Swept

5 x 7" original oil

sold

The freshness and lift that this title implies is the feeling I'm going for in this painting. If you close your eyes and imagine the clean ocean breeze and the coolness of dusk on your face after a hot day, then you open your eyes and see the last rosy tinges of the sunset fading into a blue and purple sunset, you have this painting. It wraps you in its arms, it sweeps all the stress away, and it transports you to another place, another time. 

xo,

C

Glimmer

5 x 7" original oil

available through the artist

My heart sings when I get to paint little glowing seascapes like this. I start with a tiny panel and on this one I used acrylics to quickly saturate some areas to stain where the water would go, where the brightest areas would go, etc. Then I switch to oil paints, I get my palette knife, and I mix colors I see in the reference photo. I start laying them on until the painting all of a sudden gets a life of its own and begins to breathe. That's when I know the painting is done and it's time for me to stop. Magic!!

Congratulations to whomever collects this piece - may it add a little bit of glimmer to your life and remind you of beautiful things just beyond the horizon. 

xo,

C

Sloan Elizabeth Triptych

26 x 80" original oil triptych

sold

My fabulous St. George Gallery, Authentique, arranged this commission for an out-of-state client. As soon as these paintings are dry, they will be shipped off to Kentucky! This project was so much work, but so rewarding. I spent all of January on it, down to the last day. I'd start my day in the morning in the studio and focus on one blossom at a time. There are so many color changes. I wanted the nuances of the creamier blossoms versus the darker pink blossoms to be obvious, then if you zoom in, there are areas that are purple, orange, gray, blue, and greenish. The prism of colors visible when you zoom in is what makes it feel so alive when you zoom out. Original artwork has personality and depth, and this one is very much alive. Thank you Authentique for securing and arranging this commission, thank you to my new and wonderfully cooperative client for supporting me and purchasing my artwork, and may it bring you joy each time you see it hanging on your wall! 

Much Love,

C

detail from first panel

detail from middle panel

detail from third panel

Three easels!!

one of MANY palettes that formed this piece

first panel
26 x 20"

middle panel
26 x 40"

third panel
26 x 20"

Matou Te Fiafia Iinei

 15 x 34" original oil

commission

The title of this painting is Samoan for "We Are Happy Here." I did this painting for a couple who used to live in Samoa. They love the ocean. They are my friends and luckily my neighbors. They have known  me for years, long before I was in galleries, and back when I used to have little shows at my house to start the momentum of artist promotion. It was my pleasure to finally do a little seascape for them, and I'm glad it will bring them a little piece of Samoa. I hope it reminds them of warm beachy afternoons, a state of mind, and being decisive. 

detail

Serendipity

30 x 45" original oil

sold

Last spring, I set out to photograph tulips at my favorite place: Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It's quite an ordeal - I sacrifice a day in the studio and all of that production to traipse around a man-made wonder, hoping to find subject material fit for a painting and worth the studio-time sacrifice. I pack a bag with my big camera and battery, I pack snacks, I pack an ice pack for my sore back (for the ride home), I put on sunscreen, I put on my comfy shoes, I double-check that I have my garden pass, and I get in the car. If I didn't stop to photograph, it would take me an hour just to walk the loop of the gardens. They are huge. There is no quick in and out. 

On this day that I headed out to Thanksgiving Point Gardens, the sun was playing peekaboo with the clouds and it was so windy. Like blow-your-hat-off windy. Usually it will be sunny at my house and cloudy at the gardens. They are situated in a low valley at the point of a mountain and seem to create their own weather. However, I can't waste a sunny day in spring so again, on this day I headed to the gardens hoping to be in the right place at the right time with sunlight and a great patch of flowers. I knew it was a bust about twenty minutes into my route. The tulips were fast asleep in their tight buds and at least a week away from being good subject material. There is a spot in the gardens that gets early sun and is unusually warm, but like running into Wal-Mart for just milk, this place in the gardens was in the very back. Nothing. All of the tulips were totally dormant. 

I came around a cold corner high with mature pine trees, and bam, daffodil land. There on a hill with east sun, daffodils waved and nodded in the freezing wind. My numb fingers snapped a few photos and I called it a day, retreating to the warm shelter of my studio and hoping the day wasn't a total waste. 

I looked through my shots later that night and saw this reference. I immediately fell in love. It had back lighting, balance, strength, and depth. I knew I'd paint it large, and I've been waiting for the right time. My first spring show, Art & Soup, seemed like a good time to debut this sunny beauty and usher in the Spring. 

Sometimes you get a little lucky and have something wonderful in your path that you were not expecting, and I call this painting Serendipity to honor the situation that brought it to me. 

detail