Happy Fourth of July!

"Berries and  Cherries II"
6.4" x 5.75"
watercolor on paper
SOLD

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I thought this painting a very fitting image for the Fourth of July, what with all it's red, white and blue . . . Happy Independence Day! I've posted my progress shots below in case you missed them before -- and just because I think it looks cool to click on them and watch the painting change before your very eyes!  :)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Another Progress Shot . . . and Rejection

Just thought I'd share this shot of my progress on these 3 paintings. Also, I entered "A Moments Rest" in the Academic Artists Association's show and was rejected. You just never know. So if you're a beginner out there (most of us who've been doing this for a while know already) -- you just can't get down or take it personally if you get rejected from a juried show -- it happens to all of us at one time or another and I've definitely had my fair share . . . with many more to come I'm sure.

I've included a couple shots of "A Moment's Rest" all framed up because I thought it came out really well.   

Have a great day!    

More Progress

Still pluggin' away. Apparently I enjoy pain.  Have a great weekend!

Call Me Ishmael

Nantucket Basket - detail

Yes . . . it's official . . . I've totally lost my mind. Not one, but two white whales . . . a nantucket basket AND a strawberry?  Come on!  

I truly have been working -- it's just slow-going. And I think I'm experiencing some kind of severe OCD seizure or something. So please be patient, while the Pequod keeps plugging along.  :)

Have a great day!

Studio Mayhem, Focus Kara Focus!

There have been a lot of things going on here in ol' central Massachusetts. As you can see, I started a couple new small paintings on aquabord.  I've been feeling pressured to get something up on DPW and thought these would be fairly quick . . . why do I always think that - you think I'd know better by now?!  Anyway -- I had originally started the strawberry, then on Sunday I was painting at the Drover's Roast at Salem Cross Inn where I started the raspberries.  The Drover's Roast is a wonderful event -- you can click here for more information and/or visit the Inn's Facebook Page).  (And if you look closely enough at the FB page, you may even see me in costume leaving the gazebo - ha!  The photo was taken a couple years ago and before the meal because afterwards my costume's usually stretched to the max and busting at the seams.  Seriously -- you've never seen so much food!)  Anyway my goal is to finish both paintings by Friday.  

Oh and I haven't forgotten about my Fisher Price People!  Here are three started.  Well . . . you can't really see the middle one -- but I assure you it's drawn out.

The Backroads Studio Tour is coming up next month, so I've started framing some pieces and the studio is a complete disaster.  Matboard, a bunch of old frames I've been storing, piles of papers to file, print samples, ugh, it total chaos. However, I couldn't resist purchasing some new frames, even though I have a ton of old ones to use up . . . why you ask . . . because I'm insane. Anyway, I bought these beautiful plein air frames from kingofframe.com -- the frame division of the Randy Higbee Gallery.  The pictures don't exactly do them justice. And as you can see -- it was a bit of a challenge taking the pictures.  (Although it's my own fault because I'm always telling Teddy what a good helper he is.)

Teddy Helping!
(this photo makes me laugh because he looks so serious when he's
really just a big goof like his mother!)  :)

Finally, here are some pictures of the notecards I just had printed and am packaging up.  In case you're wondering, I use catprint.com.  They are very reasonable and always do a super job (and I really love the quality of their heavy card stock - matte, which is actually a little bit shiny and shows the color sooooo well.)  

Thank you for stopping in and reading my blog. I probably don't say it nearly enough, but I very much appreciate you all reading and commenting. While I try to reply to all your wonderful comments sometimes I may miss a couple or be very tardy and for that I apologize. But please know it truly warms my heart that so many of you have taken an interest in this crazy little blog.  So here's to a productive rest of the week for us all! Keep painting! Cheers!  :)

More Stuff

Not much to say . . . just thought I'd post my progress today.  I started a couple new things, a strawberry study and a pretty bowl of blueberries.  I couldn't resist.  I thought you might like to see the first layers on each.  The blueberry painting (bottom) is on some Arches cold-pressed I had.  I thought it would work well for working layers on layers.  I like to pull out color on the blueberries, so this is going to take some serious planning on my part as the cold-pressed won't work the same as my soft-pressed paper.  However, I was really interested in layering the shadows on the bowl and putting the pattern on top and figured this paper would be good for that.  

The sneaker is almost done -- yes, I'm crazy . . . just a little more obsessive tweaking on the laces and some stitching.  And the strawberry is a study for a larger painting.  I have to go to bed, so I didn't measure these out for you.  I'll get you the dimensions tomorrow.  Have a good night.

American Summer

"American Summer"
11" x 29"

"American Summer"
(detail)

(what this painting looks like in its frame)
outer dimensions 17.5" x 35"

Well I made the deadline!  I was finishing this painting for a juried show in Monson, Massachusetts at the Monson Arts Council into the wee hours of the morning and framing it when I got up. I hate it when that happens. :) Usually I'm not down to the wire like that.

I submitted this one along with the white pitcher and eggs (which I renamed "White Light" by the way). It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, right? So I'll keep you posted on its fate. Just so you know, it's framed -- just like above, as that's the actual frame. Although because I didn't take a photo of it I had to piece the frame together in Photoshop. I assure you though, it's a very beautiful frame and is about 2 1/4" inches wide. There's about 3 inches of white matboard showing on three sides (3 1/2" on the bottom) and I used plexiglas instead of standard glass so it is much lighter to hang and easier to ship if need be.  

So that's my story. I will post the framed version of "White Light" soon. If either is accepted, I will put up the link to the online purchase site as all sales will go through the Monson Arts Council. In the meantime, you can always contact me if you're interested. Because I have a few pieces out there now being juried that I am awaiting word on, keep an eye out here on my blog as I'll be posting other purchase information as it becomes available. 

Thanks for reading!  I'm excited to start some new small ones.  Happy Painting!

Still Painting -- WIP

"American Summer" (in progress - detail)

"Grapes in White Pfaltzgraff" (in progress)
aprox. 6" x 7"

Helloooo!!  I'm still here and still painting. Forgive me for not having posted anything in the past week.  Here are a couple "WIP's"  (works in progress) . . . for you to look at.  Proof I AM working!  :)  Ok . . . back at it.

Full Steam Ahead

"American Summer"
11" x 29"

"American Summer"
close-up

So yes, I started another one. Good grief! I have about 4 paintings going and none are quite finished yet, but I love having a bunch of paintings in various stages coming alive in the studio. Sometimes the real detail tweaking can get tedious, so it's nice to take a break, paint BIG and then go back to finish things up later on. It also seems like I spend less time that way on the finishing touches. So I just thought I'd share my progress on this one.  It's a big one for me -- very fun though. I'll be sure to post when all of them are done and ready to go to shows.

Strawberry

"Strawberry"
5.75" x 7"

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Not the most original title, eh?  I have a few paintings going . . . this is the first one I finished.  It's just a little study.  Practice, practice, practice!