Portrait of Phoenix the dog

My last painting of 2009 is a promised piece, long overdue! Phoenix is a great dog belonging to friends, Joanne and Tim. He is Joannes constant companion while Tim is on the road driving truck every week. For all my worrying about how I could paint a black dog, it turns out that I really enjoyed painting him!

Phoenix 8" x 8"

Now I am looking forward to getting back in the studio and finishing a large piece that I started before Christmas!

Happiest of New Years to all!

Making A Mark Award 2009 - Best Picture of the Year (Still Life) on an Art Blog

I am grateful, humbled and honored to have been nominated, and to have won, the Making A Mark Award 2009 - Best Picture of the Year (Still Life) on an Art Blog! Thanks so much to Julie Broom for the nomination! If you haven't been to Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark site, please make a point to check it out and spend some time there! It is a wonderful blog full of art, advice, education and information! Thank you, Katherine!
The painting that won the award, "Sometimes I Feel Like You Look Right Through Me", was painted this summer and purchased at the Kathryn Gallery in Columbus on opening day of my show. I had stopped at the gallery when I got into town and happened to meet the couple who had just purchased the painting. It is always special to meet the people who buy your work and hear what draws them to it. This is a picture of the painting with it's new owner, Kirsten Knowles.


I was also blessed today with an article about my glass paintings on the Empty Easel website! Empty Easel has several categories of information and I always look forward to the weekly articles! Many thanks to Lisa Orgler for choosing to write about my work! I wish you all a very Happy, art-filled New Year!!

Portrait of Horst!

I was excited to see that Karin Jurick was going to have her portrait challenge again this year on her Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. I have been wanting to work on some portraiture and I really wanted to work with people I hadn't yet met. On the blog Karin switches photos of two people and they paint each other. I was excited to be painting Horst Hittenberger and love the portrait he has done of me!

"Horst" 8" x 10"

As promised yesterday..

4" x 4" each




For the women in my husbands office... thanks for all you do!
Merry Christmas Ladies!

Last year started the tradition of painting Christmas ornaments for the women in my husbands office. I started painting this years ornaments and had so much fun I got carried away and painted two extra!!

Holi'daisies' 6"x 6"

Sparkle 6" x 6"

My husband will deliver the other four tomorrow and then I will post the pictures!!

Last night I was watching a show about the guy who discovered the Titanic shipwreck... as well as lots of other shipwrecks... and he was talking about how all that were left of the people from the Titanic were their shoes... and that they were like their grave markers.. that their bodies were long ago lost to the sea but the shoes were where they died... so... I started thinking about shoes.. and the shoes I always wear... and the shoes I NEVER wear... and what people would think of us based on the shoes we left behind...

so this piece is titled, "The Good Shoes" 24" x 48"

This week has been full of cooking, cleaning and domestic goddess stuff... so I thought I'd post a painting that I finished a few weeks ago as a 50th birthday present for my friend, Mary..
I spent my 21st birthday here 20+ years ago when it was a famous disco.... (it's on 6th Ave. in NYC)... and shortly thereafter Mary and I sat on the sidewalk and drew this same building...when I was there this fall, visiting my daughter, we walked over to see what had become of it.. the man on the street said that now it is used for flea markets an Sundays sometimes... how far it has fallen.. but it was good to remember the fun we had...
The Limelight
16" x 20"

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"

Every time I've opened the cupboard where our drinking glasses are this week, I see this jar. It's against the back wall of the cupboard... sometimes the kids use the jars as glasses or for cereal... but this one hasn't moved this week.. so I finally grabbed the camera and took a picture. I really liked the way the glass was so soft and the letters were shadowed against the back wall. I also thought it was fun that the words were backwards...

36" x 60"

Last summer I went to the auction of a woman that was originally from NYC, but had lived here for many years. SUCH a character! I loved her!! Her boys had grown and moved away by the time I met her, but I heard all about their lives every time I'd run into her. I felt like I knew them... and did finally get to meet them at her auction.. (She didn't pass away, but moved out west and the boys were taking care of things here) anyway... that's where I found this typewriter... I know she spent years pecking away at this thing and it made me happy to think about her while I painted it..

"Maureen's Typewriter"

48" x 60"

This week I went back to painting the mason jars... I really liked painting the blue one in the painting of three, so this time I painted two. I think my family will be happy this one is done... it's ALL I did this week... now it's time to go back to the real world... cooking and cleaning and mom duties!

"Overlap"

48" x 60"

Spring is always such a busy time but I did manage to get some small works finished this weekend... the first is from a photo taken on our trip to NYC last month when we picked Cat up from college... it's an arrow to the parking garage and I loved the colors... ...This is the first of the NYC series.. titled "Enter"... 16" x 20".



























The second is for the Different Stroke challenge hosted by Karin Jurick... I had purchased the canvas to paint the last challenge of hers (taxis on Madison Ave in NYC) but just ran out of time.. but it was perfect this challenge as well! She provided a black and white image and we were to fill in the colors... I went with the spring colors.. my favorite!

8" x 24"

This is the other painting I have been working on.. Trying to get it done in time for the Ohio State Fair. The submissions have to be postmarked by Friday... I have plenty of time, right?!? :)

Anyway, I haven't chosen a title.. guess I have to do that by Friday too... but hey.. it's only Wednesday!!

36" x 60"

This is what I have been working on lately... lots of detail and very time consuming! I am almost finished so I thought I'd post a picture so my dad knows that I really have been working!! :)

48" x 60"

"Tying Up Loose Ends"

The Gallery in The Vault in Wooster Ohio called yesterday to say that they are in the running for an award from the Cleveland TV station, fox8. If they win, they will be featured on TV and it would be great publicity and bragging rights!! It's a lovely gallery with wonderful people running it and I'd love to see them win! If you get a chance, I would appreciate your help by voting here... Thanks!

http://fox8.cityvoter.com/contests/best-of-the-akron-canton-hot-list/4651/arts-and-entertainment/art-gallery

Spring is my favorite season! And a sure sign that spring here is the noise.. good noise! In addition to the birds, the spring peepers are out.. and last week the toads started singing.. trilling, if that's a word..... they were SO loud and EVERYWHERE underfoot. They were in full mating season and they didn't care who knew it.. I went down to the dock to snap a couple of photos and found this poor girl... I'm not sure if she was happy about mating season or not... but right after I took this picture some male toad hopped on her back and off they went... Who knows.. maybe this IS her happy face!! :)

36" x 60"

Thank you so much to the fellow artists, Chelsie Brady, Angela Elledge, Edward Burton, and Joanne Licsko who have been kind enough to tag me with blog awards! I am so blessed by the friends I have found on the artist blogging community. What a gift to not only experience so much creativity, but to gain so many friends along the way!

As part of this award I am to list 7 things I love and tag 7 other artists for this award.


1. I really love my family! They are always a source of joy, comfort, companionship, amazement and often entertainment!! :)
2. I love to paint.. I have always love to create, but have only recently found an unending passion and borderline addiction to oil paint!
3. I love to read these things and find out more about the people I care about, but am loathe to actually do it myself..
4. I love junk... the old, weathered stuff that most people would walk past, or, gasp!, throw away! 5. I love living in the country.. we have an abundance of wildlife and beauty in our yard and for me it's like being close to God out here...
6. I love going to New York to visit my daughter.... and I love when she comes home even more..
7. I love seeing other peoples art and ideas on their blogs! I find myself constantly amazed by how many talented, gifted artists there are and am always inspired to do better!

The artists I'd like to share do a group challenge amongst themselves and I am always so anxious to see what they do!!
1. Marie Fox
2. Silvina Day
3. Diana Moses Botkin
4. Michael Naples
5. Mike Beeman
6. Robin Cheers
7. Vicki Ross

Every morning I drive my youngest son, Ty, to school. He is like me, in that he is not a morning person... understatement!!... so he rarely has time to eat breakfast before we have to be out the door. So most every morning he eats his cereal on the way, and I am driving home after I drop him off with something like this in my lap, trying not to spill his leftover milk in the car. The upside is that I sometimes take a photo before I put it in the dishwasher and paint it! This painting is 48" x 60".

"Breakfast Ball"