In the Shade Garden

12 x 14

oil on canvas

I so enjoyed this challenge of getting the dappled light and shade right in the skin tones on this painting.  The model took some time to catch up on her studies while she provided this classic pose.
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In the Golden Hour on Theme and Main

11 x 14

oil on canvas

Recently, we were taking a drive to check out the rivers in town which, thanks to the relentless rains this summer, have been very high for weeks. At this location along the St.Mary's river, the sun was just beginning to set and it was brilliantly flashing between the trees. We had to pull the car over to just appreciate the beauty of the moment.
For purchase, please contact The Castle Gallery

Barr Street Market

11 x 16

oil on board

sold

It's so exciting to be back into the season of garden fresh vegetables and farmer's markets. We went out to one last weekend and it was enough to inspire me to finish this painting that I began last year. This is a popular local market, full of the colors and fragrances of summer.

The Landing

11 x 14

oil on board

I'm trying to do more plein air painting and am lucky to have a group of painter friends who have organized weekly outings. Last week we met downtown on Columbia Street West, historically known as "The Landing" since it was the point of landing and departure for people and goods using stagecoaches or boats on the Erie and Wabash Canal. For as long as I can remember, it's since been the site of various bars, delis, hotels, shops, coffee houses and candy parlors as well as empty buildings. Currently it's pretty quiet and largely unoccupied except for a couple of restaurants, some professional buildings, and one very popular and stalwart bar which is subject of my painting. That's probably going to change again soon, for the better, since our city has been actively and successfully revitalizing the downtown area for awhile with expansions that will bring this old street back to life.

For purchase, please contact The Castle Gallery

Garden views

16 x 20

oil on canvas

"In the Garden"

14 x 18

oil on canvas

"Lilly Gardens"

A couple more works painted, or i should say "started", in Indianapolis while at the Randall Sexton workshop. We were pretty much set loose to paint where we wanted. And the model and Randall were very generous to let us take lots of photo references to use later. Randall would come around with advice or suggestions for those who asked, but these two paintings were still in the sketch/ blocking in phase while he was around and finished later at home.

Costumed Model

18 x 14

oil on canvas

I was able to attend a terrific plein air workshop with Randall Sexton last month. The weather didn't cooperate, although we did get some half days out in the beautiful gardens at the estate where the workshop was held. When the rains rolled in, we gathered in a garage where it was hot and damp, but we did get some nice experiences painting models, in spite of conditions. I appreciate how miserable the models had to be, sitting still under a lamp and away from the open garage doors. This portrait is of Rich, who dressed in a uniform which was interesting in contrast to his flowing hair and beard. Nice guy.

Chairmen of the Boards

24 x 12

oil on canvas

A scene captured in Chicago on Michigan Avenue of people playing street chess. I love that city.

Her Father's Turn

20 x 16

oil on canvas

  My friend's daughter was recently married and this captures one of the sweet moments, the father-daughter dance. I took a lot of liberties with the interior at the reception, just for fun and extra atmosphere.

New Vintage

5 x 7

oil on panel

I love ball jars. And this year, to my great delight,  I found Ball had reissued pint jars in a deep purple! So I set up this little still life of my purple reissued Ball jar on my pink reproduction carnival glass platter. This is the same setting as my blue Ball jar painting, with our back yard showing through the window in the background. The colors were kind of crazy but works since yellow-green is the compliment of red-purple.  I can't wait to can jam in these jars, but will always keep one reserved for painting!
For purchase, please contact The Castle Gallery

Catching Z's

5 x 7

oil on gessoboard

I've always heard the most brilliant sunrises and sunsets happen during the change of seasons and lately, we've had some whoppers.

Life Drawings

Last week I attended a life drawing session hosted by Artlink Gallery. It has been a very long time since I've had the opportunity to draw a live, nude model and I expected it to be a challenging evening. A friend had said it would come back to me like riding a bicycle and happily, she was right. I'm hoping to do this more often and to improve these skills. These drawings were done with a mix of pencils I brought along including pastel, Prismacolor, and a range of leads. They weren't an ideal mix, so next time I'll know to use more congruent materials.

It was good to become reacquainted with what different effects you get with various paper textures and the soft and hard pencils. The entire session was three hours during which the model gave us five, thirty, and forty minute poses.  All three of these poses were held for approximately 40 minutes and the time flew by.   

Doctor Banjo

8 x 8

oil on panel

I needed to do a portrait today and our friend Mike was the perfect subject. One of his occupations is being a luthier, which means he builds and repairs instruments. He's also a terrific musician. I took the photo I used for this portrait, when he was doing some work on my banjo. I love the great character in his face. And he IS a character and a good guy, so this will be a gift to him.

Rose Nouveau

5 x 7

oil on panel

My sweet husband Scott brought me beautiful roses for Valentine's Day so I popped one into my favorite art nouveau vase and did this quick little painting. This was the first time I used the light and shadow box I built using Carol Marine's design which is available here.

Last night was the artist's reception for the Valentine's Day show at The Castle Gallery of Fine Art and as always, we had a wonderful time visiting with friends, enjoying gorgeous art, and even jamming a little music. My painting "Be Mine" looked great in it's new frame and though this isn't a good photo, I wanted to share it. It was actually beautifully lit as well.

Updo

8 x 8

oil on panel

After finishing the last larger, more detailed piece of cut glass, I needed to loosen up with some quick paintings. I did a couple small ones including this guy which was an older one that was started and set aside. I totally enjoyed doing both in quick, broad strokes with lots of linseed to make the paint nice and juicy. This little magpie duck with the tufted head feathers reminded me of the fancy updos of the early sixties, (when I was a kid!).

Be Mine

19 x 25

oil on canvas

Valentine's Day is coming and I had it in my mind to do another painting with glass, maybe Ball jars, but in pinks. Obviously as I started setting up my arrangement it morphed into something quite different, but it's glass and it's pink. I have never tackled anything quite like this, but it was enjoyable.

This is going into the Valentine's Day show at the Castle Gallery in Ft.Wayne, Indiana.