Email I got today!

Wash Park Glory, 36x36, oil on canvas

Today I received this email about the painting above with the subject: "Not Happy:"
OK so I'm not happy about this.
No one is looking at MY piece
in the window because everyone is
looking at YOUR piece in the window.
SO unfair..

It is a show stopper. Literally. People
are stopping to look at it.

If you want to see for yourself, go to the Framed Image,  5066 East Hampden Avenue (Happy Canyon) Show is up thru August 25, but as paintings sell, they go home with the new owner...

Recycled Glass Jars, 12x16, oil on canvas

About a month ago, after plein air painting in the area of Parmalee Gulch, I stopped at a little cafe in Kittredge, CO to see if I could get something "to go" for lunch. While I waited, I was sitting at a bar near the kitchen looking around. Then I noticed this wonderful tableau right in front of me. I don't know if it is the colors, the color harmony or the fun shapes but I just started snapping photos. Then I picked up one of the jars as it looked like it had a price tag on it and sure enough all of this (except the salt and pepper) were for sale from the shop next door. What a brilliant idea. I decided I would regret it if I did not purchase all three bottles, jars or what have you, so I did. They sit on our dining room table where I just enjoy the jeweled tones. I painted this piece just for the fun of it. (They are made from recycled glass in Spain.) I expect you will see more of them in future...

Reflections Now and Then

This painting is a favorite of mine, and I like it so much that when we repainted our dining room this past winter, the new color matched this painting to a "T." I have been looking at it during every meal since. I decided I would like to enter it into an upcoming juried show. Now this piece got noticed in the online juried show, Bold Brush in January, so it is not that shabby. Yet there were a few niggle-y "little" things I wanted to fix. However, once I got it out of the frame and in the studio again, I realized there were lots of  "little" things needing to be fixed so I ended up starting all over on this one too.
For one, the waves were too white; the reflection was incomplete, the feet bothered me, the beach did not seem to recede into the distance as well as it might, his head faded into the drizzle too much, I punched the red up a notch,  etc etc. I think it is a much stronger, more adult, painting now.

Reflections, 36x18' - 2011, oil on canvas

We Three Geese

We Three Geese, 2012, oil on linen

Lately, I have heard many artists in my circle say they have so many paintings stacking up, that I decided to redo a few more "Oldies but Goodies" instead of starting a fresh piece. It does me good to see how far I have come and to try and salvage what I have. All about recycling!

I actually started the redo of this painting months ago when I needed to warm up before tackling a new project and there it sat until last Saturday. Where I left it was the water and the ground had been blocked in as big shapes. I had also redrawn the necks and blocked in the big shapes in the light and dark on the geese removing all details. So yesterday I just corrected more drawing and values and then started Sunday morning on details.

It was hard to tell in the original painting below, what was in the shadow on the birds. The value shift was not strong enough. The middle bird's head had been a conundrum for me at the time I painted this in 2005 so I was never happy with the head and beak on that bird in particular. This was a "good" painting for me at the time. Again, this was painted from a 6x4" photo, not a digital image.What a difference a few years make! Both in technology and in personal growth. I like the new name better, too!

Wash Park Sentinels. 2005, 18x14 oil on linen