Friday, April 17, 2015

The Flower Tree


Click Here To Buy It Now - $50, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

I have no idea what these trees are so I've dubbed them Flower Trees.  This is a photo from another early morning walk in California when visiting my daughter.  The neighborhood boulevards are lined with these beautiful trees, it's like having huge flower arrangements in front of your home.  And the tree shadows in the early morning light are amazing.  This is another painting where I had fun pumping the colors, which seems to be the trick when working from photos.

Due to the limitations and inconsistencies of various display monitors, the colors you see on your screen may not be a totally accurate reproduction of the actual painting but I work to get the best likeness possible.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Visit My New Page


Please visit my new blog page in the tabs above titled "Illustration Work".  I was a free lance illustrator for 13 years working for companies such as Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Concordia Publishing, Color clings, Judy Instructo and Shining Star/TS Denison.  I had my old portfolio out the other day, walking down memory lane and thought maybe others would enjoy seeing some of my older work.  The page shows samples of the variety of work I created during those years:  holiday window cling decorations, books, cards, teaching materials and 3D figurines.  If you worked for any of these companies and remember my illustrations, please contact me, it would be fun to catch up.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Mission Color


Click Here To Buy It Now - $100, oil on gessobord, 8x8 inches

I decided to experiment pumping color, in some cases using color straight from the tube so the title is a play on words.  After my Mom passed I stumbled across this photo of hers, she was also a painter and took photos for reference.  I don't believe she ever painted this scene so in tribute to Mom here is my effort (love ya Mom).  I don't think you can ever go wrong painting these old missions, it would be great to take a trip just to paint and photo missions out west.  And it would be a lot cheaper than a trip to Europe, although I would love to do that.

Due to the limitations and inconsistencies of various display monitors, the colors you see on your screen may not be a totally accurate reproduction of the actual painting but I work to get the best likeness possible.



Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Oranges One Cut


Click Here To Buy It Now - $50, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

I wasn't completely happy with my first orange painting so I wanted to paint it again, cutting the one orange changed it up a bit.  It also made me realize that my first orange painting wasn't so bad after all.  Its funny, there are paintings I dislike after I paint them but see in a totally different light after a few days or weeks.  Is it because I have a different image in my head of what I'm trying to achieve?  I don't know and does it really matter?  Just my pondering, my hubby tells me I think about it too much.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Oranges Uncut


Click Here To Buy It Now -  $50, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

I felt the need to paint some still life again and I love stripes!  I also painted this same subject but with a cut orange, I will post that soon.

Living in Minnesota I have to wait for a good day to photo my paintings since I do that outside.  So there are sometimes long intervals between posts and then I will post one everyday for awhile.   Life in my world. 

Friday, April 10, 2015

Mancos Bakery


Click Here To Buy It Now - $350, oil on gessobord, 9x12 inches

This painting was a real challenge for me, people are always a challenge then you have the store front and it's larger than I normally work, but I'm happy with the results.  This bakery is one of my favorite places to eat when I visit my brother in the little town of Mancos Colorado.  They have some gluten free baked items, the food is good and there are shelves of books you can read while eating.  I bought a book there titled, "Monet's Table" which talks about Monet's life and the food/entertaining in his life, just another view of this wonderful artist.  

Friday, April 3, 2015

The Privy


Click Here To Buy It Now - $100, 6x8 inches, oil on canvas board

On our travels to Arizona this past winter we stopped at a ghost town where I saw this little privy.  It was a real true old west ghost town but unfortunately closed at the time we arrived.  It had so many cool buildings that I wanted to photo but couldn't get close enough or the right angle from the protective fence.  But the privy was close enough to photo and had such character.  I love the wood, the only thing missing is the moon on the door but I never thought about adding it.  What can I say, I thought it would be fun to paint and so I did.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Lakeside Read


Click Here To Buy It Now - $100, oil on gessobord, 8x10 inches

I live in Minnesota and instead of oceans we have a lot of lakes and the people here make good use of them.  It was one of those indian summer days last fall and everyone was scrambling to get to a lake and enjoy some sunshine before our harsh winter begins.  I saw this lady on the beach and loved how the light was hitting her shoulders and reading material.  I wonder if she was doing some school homework or possibly something from work but no matter, just like many Minnesotan's she was squeezing in one more day before the big freeze.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Morning Glories And Friend


Click Here To Buy It Now - $100,  oil on gessobord, 12x12 inches

This painting has a funny story.  I was trying to capture bees on flowers in my gardens; for some reason I really wanted to paint a bee sitting on a flower.  Those darn bees are so fast, as I was ready to click the photo it would either flit off or go down inside the flower.  I ended up taking a bunch of photos of flowers and no bees or bee butts sticking out of flower centers.  However as I loaded the photos this little tree frog, who was hiding among the flowers, showed up sitting on a leaf.  I never saw him at all so it was a happy surprise.  Who cares about the darn bees, I probably need a way better camera to capture them anyway.