Smile

"A smile is happiness you'll find

right under your nose."

-Tom Wilson

"Smile"

Original available here for $18.

4"x2.75"x.5" on wood leftover from a friend's woodworking project.

Edges painted and ready to hang. 

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown

"I find I have to be the sad clown:

laughing on the outside,

crying on the inside."

-James Gandolfini

"Sad Clown

8"x8" on 1.5" deep canvas

painted edges, ready to hang

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

The Clown - Part 5

There's a misconception about chickens. I know this because the other day I picked up a dozen eggs (our chickens are molting and not laying much) and the container said "laid by vegetarian chickens" on it. Well, unless those chickens are in a completely sterile environment, there's no way they're vegetarian. Chickens love to eat bugs and other small critters. Just the other day Dave saw Phyllis running around the yard with all the other chickens pursuing her. She had what was either a mouse tail, a lizard tail, or a snake hanging out of her mouth. And I tell you what, that girl can run!

Run...gulp...run...gulp...gulp...run...run...gulp...done!

Vegetarian, I call fowl play. (See what I did there?)


And I finished this painting. What a fun piece!

"The Clown"

I painted the other two balloons.

I added a couple of elements to her face.

I outlined the balloons.

I added some fun reflection marks on
her outfit, her hat, and on the balloons.
I decided that the balloon strings
could simply be implied.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

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The Clown - Part 4

Best thing that happened with the trick-or-treaters last night?


Little ninja warrior: "[Gasp!] You're a teacher!" (I teach at the neighborhood school.)

Me: "Yes. Hi, X. You know me."

Little ninja warrior running away from me toward his big sister: "You gotta see this...there's a teacher in there!"


I'm thinking that little guy may have just realized that teachers do not, in fact, live at school.



I continued working on this painting. It's making me want a little red hat.

I painted the background.

I started doing some outlining and
painted one of the balloons green.

I did more outlining. This takes so much
concentration. I find myself needing breaks.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

The Clown - Part 3

My little guy turned seventeen today. I think that this actually means that this is his 18th Halloween. And I can see that he's transitioning into an adult because this is the first Halloween that he hasn't dressed up and gone trick-or-treating. But don't worry too much, he did dress up as an astronaut yesterday at school.

Happy Birthday, little guy! It's an honor, a privilege, and such an incredible joy to be your mom!!!


I continued working on this painting just a bit in between all the busyness that this day has held.

I repainted half of her face a different flesh tone.
I also painted the big white stripe on her shirt
and the smaller white bits on her hat.

I started doing some of the line work on her face
and hat. It's really bringing her to life!

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

The Clown - Part 2

We took the little guy out for dinner tonight. Tomorrow he turns seventeen. I think it must be awesome to have a birthday on Halloween. And perfect for the occasion, our waiter was dressed as a zombie. I'm not sure a zombie is the most appetizing thing to have serving you food, but we sure dug it!


I continued working on this painting. It's such a fun piece! I'm loving all the colors and shapes.

I painted the left side of her face as well as
her eyes and some more of her hair.

Ah, now she's coming alive! I love what painting
the eyes will do. I also painted her eyelids,
more of her hair, and a bit more of her hat.
I'm loving making her asymmetrical!

Next her eyebrows, upper lip,
and the beginning of her collar.
I also decided I didn't want the clown collar.

I painted her lower lip and continued
working on her striped outfit.
She personifies fun and whimsy!

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

The Clown - Part 1

I know you've been just sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for the next episode of "How the Hen House Turns". Don't even bother denying it. Well, yours truly was the one who ended up looking under the shed. Did I go and get all dirty? While I'm not opposed to getting dirty, I did not. I went out in the back yard with one of our funky blankets, lay it on the ground by the shed, got on top of it, and shined my flashlight under the shed. All this while a construction workers a house away had me in clear view.

Yes, I'm the crazy lady who lays on a blanket in her back yard.

And...no eggs. Not a single one. I officially tag Dave as "it" for the next egg quest.


I started a new painting. It's going to be Picasso-esque. I decided to paint a clown as it would lend itself to whimsy. So, here goes!

I sketched my design on a canvas.

I started adding some color.
Note that fun Picasso-esque face emerging.
Excited to do more tomorrow and over the weekend.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Sad Clown - Part 5

I'm not a cougar, though I'm certainly old enough to be one. But don't worry, I've apparently found the perfect way to compensate for that. This morning I was driving my kid to school. I ended up behind a couple of guys on bicycles. They were weaving back and forth right in front of me. I just slowed way down and patiently cruised behind them. And in spite of the fact that my headlights were illuminating them (the sun was just beginning to rise), they seemed clueless about my presence...until one of them turned around, saw us, and fell in line behind his cycling buddy.

As we passed them we heard, "Prius stalking like a cougar."

Guess my car is pretty quiet.


I finished my sad clown painting. There is something so special and wonderful about painting my children. Precious moments in time, precious memories, precious boys. Here is my finished painting and the last couple of stages are below.

"Sad Clown"

I worked on his skin tone, his hair, and his costume.

I changed the shape of his head, added more
details to the background, and finished his
costume by adding more colors and shadows.
All that was left was to add shadows and
paint the edges of the canvas.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 4

I was reminded of a flavorful love from my childhood today. Dave and I were at Trader Joe's and I saw a bag of "GIANT Peruvian Inca Corn". Basically, big freakin' corn nuts. I loved corn nuts as a kid. Loved them! When I took treks to the convenience store located a few blocks from my childhood home, I'd get a bag of corn nuts and one of those flaky chocolate pudding pies. Mmmmmmmmm...sweet and salty! I'm not really a sweets person any more, but boy, oh, boy, did I have a good time eating that GIANT corn today. This could be a problem....


I worked on my sad clown painting a lot today. It was a two steps forward, one step backward kind of day, but that's the best kind when it comes to painting.

I worked on the skin tone and added
green bric-a-brac to the sleeves.
 

I added some shadows to the collar, defined
the legs/feet, adjusted the shape of the face,
and added some shadows to the costume.

I worked a bit more on the facial tone,
added color to the hair, made the eyes a
bit smaller, and started working on the
window sill. I also got rid of the green
bric-a-brac and lengthened the left sleeve.

I decided there was no way to fix the face
as it currently went, so off went the eyes/nose.

And back on with some skin tone. I also
adjusted the shape of the lips.

I added tone to the eyes, face, hair, and costume.
I also added some elements to the background
and started working on the window sill. What's
lovely is that the window to the left of the painting
is the same window my big guy was sitting in front
of in the photograph. The real window is open
right now because it's a lovely day in Austin, TX.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 3

My husband is a genius. It's true. For a long time now our wonderful wacky chickens have been insisting on laying their eggs in one laying box. They have nine available yet they would use just one. But Dave tried leaving the laying box door latched during the day so the area was completely enclosed (they could still get out of the coop another way) and our girls started laying their eggs in all of the laying boxes. I guess they just needed to feel more safe and secure in there.

It's good to be in the presence of genius! And lots of eggs!


And I continued working on my clown painting.

I worked on the shape of his head, added some
details to his face, and painted white on the
parts of his costume that were going to be
colors other than red.

I began adding some preliminary details to his costume.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 2

I seem to lack self control. Even though I've been told to not over-use my right arm (post surgery). I can't seem to help myself. And making it doubly hard, parts of my arm are still numb so I don't get immediate feedback if I'm causing a problem. My solution? I made a wacky bracelet out of t-shirt scraps (I had a bunch left over from the t-shirt up cycling I did right after my surgery) to remind myself to "STOP OVER-USING THIS ARM!" T-shirt scraps speak in all upper case, of course. I'm pretty sure I did better today thanks to my goofy bracelet, I hope so anyway.

I feel like I should be like Bart Simpson and write, "I WILL NOT OVER-USE MY RIGHT ARM" fifty times on the blackboard.


But, in spite of my arm having been over-used, I still had to paint just a bit. Here's how my "Sad Clown" is coming along.

I added another layer of white.

I added flesh tones, some basic facial features with
watered down black paint, the basic color of his
clown outfit, and his hair.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sad Clown - Part 1

When I was digging through a bin of old photos while I was off work for my surgery, I came across a bunch of pictures of my big guy when he was a very little guy. One just jumped out at me and insisted that I paint it. My big guy was maybe four years old and it must have been around Halloween because he's wearing a clown outfit. So about sixteen years ago my big guy got all clown outfitted up and something must have happened. Maybe something big, maybe something little, but whatever it was left him feeling sad. And that moment in time was captured on film.

I started working on painting that sweet, sad little clown today.

I started by painting the basic colors of the background.

I used watered down black paint to rough in
his basic shape. He's sitting on the window sill.

I went over it in white so I could begin painting color.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

Who Likes a Mime?

This is the most recent painting I've completed for a class I'm taking. We were supposed to paint a clownish someone. But like many of you, I'm not the biggest fan of clowns (in spite of, or maybe because of, the fact that they were a main decoration in my childhood room when I was into the color yellow). So, anyway, I steered away clowns and instead went in search of a mime someone. And then I found myself wondering, "Who likes a mime?" I'm not a big fan like many of you, I figure, so I found a mime that was totally saying, "I do!!" See? Just look at that raised hand of hers.

And now I find myself rather liking mimes again. Well, at least this one.

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

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The First Time I got Busted by the Cops

For some reason, lately every time I see the color green, this old memory comes flooding back.


I must've been nine or ten.  It was a perfect summer day, with perfect weather, in perfect Palo Alto, California, in my grandparents' perfect neighborhood.  I was riding my beyond amazing green banana seat bike with tall handlebars.  Proudly printed on the frame were the words "Dill Pickle," and the playing card I had clipped near my spokes was making the most satisfying purr.  My brother was seated behind me.  No helmets.  No worries.  Wind in our hair.  Bliss!

And then a police officer pulled up beside us and demanded that we stop immediately.  Which we most certainly did.


Police Officer:  "Only one passenger per seat."


I looked at my banana seat that clearly provided ample room for my bottom, my brother's bottom, and at least one more friend's bottom, and looked back at the cop.

I think it was at that moment that I realized that not all laws made make sense...or at least the bad ones shouldn't apply to me.

Click here to purchase this painting.