“Bold Lilly” Watercolor on gessoed masonite $50.00 USD 8″ by 8″ (inches)

What a great day! The sun was out it was like 65 degrees, Roo (my grandson) and I went out in the yard and played with the dogs, we sang, threw rocks basked in the winter warmth and ate Mickey Ds. I stayed up till three am last night so I painted a couple of small paintings, this is one of them.

I used to have lilies in my pond but my Koi are large now and they think I’m putting those beautiful flowers in there for them to munch. So now unless I protect them by cordoning off a corner they get devoured in about five minutes.  But I can still have them anytime I want, I just have to get out the paint brushes.  Isn’t it wonderful to have an imagination?

Fall mushrooms

5 inches by 5 inches $30.00 plus s & h
watercolor on paper
beautiful fall colors!

This is a photo I took of some mushrooms in my yard. They were my inspiration.

Chili

This 8 by 8 is a watercolor on paper. I’ve cropped it ( in photoshop) for the blog to 6 by 8. $50.00

I’ve always liked the colorful look of chili peppers, the various colors and the way light shines thru their skins.  We used to hang them up to dry and I have some fond memories of chilies hanging by the stove.  My mother would wrap string around them or even sew them together.  Usually we would have too many to eat so the extra would be saved this way and used as needed.  As a child I wouldn’t touch them and even now hot food isn’t my thing.  I like spicy but not hot. I planted some peppers the other day, maybe I’ll use them as my model in about 45 days. 

 

Golden boy

5.75 by 5.75 Watercolor on gessoed masonite $35.00
This painting is a bit darker then this appears.  It was late tonight when I took the picture (inside & under artificial warm lights).  I didn’t finish my painting today till almost 11:00 pm, that’s because I took my friend out for a birthday dinner. By the time I got back, I had to pack up some paintings, get some chores done and take care of business.  I’m glad to have made my midnight deadline!

Blue on blue sold

7.5 by 7.25  45.00 Acrylic on gessoed masonite.

I need to cut up some more painting panels. I run out of them pretty fast. Usually I buy the masonite myself and have someone cut the wood into different sizes.  Being thrifty I have had them cut by folks who have trouble figuring out how to cut a straight line.   This is why the odd sizes.  For instance this piece was to be 8 by 8 but he, (I’ll keep his name anonymous) kept having to cut another bit off here and there.  I guess I’m lucky I didn’t end up with a 3 by 3. 

This painting is part of my “Monet” series.  I like these blues, and greens with the brown and white.

Its very soothing.

Of course…

I think I’ll paint another with the colors using ( yesterday’s painting) the palette of ancient ritual 126.   

 

I’ve been thinking about buying an Internet card for my laptop, u know so you can go anywhere not just where they have wifi.   Are they worth the money?  my cell phone is with A T&T so should I buy theirs so I can get a  possible discount for bundling my service plans or should I get a different brand because they work better.  Any ideas on this folks? 

Perserverance 08

11 by 14 Acrylic impasto on Canvas panel $150.00
This painting is done impasto which refers to the thickness of the paint. Its very thick and can give the look of oil without using oil paints.  I combined  a golden gel medium with the acrylic paint to increase the body of the paint.  It tends to paint like whip creme, which is a little hard to control but is very smooth.  Also ,it gives the paint a slight gloss which is similar to oil paint.

Artist Tip:

When using these gels its best to use a pallet knife and mix the paint into the gel uniformly because if not mixed well the gel will look translucent white.  Sort of like dried glue, not a look you really want.

Raccoon Rascals

 

11 by 15 300.0
Raccoons are cute little guys and very frisky. I’ve raise a few and have found them to be a handful and don’t encourage you to try to keep one as a pet. I just raised them till I could turn them over to a rehabilitator who taught them to get their own food in the wild and set them free.

koi Impasto 8 by 8 Acrylic on canvas panel

8 by 8 acrylic on canvas panel $60.0 It takes more paint to produce impasto pieces. Its like painting with whip creme. I have been trying all the different mediums you can mix into acrylics. Some are fun and I really think if your looking for texture you may want to try some of them.

Blue Water trio

8 by 8 50.00 watercolor on gessoed masonite. no need to frame under glass can be frame like an oil painting.

This is one of the Koi paintings I painted on Saturday.  I like it and hope you do too.

White on White ll

50.00 7 by 7 watercolor on gessoed panel

Obviously this is the companion piece to white on white.

I painted a Koi today and I may keep it around for awhile. So… you may not see it till I’m sick of it. That way it can’t sell. Sometimes an artist likes to keep a painting around just to look at, and with this painting a day blog I never know which ones will sell so if I want to live with a painting for a while I’ve learned not to post it. With my luck the only painting that will sell that week will be the one I want to keep. Go figure. Anyway… Many of you like my florals so I’ll paint a few more. For years I painted flowers and I studied them, photograph them, their shape, the way their petals turn, the light as it passes thru their leaves all that and more.  I don’t usually paint them realistically anymore but on occasion I ‘ll get the old itch to paint some flowers and its usually in the spring.

 

I hope you enjoy them while they last.

“Flower power” watercolor on gessoed masonite panel

8 by 8 50.00

Its spring I ‘ll admit it, I have a little spring fever, all the flowers are turning up in the nurseries and the bright color is captavating, I can’t wait to buy some colorful annuals. 

Ancient Ritual Series ACEO Sold

ACEO  $45.00 plus s&h 5.50

This is part of my ancient ritual series, it’s a series that I explore the ways in which we mark the passage of time and events in our lives with ceremony and ritual.

Palm Reader By Amy Kelm

Watercolor on paper
Here is another painting from Amy, This was also part of the work from her thesis.. its part of her series about the important of nature to all of us.

Ripples By Amy Kelm

watercolor on paper

This is one of the paintings painted by Amy Kelm, she is a Art student just finishing up her Thesis and I wanted to put up some of her work this week. This is a finger print laid over the top of growth rings of a tree. I think the message is basically how we have devalued nature yet our very existence may depend upon how well we manage our natural resources.

Lavender Roses

Acrylic on wood panel. 8 by 8 $50.00

I have a thesis student I have been working with and today I ‘m pretty sure her project is complete. She has been painting watercolor paintings using parts of the human body ( like finger prints) juxtaposed or layered over things in nature like the growth rings in a tree. This is to convey our connection to nature and the earth. I’ll post some of her paintings tomorrow.  Their interesting and thought provoking.