Cat Portraits

I love cats.  Can't help it.  I have had a cat in my life since I was a child.  But I must admit I have not painted many cats, so I decided it was time to do so!  Here are my latest cat portraits.

"Leo the Cat" 8" x 8"  oils
Leo is my current baby.  He is so sweet and demands lots of attention!

"Blue Eyed Kitten"  8" x 8"  oils
This is my baby kitten we named Lacy.  We called him that because
as a kitten he loved to play with our shoe laces!  We loved him so much,
but sadly, he came down with cancer and we had to put him down.
 But we had 11 wonderful years with him.

"Calico Cat"   8" x 8"  oils
This is a portrait of my kitty named Vickie.  She is so sweet!
She has the most interesting coloring.  We love her to pieces!

"Black and White Beauty"   8" x 8"  oils
I love black and white cats!  This cat has lots of white whiskers
so she is all about those whiskers! 

My new cat paintings are available via Daily Paintworks!  

Click on the DPW link to get more information.

Painting along the Big Sur Coast

Let's Take a Long Walk
9" x 12"   oil on panel

A few years ago I took a photo while on a casual trip down the California coast on my way to Big Sur.  The scene was so pretty.  Rolling hills, native grasses and a path going off into the distance.  I painted the painting later, but was never really happy with it. 

This week I revisited the painting to see what I could do with it.  Now I am happy!  I remembered that scene and loved the beautiful, colorful native grasses.  How I wanted to walk down that path!  But it was a long walk and as I do not walk well, I could only dream.  

It is now up on my Daily Paintworks online Gallery.
If you click on it you can see close ups.   

$450  without a frame
If you are interested in adding this painting to your own collection,
 please send me an email via Daily Paintworks.

New Coastal Paintings

A Beach For Seals
11" x 14"    oil on panel

I have been working on revising and up dating some older paintings.
I created this painting on location during the Big Blue Live TV show a few years ago.  It was painted at Hopkins Marine Station Beach near the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I love this beach because it is fenced off and the seals have the beach all to themselves.  As I was painting from the pathway above and behind the fence, I had fun watching the seals resting and playing in the gentle surf.  Such a pretty place.

Send me an email via Daily Paintworks
 if you are interested in purchasing this painting.
You can see close ups of it on Daily Paintworks online gallery. 

$600 ~ does not include a frame.

Bunny Paintings

"What's Up Doc?"   5" x 5" acrylics

"Daisy Bunny"   5" x 5"  acrylics

I have been having a ball painting a series of small bunny paintings!  They are only 5" x 5" and I am revisiting acrylics again.  Actually, I wanted the bunny paintings for the Tracy Grand Theatre Art Gallery.  Our due date was only three days away and so I had to do them in acrylics to have them dry in time to bring to the gallery.  

They were so much fun, but a tad frustrating after years of working in oils.  The drying time of acrylics is so fast and the colors keep changing as they dry.  But it is nice to be able to varnish as I went along and also to add thin washes where I needed them. 

"Jack"    5" x 5"  acrylics

So here they are.  They are available at the gallery for $68 each through July 28th, 2018.  You can call the gallery and buy from them and they will ship directly to you.  

Tracy Grand Theatre Center for the Arts
209-831-6278

"Daisy Lunch"  5" x 5"  acrylics

"Looking for Carrots"   5" x 5"  acrylics

"Sprinklers" Painting in Farm & Field show

"Sprinklers"    11" x 14"   oil

My painting "Sprinklers" has been juried into 

the Farm & Field show 

at the Carnegie Arts Center.   

The show runs through July 29th, 2018.  

The Carnegie Arts Center is located at 250 N. Broadway in Turlock, CA.  

This scene was painted from a photograph taken of a newly planted field near Snelling, CA.  
This area is beautiful with rolling hills and lots of fields.  

Pacific Grove House Painting Finished

After a few more corrections, additions and changes, the painting of the Pacific Grove house is finally finished!  It was really fun to do this painting of this cute house in such a beautiful setting.  I hope the family is pleased with it.  The original painting goes to Oregon soon, but prints and other goodies can be purchased on Fine Art America.  

Pacific Grove House Painting progress

I have reworked the house color to a more muted color.  I still need to put the mobile hanging from the eaves.  Hope to get to that next week.  

We have been having a lot of wet weather lately and it has been making it difficult to get the painting to dry.  I am hoping the coming hot temperatures will help dry the oil paint.  It has to dry so I can give it a coat of varnish and ship it.  

It has been very busy here with my husband having cataract surgery and several shows I am trying to get paintings finished to enter.  Hope to get back to the Pacific Grove house next week.  

More Work on Pacific Grove House Painting

This is what the house looks like today.  My client's uncle lives in the house and he said the lavender had been removed so I don't know exactly where it had been.  The large, tall trees make a wonderful background to this house.

Using my practice painting (see previous blog post), and the many photos I took of the house, I was able to make a drawing in proportion to my 18" x 24" canvas panel and graph out the basic drawing.

These photos show my steps in working out the dark and light values in the foreground and trees.  In the bottom right photo I have added the house color, brick and refined the tree shapes & colors.

These photos show the steps working out the sky color, tree shapes, adding the lavender and shadow patterns on the house.  I also worked on the yard plants and added the fences.

More refinements to the trees, adding the small tree in the front yard, and more work on the lavender.

Here I have added the curb & street and added more plants to the front yard.  I felt the mail box was too big, so I made it smaller so as not to detract from the house.

At this point I feel that I am nearly finished with the painting, except for a few more refinements and pending input from my client.  When the painting is finished, it will need time to rest and dry before signing and adding a coat of varnish.  

Preparing for a New Commission Painting of a Pacific Grove Home

After taking many photos of the house,
I made some quick sketches.
Here is one of them.

 I have taken on a new commission.  A nice lady in Oregon remembers her good times at her grandmother's home in Pacific Grove, California.  She has asked me to paint her grandmother's house to add to a wall in her home.  She plans to surround the painting with photos of family and fun times.  

So I took on the project.  Here are photos showing my process working out the problems of the painting with sketches and a 9" x 12" practice painting.

She fondly remembers the lavender in the front yard, and although it is no longer there, I plan to add it to my painting.  

See the next blog to see how I progress on the 18" x 24" painting.

After making the drawing and graphing it out,
I re-drew the drawing on to a small canvas board and begin blocking in the dark values.
This practice painting was just to capture the color and value patterns. 

Here is the finished 9" x 12" practice study.  I may still make more
changes to this little painting later.

Crow Show

 Crows are fascinating birds and sooooo smart.  They really catch my imagination and I love painting them!

The Sparrow Art Gallery in Sacramento is reviving the tradition of hosting a show on crows. I am pleased to have a painting in this show.  It is a mixed media work entitled  "Six Rowdy Crows".  I painted 6 paintings on water color paper, cut them up and glued them to a canvas which I had painted with mixed media.

The Sparrow Art Gallery is located inside the ARTHOUSE on R Street, first floor in Sacramento.  1021 R Street.   phone: 916-382-4894. 

The show runs March 10 through April 6, 2018.
Open Tues-Fri 10 am - 6 pm
Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm and Sundays 11 am - 4 pm

2018 Open Studio

Spring Cranes at the Stockton Art League

I am now a member of the Stockton (CA) Art League.  They have invited me to join and show my embellished paper cranes.  So naturally I had to build a new display stand for them!  A friend helped me drill the holes in a chair leg and attach it to a stand.  I put dowels through the holes, painted it, and VOILA!  A new stand to show off my new Spring collection.  They have it in the window at the gallery just in time for Chinese New Year!


Below are some close up photos.

     

Painting my new display stand

Haggin Museum Visit

I had the opportunity to visit the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA yesterday.  The museum has been newly renovated and is just beautiful!  Here are some photos I took of some of the rooms and a couple of my favorite paintings... so many from which to choose!  

The blue wall is spectacular!  It really shows off these beautiful paintings.

Here is the painting on the left on the blue wall above.  "Banks of the Saone, near Chatillon"  about 1901  by Jan Monchablon  French, 1854 - 1904
That pink skirt just plain sparkles and draws attention!

Another of my favorites is by George Inness 1825 - 1894 
called "Old Homestead"  c. 1877


If you get a chance to go to this museum, I highly recommend it!
First Saturdays in each month are free admission too!

I am warming up my paint brushes!