Ice Queens

8" x 16" oils
sold

Finito. I love the olive green and bits of red. The day is young and I still feel like painting. I'm going to go work on Gold.

Ice Queens: Part II

The title for this painting is fitting, seeing as it snowed here yesterday and there's a FREEZING wind blowing. All I want to do is curl up in front of a heater and sip hot cocoa. And hibernate.

The petals are a little crisper after today's work.

Ice Queens: Part I

8" x 16" oils

It's been months since I've painted poppies, and it may be the fact that Spring is around the corner, but I was in the mood to paint poppies today. These grew around the corner last summer and I only stopped once to photograph them. They were growing in front of a church and I was a little nervous about poking around a church with my camera when people were driving by, staring at me.
The great thing about being a painter is the freedom to bounce between subject matter material. I love it all.
The bits of red peeking through are my favorite parts so far. The hardest part today was mapping out the crinkles in the petals - something which will improve the next time I work on this piece.

Gold: Part I

23" x 27" oils

I began this piece today. The title is Gold for the obvious reason of the sky color, but also after Robert Frost's poem Nothing Gold Can Stay. If any of you have seen the movie "The Outsiders," you'll know the reference. It's kind of a sad poem, but pretty nonetheless.

The sky has a nice heat to it, but the water is not yet alive. I'll work on that next session. I also want to fix the division of colors above the cloud line - blur them a bit. Today the paint needed to be left alone though.

Virginia

18" x 36" oils
sold

This painting was finished today. The best part is the blend on the horizon between the heavy air and faraway water. The painting feels like it's finished: when I look at it, I am transported to the beach where I can hear the surf, smell the salt, and feel the humidity. The beach is where it's at. To those of you who live by one: LUCKY.

This painting came together all on it's own - it is another example of how sometimes I'm just the one in front of the easel holding the brush. Today I feel lucky to be a painter.

a close-up

YouTube

If you haven't seen my YouTube movie yet, click here. It is a two minute timelapse that takes a tulip painting from start to finish. The painting just sold, and the new owner has the unique ability to know exactly how their piece of artwork was painted.