With her Best Friend

I took my dog, Hazel, out for a long walk this morning. She gets beside-herself excited when any of us get the leash out. And she loves absolutely every single thing about going walking.

Except...bicycles that zoom by and scare her, some birds that sound really scary and weird, and cars that loudly vroom overhead when we're under a bridge.

Except for all of that Hazel loves absolutely every single thing about walking.


I finished working on this painting this afternoon. Here's the final version and the last few steps that lead up to the end. And I only have a few photos from the tail end because I was so into it that I forgot to take pictures during the majority of the process. Oops!

"With her Best Friend"

You can see that I've added tons of details...all over!

I adorned her hair with flowers and a feather
and added details to her dress.

I think she's done. Just need to paint the
edges of the canvas black.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

With her Best Friend

After over four years of painting each and every day on our kitchen table or some other flat surface (not counting our hallway walls, that is), I finally splurged and got myself and easel! I feel like I'm a grown up artist now! I got it all set up right by our floor-to-ceiling windows last night, put a blank canvas in it, and went to bed. Then first thing after I ate breakfast and walked the dog, I started painting. What a nice thing it is to stand while I paint. And an incredible thing to have our kitchen table back!

While I was painting my big guy came in the room and said, "You need to move all your art stuff over by the easel." I have two shelves and an antique desk devoted to my art. So while Dave and my little guy were gone, my big guy and I moved all the furniture around in the living room. And it's fabulous! I love my wonderful big guy!

The painting I'm working on is inspired by Marie Laurencin. I think this may be the last one in the class I'm taking. I'll definitely revisit her style, I love it!

After painting the canvas gray, I sketched out a woman and a dog.

I began adding some color to her flesh, dress, and background. 

I added more details and began working on a fan.

I began working on her face, added a scarf, and continued working on the dog.

I'm excited to work on it more tomorrow!

 Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Family Tree

I've got posters all around my classroom (I teach three and four-year-olds with disabilities). For the most part they're the mass produced type, the ones you'd see in any preschool program. I decided my classroom was due for a creativity facelift, so I've started painting my own posters (each about 5.5 feet tall) that will go on cupboard doors. I have a number of them that I want to create. Here's the first...it's a "Family Tree"...a spot where each of the students will have a family photo.

Here are some of my ideas.

I drew it out and started painting the trunk.

I painted the leaves green and added a hole in the tree.
I thought a critter needed to call that tree its home.

I thought an owl would be just perfect!

And he's sleeping because school is during the daytime.

I'll have one of my students write the words "Family Tree" to go at the top.

  Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I completed this painting...with only one major flub along the way. One. That's not too bad, right? Here's the finished painting and below are several images on its way to its final stage (including the flub one, of course).

"Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz"

Once the positioning of the figures had been decided upon
I painted a quick rendition of them.

I gave the figures bodies.

I darkened their tones and left their bodies featureless
because my goal was to keep them racially and gender neutral.

I painted the words to the poem...and...Doh!
I found out I'd left out one line.

So I painted over the lines above where I'd missed a line
and repainted the poem. And done!

What a truly wonderful painting to work on. I love doing commissioned pieces. I feel like I grow with each one.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I was commissioned to do a piece that is in a different category than the other commissions I've had. Rather than being given a photo to base the painting on, I was given a poem and a couple of concept ideas. And it has been so much fun getting out of what was more of a comfort zone for me and into abstract interpretation. Seriously...fun!!!

The lovely person who wanted this piece thought that perhaps Matisse style figures and a house would make a lovely background for the poem. So after loading a page of Matisse paintings on my computer and reading the poem by Hafiz a number of times for inspiration, I got started.

My first step was to paint a horizon and then add a house
in the background and some trees in the foreground.

I added details to the house and the ground.
Are you seeing Matisse in this yet?

I added more details...trees (I added one in the background, too),
the house, a walkway, and a stone pathway. I added some figures
as well and sent it to my client to see if I was on the right track.

She wanted the figures to be bigger, so before I painted them
I created a bunch of mockups to check on positioning.
This is one of the mockups.

This is another mockup. There were nine total.

I should have the finished piece ready to post tomorrow. I'm so grateful for my client's fabulous eye and ideas with this project! I think she's been totally right on. Loving how it's progressing!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Dancing with the Stars - Part 2

It's so much fun painting a super loose painting like this. Going for pure whimsy is a delight! After starting my day with a full face collision with a newly formed spider web, I finished working on this. After I apologized to the spider, of course. Sweet little thing had clearly spent hours creating what I managed to destroy in a fraction of a second.

Here's the completed painting and a couple more steps I took before it was finished.

"Dancing with the Stars"

I added more stars and some color accents on top
of the yellow. I think they look like comets now.

I thought it needed some red here and there to balance it.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Dancing with the Stars - Part 1

I have this thing about wasting my art supplies. I can't stand to let it happen. When I cut watercolor paper down and have scraps left over, I hold on to all of them and make little gift tags or bookmarks. When I'm using acrylics I use a canvas as my palette. After a canvas palette is completely covered I use it as a background for a new piece. I think they make the most wonderful starting point for new art. 

This is the palette I used from my painting "Fourth of July" so you'll see the colors I used for it.

Here's the palette canvas I started with for today's painting.

I added a couple of figures, some stars, and other white elements.

I added black lines over the figures and added yellow accents.

I'm excited to finish this one tomorrow. I've had a day full of professional development for my wonderful teaching gig (I teach three and four year olds with disabilities). And the funny thing is, since I was thinking about school again after a bit of a break, I dreamt last night that I showed up to the training in something I'd never leave the house in. Oy.... And, yes, I dressed with care this morning to make sure it didn't turn into a reality.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Little Blue

If this painting looks familiar, there's a really good reason why.

When the rains caused flooding in Texas recently, a sweet little guy lost everything in his room when the water took over his house. One of those things was one of my paintings. So this is my redo. Little Blue is back and ready to sing!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Fourth of July - Part 2

This was such a fun one to paint. Not only am I madly in love with the actual kiddos pictured, but I love, love, loved everything that it says about their sweet sibling relationship.

And I felt like I'd truly captured them when my kid came up to me and said this.

Big guy: "I'd totally know who that was even though their faces aren't shown."

Made my heart swell.


Here's the completed piece and below are my final steps to getting there. The edges of the canvas are painted black.

"Fourth of July" completed piece

I refined the stars, widened her shirt, and painted
over the wrinkles I had on the red on her.

I redid the wrinkles and added some details
to the sidewalk.

I added a few more details to the hydrant, sidewalk, and greenery,
and did a yellowish wash over the entire sidewalk.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Fourth of July - Part 1

When my wonderful brother and his family were in town recently he showed me a picture of his beautiful kiddos from the last fourth of July.

Me: "Send that to me, I want to paint it!"

I painted the background gray, sketched
the image, and started adding color.

I added more colors and features.
It's acrylic, not watercolors.
Those were just on the table from another project.

I started working on flesh tones and clothing wrinkles.
Beside it is the image I was working from.
It's an altered version of the original photo.
Altering it helps me in the beginning stages of painting.

I think her shirt is too narrow and there are a few other things that don't feel quite right, but it'll wait until tomorrow. Excited to add more details, too!

This photo makes me think of how we celebrated the fourth of July when I was a kiddo. I don't remember ever dressing in red, white, and blue, but I do remember going down to the the fireworks on Town Lake and how when the cannons boomed during the "1812 Overture" I felt like my heart skipped a beat. Good family fun! And now, as an adult, I live where I can actually see the fireworks from my house...if I don't mind standing in the middle of my street and looking over a bunch of trees. Works for me...and my dog, who prefers that we stay home during the fireworks, thank you very much.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Painted Warrior on a Tricycle - Part 2

I finished working on this amazing girl. I love her! She is so utterly and completely confident in her level of awesomeness. I don't remember riding a tricycle as a kid, but I absolutely remember riding a Big Wheel. Best riding toy ever. Nothing quite as sweet as yanking on that brake and spinning out. Big Wheel Bliss!

The Finished Painting

But before I got there I worked through the phases below.

I painted over her face and continued working on the tricycle.

I got her face to a place I liked, emphasized the edges of the figure,
and completed working on the tricycle. All I had left to do was
add some grass growing in the cracks and paint the edges of the canvas black.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Painted Warrior on a Tricycle - Part 1

A lovely friend of mine posted a old photo of her kiddo, toddler age. This amazing girl was covered in paint (love that kids know that their bodies are the best canvases) with the sun shining behind her making her blond hair shine white, while riding her awesome red tricycle. She was a painted warrior charging down her driveway. There was no way I was not going to paint her (after I asked permission, that is).

 I started with the background.

I did a quick rough-in with paint, warrior style.

I painted over a lot of what I'd done and changed and added color to the tricycle.

I painted over what I'd done - again - and started sketching.

I'm not sure about her proportions. I think I'll let her rest and work on her again tomorrow. I'm excited to give her the warrior paint!

This awesome painted kiddo reminds me of once when my kids were little and they were playing quietly in one of their rooms. Too quietly. When they finally emerged they were both beaming with pride. My little guy was about three and my big guy was about seven. My big guy had used Sharpies to color all over his little brother's face. It was a spectacular Spiderman mask that we all enjoyed for several days until the ink finally wore off.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Contemplative - Part 2

I finished her! I was not happy with how I'd left her face yesterday so that was completely reworked. I actually left her sitting there for an an hour or so with only her eyes showing because I loved how she reminded me of a genie with a face veil. And then I decided I didn't love her that much like that.

I covered her face so I could redo it.

Finished!

And this morning I had my annual physical. While not much about having an annual physical is worth commenting on here, I must say that nothing makes ya feel more nervous paranoid awesome than the look of excitement in a phlebotomist's eye upon seeing how beautifully your vein pops right out. I think I made her day.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Contemplative - Part 1

I've changed how I'm doing my art and blog as I begin my 5th year as an artist. Read all about that here if you missed yesterday's post.

I had some time today to get back to a class I started taking a few weeks ago. We're working in the style of artist, Marie Laurencin. I was able to get through a few layers this morning. And, like I said in Tuesday's post, my art has to go through its "ugly" phases before I get it where I want it to be. It's a process.

First a quick sketch.

Adding some background.

Adding foreground color.

There's a lot I need to work on tomorrow. Thankfully I've learned to not beat myself up during the awkward phases of my paintings. And now for the remainder of today I'll plow through my "to do" list which includes making cookies and sewing patches on my husband's pants. Very soon his pants will all be more patch than pants. Love that he grooves on that style!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!