Mandarin: Part I

This is a 23x23" oil painting in progress titled Mandarin. It's dramatic with great light. I can't help myself. The blurry background will work in the end, but for now it weighs too much. As soon as I add the yellow tulips with the red stripes down the petals, it will all balance out.

Lavender & Lace

17 x 17" original oil

sold

There is a little place to stay in Manti, Utah that is a lot like the Anniversary Inn of Salt Lake. They have a themed room called "Lavender & Lace." It's of course decorated with dried lavender, but there is the light purple color mixed with creams throughout. I had help from friends in coming up with a title for this piece, and when one mentioned "Lace" it reminded me of the Lavender & Lace room I've stayed in before, and I felt it fit the purply grays and creams, as well as the older, more elegant feel of this painting.

Fall is coming. I am getting excited for anything with spices and pumpkin, as well as comfy cardigans and good books, clearer air and crisp mornings, rainstorms, colored leaves sticking to the wet streets, and wind! I love a good night wind when there is a full moon and low, scuttling clouds.

October will be a busy month of production for me as I get ready for a November show. At this moment I need to pinch myself to see if I really am living this life: I wake up, I walk to my studio, I paint. Nice.

Here is an early shot of Lavender & Lace before I saved it from the horrible peach color it had as the background. Black works much better to sharpen the image and "grow it up". Peach. Ick. I don't know what I was thinking. Peach would have worked better had it not been for the darker midtones.

Butterfly Wings

33 x 49" original oil

sold

This is my favorite painting of 2012 (so far). Thank you Cindy for the title idea. Butterfly Wings perfectly fits the colors, shapes, edges and translucence. This painting will be at my art show in Salt Lake on November 8th. Click here for a link to my website with info.

Thank you also to my friend Elise who gave me some advice earlier in the week to remember to enjoy the process. I replayed her advice daily as I worked and worked on this painting.

I am a sucker for deep colors and dramatic light. Those reds...I can't get over those crimson, crimson reds. I just want to eat them up. 

I've been excited to share this one all week, so here you go! You have seen my new favorite.

Georgiana

16 x 31" original oil

available through the artist

I am so happy to be finished with this painting. It feels like I spent a lot longer on it than I normally do, but I know why: there are so many color variations in the oranges and yellows that I slowed myself down to see the color and paint it instead of using the same mixed piles for everything. When I began this painting in the back, painting in the blacks and pinks, it felt so off. I needed to see the orange creamsicle creaminess of the foreground. I trusted the reference and now that it's complete and all of the colors are there, I love how it feels. This painting feels soft and feminine and old...that's why I chose the title Georgiana. It feels like a painting Mr. Darcy's sister would have had in her piano room a hundred years ago, next to a gilded mirror and light sconce. 

I love this area. You can see a lot of the color range. Grays are a secret weapon for painting oranges. 

This is one of four palettes I used to complete Georgiana. My favorite two colors to put next to each other on the palette during this painting were raw umber and cad yellow medium. It mixed into the nicest deep green. I dipped into it a lot. You don't see "green" when you look at Georgiana but there is a lot of green in the mixed paint. I love painting. Colors are crazy. Some of you know, some of you don't, so I'll say it again: I paint wet-on-wet, or alla prima all at once. I don't work over a dry layer. I choose to paint wet-on-wet because I can get crazy awesome color mixing, and I enjoy the challenge and immediacy of working on one area, darks and lights at the same time, until it's finished, then moving on. 

Bless my iPod. Painting all day is hard, people. It's tiring. Music is the wake-up! Here is a list of favorites that came on during the shuffling, that quickened my brush and opened my eyes:

Dave Matthews Band - Two Step

Mat Kearney - Count on Me

Moby - Porcelain

Dark Knight Soundtrack - I Am Not a Hero

Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Jack Johnson - Losing Keys

Mormon Tabernacle Choir - The First Noel

Interference - Gold

Blink 182 - I Miss You

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

Dark Knight Soundtrack - Like a Dog Chasing Cars

Lion King Soundtrack - Under the Stars

I am a music junkie and if you are like me, you'll appreciate this list of songs. I am always looking for new sounds, bands, soundtracks that have muscle. It makes for great painting sessions.