Ballerina Pansies

 These lovely pale pink Pansies have ruffled petals which remind me of a lacy tulle tutu. I placed them in an old hammered copper watering can where they dance over the sides. But I still felt something was missing, so to compliment the theme and make the pansies stand out a bit more,  I hung ballerina slippers on the wall behind. Still I didn't feel it was complete, so I then finally decided to add the jewelry. I had been thinking about draping the pearls over the spout and the rings on its pouring end, since I began the painting, just couldn't decide to do it or not. The scene began to remind me of a teen girl's space, so I added the jewelry and the whimsical antique perfume bottle. And voila! The painting has evolved, I am finally happy with it and will call it finished.

8"x10" acrylic on canvas panel

$50.

Amaryllis in the Morning Light

I loved painting these georgous amaryllis - the bright reds against the snowy lace curtains. They just seem to say, "paint us!" Couldn't help myself with the title, a play on an old country song.





8"x10" acrylic on canvas panel

$50.

Amaryllis

After the Paperwhites finished blooming in December, the Amaryllis put up buds. And in the depths of winter, their bright red crowns raise the color temperature; and fill the windows against the backdrop of January's snow, frost and rain. The lovely red blooms are a visual feast lifting the spirits.

Dorothy's Cove

Painted for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout January Challenge. Boston is the scene this month, and this is my second submission. I chose this view because of it's pastel hues of purples, blues and greens against the dark rocky outcrop and silhouettes of the boats moored in the its calm waters. I also liked the name... imagined that someone had named it after his wife or lover - so romantic.  So I looked for a scene to paint here.



6"x5" acrylic palette knife on linen paper   $50.

Indian Paintbrush

I painted this for Gary Keimig's Wilderness Art Challenge for January.




4"x6" acrylic palette knife impasto

$50.

Fusia Pleasure

I painted this for Dana Marie's Artistic Sentiments (used to be called Inspiration All Around Us) January challenge.


5"x6" acrylic impasto palette knife

$35.

Grandmother's Porch

When I was growing up, our family would gather at my maternal grandmother's house for special occasions, or just to visit.  Her family was quite large, and when everyone visited, her house would seem much too small and crowded, so my two girl cousins and I would escape to the cool and airy, spacious front porch. There we practiced our pig latin on each other, told stories to each other that we made up, and pretended we were fairies and the garden was our fairyland. The front door had a large oval of beveled glass which we pretended was a magic looking glass. On the 4th of July, we could sit on the steps and watch the fire works shot into the sky at the LA Colosseum.  This is how I remember her house looking. I now know it was a beautiful Craftsman bungalow.
I have decided to paint a series of all the places that are meaningful to me, with emphasis on what made those locales special . This is the second in that series.

5"x6" acrylic on linen paper     $50.

The Lakehouse

This rose covered cottage sits on the shores of a pretty little lake in the midst of city life, near Portland, Oregon.




4"x6" acrylic on linen paper

$35.

The House on Juniper Street

My first house was a Queen Anne Victorian built in 1879, which reigned over the neighborhood on Juniper Street. Her ornate gingerbread was adorned with purple flowering Westeria vines that stretched across the length of her wrap around porch. Ancient pink Rhodies overtook her rickety old white picket fence. Standing sentinal along her two sidewalks - as she was a corner house - were eight 100+ year old maple trees whose seed pods were dubbed 'helicopters', by my daughters, as they spun to earth when they dropped from the trees. A bay window reached out to the side garden from the dining room. And an old wrought iron gas lamp, converted to electricity in the 1940's, stood welcome at the head of the walkway.    6"x4" acrylic on linen paper    In auction on dailypaintworks.com for Japan relief.

I was asked if I had a photo of  the house as the painting only shows what is the left side (the bay window and the beginning of the wrap around porch). This photo shows the front view and one of the large old maple trees, but that tree hides the turret and the lamp. I painted from memory and realized, when I found this picture, that the bay extended up to the upstairs bedroom. It has been a number of years since I have lived here.

Monarch and Hydrangeas

Painted for Lela Stankovik's  Paint and Draw Together January challenge.


3"x4" miniature acrylic on linen paper

NFS

Digging for Sandcrabs

I painted this for Jen Smith's Rookie Painter challenge, from a photo she provided of a family walking on the beach. I rearranged the children and added the dog digging in the sand, as a focal point.

6"x6" acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Santa Monica Pier Amusement Park

                                                                                                                                                                    This was painted for Lee Brown's A Day Not Wasted
January Challenge. I liked this part of his photo of the pier and park, with the sailboats in the background. I left out the buildings in the foreground to simplify and emphasize the park.  I used to live just about 3 miles south of this pier in Venice about 6 blocks from the beach. The sailboats in the background would be entering and leaving the channel at Marina Del Rey.

3"x6" miniature acrylic on linen paper     $35.                                                            

Sidewalk Cafe

I saw this scene on Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout, Boston - Google Street Challenge. Thought I had saved the reference, but couldn't find it, so I can't submit it. But painted it anyway, from part memory and part imagination in some details. I like doing street scenes with people in them.


6"x6" acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Rocky Mt. Grizzly

Painted this for Gary Keimig's Wilderness Art Challenge. He features wildlife which for me is a real challenge, all that fur, etc. But I love the wilderness and am grateful for the opportunity to practice this area of painting.


6" x 6" acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Rosy Readers for Rosy Reading

Painted this for Jen Smith's Rookie Painter January challenge "Specs", but didn't get it painted on time to post there. Too much to do and too many pictures to paint.


6"x6" acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Go Ducks!

Whatever the outcome, they are both winners! But the Ducks are going to win the bowl game.

Well they gave it their best, but after a last quarter tie of 19 to 19 -  in the last two minutes, the Tigers won by 2 points, by kicking a field goal.

Good game and I am still proud of the Ducks.
Go Ducks!

Sunset Fire

While taking a walk on the 'back forty' I often take my camera with me. I painted this from a picture I took last summer of our barn and cow pasture. It was nearing sunset and where the sunlight hit, the trees glowed as if set afire.


9"x6" acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Lavender Sea

As a respite from winter's freezing weather, I decided to paint a springtime scene from a picture I took last year. This lovely meadow is not far from where I live in Clackamas County. I went to this location to photograph - I was going to say 'the mountain", which is how we refer to Mt. Hood, because it is very imposing and rises several thousand feet above the surrounding foothills of the Cascade range. While there, I was completely taken with this meadow, which looked like a lavender and white sea. The horizon above the flowers was filled with billowing white clouds against an intensely blue sky. The scene was/is so impressive that I resisted painting it until now - I just knew I couldn't improve on its beauty. When I did decide to give it a go, what I did do was remove the two houses along the tree line and left just a little barn, and increased the purple (which was more prominent in person than in the photo. See ref photos below). 9"x6" acrylic on linen paper   $50.

This is the reference photo. Does anybody know what the wildflowers might be? They are a combination of white and light purple.

Evening on the Charles River

This scene on the Charles River in Boston was painted for Bill Guffey's The Virtual Paintout.


9"x6" Acrylic on linen paper

$50.

Seasonal Blues

The last of the paperwhites. So sad to see them fading. They heralded the Christmas season and now they are leaving, as we leave the happy season behind.

6"x6.5" acrylic on linen paper

$35.

Haute Couture!?!

Shopping on the Rue de la Verrerie, Paris France. The window displays attracted me to this scene in the heart of Paris - and the woman window shopping in the fashion capitol of the world. But as I was painting the merchadise in the windows, I realized that this is not so much Haute Couture as maybe a thrift or second hand store. Maybe the fashions are not in style anymore but the shopper must find some real bargins - she looks pretty well dressed. Is red in this winter?

I began this painting before Christmas but finished it today- my second painting for 2011.


8"x10" acrylic on canvas

$50.

Aspen Patchwork Embroidered

First painting of the New Year. I painted this for Pam Van Londen's Monthly Challenge from a photo she provided of aspen trees. -- Not sure it will appear on her site as I have a hard time uploading to her challenge blog - we'll see. OK, it's submitted, but ........  in any event I had fun putting an abstract spin on her challenge photo, where I used muted shades of the fall colors I found there.

I used to design and make handmade quilts. When I saw the challenge photo, I imagined how I might have pieced, appliqued and embroidered a quilt using the aspen image as an inspiration. Then painted what I 'saw'.

5.5"x6" acrylic on linen paper   $50.