Treats are Edible Art!

I love making treats...and eating them!. I learned how to make these lovelies from a fabulous-artist-and-awesome-mom-and-super-baker friend (Thanks Lauren!). Ritz crackers, peanut butter, marshmallow puff, and melted chocolate. Just add sprinkles and let cool. Then put them in your mouth! :-)

I also tried a new recipe from Pillsbury.com that sounded tasty...Chex Mix® White Chocolate Bark.  After tasting the "oops" corner of the bark, this is surely a sweet n' salty crowd pleaser!  

Blue Peace complete!

Freshly varnished!


11 x 14 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Peace in Progress

Using all white and tints is new for me. When I chose this subject (which is the top of a holiday salt shaker!) I knew there would be shadows and highlights to paint. As I sketched the form and became more familiar with the subject, I saw subtle pinks, blues, grays, browns and yellows. I mixed a tiny amount of each color with puddles of white paint and was amazed how more than a tiny amount can tint the puddle too much! Lesson learned :-).


I am happy with the progress of this palette knife painting. The tints are defining the contours of the bird nicely, and the texture is yummy!


11 x 14 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Autumn Glow

I took a Saturday morning walk around my office complex when the leaves were still intact. My goal was to shoot entirely in manual mode on my DSLR camera.  The air was crisp and the light was perfect for capturing the leaves' final "hoorah".  This image is one of my favorites--I love the glow and the bokeh.  


Celebrate the season with a print!

Pumpkins Complete!

The finished product is Yummy Pumpkin goodness!  This one was fun and turned out a little cartoonish with the highlights and bold colors.  I really enjoyed painting this pair!

8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Pumpkins in Progress

My family went to a local pumpkin patch and selected a few small pumpkins for our table decor.  Since carving the small ones was challenging, I chose to paint a pair instead.  The appropriate tool of choice?  A palette knife.  :-)

Red Daisy Trio

Detail

A trio of daisies posted in spite of the recent cold weather!  :-)  


11 x 14 stretched canvas, acrylics

Creative Stamping

 



I asked an artist friend, "How do you create such beautiful texture in your work?"  She replied: stamps, bubble wrap, drawer liner, a spray bottle and cap, plus whatever was on hand to create the effect she desired.  She was very kind to walk me through her process! 


I used to think stamps and other texturizing items could limit a painting, but instead learned they can enhance a composition by providing interesting shapes and text.  


This piece was my first.  I chose a dress form stand stamp, "dream" stamp, bubble wrap (circle pattern), drawer liner (grid pattern) and a room air freshener spritzer cap (white circles).  I mixed Titan Buff into the background for a softer green.  For me the stamping was fast and was an excellent "loosening up" exercise.  I enjoy finding ways to feed my creativity, and this is one I would do again.  


Thank you Beverly!  :-)


12 x 12 stretched canvas, acrylics including Golden heavy body Titan Buff

Enjoy the Fall Colors

With the leaves changing all around us, you cannot miss the display.  Simply driving around my office park is a lovely treat!  The handy-dandy cell phone camera captured the light and colors nicely.  Glance up at the next stop sign, or gaze out a window...notice how the colors shift from day to day.  And enjoy!

Fall Pair of Pears

A couple of pears for fall.  I like the composition and I enjoyed using my new round/oval palette knife.


8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Rudbeckia Family Portrait

The Rudbeckia "family portrait" is finished.  This painting has ALOT of texture, almost like the petals are curling off the canvas.  


8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Rudbeckia family portrait in progress...

While working on this painting, the color values have become challenging.  The background and the stems are too similar in value (or tone), i.e., you can't see the stems.  In class we tried some lime green and brown, and I want to go shop for a bright or perhaps neon lime green.  Otherwise I could make the background lighter blue.  


Oh, and the bud is one of my favorite parts of the painting now.  :)

What's on my Easel?

More Rudbeckia!  Cadmium Yellow is one of my favorite colors.  I look forward to adding/editing more details and filling in the background soon!  

Golden Pear

The 2nd half of the "Pear Pair" is complete.  Enjoy...I am pumped about this painting!


8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics and heavy gel medium

Palette Knife Rudbeckia

To one of my favorite summer flowers.  I photographed the rudbeckia I bought at Harry's a few weeks back.  The colors were outstanding on my patio so I couldn't resist painting them.  I am pleased with the outcome.  


At 5" x 7", this is a small painting.  Small is quick, and challenges me to edit.  I look forward to more smalls...


5 x 7 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Up in the Air

In November 2009 a couple of artist friends and I donated time and talent to the Dream House for Medically Fragile Children.  We painted a lively ocean scene on the ceiling of their main bathroom--a huge room with a tub, toilet, multiple sinks, and a "walk-in or roll-in" shower that is accessible to all the kids...and 12 foot ceilings.  I just saw a news report today that they had to suspend care for kids in their facility due to lack of funding.  I hope they are able to secure additional sponsors and funding soon to continue their dream.  

What's on my easel?

I spy...a pear-in-progress!  This will be my second palette knife painting.  I am thinking to change the light blue to a darker blue to coordinate with the first pear color scheme.  This will make the yellows and golds stand out, as blue and orange are complementary on the color wheel.  

"Stop and smell the roses." Then photograph them.

Taking pictures of flowers with my DSLR camera reveals details my eyes do not.  In person and through the lens, I frame and capture the moment with a click.  When I review the photos later, I get to appreciate the moment in a new way.  Drops of dew on a petal, the ruffled edge of a pansy, and the tiny stamen in the center of a Gerbera daisy are there, just never noticed while snapping the shots.  What a great way to see and appreciate more detail.  

These are great reference photos for future paintings--stay tuned!  

"Up with your chinny-chin-chin!"

Welcome Harry the Pig to the blog.  He is quite the character..."some pig" as a celebrity spider once said.  I see a bit of mischief, eh?  


12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas, acrylics

Palette Knife Pear Complete!

I love the finished product!  And a 2nd pear--to make a pair (teehee!)--is next. 

8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics

Palette Knife Pear--in Progress

Glossy glossy!

More texture!

I love learning new things.  I watched a palette knife demo and wondered if I would enjoy the technique.  Sure enough, once I took advice to "go crazy" and "sculpt with the paint", I had lots of fun!  Thanks Jill :-)


A lovely pear was my first subject.  Seeing this painting and all the texture I created makes me happy.  I learned something new and that inspires me to create.  Not to mention "palette knifing" (I'll call it) is super fast!  


8 x 10 stretched canvas, acrylics and high gloss gel medium

Models in LA

In "Lower Alabama" that is!  Photos of my dad's model train layout.  I entered two of the engine shots into the North Cobb Arts League members' show in June.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a very similar photo composition of actual trains by another artist.  :-)

Figo's Smiling Face

Figo is such a happy boy, don't you think?  I painted this portrait as a "thank you" to my friends at Erin Sonderman Photography for capturing my family in action.  


12 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas, acrylics - NFS