CLOTHESPINS

CLOTHESPINS
24" x 36" (61.0cm x 91.5cm)
oil on canvas
$750 plus $15.95 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Well, this was done right down to the wire! It's the last day for submission to the RookiePainter.com challenge for this three-week period. I really loved the reference and intended to paint something barely there, ethereal and muted. Not! But, we'll see, I think my touch is lightening up a little.

I'll spare you the usual whining about the results. It's 94 degrees, I haven't done the June Cleaver shuffle around the old homestead, I'm pissed off, cranky and am trying, with great difficulty, to recall the last time I needed a sweater.

RIKKI

16x20"
oil on canvas
NFS

Ahh, another donation painting done. This is Rikki. Next!

MALE 1

24x36"
oil on canvas
SOLD

I'm posting this sucker because I'm incredibly frustrated with it and think it's time to take a break. I find I'm beginning to dab at piles of color on my palate and hope they'll be right. Not good. Every so often, more often than I care to admit, I just lose focus, get lazy and make stabs at the right value and temp instead of carefully looking at my reference. I want to finish this just so I can post and move on. Not good. I want the spontaneity and fresh brush strokes Ciree had. I'm finding it hard to make the transition with a larger surface using larger brushes. Practice will help.

I want to begin a series of portrait studies of faces that interest me on 24x36," stark white canvases. I'm hoping I'll stumble into a concept. We'll see.

Have to finish a few commission and donation pieces, one more challenge and then I'll continue. A fresh look always helps.

Thank you to everyone who stops by this blog. Your comments and insights are incredibly supportive and helpful. Enjoy the weekend.

PILLOWCASE

SOLD

What!!!? I simply refuse to accept that it's that time again! Obviously refusing to accept does little to alter what appears to be reality. It's going too fast. Far too fast.

Anyway, I love folds and shadows and mid-tones and highlights reflected by haphazardly arranged material of any kind. Gee, what a surprise! This months theme was my choice! I love what everyone did, as always. It's so interesting to see how everyone interprets the same subject.

I appear to be on a roll, although verbalizing will undoubtedly call attention to it and then it might disappear. But realizing that it's all in my mind which makes it all my choice helps immeasurably, so, suffice it to say, my roll will continue.

I can't seem to stay away from the easel! What a wonderful feeling! And what a wonderful surprise when I clicked on Blogger and saw the new design choices. I'm lovin' the one I chose.

I hope you'll enjoy this months challenge paintings from the group as much as I did...

“Waiting for Chloë”
oil on hardboard 8x10”
 unframed $325
©2010 Diana Moses Botkin
http://dianamosesbotkin.blogspot.com/

"Saturday Chores"
6x6” oil on panel
© 2010 Robin Cheers
http://robincheers.blogspot.com

Lily-of-the-Valley with Lace
Tablescarf on Williamsburg Tea Caddy
5x5” oil on panel
©2010 Jeanne Illenye
http://jeanneillenye.blogspot.com

“Le drapé”
©2010 Vicki Ross
9x12” oil on panel
http://www.vickiandrandyrossart.blogspot.com/

EIGHT

EIGHT
16" x 20" (40.7cm x 50.8cm)
oil on canvas
$550 plus $15.95 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This months art group meeting was today. The word we were given was "eight."  I was stumped. Clever wasn't forthcoming and introspective was nowhere to be seen, however decorative showed up but was hastily asked to leave. Then I thought perhaps a tattoo might work. In the process, I got much more involved with the body, obviously, the tat looks like it's pasted on. I'm going to work on it and make the sections follow the contour of the muscles more which, I hope, will make it appear more like genuine ink.

This is more an illustration than a painting, I think. Perhaps accompanying a story in connection with the feng shui of body art or something about keeping fit. Whatever the case, we're creating art together every month, something we both sorely miss since I left the job we shared five years ago.

Oh, by the way, Happy Anniversary dude and yes, I'd do it again. In a heartbeat.

THREE KINGS

Three Kings
24" x 18" (61.0cm x 45.8cm)
oil on canvas
$750 plus $15.95 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Whenever I look at these proud stubby little bottles with their soft round crowns of cork, I imagine them as an integral part of some perverse nativity scene... barely visible through the grime shrouded window of some downtown bar. 

They just look majestic somehow. Can't explain it. There's something cuddly about those shrunken down bottles of spirits on the shelves behind—or just adjacent to—the cash register in liquor stores. It looks as though some prone to practical jokes wizard dropped by for a bottle of red and with a wave of his wand miniaturized an entire section of the store. They never really quite look proportional though do they.

These puppies are from last summer. They were our "germ killer" of choice, bought to chase down two dozen little neck clams, served on a bed of crushed ice and garnished with beautifully arranged green leaf lettuce. I remember it clearly because I had planned to snap a shot of the small feast. Ripe with the smell of ocean tides and dotted with the best homemade cocktail sauce on the planet, courtesy of himself, I thought it might make a nice daily. But we dove in and finished 'em off before I could so I shot the kings instead.

Still a lot of detail to finish up, but I have to stop and get some deadline work done so I thought I'd post it now. I tried for a looser look, I held the brush a la Master Hein and left fresh strokes but alas, it still looks tight and overworked. I'll get there. I'm feelin' optimistic and positive. The boys are sleeping under my chair, gently snoring and floating the occasional air biscuit. I swear, one would expect they'd float to the ceiling with all that gas inside such a small area. I think we're all getting into the groove and mom can work now without crating them, most of the time anyway. 

Wish I had some little necks.

FOR THE BIRDS

For the Birds
16" x 16" (40.7cm x 40.7cm)
oil on canvas
$250 plus $15.95 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. Memorial Day is a wonderful sentiment for our troops, both past and present, but thank you just doesn't seem to even come close to enough for the sacrifices they made and are presently making. I think "thank you" will mean a lot more if the reason we're compelled to say it every year were summarily eliminated.

These little ceramic critters were a gift. Not in the real sense of the word but an accidental gift. I'm working on a few commissions and donation paintings as well as concepts and portraits I've been wanting to do, but they're all time consuming and seem to be dragging along. I've been hankerin for a quick, easy painting with a more muted palate just to try and get back on the daily train. There is no substitute for that kind of experience not to mention the sense of accomplishment that follows.

Another artist, Linda Popple, was kind enough to drop by and leave a comment about Ciree here a few weeks ago.  I'm not familiar with her so I popped on over to her blog to check out her work. I absolutely loved what I saw. Check out her post for today, The Group at http://lindapopple.blogspot.com/. It's bold, colorful and graphic. Anyway, I saw her painting of these birds and read her post which suggested a visit to http://rookiepainter.blogspot.com/. Just the ticket. A challenge photo is posted every three weeks and anyone is invited to paint it and have it posted on the blog. It was exactly what I needed.

I haven't finished a painting in one day in quite a while. I'm really going to make an effort to get back to it so I can find my voice. Yeah, I know, I've said that before. I've also been thinking of limiting my palate. I still didn't achieve the muted look I had in mind. But it's a start. Thank you Rookie Painter. Thank you very much.