Roxie

5 x 7

oil on panel

SOLD

Roxie is my friend's grandpuppy. There was a bit of a challenge to keep her from blending into the wall behind her since they were almost identical colors. Additionally, she was laying in mulch which also blended with her tan colored fur on her legs and chest.  If you've visited this blog before and are experiencing some deja vu, you might be remembering my previous paintings of my friend's other two dogs who also posed in front of this wall.

Jeremy

6 x 6 

oil on panel

 

 This little mug shot of my nephew Jeremy is from a photo he gave me. I liked that it caught him in a casual,  slightly scruffy moment. I forgot to give him photo credit for the picture I used to paint his girlfriend, oops, make that fiance, Alyssa who was featured in my last post.

Alyssa

6 x 6 

oil on panel

We had a wonderful Christmas with this year since my son, daughter-in-love, and nephews were all home and together. One of the best gifts was that my nephew brought along his beautiful girlfriend Alyssa and they surprised us with their engagement announcement!  This is her little portrait to join the others on my wall of family mugs!

Nick

5 x 7

oil an Ampersand

 This face, my son's, is my favorite in the world - and one of the hardest for me to paint because I know it so well. The challenge is to not just capture his likeness, but to express something about the incredibly kind and intelligent person he is.

Susie

6 x 6

oil on panel

Another addition to my friends and family wall, my dear friend Susie Suraci. Susie is an amazing artist whose paintings we have proudly and lovingly hung in our home. Her beautiful work is often shown in galleries and exhibitions around this corner of the country. As soon as she gets another website up and rolling - I'll add it to my favorites on the right side of this blog page.  Susie is also a singer-songwriter and is currently teamed up with her likewise very talented husband Rob in the band, The Flying Suracis.  Oh - and she's a writer-writer.  She's a constant source of inspiration to me in so many ways and one of my nearest and dearest.

Best Buds

8 x 10

oil on Ampersand Panel

A lovely little bouquet that my sweet husband put together from out of our yard. I had an intense romance with blue Ball jars this summer and Scott kept them filled with these little treasures from our flower beds.  The cupcake was a bonus!

Dorine

6 x 6

oil on Ampersand Panel

Another little portrait in my family and friends series. This is my husband's late mother. She was tiny but with a great cloud of cotton candy hair that was particularly fun to paint.

Aunt Jerry

5 x 7

oil on Ampersand Panel

As I worked on this, I kept trying to imagine what I could say to describe my Aunt Jerry and found I couldn't adequately edit a fitting description down to a few sentences. Those of us that knew her and loved her know the amazing person she was, so I'll leave with the following. She lived long enough so that she forever etched her great love, faith, and optimism in her precious face.  We all miss her dearly.

Paul

 

6 x 6

oil on Ampersand panel

I'm still slowly working toward my goal of painting mini portraits of my family and friends, all to hand together in our house. This is our friend Paul, an amazing musician, songwriter, carpenter, craftsman, and the best banjo picker I've ever personally known. This was taken from one of his photos, with his permission.

Freddie

6 x 6

oil on Ampersand panel

The last month has been a busy one with festivals, family celebrations, and other events but life is settling back to normal. I was determined to sit down and paint today and was very happy that it all rolled along smoothly. This is a portrait of my late father-in-law Freddie, a charming, intelligent, good man.  This is from a photo my husband took about a year before he died at age 93. Right up to the end he and his wife lived independently in their own home, mowing his own lawn, driving, and hanging out with his best friend, the guy next door.  He certainly lived up to the reputation of being a member of the "greatest generation".

Scott and Freddie

Applying Patience

 

8 x 10

oil on panel

I'm not much of a flyer. It takes something pretty important for me to climb on to an airplane, such as a trip to see my son, but I've mostly had decent experiences.  The exception was on my last return trip during which my expected four hour layover turned into almost three days of cancellations and rerouting and would have been longer if I hadn't finally rented a car and drove home.  The weather was the main culprit but the airline's lack of customer service made a bad situation miserable.  This couple settled themselves in with their devices and seemed to take it all in stride, but then again their plane actually took off.

An Outside Job

8 x 10

oil on panel

A few years ago I took a plein air workshop.  It was in July of 2010 which was a summer of grueling heat and humidity. The model was a friend of the artist conducting the workshop and generously baked in the sun as we painted.  This was from one of the reference photos I took that day. I tried to approach painting it in the studio with the same loose, efficiency you have to use in the field.

Rosy Cheeks

4 x 4

oil on Ampersand panel

In looking through files for a subject today, I came across pictures of the lovely Miss Adora Levine whose life has been chronicled on a blog called Adorable.  She is four now, and since she was a baby, she has been the subject of over 600 artistic interpretations by artists at the invitation from her parents.  This is the second portrait I've had the pleasure to paint from a photo taken by her parents.

Mayfield Pond

10 x 10

oil on canvas

On my last visit to Austin, Texas, we went to Mayfield Park and Preserves.  The park is a beautiful, scenic two acres that include flower gardens, six of these lily filled ponds, and most notably, peacocks.  Peacocks are walking around everywhere, spreading out their gorgeous feathers and letting you come up close to photograph them.  The ponds are really pretty with their white, pink, and fuchsia flowers and are home to lots of fish and turtles.  Then there is an additional 21 acres of preserves used as a wildlife habitat that visitors can hike.  

I so love painting while I'm listening to podcasts of Artists Helping Artists.  If you're not familiar with it, click on it or you can access it through the iTunes store to subscribe. The program always provides helpful and practical advice to artists, interviews with professional artists, tips on managing your business, marketing strategies, and just about any topic of interest. I just love it. 

It's hosted by Leslie Saeta who is also hosting a challenge to artists to paint every day and post it on her blog found here. 

For purchase information regarding this or my other paintings, click here.

Sand Fences

6 x 6

oil on Ampersand panel

These little iconic, weather beaten and sun bleached strips of fencing are used to keep sand from reeking havoc with beach front homes and their air conditioners, plumbing, and pools.  To an inland person, they were always a mystery until I Googled it - thank God for Google!  This was taken along the beach at Hilton Head, South Carolina.

I used a bit of palette knife action on this to cut in those fine weeds, especially in the background. 

For purchase information visit my gallery at Daily Paintworks.