One Orange Cup

"One Orange Cup", 6x6" oil on 1/2" deep wrapped canvas

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"After the ecstasy go do the laundry." — A Chinese axiom

Surprise! I am not dead, at least not yet. It feels like eons since my last post, but decided to take a little time off from painting to catch up in all the other areas of neglect surrounding me.

What I wasn't expecting is that when I finally showed back up at my easel, somebody else would be standing in my shoes. It was like I had never held a brush before and needed to learn to paint all over again. First I tried working on a large portrait for several weeks...big mistake and extremely frustrating. It's now sitting in a corner of my studio waiting for the enlightenment fairy to pay a visit and wave her magic wand.

So today, I decided to go back to basics and paint something small and very simple. I have come to understand that there are extraordinary miracles in everyday ordinary objects, that can be found even in one simple orange mug. Now how hard could that be? Enamored with the cast shadow, I snapped photos of this cup months ago. As G.K. Chesterton said about children, contemplatives and mystics (I'd like to include artists), "They have learned to look at things familiar until they look unfamiliar again." I felt inspired and jumped in. Although I truly struggled with this piece, I decided to go ahead and post my efforts. 

It does seem that 99% of life is doing the laundry, while waiting for the ecstasy as author Ronald Rolheiser talks about in his book, Against An Infinite Horizon. Guess I better get back to that mounting pile of laundry.  

Sorry I missed you...I'm off to buy more Tide biodegradable substitute.  

nancy
 
To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Her's and His

"Her's" 4x4" miniature oil on black canvas board

 "...And His" 4x4" miniature oil on black canvas board

 Click Here to Buy  FEMALE CARDINAL

"Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into." - Wayne Dyer
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#PEXv6HXitzLPhElf.99

"Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into." - Wayne Dyer
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results.html#PEXv6HXitzLPhElf.9

 
Click Here to Buy MALE CARDINAL

 "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" —Lou Holtz 

Here's a bright young pair of male and female cardinals, donned in thick warm crimson layers of feathery down, singing a duet while foraging for seeds and fruit from high branches. "Like two birds of a feather, they stick together" throughout the blast of winter's deep chill.

I wanted to keep these paintings simple by limiting the number of brush strokes, as I did with the simple shapes found in my black capped chickadee posted earlier this week. However these fledglings just seemed to require more information in order to portrait the soft feel of fluffy plumes and quill on their chubby forms. 

I have posted these paintings as a pair so as not to split them up, but let's face it, divorce happens...so they are also available individually. ; )

Thank you for perching with me for a moment or two. 

nancy 

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To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio 

SOLD - Big Momma and Little Jack

Big Momma and Jack, 6x6" oil on gessobord

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STEP 1 Tone the panel and roughly sketch with turp and umber.

STEP 2
Working with thin paint, loosely begin laying in skin tones

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on."

— Carl Sandburg

STEP 3
Continue laying in large flat areas and shapes of local color

STEP 4

Still working with thin paint, refining shapes, values, and larger details.

This is the hardest stage for me, I always start having doubts and 

think it not going to work.

 STEP 5
Making adjustments to drawing and begin to define with thicker applications of paint 

This is a commissioned painting, I have been working on from a photo reference of a tender moment captured between a great-grandmother holding her sweet great-grandson. 

I seem to be doing more figurative work lately, so I thought I'd share my step-by-step painting process with you to show how one of my paintings developed from start to finish. See steps 1-6 on right.  

The entire process took me about 12 hours to complete. I am learning more and more each day, and still have a long way to go, but I am having a heck of a lot of fun.

I also want to invite you to browse my NEW Website. I am so excited to be able to now offer my paintings for purchase as fine prints, canvases, note cards etc. Simply click on one of the paintings on my website to see all of the options available. It's so easy. Check it out here. 

If there is a specific painting  in my gallery you're interested that is not being shown on the website, just let me know and I will make it available for printing as well.

Thanks for letting me share.

To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website

• Graphic Design Studio 

STEP 6 
Continue refining adding highlights, adjusting edges, accentuate details, using thickest applications of paint.

My Side

"My Side" 10x8" Oil on gessobord

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"Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing." — Bill Cosby

I just got back from my first trip to Orlando and Disney World with my high school girlfriend. We spent one entire day running all over Epcot, Magic Kingdom and MGM parks. We must have walked 15 miles. So here's my side of the story, there I was having this wonderful relaxing vacation only to be totally traumatized. First I was baited with this euphoric and exhilarating ride called "Soarin", however that was just a setup. Then my (so-called) friend dragged me kicking and screaming onto several terrifying rides, like something called "Tower of Terror" where you are taken up 13 floors on a creepy old elevator to the top of this haunted hotel to then—suddenly and without warning—drop 13 floors over and over again. I kept my eyes closed and somehow survived the experience, but came home from this 3-day trip needing lots of nerve calming rest, thus the subject of today's painting. ; )

I had taken the photo for this painting of my bedside a while ago; the path of light really caught my attention. I wanted to continue working in Colley Whisson fashion, using the new techniques and materials from my recent Austin workshop. I am really happy with this new painting which just seems to me to have more of an emotional impact...just downright poetic...don't you think?

Okay, with the exception of that one ride, I really did have a wonderful time at Disney and was totally pampered staying in such a beautiful resort.

Thanks for stopping in today unannounced. If I'd have know you were coming I might have even made my bed.

nancy
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To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio

Graceful Grazer

"Graceful Grazer" 16x20" Oil on stretched canvas

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"Horses make a landscape look beautiful."

—Alice Walker

Horses are so beautiful...they don't even look real. This landscape had little redeeming value, but this stepper totally charmed me.

I came across this beauty while searching for a place to park at Old Town Spring. This is a 1900s historic railroad town featuring antiques, galleries, gift/specialty shops and restaurants, located not far from where I live. 

I stopped there briefly over St. Patrick's Day weekend while the whistle-stop was crammed full of tourists. I had to park way in the back on a field near the railroad tracks. As I was getting out of my car, I looked up and was stopped dead in my tracks by this graceful creature grazing in a small pasture behind a little cabin/house. I'm lucky I didn't get shot walking around—basically trespassing—to snap some photos. Oh well, what's life if it's not a daring adventure? I had to take a chance, or miss an opportunity that might never trot my way again. 

Thanks for please not turning me over to the authorities. :  )

nancy
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To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio

Lunch Bunch

"Lunch Bunch" 6x6" Oil on gessobord

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Today's painting is a recent challenge from DailyPaint Works. The photo of the crowded German restaurant above is what we were given to paint. There is a lot going on in the scene, so the instructions were to select and paint just a section of it. I chose the two shady characters on the right who are disguising themselves in sunglasses...and trying to look oh so innocent! But I am on to them. The green shopping bag the lady's guarding between her legs is stuffed full of stolen euros from a heist they just pulled off from the bank on the corner. Just look at his shifty eyes and how nervous she is puffing away on that cigarette. The whole town is swarming with cops, so the punks ducked in here to wait for the coast to clear before they make their break for the border. 
...And that's my story and I am stick'n to it!

Thanks for viewing my work!

nancy

FREE SHIPPING WITHIN USA
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works and Etsy stores. These small paintings work 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.

INTERNATIONAL PURCHASES AND SHIPPING:  Shipping charges are based on actual weight, contact me directly to arrange for online payments and shipping cost.

Who da Momma?

"Who da Momma?" 6x6" Oil on gessobord

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I haven't painted a not-so-still life in the past couple weeks and was searching for subject matter, when my husband...who loves to grocery shop...steps in the door toting this gorgeous juicy tomato. She was donned in a long twisting stem resembling a witches hat. I was not about to let that red beauty get diced up into a taco salad or gazpacho, until I had a chance to paint her. So I placed her in the fridge to chill.

A couple days later, I discovered she had adopted a trio of abandoned young grapes looking for a place for trouble to happen. Momma-mato gathered them into a green cluster and bribed them to sit still long enough for this first family portrait. She later rewarded their good behavior with a trip to the local Hydrator Roller Rink. Oh, the things that go on in my house!

Thanks for viewing my painting.

FREE SHIPPING WITHIN USA
I am offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my Daily Paint Works and Etsy stores. These small paintings work 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.

INTERNATIONAL PURCHASES AND SHIPPING:  Shipping charges will based on weight, contact me directly to arrange for online payments and shipping.

"Misty Watermelon Memories"

"Misty Watermelon Memories" 6x6" Oil on canvas panel

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This painting is my submission to DailyPaintWorks' "Upside Down" Challenge. We were given the photo above with instructions to paint it upside down from start to finish. No, I don't mean me hanging upside down painting, the photograph had to remain upside down. This technique was first introduced in the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." For some strange reason our left brains can't handle not being able to name and identify parts when things are upside down, so the submissive right brains steps in to take over. It's so much easier to draw and paint upside down. In fact I'll double-dog-dare you to try it sometime. You will find that literally everyone in the universe can draw amazingly better using this approach. I loved the way this turned out, once I was able to turn it right side up and see what I had painted. Those very cool reflections were really fun painting especially when you didn't even know they were reflections from upside down.

I am now offering FREE shipping within the U.S. on all paintings in my ebay store. These little 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. 

Also, here is a great source to purchase online frames for these small paintings. Check out the "floater" frames like those shown below. The painting just gets glued onto it...super easy. http://www.kingofframe.com/6x6-Frames_c_22.html

Thanks for viewing my work. 

-nancy   

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