Raspberry Preserves

"Preserves"
5" x 5"
(watercolor on aquabord)

I've started a little series of three paintings - this is the first.  Hope all my American friends had a wonderful Independence Day!  

Thank you for taking the time to drop by my blog.

Quick Raspberries

I worked on this quick little raspberry sketch along with another one today.  I still have to go back in and tone down the shadows with a little burnt sienna.  I'm also finishing up a commission in acrylic.  

Happy painting!  Thanks for stopping in.

Raspberries II

"Raspberries II"
6" x 6"
watercolor on aquabord

(what this painting could look like framed)

Click here to purchase

Here's the finished "Raspberries II" painting.  It has been sealed with a matte, protective finish and needn't be placed under glass.  Thank you for visiting my blog -- hope you have a splendid day!

Almost There and New News

Still plugging along on the raspberries.  They're almost done . . . thank goodness!  :)  

I also want to share some exciting news.  I heard yesterday that my three paintings (pictured below) have been juried into the 19th Annual Small Matters of Great Importance National Juried Exhibition at the Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack, NY. The exhibit will be up between October 27 – December 23, 2012. I originally didn't want to jinx myself so when I interrupted my other paintings to start these, I didn't  mention my purpose.  I was inspired by Hopper's strong design, color and passion for his subjects when I planned out my paintings. I am very excited and grateful to be part of this show.

For more information about the show or the Edward Hopper House Art Center click here.

Thanks for stopping by!

At A Snail's Pace

It's a good thing this isn't a large painting or I'd never finish!  I'm having fun though . . . obsessing over all those little raspberry nobs (that's my own unscientific term in case you couldn't tell.)  :)  Ok, back to work.  Have a great day!

Making Strides

"Raspberries"  - wip
6" x 6"
watercolor on aquabord

Just thought I'd show you my progress.  Have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Raspberries II

"Raspberries II" - wip
(detail)

"Raspberries II" - wip
6" x 6"

I had a very productive day today as I was able to make some headway on the raspberry painting.  I did some desk work in the morning, planning out a 5-week workshop I'm teaching here in my studio beginning in October.  I was tossing the idea around for a while, not sure if I could pull it off because I hadn't done any prep or advertising, but when I described my plan to a few friends they passed along my idea and now I have 3 people signed up!  Given I only have room for four max, I'm very excited!

In the afternoon I had a student, so I sat down to paint with her.  God bless my students!  They always seem to do more for me, than I could ever do for them.  Truth be told, I have been feeling kind of discouraged about some of my latest still lifes.  That's probably why I switched to those landscapes and haven't been working on some of my older paintings that need finishing; I haven't wanted to ruin them.  That's also why I kept starting these small paintings -- just trying to get the feeling again.  (oooh . . . that was one of my all time favorite Barry Manilow songs!)  Anyway . . . I was relaxed today . . . feeling all good and happy (my students always make me feel that way) . . . and I think I finally may have broken the jinx (for now - you artists know what I'm talking about).  :)  These photos aren't very good, but you get the picture.  Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.

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!  :)

Raspberries & Fun With Cropping!

"Raspberries"
8.75" x 9"
(watercolor on Fabriano soft-pressed paper)

Click here to bid

I had a very busy weekend -- visiting my brother and sister-in-law on Saturday and then a trip to Fenway to watch the Red Sox win today! But I did manage to get a glaze or two on "Raspberries" to finish it up. I'm not sure I like all the space around the actual carton, so I had some fun in Photoshop cropping it in tighter, both centered and a little off-center, while playing around with what it would look like matted and framed. You can view my experiments below. And please let me know what you think. I will put this painting up for auction tomorrow -- but will sell it the way it is and let the buyer decide how they would like it cropped . . . or not.  Have a great day and thank you for visiting . . . I'm off to bed!

Raspberries Progress

"Raspberries" - wip3
8.75" x 9"

"Raspberries" - wip2

"Raspberries" - wip 1

I did some more work on "Raspberries" but still have some details to do.  I thought you might like to see the progression thus far.  I thought it was looking just a bit too boring so I decided to put in the "wallpaper" and "pink-up" that table surface.  Still have some decisions to make, but I'm aiming to have this painting, along with another, completed this week.  Until my next post -- Happy Painting!

Finishing Up and Starting

"Raspberries" -- wip

"Kerosene Lamp" -- wip

So I'm finishing up "Raspberries" . . . still have a little more work on it and I started "Kerosene Lamp" today.  I just couldn't pass up starting this one.  I took the photo in my front hall.  We'll see how it comes out.  Carrie Waller is the glass expert but I'm going to give this one a whirl anyway.  A girl has to start somewhere, eh?  :)  And I still have those citrus paintings to finish -- the oranges and limes -- not to mention a few other still life paintings.  I'm also working on a 6" x 6" floral that I'm just starting to draw now.  Yeesh, I've got a lot of painting to do!  I'm very excited.  Have a good weekend.

Bouncing Around

"Raspberries" -- wip
9" x 9"

I'm still working on all my citrus paintings but in the meantime I couldn't resist starting another one.  :)  So here's my work in progress on "Raspberries."  I'm back working on the Fabriano for this one.  I do love that paper! That and the Aquabord are my favorite surfaces.