Waterfall - SOLD

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

Previously painted in July of 2009, this was done for a landscape challenge on the Wet Canvas website. Trying to capture running water is a challenge, and getting "color" into the water is also a challenge. With this painting I tried to capture not only the color within the water that was ponding at the base of the falls, but also put some color within the moving water - hopefully to create the look of movement. Turned out to be a great deal of fun. And I love to paint the rocks - all those warm browns with the cool greens around. I forgot how much I like to paint moving water! Will put that on my "to do again" list!

Calla Lily Stretch

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This is my rendition of the Artistic Sentiments challenge hosted by Dana Marie. I love the calla lily's in this, but I think I love those leaves even more! Those wonderful, large leaves with deep veins, and colors of green & blue throughout. Her photograph really enhances those blues!

I chose to eliminate a couple of the flowers, on each side of the group, and make it a central group instead - thought that would provide a better balance. The background tree is still in there, but it's a blend of olive green with yellow ochre, making it's greens different that the foreground leaves (I didn't want them blending together too much). I also chose to make the background a light pink in color - I thought it would warm things up a bit, altho I did first think of a warm yellow instead. But there is so much yellow in the image now, and in the greens also, I wanted something that would help to make the Calla Lilly's pop. And also, I'm sure you can see, I opted to do this in the "shapes" style of painting. 

A fun painting - I haven't painted too much of late due to family obligations, so this simple painting was perfect to get me back in the swing!

Latvia Laundry - SOLD

Acrylic on 6.5 x 5 stiff linen sheet

This is my VPO entry this month for Latvia, and this little painting has a bit of a story to tell. First off, here is the Google link for this location.

This painting started out as a full, 9x12 piece on the linen sheet. And this is a classic example of "what I see in Google doesn't look good when I paint it!" The foreground tree was overpowering the entire painting, and taking me away from the laundry that I wanted to focus on. I fussed with this painting, redid the sky, redid the foreground tree, redid the building color. Nothing worked. 

I'd sit back & stare, I'd grab the camera to "see what the camera sees" -- it didn't look any better through the lens than it did in person. Then I thought I'd add darker shadows and even added a darker cast shadow of the foreground tree - nope, no good. I tried lighter values, darker values, color shifts. Nothing worked. After spending the weekend on the original painting, then futzing with it the next 2 nights - I decided that it was just not going to work and threw it aside, totally frustrated.

And then a light bulb went on......

I recall a simple class I sat in on where the speaker said "no amount of value or color changes will help a painting work, if the composition is wrong!" Holy smokes - my composition was all wrong! Asking myself "what is the central character in this 1 act play" - I answered "the laundry." Well, you didn't even see the laundry because that darn foreground tree was hogging all the attention. So the painting was never going to work. Ah, live & learn.

And then another light bulb.....

"Stop fussing with the values & colors, and fix the design." How? By cutting it up, of course. So, I grabbed my blade and straight edge, and simply changed it from a 9x12 to 6.5 x 5 -- and poof, I like it now! 

Hopefully I will remember this the next time I have a painting that is "just not working." Before reworking colors & values for the up-teenth time, take a look at the composition - it will probably be the culprit!

3 Amigos

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas mounted on hardboard

Available through DPW gallery/auction

Done in the 'shapes' style that I often do with still life paintings, these 3 amigos (cherries) were painted back in 2010. The highlights are not entirely white - lavender is in there, playing against the luscious reds. Even the background has the 'shapes' of light, as well as the cast shadows of the fruit. But it's the stems, I think, that makes this whole image work!

This was painted on a primed canvas sheet which, on the suggestion from a potential buyer of my work, was mounted on hardboard. Turned out to not be all that difficult to do! I will do more of my pieces this way, I think, as it seems to give it a more polished & professional look. 

Waterfront Property - SOLD

Acrylic on 6x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction 

Available for sale is this "Waterfront Property" painting, done on 6x12 canvas sheet. I love painting beaches & the ocean, may have to do more of them. But it's the house, the stairs and the fence along with the greenery that makes this so nice. I want to live there, even if only for a weeks vacation - and walk the beach in the mornings with my cup of coffee in hand, and just feel that ocean breeze on my face. The thought makes me smile......

Hedge Lane

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

I am captivated by roads, paths, lanes, trails - anything that can be travelled. I don't know if it is the act of traveling or the actual visual of the scenery around, but I feel compelled to change course whenever I encounter one. It's as if they call-out, they beckon "over here, this way" - and a part of me listens. Perhaps it is the opportunity that these paths offer - a chance to change things, a chance for life to be different, or maybe it's the opportunity to find "it" again - that place that you go to when you want to get grounded, when you need to regroup again, when you need sanctuary. 

So it's no surprise that many of my landscape paintings have a road or path in them, even if it's only a hint of one, it is usually there in the scene. In this particular painting, originally done in 2009, the road is a travelled one, dirt in the 2 track marks left behind by numerous travelers, now permanently worked into the land. Grass grows between the marks, while flowers spring forth on each side - lining the edges, helping to point the direction out to a weary traveler. 

I have been in a philosophical mood these past few days and in a place in my mind (& world) where I can't paint. In fact I was so surprised to discover tonight that it is Thursday evening and I haven't picked up a brush since Sunday. My unfinished work is sitting on my easel, just waiting. Honestly, a part of me thinks it's only Monday and the week is still ahead of me. But time slipped away from me this week.

I received word on Monday morning that an old friend and colleague passed away on Sunday. We weren't the closest of friends, but we were working friends when we were at the same company some time ago. She was a joyful person, great sense of humor, kind to all people and had a wonderful, great laugh that you would recognize in a crowded room. 

Now people die every day, and lately, I've had a few too many memorials to attend for my liking. However, this one is different - this joyful person took her own life. I can't, for the life of me, understand this decision she made - it goes against everything I ever knew her to be. But things are not always as they seem, and she apparently had some dark issues that she hid away from the people that she knew. I have been through some grief counseling in my past, so I know enough to "not blame" and "not do the what if's" -- this was her choice, her decision. Her reasons now rest with her. I have gone beyond the shock, the pain, and the anger - all I am left with is a very, very sad feeling in knowing that the world will never hear that laughter again. I feel drained.

I chose this painting to post tonight because I like to think that she is walking on that road now, where opportunity says to her "over here, this way", and maybe she will find "it" -- that peace she so desperately wanted. RIP Jeryl

By The Coast - SOLD

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This was done back in January of 2010 and I liked how the house sits, off to the side, but near the coastline. You can actually see the wave breaks coming into shore. Can't you just imagine being in that house, the sound of the ocean always in the background. Or sitting out on maybe the front porch, watching the waves, the ocean, smelling the salt scent of the water, maybe hearing the gulls calling out.

I had quite a bit of fun putting the tall grasses in the foreground - good old fan brush! And I like their sort of whimsical feel in comparison to the more direct lines of the house. The vertical lines of the grass is offset by the horizontal lines of the house, horizon & sky. I think maybe it gives the whole scene a sense of balance.

The Barn

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

Yesterday's barn painting brought to mind this painting that I did back in February of 2010. As you can tell, I love old barns. Only this time, it is summer, and the greens of the trees surround the old barn. 

Have you seen the forgotten barns in your travels? The ones that once were full of life & work, now left and forgotten. The stories those walls could tell, I can only imagine. 

And also, isn't it amazing how mother nature takes back her land? Once man is gone from a scene, nature slowly but steadily, takes back the land. Buildings decay, then lean, then collapse - as the growth takes over and covers the land once again. That is what I tried to depict here. But the lone dead tree in front of the barn, it seems to have it's own story to tell. 

The Old Barn

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

My submission to the June Challenge at ADNW blog - this barn was so intriguing to me, I couldn't wait to paint it. The rust on the metal roof (that is peeling up on the edges), the weathered wood slats that lined the outside of the barn, the glimpse into the barn & also through the barn to the background and the foreground grasses -- all of it made my fingers twitch. 

I chose to warm up the barn with some red hues, but did some olive green washes to weather it a bit, especially on the left wall that was in shadow more. I chose a crop that had the barn going off the right side, putting that opening in the prime spot as my focal point. I put my most detail into the building, the roof & slats, and made the shadows under the roof eaves as pronounced as possible. The sky had only a glimpse of clouds cutting across, but blending as well.

My biggest challenge was how to handle the foreground grasses. My first thought was to make them as involved as they were in the photograph. But a class I recently sat in on talked about leaving out the details - sort of a "less is more" approach to busy scenes. Also, if I made the foreground as detailed as the barn, then the grasses would be in competition with the barn for the viewers attention. Instead, I put individual clumps of grass, along with pieces of the grass showing along the barn edges. Then used some washes of the grass color to indicate the lay of the land, and to give a subtle path for the eye to follow up to the barn entrance. 

I like this painting & how it turned out. This was one of those paint-in-one-session paintings, where I work it from start to finish in one sitting. Probably because I love the subject so much - a barn (or any other old, outbuilding) captivates me, even when traveling. It always catches my eye as we drive past, and often I have to turn around to go back & take a photo. My husband has learned, whenever we pass an old barn - even before I can say anything, he will ask "you wanna go back?" 

Maui -- SOLD

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet
SOLD - prints available through Fine Art America

The beach at Maui - oh, I wish I was there right now. The sound of the surf, the sea breeze, the warm sun - and one of those exotic drinks with an umbrella in my hand! What a wonderful escape, even if it's only in my mind as I stare at this! 

Calla Lilly

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This is my submission to Dana Marie's challenge blog "Rendition Me This" - where an image or painting is posted as inspiration. Artists then paint their rendition of the image - be is same or similar. It's a fun challenge and you should click on over & check it out.

I have always loved the calla lily - it's trumpet shape is so unique for a flower. And the numerous colors that this lilly can be found in are very rich & demanding for attention. I chose to go with the yellow variety, as I loved the chance to work with those buttery yellows again. And of course, my close up zoomed in view is sort of standard for me with flowers. 

Iris - SOLD

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This painting is the first of a group I have that I am offering at auction over at DPW with a reduced starting price -- this painting has a $15.00 starting price! I realize I have a substantial gallery of work and would like to move/sell some of these items. And by reducing the starting price, I feel I am offering my work to a larger audience. 

This painting was first posted a year ago, and the original post can be viewed here.