Monday, December 29, 2014

Vintage 1960's Painting

I take great pride in painting from my own photographs, but there are times when I come across photos that I enjoy so much that I just want to paint them. These paintings aren't listed for sale, and are often practice pieces that typically end up hanging on my own wall. This is one such painting. I also wanted to document my progress--I do this often, but usually forget to continue photographing about half way through.

Photograph by Richard Avedon 1968

10x10" on gallery wrapped canvas






















Saturday, December 27, 2014

Thursday, December 18, 2014

The Golden Dome of Notre Dame 2

A woman contacted me via email regarding a painting I had done over a year ago of the golden dome of Notre Dame she had found online. She was interested in having a similar painting done for her daughter who will be graduating in May. It was a very challenging painting for me the first time around! However enough time had passed that I was curious of how I might progress--I think I did pretty well!

11x14 on museum quality panel






















Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Macy the English Sheepdog

It is so interesting to hear about artists and their preferences regarding phases of paintings. I am definitely someone who loves the beginning when things are just taking shape and then the end when it all comes together. The messy middle phase always freaks me out a little!

Macy was done as a Christmas commission gifted early. She was started with brush and I had a great soft look going, but in the end the need for thick and shiny won out. On live the palette knife! :)

8x10 on 1/8" museum quality panel






















Wednesday, December 10, 2014

A Muse

I remember spending a lot of time at my paternal grandparents house when I was younger. My grandma was everything--sweet, patient, kind... So many memories of her and her home. My aunt sent me some pictures of her years ago, and I came across them again recently. This one, with the pose and the peep-toe shoes, was perfection.

8x10 on 1/8" museum quality panel






















Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Tinsel Times Three

The past few paintings have been done using brush and palette knife. For some reason I had rules for myself before--only palette knife on this one, let me try brush on this one... Not sure why. I'm learning more about the elements I like of each, so why not use them together??

And here is my first attempt at painting Christmas ornaments. More to come hopefully!

6x6 on 1/8" museum quality panel



Sunday, November 30, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Grapefruit

It's cold here in Wisconsin--snow and below zero temperatures already in mid-November. I thought I'd do a little fruit series, but have only felt passionately about painting the pomegranate and this grapefruit so far. I wait anxiously all year for these two fruits to be at their peek. They help make this cold time of year so much more enjoyable!

8x8 on 1/8" museum quality panel






















Monday, November 10, 2014

Pomegranate

Pomegranates are definitely one of my favorite fruits and something I've been wanting to paint for a long time. I had just finished up a few Christmas commissions, and finally got up the courage to give it a try. Couldn't be happier with the way this came together--it looks good enough to eat! I was able to use the palette knife a bit in the finishing and think it gave some great depth to the painting.

8x8" oil on 1/8" museum quality panel






















Thursday, November 6, 2014

First Outing

It is a huge step for me to have my paintings out in the world, on display. They are hanging in my downtown, in a beautiful renovated historical building that is now a salon. I couldn't be more thrilled. Here are some photos:


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Just Because

I love this softer color palette with the bright pops of orange. For this painting I used a very limited palette of five colors and white: cadmium yellow medium and light, sap green, alizarin crimson, and cerulean. It makes for such nice color harmony.

Continue to enjoy painting the flower bouquets using my palette knives. They require a LOT of paint on these larger canvases (although this particular one isn't too large) to get that thickness and those great knife marks. Enjoy!

12x16 oil on 7/8" gallery wrapped canvas

zoomed in






















Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A New Journey

This painting was a commissioned piece done for a friend who just moved to a new city. It's always tough to leave that first home. I hope this will be a treasured keepsake, a painting of the house where their babies were born.

8x8 oil palette knife painting






















Thursday, October 9, 2014

Watercolors Practice

When I'm short on time, looking for inspiration, or checking to see how a painting works, I often get out my pen and watercolors. The pen is to challenge and grow my drawing skills, so not to get too fussy about my marks.

The transparency of watercolors and the light airiness they give to a painting is such a contrast to the thick application of oil that is used with my palette knife paintings. It's always a nice change. Here are some of the little paintings in my journal. You might recognize a few of them from works I've also done in oils.









Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Bittersweet Bouquet

The seasons are changing right before my eyes! As always I am reluctant to say good-bye to summer. One perk to ease my pain is that the trees are already in full color change here in Southern Wisconsin. This painting is my attempt at embracing fall--this being the first day of October and all. :)

18x18 on 7/8" gallery wrapped canvas
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texture close-up

Friday, September 26, 2014

Fresh Flowers

I so enjoyed painting the last flower bouquet, and thought I'd like to try another in a square format. This painting gave me a lot of trouble for some reason! I did a lot of scraping and moving things around and finally got things the way I wanted. The painting has a lot of great texture with the knife, and kind of a fall feel. Love the leaves too, and in the end am very happy with it.

18x18 on 3/4" gallery wrapped canvas


a closer peek





































Monday, September 22, 2014

Flower Bouquet

This painting feels like a culmination of all of the different things I have been working on. It's done with palette knife, but finally has the looseness I have been wanting. This larger scale allows for that. So enjoyed myself while painting this!

20x24 oil palette knife painting

a close-up of the juicy colors and knife marks


















Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Canoeing the Wisconsin River

My family and I went canoeing with some friends on the Wisconsin River a few weeks ago. I kept trying to capture a photo of our canoes every time we stopped because I thought it would make a great painting. I'm so happy with the way it turned out and treasure the fun memories we made that day.

8x10" oil palette knife painting 
on 1/8" museum quality panel

Using artistic license, I kept the coolers out of the painting! :)