Back from a week of beautiful Bahamian sun and sand... and SO ready to get back to the studio! I was feeling a little rusty after a week off.. so I decided to warm up by doing Karin Juricks monthly painting challenge.. Different Strokes from Different Folks... not a color scheme I usually paint.. nor a subject matter.. but I really enjoyed myself! I painted a lot looser than usual and loved to move the paint around that way...

8" x 10"

Connecting Flights

I knew I wouldn't have time to paint large this week.. too much going on here... so I tried painting the bottles on a smaller scale... It was so much harder than I thought it would be! Trying to get smooth transitions and figuring out how much detail to put in.. all a different ball game when you change scale that drastically... a fun lesson, none the less...

So now we are off for some MUCH needed sun and relaxation, then back in a week to get everything ready for my show at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, starting Dec. 9th! Have a great week!

Three Tops

12" x 12"

I found an online challenge that was for the month of October... unfortunately I didn't find it until Oct. 29. :/ I really like doing things like that because it pushes me outside my box a bit... This challenge was to show fall/October colors and had to have been painted in October... I decided to paint a marble refracting the fall foliage...that way I stayed true to what I have been painting but fulfilled the challenge as well.

Fall Refracted

12" x 12"

This is the second painting of the lab bottles I found at the thrift store last month... I love the glass lids and the variety of shapes and sizes...

36" x 60"

All the jars that I have painted up until now were excavated from the old farm dump in the ravine at back of our property. But since I've been painting a lot glass I seem to look at all glass as potential subject matter... so a few weeks ago I went to Mount Vernon.. (to check out the gallery for my next show in December.... it is a brand new gallery in an historic building right downtown, and beautiful!!) .. and found the most wonderful antique/junk store.. 3 stories of foraging pleasure!! And I found SO MUCH glass that I wanted to paint! This painting is of some of the old lab bottles that I found.. I loved all the shapes and sizes and all the lids! I'm planning a couple more paintings along this line and then I'll tell you about all the bottles I bought at the auction last weekend! :) Storage may become an issue!! It's a good thing my husband loves me so much!

"My Head is in the Clouds" 48"x 48"

Its been rainy and dreary all week... so I needed to paint some blue skies!!

"Fruit Loops"
48"x 60"

Here is the piece I've been working on this week...I loved the colors when I shot the photo... another sort of abstract feel... I think it takes a minute to figure out what it is... tight crop of two mason jars... titled, "When East Meets West" 48" x 60"

I finished the third large marble painting just in time to enjoy the weekend! I love the way the colored centers swirl within the marble... they remind me of Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings... very sensual!

48" x 48"

I am working on several paintings that are very close up images of the bottles and jars... I love the way the painting almost become abstract... and yet still representational.. this is the first of three... but I have one more large shooter marble to finish before I get to the other two... but in the meantime... I'm..

"Having a Ball" 48" x 60"

This is the third painting that i had started last week... finished it today!! I love painting these huge marbles.. there are so many intricacies in the glass... and i love the way the background inverts..


"Shooter 2" 48" x 48"

"Red" 24" x 24"

Last week I worked on a marble painting but had to put it aside for a few days and so I started a large painting of bottles excavated from the ravine. Today I finished them both!! I am always amazed at how cool the old colored glass looks when the light shines through it!

"Renner & Weber" 48" x 60"

Last weekend I was invited to a birthday party for one of my favorite people.. Sharon. It was her 65th and her theme was "65 rocks!" She asked everyone to bring a rock for her new garden/ pond area... I LOVED it! Imagine someone who loves rocks like I do.. we were bound to be friends!! I went into the woods and found a beauty of a rock for her, covered with the most lovely turquoise and green mosses.. the party really got me into rock mode again so that's what I painted this week... I had these around the house.. then went for a walk in the creek yesterday and found more... I do love my rocks.. :)

48"x 48"

I had planned to paint six marbles next... but then my husband came home with a marble that one of the women from his office had found in the parking lot... she thought it must be mine as I have been painting marbles.. nope, wasn't mine.. but it is now! :) Isn't it a beauty? I thought it deserved a canvas all to itself... Thank you Patti for thinking of me!

48" x 48"

Okay...It's been a bit busy lately...but I got the paintings delivered for my show in Columbus on the 29th... got my girl delivered to NYC to get back to school... and now I need to get back to in the studio and get some painting done!!

If you can attend, please come to my show in Columbus! August 29, 6-8, at the Kathryn Gallery on High Street in the Short North! I would love to meet all my blog friends in person!

This is the next painting in the marble series...

"Marbles Four"

24" x 48"

I have been working on this painting for what feels like forever... it was really hard to get the darks right... and the perspective was a bear.. i wanted to challenge myself but ended up frustrating myself a bit!

"At the Window" 48" x 60"

Next marble painting... Called "Two Blue"... I think this is my favorite... I think the background adds a lot...

30" x 40"

FINALLY finished this painting... feels like I've been working on it forever... I tentatively titled it, "Sometimes I feel like you Look Right Through Me" ...

48" x 48"

"Marbles Three"

... the series continues... :) but I get the day off! I'm going to Cedar Point with my family... gonna take lots of pics... maybe the start of a whole new series...

Earlier this week I woke up to the most beautiful sunrise... so before I sat and had coffee with my husband on the front porch and watched it unfold, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.. It isn't what I had planned to paint this week... but you know what they say about the best laid plans... :) Have a great weekend!

Titled, "Monday Morning"

24" x 36"

I finished this one today and was pretty happy with the way it turned out.. Now I will get back to some larger paintings...

"Marbles Five"

24" x 36"

I'm working on a marbles series as part of a show I have coming up on August 29 at The Kathryn Gallery in Columbus. I am working like crazy but won't post them all until after the show... but here's a peek at one...

11" x 14"

I have been looking at the beautiful colors of the water on the pond.. the reflections of the blues and greens of the sky and trees ... and I've wanted to try to paint them. So this was the week.. and it's SO much harder than I thought! My hat is off to all those people who paint water so beautifully!! This is my attempt.. I wanted to call it "Froggy Style"... but they are toads... but that's all I've come up with.. so that will be the working title.. :) Have a good weekend!

48" x 60"

Another painting from the photos of the canning jars that I took a couple of weeks ago...

Titled "Perfect Mason"

48" x 48"

It seemed about time to clean up the rest of the glass jars and bottles that have been laying around from my foraging adventures in the ravine. My husband has been quite patient and the laundry tub was made for things other than storing the bottles! So I washed most of them and decided to put some in the dishwasher to see if they would clean up any better. When I took them out they were so pretty in the sun that I took pictures. This painting is from those pictures..

I titled it "There is One in Every Crowd"

36" x 60"