I am still here!

My trip to New Orleans was wonderful. My return home - not so much. Tom and I must have inhaled the flu bug when we boarded the plane and were both sick from Sun - Wed. of last week. Needless to say duties of mom and housewife have been in serious catch-up mode from the trip and the illness! I did start a painting today of one of the street bands in New Orleans. It is larger than usual so look for it next week! I also have almost completed my abstract tree - look for it soon as well!

Ballet Recital

8x16 Acrylic on Canvas

I painted this of my beautiful niece last night at Wine and Paint With Carole Foret. I had a wonderful time and met some fun ladies! Some of whom I hope were encouraged to begin painting! The image I used for this painting is from my niece's ballet recital in Beijing last year. The yellow was a challenge for me - especially since I only brought yellow cad light (lemony color). I had to mix some darker yellows for the darks in the costume - but I like how the red looks and I think it helps the background. I still need to finish her hands, but that will have to wait until next week! This is my last post until Monday! Off to NOLA!

From my sketchbook. . .

Yes, another guitar lesson. This is a sketch of my daughter at about one - once again at the beach. She is looking down playing with her toes in the picture. I enjoyed trying to get the angle of her face and her cleft chin also posed a bit of a challenge from the angle. I have really enjoyed having this 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet drawing time.

Tonight I am going to Carole Foret's studio to "Wine and Paint" with her. I am very excited to get to spend some time with the wonderful woman as well as meet new artists too! Tomorrow will be the last post for the week. I am going to New Orleans for the weekend and need to get ready. I am hoping to come up with tons of reference photos and sketches. But, we will see. I am not very practiced at sketching from life, so this should be a wonderful learning experience!

Portrait #2

11x14 Acrylic on Canvas

Another one of my dear friends lent me a photo of her sweet daughter to practice my portrait skills on. I am happy with the painting over all, but not really satisfied that I captured this littlel girl as she truely is! It is still not exactly her. It's close, but not quite. Ah well, this is why I practice, practice, practice!

Portrait

12x12 Acrylic

I am working on improving my portrait skills. When I work on portraits I have to concentrate on relationship of shapes more so than on other types of paintings. This sweet little girl belongs to one of my closet friends. I am thankful to her for letting me practice on her child! This painting greatly resembles her, but is not really her. Not yet, anyway. I am putting it away for today because I have looked so closely at it I can no longer see it correctly! I am so thankful for art! It really is a passion!

Finished Buffalo #3

Acrylic on 24x48x1 canvas $590
If you are interested in this painting please contact Willis Gray Gallery

256-355-7616

Buffalo #3 is currently enjoying a proud spot in my living room I enjoyed working on this one as the "leader"as my daughter calls him proved to be challenging with more detail. I included a photo with a flash so you can see the reflective gold.

Buffalo # 2

Acrylic on 20x30x1 canvas SOLD

If you are interested in this painting please contact Willis Gray Gallery

256-355-7616

This is supposed to be a triptych. I am having a difficult time arranging buffalo for the other two panels. So, he and his faithful follower may be the lone buffalo for the final buffalo #3. He is still missing his gold highlights - hopefully to come today (if all goes well!) and I will post this one and the finished buffalo # 2 later today. I am anxious to get to this abstract tree I have had stuck in my head for weeks. . .

From my sketch book

Another Monday, another guitar lesson, another sketch! This is of my husband and daughter at the beach a couple of years ago.

Playing in the Surf

10x16 Acrylic on Canvas

This is a precious little boy! He found such joy in being at the beach and playing in the surf. This is one of the paintings I completed this weekend at the lake. I really had fun working on it.

Weekend at the cabin with the girls!

Lisa with a good book. (Above)

A view from the front porch. (Below)

Above - CeeCee (embarassed by the sweater I am sure, but it was COLD!) And our easels set up in front of the picture window for light.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time this weekend at my family cabin on Lake Guntersville. This year there were four of us to make the trip (two of our usual crew couldn't make it). We spent our time relaxing, reading, watching movies, and for 2 of us - painting! I was able to complete one painting and almost complete another one. Pics of those will be in my following post!

A big thank you to Lisa, Britt, and Michelle for making these weekends so special! I love your company and look forward to this trip again soon!