on an 11 x 14" canvas.

Mr Wonderful

soldI painted this12 x 24" rooster last week. This little rooster had so much personality! He would actually pose for me. He belonged to my sister and brother in law. Most of the roosters would run from me but this one would come up and start posing. He was so beautiful. Not sure of his breed. I have posted an earlier picture of the same rooster's head. I usually just make up a background.

Got back from a fun trip to Nashville with friends. They were patient with me when I would ask to stop the car to take pictures of cows.
I am working on a painting today of a calf laying down in a field. He is really cute. Hope the painting will turn out and I will post soon.