Fall Open Studio

Well hello again. So I never really got things going on my new blog location. I can't seem to figure things out . . . I'm not feeling too tech savvy these days. And besides, blogger has just been so easy to manage. So I guess I will not be leaving any time soon and thus, I will try to update this blog like I used to. I really kind of just gave up after I mentioned that I'd be moving. And besides, it wasn't too easy to update from my phone! What's up with that?

So anyhoo . . . I'm hosting my annual Fall Open Studio on October 20th and 21st. If you are local, I hope you will stop by. Lots of new paintings . . . I'll be posting them here in the weeks to come.

Big Tomatoes

"Big Tomatoes" - work-in-progress
24" x 24"
watercolor on clayboard

We're getting there! Hope to have this one finished up very soon. Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Making Some Progress

"New Braintree Sap" - work-in-progress
16" x 12"
watercolor on clayboard

Well we received some more snow here in the Northeast yesterday. Hard to imagine that spring is on its way. Good grief! But a snowday makes for a good painting day. Here are my works-in-progress.

work-in-progress
14" x 11"
watercolor on clayboard

"Big Tomatoes" - work-in-progress
24" x 24"
watercolor on clayboard

Have a great day!

New Ones

work-in-progress
24" x 24"
watercolor on clayboard

I was absent from the blog last week, but I was busy in the studio. In the midst of finishing up old paintings I began some new ones.

The first is a 24" x 24" painting of tomatoes. My first version of this composition was on some kind of illustration board many years ago and although I was close to finishing it, I just didn't like the way the board was taking the watercolor. So I scrapped it. Then I painted a smaller version on watercolor paper -- I think around 10" x 10" -- of the same colander with tomatoes, a few years later. However I knew I always wanted to do this painting bigger than life. So I decided to jump in last week on the clayboard. I'm looking forward to sharing my progress with you ... and I can't wait to see what it's like all done!

Last week I also decided to turn my sap bucket sketch into a larger painting on clayboard. I so love painting on this surface!

New Braintree Sap - wip
16" x 12"
watercolor on clayboard

Lastly, I drew out three white pitchers.  I'm much further along on this one, but you'll just have to wait to see . . .

work-in-progress
11" x 14"
watercolor on aquabord

Happy Monday -- have a great start to your week!

Grape Demo

wip
watercolor on clayboard

Thursdays are my teaching days here in the studio. Most of the time my students work on independent projects and I guide them and (hopefully) help them when they need it. Sometimes though, they all decide they want to paint something together. Last week we began this little 6" x 6" painting of grapes on clayboard. I did a little more work on it over the weekend and videotaped my process, so stay tuned!

Have a great start to your week!

The Crush -- Happy Valentine's Day!

"The Crush"
8" x 8"
(watercolor on clayboard)

Aaahhh . . . remember the days of school Valentine's? The doily-decorated box of valentines in the back of the room and the party at the end of the day. I always had chips and popcorn stuck to the frosting on my cupcake that I'd stuff in a bag to bring home for later. Ha!

For all intents and purposes I'm calling this one done. I'll probably tweak it a bit, but will have it up for sale on my site in a day or so. Wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day!

No Travel Today

"Blueberries Revisited" - SOLD
8" x 8"
(watercolor on aquabord)

I thought I was going to be traveling to Concord today to pick up my painting from the Concord Art Association's Members Juried Show, but I was informed last week that "Blueberries Revisited" sold! A big thank you to my new collectors and to the Concord Art Association for including this little painting in their show.  

Wishing you all a good week . . . I am off to paint!

"The Crush" . . . the beginning phase

Last week, while doing some shooting for the RHOFP (Real Housewives of Fisher Price) I decided to take a break and plan out a new Valentine's Day painting. No time like the present for killing two birds with one stone: next year's calendar and this year's Valentine painting. Below is a behind-the-scenes at my photoshoot...

and the new work-in-progress.

"The Crush" - wip
8" x 8"
(watercolor on aquabord)

Enjoy your day!

The Little People Are Here!

2018 Little People Calendars
$12.00

Click here to purchase.

The Little People desk calendars are finally here! I  hadn't planned on doing one this year until sometime in December.  Yeow!  I needed a few more paintings to make it complete so hence the delay.  For all my Little People still life fans out there, I promise that this year I will do better.

If you click on the link above, even if you don't want to purchase, you can at least get a better look as to what's inside. 

Have a great day!

Another Day at the Office

"Another Day at the Office"
8" x 8"
(watercolor on aquabord)
$200

Click here to purchase.

By the time you read this post, I should have my Little People calendars in! I'm excited to see them. It's a little late, but at least it's still January.  (yikes) 

In the meantime, here is one of the paintings in the calendar. For busy flight attendants, a trip to a foreign destination is just "another day at the office."

Enjoy your day!

The Budding Artist

"The Budding Artist"
12" x 12"
(watercolor on aquabord)
$350

Click here to purchase.

I guess we can call this my first painting of 2018. It may have been started some time ago, but it's the first one finished this year. I think this would make a really cute addition to budding artist's bedroom, don't you?

Have a great day!

Finally!

2018 Desktop Calendar
$12

Click here to purchase.

Well I finally ordered my 2018 Little People still life desk calendars. For those of you still interested you can order them here on my website under Shop, Bits and Bobs. I apologize to all my loyal Little People fans.  Hopefully though, these new paintings will brighten your days and you will forgive my negligence. I will ship as soon as I receive them next week.

I'm planning lots of new things for the Little People this year and promise to get the next calendar out in a more timely manner. Thank you for your patience.

Little People Prints

Looking for some art for your baby or toddler's room?  Or maybe you're just a vintage Fisher Price fan like me.  I've recently uploaded these images onto my imagekind.com gallery.  You can access it through my website here.  At Imagekind you can choose your size and whether you want a stretched canvas print or one on paper.  They will even mat and frame for you!  

I'm hoping to upload some more images in the near future and am presently working on a new desk calendar for 2018 so stay tuned!

Throwback Thursday

"Baby Dahlia"
8" x 8"
(framed watercolor on aquabord)
$175

Click here to purchase.

I'm throwing it back to this little ditty. A couple of years ago, a delightful man who visited my studio during The Backroads Studio Tour brought me a bouquet of dahlias from his yard. This little one was just so sweet it begged to be painted. It has spent some time in my studio and is now looking to find its "forever home."  With Christmas approaching, perhaps it will get lucky.

Have a happy Thursday!

The Happy Patient

"The Happy Patient"
8" x 8"
(watercolor on aquabord)
nfs 

I finished this little ditty today for a dear old friend who is a pediatric surgeon.  Below is what it will look like when it's all framed (in an Ampersand floater frame).

I'm on a Fisher Price still life kick again, having ordered a whole bunch of "new" vintage toys from ebay.  I'm very excited!  :)

Enjoy your day.

Lights . . . Camera . . . Auction!

"Daisies Squared"
6" x 6"
(watercolor on aquabord)

Click here to bid.

After struggling a bit on the background I finally came up with something I like.  "Daisies Squared" is a square composition of an earlier painting I did on paper (that one was a long rectangle).  I decided to put this little one up for auction on my DailyPaintworks site. Bidding begins at $100. This painting doesn't come framed, however the image below shows what it could look like when framed.

(although this painting does not come framed, this is what it could look like)

Thanks so much for visiting!  I'm off to paint the next . . .

No Rest For The Weary

"Signs"
14" x 11"
(watercolor on aquabord)

I finished up "Signs" -- my fourth painting from my Amsterdam,  The Netherlands series.  I've also begun some new paintings.  I was inspired by my beautiful baby lilacs this season and have messed around a bit with the color.  So I have a couple paintings of this subject planned.  I'm also toying with architectural structures as a theme, so I've been playing around with some images I captured while visiting Georgetown (Virginia) over the fall.  (Don't worry, I haven't abandoned Amsterdam . . . I've got those paintings planned and ready to go.)

works in progress
left to right:  "Baby Lilacs" -- study?
Georgetown painting -- unnamed
Commission

Finally, I am working on a commission for a friend.  I will be very busy this week.  I've been painting a lot and so my house and gardens are a mess . . . ha!  Hopefully I can become a little more balanced in the upcoming weeks.  But I figure if I can paint enough, maybe I can hire a housekeeper and gardner!  Ha!  (one can always dream, eh?) 

Have a great start to your week!

Part Two

"At CCD"
8" x 8"
(watercolor on cradled aquabord)

This is the painting I did for Sister Angela who has taken another position within the Diocese after 30+ years serving the people of our church. Together, Father and Sister were a team and built a beautiful and loyal community within our Parish. It is very sad to see them go.

These two folks have great senses of humor, so I'm hopeful that Sister "schooling" Father at CCD will be well-received.  :)

More Amsterdam paintings to come this week, so stay tuned . . .

Taking Risks

"Watching the Red Sox"
8" x 8"
(watercolor on cradled aquabord)

I took a little detour from my Amsterdam paintings to work on a couple of gifts. While I haven't yet delivered them, I'm pretty sure the recipients don't follow me online, so I think I'm safe. And yes, that's a priest.  :)  Our dear Parish Pastor, Father Fitzgerald, has retired after 30+ years and we are all sad to see him go. He and his loyal sidekick, Sister Angela actually look a lot like these Fisher Price people -- Father and Sister are the cutest, most adorable little people I know . . . and one of the great teams in history. 

Anyway . . . I did a painting for each of them . . . this one is for Father. But there is a painting lesson in here that I wanted to share with you. Take a look at the version of this painting mid-way, below:

It's horrible! The reference image had the background darker, and in shadow, so that is what I aimed to paint. And if you are familiar with the Fisher Price toys of this era, the blue on the walls is a weird, almost dirty looking blue. Too often I succumb to being a slave to the photo -- something I am really striving to avoid these days . . . but alas, I was sucked in and my painting was lifeless and dirty looking.  There was no way I could continue it like this. I would either have to do something drastic or start over.  So I went "drastic" and decided to wash off the background. (This is one of the perks of aquabord.)

To the sink I went . . . and carefully holding the board under the running water, only where I wanted to "erase," I began to get rid of the majority of paint in the background. The Winsor blue is a staining pigment so I knew it wasn't all going to wash off, however, I wanted to leave a ghost image so I knew where to re-paint. 

Luckily, it worked like a charm and I could revise the background.  I brightened it up, making new decisions about what the painting needed as opposed to what the photo was showing me.  

So I validated two valuable lessons here (I say "validated" because deep down I know these things, I just don't always apply them):

1)  Let your painting speak to you . . . and be sure to listen. It will tell you where to go and what it needs.  Don't just paint your reference photo.

2)  Take a risk on a painting that isn't working. The worst that can happen is you start over . . . the best is that you salvage something that would never have worked in the first place.

Thanks for popping by.  Tomorrow I will share the painting I did for Sister Angela.  :)

Framed!

"Princeton Barn"
12" x 9"
(framed watercolor on aquabord)
Sold 

I did some framing over the weekend and decided to share the fruits of my labor.  "Princeton Barn" is framed in a beautiful plein air frame from Randy Higbee's collection.  The other three, shown below are framed in Ampersand's black floater frames.

I am happy to announce that "Princeton Barn" has found its "forever home" (many thanks to my newest collectors) and now "Truro Light" is looking to find its new home.  I'm going to hang onto the Amsterdam paintings for shows, but if you are interested in "Truro Light" you can get a better view of it at my DPW Gallery.

"Truro Light" (10" x 8")
"Canal House Copper" ("14" x 11")
"Parked" (14" x 11")

"Truro Light" - $300 

Click here to purchase.

Have a great start to your week!