Thursday, September 29, 2011

"Wee-Wee-Wee..."

"Wee-Wee-Wee..." 6x6" oil on canvas panel
 

...all the way home! I've been playing catchup on challenges this week, so here's one more for today. This one was called "Paint your Pig." 

I love the sweet look on little piggy's face. Obviously, she is hero worshiping with deep admiration for momma sow. She seems to be thinking, I want to be just like you when I grow up... But I wouldn't bank on it. Sadly once she hits her teens, her head may be turned facing the opposite direction, distracted by the world and all that glimmers. I sure wish piglets would stay little forever. Do you think I could be experiencing empty nest???

Oink, Oink, Oink...Eat more Fish!!!

 Thanks for viewing!
nancy

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I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works,  ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or other small areas.


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fall Show Offs

"Fall Show Offs" 8x6" oil on canvas panel

Have paint will travel!!! I just bought an awesome new lightweight portable easel, which collapses down to fit in my backpack. So last weekend, I thought I'd try a little plein air.  I am not sure if painting on your patio counts as plein air but after all, I was outside?

In a recent challenge, posted at DailyPaintWorks.com, artists were invited to go outside and paint the fall colors where they live. What a joke! Fall colors don't even exist in Texas where green things just turn brown, shrivel up and drop to the ground. In fact, we are still experiencing blistering temps with no end in sight...and along with the heat...the worst drought since the 1700s. I count myself lucky to have little color remaining in my poolside oasis, where drought tolerant potted beauties: purple Angelonia, golden Marmalade Rudbekia, yellow Ixora and hot pink Pentas continue to defy nature.

Lord have mercy, forecasters are predicting this dry weather pattern will continue for another year... I may need to start planting cactus.

Thanks for viewing!
nancy

FREE SHIPPING
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works,  ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or  other small areas.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Angela's Path"

"Angela's Path" 6x8" oil on canvas panel - CLICK TO BID


Today's painting was my submission in the DPW's "Rectangle Challenge" which was a total blast! The rule was to build up a painting by laying down ONLY rectangles, one rectangle at a time and one rectangle adjacent to the next. You also had to mix a new color for each rectangle, comparing the color, value, and temperature as you proceeded.

My friend Angela sent me this photo from a recent hike in a Nature Preserve. I loved all the pinkish-violet tones on the tree in the foreground and in the distance, so I thought it would be fun to work with if simplified down into workable pieces.

This challenge forced me to paint outside my comfort zone but once I had placed the first couple of strokes, my mind responded like I was working a jigsaw puzzle, finding and placing down one colored piece at a time. To my delight the end result was a very abstracted, mosaic-like quality. My own personal painting style contains some degree of abstraction, which I think makes a painting more interesting. However, this challenge pushed me to leap-frog onto a new pad. I am sure I'll be revisiting this pond again and again. R-r-r-ebit!!!

Thanks for viewing and for all your comments and encouragement of my work!

FREE SHIPPING

I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works,  ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or  other small areas.

Monday, September 26, 2011

SOLD Eyes of Innocence

"Eyes of Innocence" 12x12" Oil on canvas
Click to bid

 
I don't paint many portraits but was simply awe struck with a recent photo of Annie, my three-year-old niece. Looking at her big expressive blue eyes, I couldn't help but think those eyes could have been what the Virgin Mary's eyes might have looked like as a child. With a look of wide-eyed wonder and unconscious innocence, did she have even a glimmer of understanding to where her life would lead? Somehow those eyes seem to reflect the unknowing, yet somehow knowing look of total acceptance for all that would unfold. I didn't think a 6x6" canvas could do justice to those eyes, so this one is a larger 12x12" canvas.
Thank you for viewing my painting.
nancy
FREE SHIPPING
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or other small areas.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Recent Works

"Crested Butte Frost" 6x6" oil on canvas panel
"Happily Ever After" 20x16" oil on canvas



Sometimes life calls us to be there for other people and places that need our attention, which was why I wasn't able to paint much last week. My graphic design business has been in high gear demanding all my 9-5 attention, and the evenings and weekend were chocked full with my husband's writer events, my grandson's first football scrimmage, visiting a family member in the nursing home; and then helping my sisters and brother move my mom into Assisted Living. Oh, and did I mention, cleaning my house just moments before the Health Dept. threatened to shut me down? Life can be a daring adventure!
 
I did start a new painting last night but since it's not quite ready for prime time, I thought I'd post a couple recent commissioned pieces. It's easy to paint something that literally reaches out and grabs you by the shoulders and screams in your face "paint me." But commissions are tough since you have another person's vision and emotional experience to try and capture. It's easier when the only person you have to please is yourself. Both of these painting were taken from partial photographs, so some pieces had to be made up in my mind. This is where creativity, fueled by a prayer, kicks into overdrive. 

Thank you for viewing my work.
 
nancy 
 
FREE SHIPPING
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or other small areas.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Apple Overboard

"Apple Overboard" 6x6" Oil on gessobord

I am back after a long absence. The past several weeks of my life have been eaten up by life. I've spent time caring for my 88-year-old mom who had a fall and suffered fractures, followed by the out-of-town wedding of our youngest daughter, and then a trip to accompany my poet husband to the annual Langdon Review Week in Granbury, TX. I am feeling just like this apple which fell, or was perhaps gently pushed, out of its snug little basket. 

Desperate for the rich buttery feel and smell of fresh squeezed oil from a tube, last night was the first opportunity I have had to pickup a paintbrush in several weeks. This painting was from a photograph I took at the Langdon Poet Laureate picnic at the home of Charles and Dominique Inge, where lush still-green grasses spread out under the shade of reaching branches and whispering gardens along the limestone cliffs of Lake Granbury. As I sat on a blanket feasting on the moment and chicken salad, I kept thinking how Renoir should have been there to capture this other gathering of friends, lounging and lunching in the dappled afternoon light to the sound of poetry carrying them off on the cool melodic breezes of other moments.
 
Thank you for viewing my work.
 
nancy 
 
FREE SHIPPING
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works ebay and  Etsy stores. These small paintings look great in groups of two or more, and add interest and charm to an entry, kitchen, bath, sitting on a bookshelf, or other small areas.