Summer Veggies

5"x 7"
acrylic masonite

This colorful arrangement of summer vegetables was the current image for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks .
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The "Gathering Of The Gals" On The Wall

8"x 10"
acrylic on masonite

The main meeting and gathering place in Avalon on Catalina Island, is "The Wall" which serpentine's along Front Street and the beach where most of the city's action takes place. It is the perfect place to sit, relax, watch people, contemplate life, or "forget your troubles come on get happy"! I can't help but wonder about these four ladies and what they're discussing, what they've been through together, the length and strength of their friendship and how many years they've been gathering together on The Wall.
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A Colorless Challenge

This challenge from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog was tough for me! As you can see, the reference photo is colorless.....thus the challenge. Make up the color! How hard can that be? It's farmland and sky! Ahhh, but there are MANY different colors of blue and green and gray. I spent several hours on what I thought would be very straight forward and simple! After painting many, many swatches trying to decide on the right color for the mountains in the background, I reminded myself (as I often do) that I could paint this a billion different ways and just pick a color and start!!! Unfortunately I lapsed back into indecision when I got to the foreground and had to remind myself again! Trial and error and thinking and planning are good , up to a point......then you just have to paint!
The good part of this was that after I decided on the colors, and established the darks and lights, I found myself referring to the photo less and less since it wasn't providing me the color information I needed. It made it very clear just how much I rely on my visual resource!

4"x 12"
acrylic on board

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Good Morning?

12"x 12"
acrylic on masonite

Saturday, March 9th, marked the opening day for the Farmers' Market. After a long, dark, cold, winter, most of us were thrilled to get outside. This is the ONLY time of year that I feel like singing a Barry Manilow song: "We made it through the rain....." and the over all mood seemed to be of relief to have survived the winter, and excitement and anticipation for summer! I was struck by the posture of this little one who seems confused about all the fuss and would be happy to be back home in bed!

Madison Ave., New York City

8" x 10"
acrylic on masonite

A photo of cabs at the corner of 39th and Madison Ave. was the subject for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. I had a great time with this!
I have been learning a lot about seeing color by taking the original photo and increasing the saturation and individual hues in photo shop. Also looking at the photo without color helps to see the values.
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Inspiration From You - Amy and Chloe- April 2009

Amy and Chloe
5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

This painting of Amy and her daughter Chloe sitting on a terrace in Rome, writing in their travel journals, seemed to be an appropriate subject to paint over Mother's Day weekend. As Amy says about this moment :
"It was morning on the terrace of our small rented room within view of the Pantheon. The room was one flight of stairs up from the street, so we could look down at the activity below, watching Rome wake up in the morning and then wind down at night. Funny, how in a city with so much to see and do, that I felt I could actually spend a lot of time right there on that terrace and be perfectly happy."

Eric's On The Pier

Fortunately for me, (and the rest of my family! ) my mother lives in the city of Avalon on beautiful Catalina Island, a short hour boat ride from Long Beach, Newport Beach, or Dana Point.

Eric's On The Pier
5"x 7"
acrylic on masonite

This small study is of "Eric's" restaurant at the base of the Green Pier. It is basically a long counter with stools and tables on the pier for seating, fabulous food, and even better people watching! The white line designates the "drinking" area. I know one guy has "crossed the line", but I think that if his beer is inside the line, he'll be okay!
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Diana For Karin

white & black charcoal pencil on gray Canson paper

This challenge from Karin Jurick's website Different Strokes From Different Folks, was to paint or draw from a photo of the statue "A Companion of Diana". I chose to use a gray colored paper which became the middle value for the drawing and white and black charcoal pencils for the highlights and dark areas. This allowed me to draw and do a value study in a different way.

Poppies Triptych

acrylic on 3, 18"x 36" canvases

I finished this triptych last week for a client. She was able to pick the subject and colors and quote. I always consider it a privilege to collaborate with a client and create something very personal for their home!

Inspiration From You- March 2009

Wilson
8"x 10" acrylic on masonite

Here is the "Inspiration From You" painting for March. I asked the person who submitted this photo to tell us the story about Wilson:

"I really wanted a Chihuahua. My husband kept saying how much responsibility a dog was. One weekend I found some Chihuahuas listed in the paper and asked if we could "just look". We met a breeder at a McDonalds. He had two male puppies in a crate, one short hair and one white long hair. I pulled out the short hair (I had never planned on a long hair) and the long hair jumped into my husband's hands....when I saw the puppy's little face and the look on my husband's face, I knew I had won....we got a dog that day.
We went straight to PetSmart for "supplies". We went from being dogless to being "those people". We were looking at dog clothes, dog toys, cooing at our puppy and holding him wrapped in a light blue fleece blanket.
The first name we picked was "Livingston", because that is my home town. Well, "Livingston" lasted about 6 hours; it was just too cumbersome to say. My husband said he had an idea but I probably would not like it, "Wilson". It was a perfect fit. We call Wilson "The Baby". Yes, we are "those people"!"