Spot of Tea

Spot of Tea 9 x 12 oil

This was painted on Arches oil paper. I picked some simple shapes

that I'm familiar with and made it up without a reference.

This made it easier for me to focus on spots of color and color relationships,

which was the point of this painting.

I let go of worrying about a finished painting or following

reality too closely.

I find painting like this meditative and very relaxing.

Thank you for viewing my artwork.

I welcome and appreciate your comments.

To view more of my artwork click here.

Workshop with Sunny Apinchapong Yang

Last week I attended a workshop in Scottsdale with Sunny Apinchapong-Yang, a former student of one of my all time favorite painters, Sergei Bongart. Sunny gave me permission to share his demo with you that he did on the first day. 

If you haven't seen his wonderful book called Intuitive Painting, check it out, it's available on Amazon books.  

The workshop was: Painting with emphasis on color:

Still life and Figure.

Sunny starts with laying in large shapes on a toned canvas.

Next he starts adding colorful darks:

Close up of colorful darks:

Then he adds the mid tones:

He continues to cover the canvas:

Then begins to refine:

And Sunny's fabulous finish:

Sunny completed this in about an hour and a half, making it look easy.

He's a wonderful painter, good teacher and has a great sense of humor.

I really enjoyed the workshop and I think all the other nice

people I met there did too.  

Funny story:  Sunny painted this with borrowed paints that students left at the school,

but he did remember to bring his golf clubs!

I hope you enjoyed seeing Sunny's demo process.

Thanks for following along!

Daisy Dukes

Daisy Dukes

9x12 oil on museum board

This was a pure joy to paint and I wanted to share it with you

so we can celebrate the arrival of spring together!

You're invited!

I also wanted to invite you to the big show at

Wenmohs Ranch the last two weekends in March.

This painting will be available along with five others of mine.

There will be a huge variety of styles from many local artists.

All day Saturday and Sunday

March 21/22 &28/29

click for directions here:

Kick your heels up and enjoy the fun!

Hope to see you there:)

Please sign up for my newsletter by clicking here.

Thanks so much for following along,

I really appreciate it!

Relax

Relax

You are purr-fect just the way you are.

This is a photo of my friend Louise's cat, sleeping, really sleeping.

No stress there!

I decided to follow the example and take a day and do

only what I want to do and not anything I 'should' do.

 

On a score card with 10 being the highest, a ME day

looks something like this:

creativity pursuits=10

chores=0

 

I include cooking in the chore category so it's pizza for the

hubby tonight and out to my pal Jeni Caruana's

art opening of Maltese landscapes.

Purr-fect!

 

 For arts sake I'd like to share one of my favorite paintings

I've done recently:

Pecan Pie  6x6 oil on museum board

for purchasing info click here

 This painting just seemed to sing it's way onto the canvas:)

Thanks so much for viewing my art!

Rose Tea Pot

Rose Tea Pot  8x8 oil on board

to purchase for $250 click here

I was trying to push my warm/cool color 

relationships a little further with this painting.

For me painting is a process with 

lots of small steps along an

endless journey of creative self discovery.

Deep, I know:)))

 

April 2013 Newsletter

Fun and Games  Martini Collage

 

Hi Friends, I sent out my April Newsletter this morning.

If you're not signed up and would like to

take a peek to see what my buddy

Robi has been doing, a quote from Cris Rock,

and wonderful things that come in threes-

click here.

 

Thanks to all of you for your support and viewing my art!

 

 

On The Edge

On The Edge  6x6  oil on museum board

I love painting this knife, but this

painting is really all 

about the patterns of light and dark. 

If I get the negative spaces correct

then the objects just paint

themselves:)

to purchase for $100 click here

 

 

 

 

Cutting Edge

Cutting Edge  8x8 oil on museum board

 

to purchase for $200 click here

 

Lately I've been working behind the scenes

 taking a private week of pure

experimentation and not worrying at all about

the 'finshed' product.

It's a simple luxury that I don't think I

indulge in enough.

 

Play is the soul food of art that keeps me going.

 

Please feel free to share your secrets

about what keeps you going on your

creative journey.

 

Two Down

Two Down   6 x 6  oil on museum board

to purchase fro $100 click here

I'm enjoying the primary palette, the distortion of the liquid

and the reflections on the shaker.

The combinations seem endless yet each

painting is a new challenge.

I'm experimenting with a different surface this week.

I've coated each panel with three coats of gesso

sanding in between. After I play

with it a while I'll let you know which on I like best

and why.

 

How do you prepare your panels.

I order Ampersand from the states.

What do you use?

Striped Cream and Sugar

Striped Cream and Sugar 6x6 oil on museum board

to purchase for $100 click here

I'm listening to horns honking and people singing as I

post this. We've just had the elections here in

Malta and the Labor Party is a happy bunch.

They won and ousted the National Party after

being in power for 25 years.

Apparently the idea is to make as much noise as

possible in celebration, all day and all night.

We're on day two, everyone is Still out on the

streets. Except me and probably the head of

the National Party.

Hopefully tomorrow things will return to normal,

whatever that means!

 

 

Cherry Triple

Cherry Triple  6x6 oil on museum board

sold

I switched the color of my under painting and my

tinted palette I've been playing with.  

It makes all the colors change.

Have you tried this? If so I'd love

to hear about your experience!

Cosmo Down

 

Cosmo Down 6x6 oil on board

 

to purchase click here

 

This is another version of the glasses done on a

palette that was tinted the same color as my under painting

on my board.

 

I think I'm getting used to it, although it's a bit

confusing. To me the colors

seem to harmonize and pop more.

 

What do you think?

 

 

 



Shaken Not Stirred

Shaken Not Stirred  6x6 oil on board

sold

I'm still having fun with colors, reflection and

the distortions created by liquid in colored glass.

I tried something with this painting that I've never done

before. My friend, Abbey Ryan, suggested I try

painting on a palette the same color as I toned my canvas.

That's right quinacridone red!

I usually work on a mid tone palette so I can easily tell

what value the color I mix is, on the light side or the dark side.

Sometimes I work on a white paper palette which is 

super easy clean up, especially outdoors.

But a hot pink palette?

It was crazy confusing for me at first but I really 

started getting into it and want to experiment with this some more. 

I did this by painting paper the same color as I toned the canvas

and placed it on the mixing area of my canvas. 

Then I put a piece of glass on top and proceed as usual,

well almost as usual.

All In

All In  16 x 20  Oil on Canvas

I'm really getting into this gaming series. This one is

quite a bit larger and took me about four painting

sessions to compete. Yet it was a pure

pleasure to paint!

There are alot of details in a painting like this

but my goal was to keep it as loose as possible.

I think the key to keeping the painting as

direct as possible is to be as

accurate as possible with the drawing underneath

before any real painting is done.

Fortunately I really like to draw and find

it very soothing.

for purchasing information click here

Red Drink Down

Red Drink Down 6x6 oil on board

I'm really having a good time with this theme and

the abstract quality in the glasses.  I stayed with my

one inch brush much longer on this

version and it made my 

painting time a little shorter:)))

to purchase for $100 click here

Mixed Cherry Bowl

Mixed Cherry Bowl  7 x 9 mixed media

It's always been one of my painting goals to be

as loose as possible but still to represent something.

If possible I like the paint to do it's own thing

and create some unexpected surprises

that I find interesting.

My adventure into watercolors has been free

and loose but I don't know how to create

as many beautiful colors as I can in oils.  In fact

I'm not even sure you can create as many

colors in watercolor as you can with oils.

If anyone knows please fill me in!

This painting is mixed media and I'm trying to

figure out how I can create the same

type of effect in oil.

Painting is such a wonderful, never ending, exploration!

to purchase for $75 click here

Glass Gerber Daisy

 Glass Gerber Daisy

 

I love painting this checked cloth. When I started

this painting I had the checked cloth as the

entire background.  I loved

painting it but at the end of the day I stood back,

took a good look and decided it was way too much!

It also had the problem of having the white space in the

cloth right up against the white daisy, which always

causes me problems.

I scraped it down in the evening and this morning

added a blue cloth and limited the

crazy wild checked cloth.

I like the distortion of the cloth under in the glass vase.

Sigh of relief, I feel so much better now!

to purchase for $100 click here

Green Glass Rose

Green Glass Rose  6 x 6  oil on board

to purchase for $100 click here

This is one of those paintings that evolved. Like most of us

when we take a step forward,

it's often about returning to basics.

I started out with this set up in my shadow box.

I was excited about the colors and thought I could make it work.

 I started my initial lay in:

Added more:

I felt like I was merrily painting away until it made

absolutely no sense at all!

See?

 So I scraped it off and painted it again.  It was too dark to

take a photo of it and I was tired and decided to sleep on

it and hoped I liked the make over (not shown)

better in the morning.

I didn't.

So I decided to take the crazy striped fabric out because

I did like some things happening in the bottle

and the rose.  Sometimes that happens, I see something that I 

think would be exciting to paint and it may not always

turn out.

So two scrapings and a day and a half later :

lesson learned, less is more.

Plane Green Tea

Plane Green Tea 6 x 6  oil on board

We've been on a green tea binge over the holidays. My

husband visited a tea shop in Hong Kong and 

spent a bunch of Hong Kong dollars

on this 'special' brew. 

It's supposed to be the answer to all that

ails you , short of making you immortal-

that's what 'they' said anyway...

This is an appropriate post for me since I'll be

'leaving on a jet plane'

very early in the morning for a visit stateside.

I haven't posted remotely before but I have

so many great trips planned this year I

hope I can figure it out!

to purchase for $100 click here

Box of Cherries

Box of Cherries 6x6 oil on board

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you that have followed and checked out

my blog.  Sharing my paintings with you is a 

pleasure and a great privilege.

I very much appreciate your encouragement 

and support!

This painting was done for the Daily Paintworks

challenge to paint fabric.  It just

happens to be one of my favorite things to do!

I have a fantastic year planned with some

wonderful painting trips that I'm very excited about.

I'll try to figure out how to post remotely so

that I can take you along with me to share in the fun:))))

to purchase for $100 click here