Robin's Nest aceo sold

'The Nest' 2.5x3.5 pastel

This little painting is a study for a larger painting I want to do. I don't usually paint something for myself but in this case I envision a large nest painting for my kitchen. We are updating the kitchen and just got new appliances. Next on the list is to redo the floor and countertop. I have a big empty wall and the big nest should be just right. I hope to work on it some tonight.

The Second Annual National Juried ExhibitionOpening Reception

Friday August 1, 20087pm-9pm

Roswell Visual Arts Center Gallery

The Atlanta Fine Arts League, Inc. proudly presents their 2nd Annual National Juried Exhibition with over 40 pieces from around the country juried by renowned artist Yuqi Wang. Please join us for a meet and greet with the exhibiting artists as well as our special guest Mr. Yuqi Wang. The exhibition will run from August 1-September 26, 2008

If you are in the area please stop by. My painting of Angel will be in the show!

Vase of Sunflowers ACEO

Today's painting is a miniature 3.5x2.5 inches of a vase of sunflowers. I love working on these small ones. Tonight is my last pastel class with Marsha until Fall. We are doing people still and I have one of my daughter I am going to try. Marsha will be giving us homework so I will be doing some of those assignments for my daily paintings.

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Hummingbird

'Tiny Jewel' 7x5 pastel

I don't know why I haven't yet painted a hummingbird! This painting was hard to photograph because I used several pearlescent pastels and they don't show up well though in real life they are quite subtle. I have a few more hummingbird photos from my trip last year to Colorado and I will have to try some more hummers!

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Sanibel Island Beach Day!

'Beach Day' 8x10 pastel

This is my demo painting from class today. We had 'Beach Day' and everyone painted a beach scene. It was a good opportunity to talk about composition of beach scenes and different ways to paint the sky and sand. I demonstrated how to paint sand using fixative on the bottom layer. Everyone did great work and it was a lot of fun. Our next class will be next month and we will be having a mini workshop on the color wheel and color schemes.

Nantucket Island Surfside Beach

'Surfside Nantucket' 5x7 pastel

Tomorrow I am teaching a mini workshop on painting a beach scene. We have taken the last few weeks off due to busy summer schedules so this will be a fun way for us to get together and paint. And if we can't be at the beach we might as well paint it! This is a painting I did of Surfside Beach from my recent trip to Nantucket Island.

Finished Field of Poppies

'Field of Poppies' 18x24 pastel

I had a great time finishing this painting last night. I wish I had more time to work on larger paintings. It is a lot of fun to put your whole arm into your strokes. This weekend I will spend time organizing my studio. I really need better storage. I am looking into shelves from Ikea that look like they will work.

Dragonfly ACEO Sold

'Jewel on Cape Cod' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

Here is a beautiful green dragonfly I found on a hike at the Cape Cod National Seashore last month. It is my goal to photograph and paint as many dragonfly varieties as I can. This is a mini pastel measuring just 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Wouldn't it be fun to see a really large dragonfly painting!?

Poppy Field Work in Progress

I am sharing a work in progress today. This is the first layer of a large poppy commission I am working on. I am working on Belgium Mist Wallis. I first sketched in the main features with a pastel pencil and then covered the paper with a light layer of reds and orange Nupastels. I rubbed in this layer with pipe insulation foam. The sky is a light turquoise layer of Nupastel. I am now ready to start in with my soft pastels. You can see in the tray I have already chosen my pastels. I may add to these but keeping these pastels seperate will help me. I am working from a combination of three other paintings I have done as well as a photo I took of the poppy fields in North Carolina. Stay tuned for the finish!

Little Boy with Train

'Little Boy with Train' 8x10 pastel

This week at my pastel class we were working on painting people. I have rarely painted people so this is still a new experience for me. I had to brush out sections a few times and it doesn't really resemble my subject....but it was good practice measuring and making corrections. It would be nice to be more comfortable with the figure so I can add them into my paintings.

A Field of Purple Flowers

'Maine Meadow' 10x8 pastel

Here is another view of the field of wildflowers I saw on my trip to Maine. This painting is done on Pastelbord with a watercolor underpainting. I love using these colors!

Field of Wildflowers ACEO sold

I don't know what these little orange wildflowers were but when I came across them on a walk in Maine, I knew I wanted to paint them. This is just 3.5 x 2.5 and was done as a little color study for a larger painting I've been wanting to try. I will be busy this week with commissions but I will still be posting so stay tuned!

Dragonfly Photo

Just sharing one of my dragonfly photos from this weekend. It was dragonfly heaven at the water gardens and I could have spent the day taking photos. Jayne got some really excellent shots with the 12x zoom on her camera. It will be fun to paint from these photos!

North Carolina Plein Air

'Wayah Creek' 8x10 pastel

I am back from a great weekend get away to Franklin, North Carolina. Jayne and I joked that we fit a week's vacation into one day! We got some great reference photos and tried out our new art comber carts. We stayed at Wayah Creek cabins which had wonderful gardens and was right on the creek. We'd love to go back again. We also discovered Perry's Water Gardens which sells water lilies and lotus plants wholesale. They were in full bloom and it was just amazing! It was like Monet's garden. And the dragonflies were everywhere. It was heaven! Here is my one plein air painting. There just wasn't enough time to do any more. I will just have to go back!

Cat Bath

'Angel's Bath' 7x5 pastel

I am off today on a painting adventure with Jayne. I have my new art cart packed and my cameras all charged and ready and the weather is supposed to be good! I do hope we get some plein air painting done. I am so out of practice! I will post the results when I return.

Time for Cake! SOLD

'Time for Cake' 6x6 pastel

It just so happened that I had a request for a cake painting on my birthday! It was fun to paint cake but would be even more fun to eat a piece!

Iris Mini Painting ACEO sold

Today's painting is another miniature or 3.5 x 2.5 inch ACEO. I really enjoy unwinding at the end of the day by painting these small works. I found a source on ebay to supply the mats so I can easily frame them in standard size frames. They make great gifts too!
I will be going on a painting trip with Jayne this weekend. We are headed to Frankin NC to do some gem mining and to try out our new plein air carts. I hope the weather cooperates!

Beach Baby

'Beach Baby' 8x10 pastel

I was going to bring this to class to work on since we are supposed to be working on scenes with people. I had some free time this afternoon and started it.....and just couldn't stop. I will bring it with me tonight to see what else I should do but I didn't want to start fiddling with it. I rarely paint people so this is out of my comfort zone. Marsha wants us to slow down and be more deliberate....I guess I have trained myself to get my ideas and impressions down quickly and it is very difficult to go slow. I feel like I start getting too fussy. It will be a challenge!

Red Poppies

'Poppy Dance' 7x5 pastel

It is fun to paint with colors you don't normally use....like red. I love my red pastels. I have a set of Mount Vision reds and my Terry Ludwig reds and they are so much fun to use. This was a fun little painting to do. It is from a photo I took of the poppies in the median up in Murphy North Carolina. I have a painting I want to do of the entire field of poppies. It is on my list!

iphone Sketches on Etch-A-Sketch

Today it was my turn to sit at the gallery for the Southeastern Pastel Society Show. It was a gray rainy day and we had only four people come by. I spent my time playing with my new iPhone. I downloaded an Etch-A-Sketch program to my phone and had the best time drawing. You could use the simulated knobs but I enjoyed using my finger to draw right on the screen. And when you are finished....just shake the phone like a real etch-a-sketch. How cool is that!! Here is one of my sketches. (you can also save your drawings and email them too)

Miniature pastel Painitng ACEO Dragonfly SOLD

'Tiny Jewel' 2.5x3.5 pastel

Here is another small dragonfly painting. They are so much fun to paint. My favorites are the bright blue ones. I am having way too much fun today playing with my new IPhone. I had intended to paint but I got sidetracked looking at all the games and cool things you can do with the phone. The funny thing is I never could figure out half the things my old phone did but this one is just too easy to use!

Miniature Pastel Painting ACEO Sunflowers Sold

I will hopefully have time to paint this weekend. I have a few ideas I want to try. Today's painting is a miniature 3.5 x 2.5 inches. Remember, they look much more important matted and framed and are great for small spaces!
Saturday evening at 6:00 pm is the opening reception for 'Metro Montage' a juried exhibition at the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. I have a painting in the show and will be there. If you are in the area, I'd love for you to stop by!

Cape Cod National Seashore

'Cape Cod View' 7x5 pastel

This was a wonderful short hike through fields of wildflowers with a beautiful view of the sea in the distance. One of my favorite places on Cape Cod! I think I would like to paint this scene larger. Maybe this weekend I will have more time. I am trying to decide on an easel for plein air. I have two painting trips coming up and I am rethinking my set-up. I will keep you posted.

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Eastern Phoebe Fledglings sold

'Getting Ready to Fly' 10x8 pastel

These adorable babies left the nest for the first time just minutes after I took their photo. This is the third family that a pair of Eastern Phoebes have raised this year. The nest is under the roof covering the hot tub at my parent's house. They have enjoyed watching these pretty little birds.

Cat in the Garden

'Garden Cat' 5x7 pastel

What a great spot for a nap! My daughter spotted this big cat asleep in the garden of a shop on Nantucket. She finds cats wherever we are! There were actually three cates here and everytime we passed by, they were sleeping!

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Published!

My strawberry Daiquiri painting was chosen to illustrate an article in the lastest issue of Oxford American, a magazine of southern writing. My painting illustrates an article about daiquiris in 'The Best of the South 2008' section. You can learn more about the magazine at their website. It is fun seeing my work in print!

Maine Wildflowers

'Edge of the Woods' 10x8 pastel

I don't know what was more spectacular...the wonderful fields of Lupines or this little patch of grass at the edge of the woods that was just exploding with the colors and textures of the wildflowers. I am not sure what the tall purple ones are but they are my new favorites!

Cape Cod Beach Rose Study

'First Encounter' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

I sometimes like to paint these little paintings to work out compositions and colors for larger works. I love the beach roses that line the beach here at First Encounter Beach in Eastham. They smell so good! I am off to the mountains to spend time with my family on the houseboat. I am bringing some pastels so hopefully I will have some time to paint! I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable holiday!

Mountain Farm

'Mountain Farm' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

I'm headed to the North Carolina Mountains for the Fourth of July weekend. This is one of the old barns we pass on the way. I painted a few ACEO's this week. They are tiny paintings that measure 2.5 x 3.5 but look great when matted and framed. They are also very relaxing to paint.

Maine Lupines #2

'Dream Field' 11x14 pastel

We drove by so many beautiful fields of lupines on our trip to Maine but couldn't stop for photos. We finally found one that was easy to access and I was able to get some reference photos. The foggy,overcast day made the colors of the fowers even more vibrant.

Acadia National Park Rocks!

'Calm' 10x8 pastel

I love Acadia National Park in Maine. One of my favorite spots to visit is Little Hunter's Beach. A great trail through the forest leads to this quiet beach made entirely of granite cobbles. I could spend all day there looking at the rocks....their colors are subtle and beautiful. People have arranged them into piles which are fascinating to me. Painting these rocks was very calming and I hope it brings calm to my viewers as well.