Chocolate Cake...The Dessert Series!

'Not on my Diet' 5x7 pastel

Here is cake number two....I think this should be a series. I certainly don't mind having to go find delicious things to paint. It was interesting to paint chocolate cake. I tried to make the colors more interesting than just plain brown.

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Low Country Dunes Pastel

'A Passing Storm' 11x14 pastel

This is another painting from the same trip to the South Carolina coast. This was the dunes on Harbor Island. We were lucky that it only was a passing storm. The clouds cleared off and we had a beautiful day. I have another piece of cake that I painted in class last night. Jayne had the great idea of having everyone bring a delicious and beautiful dessert to paint and then eat when we are done. I like that idea! I will post the cake tomorrow.

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Low Country Marsh Sunset

'Sundown' 11x14 pastel

Jayne and Holly will recognize this scene. We have all painted it at one time or another. I have painted a smaller version but today I wanted to try a few 30 minute painting exercises and they are easier to do a bit larger. This is the sunset we experienced on a trip we took to the South Carolina coast near Beaufort.

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Cactus Flower..sold

'Desert Bloom' 7x5 pastel

Today I painted a disaster of a nest. I was using Wallis paper which I don't normally use for my nest paintings and nothing went right. I ended up turning it into a sort of abstraction of a nest and I painted and cut and pasted some eggs. I took out some LaCarte paper for this painting of a cactus bloom.

A Peaceful Siamese Cat

'Peaceful' 5x7 pastel

I am sharing another painting I did while on the cruise. The title describes both the cat and the way I felt while painting this. This is painted on Wallis paper which I don't usually use for cats. It kind of gives a different look to Tobi. I may have to try some more animals on this paper.

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The Most Delicious Cake Ever!

'Coconut Cake at the Beach' 8x10 pastel

In Cozumel we spent the day at a beach club, Nachi Cocum. (highly recommended) After a delicious Mexican lunch in the open air restaurant with the most awesome view, we decided to try the coconut cake. It was the most delicious piece of cake I ever had...and I have eaten a lot of cake! It was moist with just the right amount of sweetness...my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I had fun playing around with my pastels today trying new techniques with fixative and a lead pencil. I love to paint food!

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View the steps to a finished painting

Seagulls at Sunset

I had a lot of fun paintings these seagulls for one of my collectors. They are from photos she took on vacation at the Jersey Shore. She liked the soft pink light of the sky just before sunset as well as the intense orange glow when the sun sank below the bank of clouds....so I painted both views and they do each have their own mood. I painted these while on the cruise while looking out at the ocean. It was great to be out in the sea air while painitng a seaside scene!

Caribbean Cheer

'Caribbean Cheer' 7x5 pastel

I wonder if you can call a painting a plein air piece if you painted outside on the deck of a cruise ship? I sure felt like I was painting plein air battling the wind and the ocean spray! This was done from my photo so I know it doesn't count. I promised to show my plein air set up that I brought with me on the cruise and I plan to do that this weekend. I will also be helping my son work on applications for art schools...we have to narrow down the list and get serious about gettting those applications out!

Daily Pastel Painting...Sunflowers

Here is a bit of sunshine to warm a cold day here in Atlanta! This painting is 7x5 on Ampersand Pastelbord. I am thinking of making this into a larger painting so I was playing around with color.
There is a new feature at Dailypainters.com. I am now able to organize my gallery by catagory. It is now much easier to browse through my work. If you haven't visited in awhile please take a look here!

News Flash! I made the paper! How exciting to open the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this morning and see the article about my Daily Paintings. Thank you to Karen Rosen for a well written article. If you'd like to take a look it is in today's Northside section. You can also read the article online.

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On Painting a Cat.......

'It's Only You' 11x14 pastel

That's what Tobi seems to say as he lazily peeks out at me from one of his many cat naps! This is the painting I did for last night's demo at pastel class. It was a bit strange painting off to the side of my easel and talking at the same time....hopefully I was helpful! I want to thank my teacher Marsha Savage for asking me to share with the class. Thank you to all of my classmates too. I hope you enjoyed the demo and trying out new paper and techniques. Your cat paintings were all looking great! I had fun and hope everyone did as well. During the demo Marsha asked me how many cat paintings I have done...it does seem to be one of my favorite subjects. I looked back and I counted 24 cat paintings so far. Most of them are 5x7's. I have enjoyed working larger though.

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Price: $195 USD
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NJ Shore Lifeguard Stand

'Watching' 7x5 pastel

I loved the colors in this scene. It just looks like a perfect beach day to me! I was thinking about painting this scene large so I did a little color study in preparation. Tonight I am doing a demo on painting cats for my pastel class... should be a fun class. I will give a report in tomorrow's post.

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Dragonfly Pastel Painting....sold

'Dragonfly Magic' 7x5 pastel

I painted two new dragonfly paintings last week. They are both 5x7's. I tried a new technique on the wings to make them appear lacy. I used an irridescent pastel and drew lines in the pastel with a push pin. It was like scratch art! I'll have to think of other ways to use this same techniques since it was so much fun.

Beach Paintings...from the cruise

I just finished going through and photographing the 24 paintings I did on the cruise. Here is just a sample. Some of them are plein air pieces and some are from my photos of other beach trips. They are all 5x7. I will be posting them individually in the next few weeks but if you see one you are interested in send me an email. All of the 5x7 paintings are available for sale at $95 each. I had a request for a photo of my plein air set up which I will try to post tomorrow.

First Place Win!

I came home from vacation to the news that my painting 'Summer Fields' took first place in the pastel division at the National League of American Pen Women's juried exhibition 'Reflections'. I wish I had been home for the opening ...I would have been so surprised! I am very honored and pleased to have been recognized. My husband calls these my 'weed' paintings but I love to paint them! If you are in the Marietta Georgia area come by and see the show at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art!

Ocean View Plein Air

'Open Seas' 5x7 pastel

Here is the little plain air painting I was working on in the photo I posted below. I had set my pastels on the end of my lounge chair out on the deck of the ship. The clouds on this trip were amazing. I took lots of reference photos of the different cloud formations I saw.

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Back from the Sunny Caribbean!

It's hard to believe I was in my bathing suit on a cruise ship yesterday! Today we returned home to snow in Atlanta! The photo on top shows me painting on the deck of the ship and the second photo is my house when we pulled into the driveway today! Brrrrrrrrr! I had a wonderful time and painted 24 paintings...all 5x7's. I have perfected the art of lounge chair painting in all kinds of weather conditions. It was a lot of fun. I took 800 reference photos too and can't wait to paint some of them. I am working on photographing my paintings and will post one later.

Cedar Key Fishing

'Quiet' 8x10 pastel SOLD

I am getting ready to leave for Charleston SC. Our cruise departs from this port tomorrow! This may be my last post for the week. Although there is an internet connection on the ship the service is notoriously slow and costly. I am planning on painting and reading and relaxing. I am bringing lots of paper and my new Terry Ludwig pastels. I am also going to read a biography of Andrew Wyeth...the artist I chose to study for pastel class this session. I am actually reading a book about another artist I like...William Lathrop...so I will be studying two artists. I hope to come back with lots of little paintings and a tan! (I am already planning a Fall painting trip with my VIP friends ...Jayne & Holly....so exciting!)

Cedar Waxwing Nest Painting

'Cedar Waxwing Nest' 5x7 pastel

Here is my painting of a Cedar Waxwing nest and eggs. I am going to enjoy this Bird and Nest project! Here is some information about the Cedar Waxwing's nest.

"The nest is a cup-shaped and made of bark, twigs, moss and grass. The nest is usually made in a conifer tree. The eggs are oval shaped with a smooth surface and very little, if any, gloss. The egg shells are of various shades of light or bluish grey with irregular, dark brown spots or greyish-brown splotches."

Cedar Waxwing

'Cedar Waxwing' 7x5 pastel

I really love to paint birds. I thought it would be fun to paint a bird a week but found out that someone has been sketching a bird a day. So how about 'Birds and their Nests'. This year I will try to paint a nest and the bird that goes with it...I will try to do one each week. One of my collectors recently bought 2 of my nest paintings. She likes to have paintings of the birds to go along with the nest. Makes sense to me! Today's bird is the beautiful Cedar Waxwing. Look for the nest soon.

It doesn't look like I will be doing any oil painting in the next few months. My son is taking Painting this semester and has raided my paints and brushes. Well actually he wants to get new brushes because he doesn't want the teacher to see the used brushes and get the idea that he has painting experience! I had to chuckle at that!

Mallard Duck Feathers

'A Touch of Teal' 7x5 pastel

I was fascinated by a close-up photo of Mallard Duck feathers. I loved the texture and of course the colors. It was interesting to paint.Tonight is pastel class after a long break. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back to the routine of class.

Colorful Pears

I wish I could be as clever with naming these pears as my friend Jayne's 'Cowler Wheel'. Pastel class starts back tomorrow after a long break so I thought I'd cram and do some of the homework that was assigned. For this exercise I painted the same subject using each primary and secondary color to make six monochromatic paintings. Each one of these is 5x5 on LaCarte paper. It was fun and a good learning experience.

I have been 'Tagged' by a wonderful artist Debra Sisson. Thanks Debra!

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are 5 random facts about me:

1. I was born in Connecticut, grew up in South Florida and live in Georgia.

2. Always thought I was allergic to cats but now am owned by five of them...no allergies!

3. I love to travel and plan trips....I would have loved to be a travel agent.

4. My favorite place to paint....any marsh or beach..or canyon or mountain.....

5. My favorite colors are purple and turquoise..is that obvious???

I would like to tag these great artists:

Jayne Bachman

Holly Brinkley

Carol McNeely

Paula Ford

Miki Willa

Orange Hibiscus Flower

'Orange Glow' 7x5 pastel

I was productive this weekend and got my things packed for next week's cruise....so I had time Sunday to go paint with Jayne & Holly. I think we all painted three paintings each! I decided to do some small paintings that fit our pastel homework. This hibiscus is my 'up close and personal' painting. It was a lot of fun to use these great colors!

Creighton Island Marsh

'Cabin View Late Afternoon' 5x7 pastel

This is a painting of the view from our cabin on Creighton Island, Georgia. One day just before dinner, the marsh had beautiful warm light...it seemed to glow. I did this little painting from a photo on a recycled Ampersand Pastelbord. I had washed off this board a few times so there wasn't much tooth left and it was stained....I happen to like the moody quality that developed as I painted this.

Sleeping Siamese Cat

'The Afternoon Nap' 16x20 pastel

Here is the largest cat painting I have done so far. It is 16x20 so the cat is larger than life....see the post below.... I have two dog portraits to paint at 16x20 so I wanted to have a practice session with my own cat. I have painted birds this large but nothing furry. It's funny because I love to paint small but when I do paint something larger I really enjoy that just as much! This is one of those paintings that looks much better in real life.

Meet the Model!

I thought you might like to meet the model for my Siamese Cat paintings. I also wanted to show the size of my latest painting. It is hard to tell the size of the actual painting from these little blog pictures and since this is a big cat painting...I wanted you to see it a bit better. This is me holding Toblerone....Tobi for short. I named him after the candy bar because I thought his ears looked like a piece of Toblerone bar! I fell in love with a siamese mix at a local cat shelter where I was volunteering and had to have one. So my daughter and I volunteered at a Siamese cat rescue shelter with hopes of finding a siamese of our own. That didn't work out but a trip to Kittentanz...a Siamese cat breeder in North Georgia did...and Tobi came into our lives. He is as crazy as he is sweet and I just love to paint him!

Reflections: Georgia Women Artists Exhibition

Today I had to deliver these two paintings for the upcoming exhibition by the Atlanta Branch of the American Pen Women. The Opening Reception is Saturday, January 12th at the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. The show continues until March 12th so if you are in the area, please stop by! I am honored and excited to be a part of the show!

Cedar Key Florida Pastel Painting

'Serenity' 8x10 pastel

If you haven't had the chance to visit Cedar Key, Florida I would recommend a visit. We had a wonderful and peaceful weekend on Cedar Key last summer and this painting takes me back...

Sapphire Beach, Virgin Islands

' Sapphire Beauty' 8x10 pastel

The anticipation for our upcoming cruise is mounting. It is always nice to have a cruise planned for January. There is no post-holiday let down when you have to take down the suitcases and start packing for warm weather!This is a painting of Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas USVI. It is actually the cove next to Sapphire Beach. It was one of the most idyllic tropical beaches I have ever seen. This cruise we are going to the Western Caribbean. I am looking forward to relaxing and doing a lot of painting. Last year I perfected the art of plein air painting from a lounge chair so I can' wait to try it again.