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.
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.
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.
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.
Click Here To Buy It Now - Sold, oil on gesso board, 6x6 inches
I was following this guy on one of my early morning walks in California last summer. The light was so great, the colors, the dog; I couldn't have asked for better subject matter. This is another painting where I've been experimenting with different size and styles of brushes and also that scribbly/scratchy technique which is very fun.
Click Here To Buy It Now - $200, oil on gesso board, 8x10 inches
I photographed these ladies at a local art festival last summer. I take a lot of photos in hopes of using a few for paintings, it always feels like Christmas when I load my photos and find one that inspires me like this one did. These ladies were actually in the background and I cropped everything else out. I also started experimenting with new painting techniques learned in a workshop this past winter and I'm having fun with scribbly scratchy brush work.
I need to note that the bright foreground sidewalk color is a tad more yellow than the photo shows but this was the best I could adjust the colors.
I just returned from Arizona where I attended a painting workshop with artist Derek Penix (check out his website). He was teaching how to paint loose, I learned many valuable tips such as the use of complimentary colors but most important of all was learning not to be afraid, to try new things, different brushes and brush work and mess things up ON PURPOSE! It was very freeing and I can't wait to get back to painting. I love watching other artist's work, how they hold their brush, mix paint, their thinking process, their fears or no fears....it's an education.
Top left photo is Derek during a demonstration, yours truly on the upper right and two of my paintings from the workshop on the bottom row.
