Marbles Painting

"Marbles", 6"x 6", Oil on Board
I finally got the chance to finish this painting today but regret not being able to get more paintings completed this month. I definitely lost time fiddling with the other painting for a week and a half and also feel like the class I've been taking is having an impact on my productivity as well. Unfortunately, the next two weeks probably won't be any better because I will be studying for a final exam. I'm going to keep this post short so let me know what you think of this one. I'm off to study!

Turkey Tomorrow and I've Been Tagged Twice

This is the big 24.19 lb. bird that my mother will be cooking for tomorrow's fiest. My mother was unhappy that I had bought such a big turkey but I was really encouraged by my 15 year old son. Cameron, my son, loves the leftovers almost as much as the big day itself. He's been talking about turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and a homemade turkey pie for two weeks now. My question to you is: Do all 15 year old boys love food this much? He's 6'1" tall and weighs around 190 lbs. He's been seeing an orthodonist for 7 years now. His orthodontist won't put braces on him yet because he says Cam's not done growing yet...unreal.

No, my marble painting isn't finished but I've been working on it when I can. It's been kind of a crazy week here with the upcoming holiday, differential fluid spewing out of my jeep and my 8 year old nephew was injured at school and has a hematoma that may require surgery this week.

I've noticed that I've been tagged by a couple of artists here in my comments. I almost wasn't going to go along with the tag because I feel like I don't really have anything interesting to share about myself but here goes: I was tagged by Joanne Giesbrecht, my good friend up north and R. Garriott a talented Denver based artist. Here's my list of (not so) unusual things about myself.
1. I disinfect shopping cart handles when I go shopping (I actually carry the wipes in my large purse and have included a small spray sanitizer for my hands as extra protection).
2. I'm probably the only 42 year old woman who still listens to Tool, Led Zepplin, Alice in Chains etc...(No, I don't party...you might say I reformed after having my son).
3. Favorite concerts: Robert Plant and Paul McCartney at the Seattle Kingdome.
4. My dad is a Maine Baseball Hall of Famer. He played AAA ball and got offers to play pro.
5. I'm a single parent and my teenage son is driving me crazy! (He's a good kid but he's really full of it)
6. I won my first art award in second grade.
7. My companion all day is my overweight, black Chihuahua, Lita. (Lita got into my paint again last Friday...she had Ultramarine Blue and Aliz. Crimson paint all over my studio again...she was looking for food!!!)
Here are the artist I will tag: John Vander Stelt, Todd Ford, Alex Perez, D. Prizzi, Pierre Raby
Ok, that's five...close enough...who's counting!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sneak Peek Marbles Painting

Here's a sneak peak of what I've been working on. I actually had another painting in the works that I had spent about a week of time on. That painting ended up in my garbage pile! I was having problems with it so I decided to start a new one to put an end to the frustration. I actually have quite a bit of this completed but I've also been doing a lot of homework from a class I've been taking. I'm taking a case management class at a local university. I already have quite a few credits towards a degree in social services and hope by taking additional classes it will lead to a job. I'm looking to get a full-time job in this area and then moonlight as an artist.

The artist reception at the Carver Hill Gallery on Saturday went really well. It really is a beautiful space. I thought my work was hung and lit very well. It's amazing how well paintings look under proper lighting. I use balanced daylight bulbs for painting down in my studio with lighting that is 5000 - 5500 degrees Kelvin which is equivalent to north light. The bulb should also have a CRI as close to 100 as possible. A lot of stores are carrying these bulbs now so they are easy to find. Well, I hope to spend some time painting today so I can get my current painting finished.

Reflections

"Cobalt Bottle and Marble", 6"x6", Oil on Board
I was happy to finish this painting just a few hours ago. Again, I painted my cobalt bottle and threw in an amber color marble. The thing I really like about this piece are the dramatic shadows. I'm also happy with how my marble turned out but wish I had positioned it a little differently because it almost lines up with the horizontal of the back wall, it's too late now. Let me know what you think!

Artist Reception

I forgot to mention there will be an artists reception at the Carver Hill Gallery on Saturday, November 15th from 1:00 - 6:00 pm. The gallery director has asked to have my new pears painting for the show along with the other seven that she already has. To save on gas and mileage on the old Jeepster, I'll probably just pop the painting in the mail once it's dried and varnished. I was surprised that the owners included my "Nectarines" painting on their promotional material...it's not one of my favorites. The Carver Hill Gallery is also newly representing Caren-Marie Michel whose acrylic landscape is on the bottom left. I used to exhibit with Caren when I was at the Westbrook gallery. Her career has really taken off here in Maine.

Work in Progress

This is a section of the painting that I'm currently working on. I hate going for weeks without posting because people end up thinking that I've disappeared. At the same time, it's hard to show everyone an unfinished painting. I've been painting my cobalt bottle again and added another reflective element that I have purposely cropped out (I think it adds an element of surprise to not show the entire painting and keeps the viewer guessing what the final piece will look like). The shadows in this piece will play an important roll in this piece if I can pull it off.

Fruit Again

"Sunbathers", 9"x 12", Oil on Canvas
Hi Everyone! It took me awhile to finish this piece because I've been trying to work on a couple of different projects. I had to take almost a week out of my painting time to add cradled backs to my oil on board paintings (I had about eight of them). After they were finished, I delivered them to the Carverhill Gallery. I've also been taking a class at a local university which has required some additional work. Now, for my current piece, I arranged these Bosc pears on a plate outside in direct sunlight. I was really intrigued by the shadows and the white on white. Hopefully, you can feel the warmth in this piece because a shade of yellow was used as an underpainting in the "white" areas. I really concentrated on getting the right values in this piece because this is something I've struggled with in the past when painting "white" objects. Maybe now that I've gotten some of my class work behind me and have my paintings mounted, I can return to some kind of normal painting routine.

One Year of Blogging!

"Bottles", 8"x10", Oil on Board
My blog has lasted a year! I had wanted to post this painting on the 17th (the actual blog anniversary date) but things never work out quite the way I plan. I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of my work over the past year. Your comments and support has meant a lot! A special thanks goes out to: Alvin Richard, Todd Ford and Joanne Giesbrecht. These three wonderful artists have been so supportive and encouraging to me. Thanks folks! I've been painting with oils now for a little over a year and feel like I've improved so much; however, there is still so much to learn with this medium and not enough time in a day.

I really wanted to get this painting posted tonight so I apologize for the quality of the photo because I usually photograph outside in natural daylight. I painted these old bottles as a companion piece to my vintage series. I had all of these bottles on a shelf in my kitchen except for the cobalt one which I recently purchased at an antique shop. The cobalt bottle is my favorite but I also like the old, big bottle with all of its stains.

Around the first of September, I got an email from a gallery owner in Rockport, Maine expressing interest in my work (she found me on the internet). After meeting with the owner and showing her my work, I'm pleased to say that the Carver Hill Gallery will be representing me. It's really a nice gallery in a unique setting. The gallery carries a diverse body of work most of which isn't listed on their website. I'll be delivering my work to the gallery around the first or second week of October. I'll keep you all posted!

Colorful Fruit

"Nectarines", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I spotted these nectarines at the grocery store and instantly fell in love with the colors. For some reason I've been attracted to orange, reds and yellows lately. I would like to do some more work with fruit compositions because the possibilities are really endless. Last weekend I also picked up some old, cobalt and amber colored bottles and hope to incorporate those into future paintings as well.

Candy Fix

"230 Calories", 6"x6", Oil on Board
I haven't painted any candy still lifes in awhile so I decided to paint my favorite, Reese's peanut butter cups. I'm quite happy with how it turned out and only wish my camera did the painting justice because there are some really delicate areas in the painting. I couldn't think of a title when I finished this and then I remembered that everytime I eat these I end up thinking of the additional calories that I'm racking up for the day. Pure Guilt! Anyone up for a snack?

Chinese Food Container

"Takeout", 8"x10", Oil on Board
I finished painting this Chinese food container last night. I'm not happy with how it turned out but it's been a good learning experience. I wished that the container either had red letters or Chinese symbols etc...I think it would have punched it up a little. I'm off to look for my next subject!

Southern Maine

"Maine Coast", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I haven't been doing a lot of painting this summer because I've had so many other things going on. I painted this quick, little landscape of a scene I found down near Cape Elizabeth. Over the past couple of weeks, I've also made some trips to the coast to view and sketch boats and dinghies so I may be working on paintings of them in the future. A few weeks ago, I was also fortunate enough to get down to Boothbay Harbor to view Kevin Beer's work at Gleason Fine Art gallery. It was a pretty impressive show of Maine landscapes especially the paintings of Monhegan Island. I was hoping for a chance to go to Monhegan before the summer is over.

I'm Happy With This One!

"Vintage Syrup Pitcher", 5"x7", Oil on Board

Yes, I finally finished this! Obviously this painting took way too long for its size; however, I took my time on it and I've ended up with a piece that I'm happy with. I picked this piece because of the challenge of painting glass again and because I loved the lighting. I'm also adding this piece to my series of "vintage" paintings. My palette for this painting consisted of: Cadmium Red, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light and Titanium White (Gamblin). Please let me know what you think!

Landscape Study

"Scarborough Marsh IV", 5"x7", Oil
I've been doing some quick studies of the Scarborough Marsh this week and ended up with this study of the area. I'll probably go back in and add some more darks in the foreground because I'm not happy with it. The marsh is really a great place to paint especially if you visit at different times throughout the year. I ended up traveling down south to the Scarborough/Cape Elizabeth area on Friday to paint. It's really a beautiful area and a different place to paint since most of my landscapes are focused on the Bar Harbor/Stonington area.

Finally Painting Again

"Lemons", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, yes my son and I were sick and I just haven't felt well enough to want to paint. I'm trying to get back at it slowly and decided to paint these lemons. It's not the greatest painting but it's enough to get me painting again. Hopefully, I won't be gone for so long next time or stop painting.

Landscape

"Albion View", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I've been wanting to paint some more landscapes in oil so I decided to paint this small study. The original image is a little brighter than this photo even though I used the white balance adjustment on the camera. I actually did replace the camera that I was having a lot of problems with and bought a digital Panasonic Lumix. It's a nice camera but I still haven't worked out all of the settings for lighting my artwork. I'm not as comfortable painting landscapes in oil as I am in pastel so there's room for improvement here. I haven't decided if I'll paint more landscapes or move on to a still life.

I Love Cherries

"Cherries in Silver Bowl", 6"x6", Oil on Board
I came quite close to finishing this yesterday; however, I was too exhausted so I ended up finishing it this morning. I'm quite happy with how the painting turned out but the detail is really more incredible in the original. This photo was as close as I could come to the original painting. I also re-painted the background on the Vintage Hamilton Beach Mixer and it came out much better. I've re-photographed that painting and re-posted it below. I'm much happier with the mixer painting now. Let me know what you think!

Another Candy Painting

"Jr. Mints", 6"x6", Oil on Panel

I finished this little candy painting about an hour ago. This is probably about the third still life painting I've done of candy, but I have fun painting them and they are kind of whimsical. The most challenging part of these kind of paintings are the package designs and hand painting the lettering.

I got a call from the owner of the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth, Maine which is near Bar Harbor for those of you who do not live in Maine. The owner of the gallery is interested in showing some of my work at her gallery this summer. She requested to see more images of my pastel landscapes which I sent out to her on Monday. I'll give it a week and then I'll follow-up with a phone call to find out which pieces she is interested in. My biggest problem with this whole process was that all of my Jpegs were not at a reduced size so I ended up having to make my image files smaller. I don't know how my image files are ending up so large to begin with. I'm weak in the technology area!

Vintage Hamilton Beach Mixer

"Vintage Hamilton Beach", 8"x10", Oil on Board
I finally finished this painting yesterday. The past month or so I've been so busy with other things that I really couldn't focus on painting. I'm hoping that I can get back into some kind of routine now with my painting. Please keep in mind when you look at the photo of the painting that the background is still wet in areas and the camera picked up the glare from it. I will replace the photo as soon as the painting has dried. I felt like my subject matter was a little challenging; however, I still enjoyed painting the mixer. The one thing that I kept thinking about when I was painting this was how beat up the mixer was with all of its scratches and imperfections from years of use. The mixer still runs and I've found use for it as a still life object. The mixer reminded me of people in the sense that even though a lot of us have imperfections and life has worn us down we keep going.

M & M Painting Finished

"Plain M&M's", 6"x6", Oil on Board

Yes, I finally finished this! I was getting ready to take it outside for a photo and had to stop because it's snowing. What else is new? I'm actually pleased with how this painting turned out. My favorite part of the painting is the section inside of the candy wrapper with the M & M's tucked neatly inside. You can also get a sense of the light coming through the wrapper there as well. Please let me know what you think!

New Cherry Painting

"Cherries on Green", 6"x6", Oil on Board
I finally got this photo posted with the help of my son. As I mentioned earlier, I'm having problems with my camera. Hopefully, I'll get this issue resolved soon. I'm happy with how this small painting turned out. Let me know what you think? It's great to be painting again after giving the joints in my hands a much needed rest.