Day 31 That's A Wrap

That's A Wrap Quick Landscape Sketch 1Quick Landscape Sketch 2

Gramma's Girl

Ice Tea In Winter

That's a wrap . . . one month of daily painting down . . . I did over 80 little paintings this month if you include the sketches and portrait drawings . . . certainly more than enough to qualify as a daily" painter" . . . here's a few more than kind of got lost in the shuffle this month . . .the landscapes are just made up little things I went off on a tangent one day . . . the oil portrait sketch is my granddaughter . . . shewill betwo next Sunday and was sitting in the high chair so there is no holding still . . . I drink ice tea all day (like most people and their coffee). . .so usually when I'm painting it gets warm and the ice all melts . . .thought I would "capture" it real quick the other day. . . I have a special set of three more "leftovers" for tomorrow and then . . . I've picked a theme (and done 3 paintings for February) so look for those new pieces tomorrow too! Enjoy!

Day 30 Bonus Paintings

Trimmed In BlackCoffee & Cream
Bowl & Cherries 1

Bowl & Cherries 2

Chili Sauce

Here are all the paintings I did during our weekly drawing/painting session . . . I set up a large still life of all black, white & metal things . . . had to get them in here some where. . . will finish up the month (tomorrow) with several more . . . and then on to February . . . thinking about a "theme" for next month (kind of an assignment) . . . so I focused on a series of images or techniques rather than the hodge podge I've done lately . . . enjoy!

Day 29 Winter's Promise

Winter's Promise I painted this poor old dried out amaryllis bulb that has been sitting in a rusty coffee can down in the corner of my basement studio since last August . . . I gave it a big drink of water and was shocked to see it already had a little bit of green growth . . . this little guy was a present from my dear painting pal Mary several years ago . . . and I bet she's surprised I haven't managed to kill it yet. . . now that is upstairs in the sunny window. . . the new growth has already doubled in size . . .. . . if this little bugger can make it through winter . . . so can we! Enjoy!

Day 28 A Little Bit of Lace

A Little Bit Of Lace

Bought this lace place mat at the Thrift Store yesterday and just had to paint it really quick . . .
not bad for the first try . . . painting session here today . . . did 5 or 6 more paintings . . . just didn't get the photos done yet . . . so stay tuned!

Day 27 An Apple A Day

An Apple A Day

Art Geek tip . . . I will end up hand sanding down each of these little panels . . . I knew they were rough but I wanted to get them cut so I could get to "painting" . . . lesson learned . . . as now I have almost 30 - 6"x 6" panels to sand by hand . . . coulda, woulda, shoulda machine sanded the 2' x 4' sheet to begin with . . . take the time to prepare your materials properly!

Day 26 Two Eggs and Coffee

Red and OnionsWhoa!
Half of Half A Dozen

Two Eggs And Coffee

Eggs are hard . . . this is the second time I did a series of egg paintings (last time in 2009) . . . today eggs proved to be difficult . . . planned to do 3 eggs with the dark background but ended up adding to the background each time as it just seemed too stagnant . . . I painted the two eggs on the dark background over and over again . . . because they are perfectly symmetrical they are much harder than pears or apples . . . the onion painting is from last night . . . maybe I can be a famous "onion" painter . . . as they seem to be the only thing that just slid right off the end of my brush this week . . .these panels I gessoed with a pretty rough texture . . . . should have sanded them more or added another coat as they are harder to paint on (you can see the texture of the gesso in the photos) . . . anyway enjoy!

Day 25 30,000 Pounds of Bananas

Bananas That Survived Broccoli with 2 "C"s and 1 "L" These are 5" x 5" . . . ran out of 6"x6" panels this morning . . . Glenn cut some more for me this afternoon . . .but couldn't let that stop me from getting at least these two done . . . I have a little story that goes with the bananas . . . if any of you remember the Harry Chapin song . . . 30,000 pounds of bananas . . . it's about a truck driver that wrecks his semi while hauling . . . you guessed it 30,000 pounds of bananas . . . my two favorite lines in the song have nothing to do with bananas . . . it goes like this . . .


His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down.

But the pedal floored easy without a sound.

He said "Christ!"

It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now.

. . . He barely made the sweeping curve that led into the steepest grade.

And he missed the thankful passing bus at ninety miles an hour.

And he said "God, make it a dream!"

as he rode his last ride down.


Always think of that song when I think about bananas and those lines always remind me that even an atheist will call out to GOD in a foxhole . . .
How's that for off on a tangent . . . sorry I don't have anything interesting to say about broccoli . . . except that I am never sure how to spell it . . enjoy!
p.s. here's the link to all of the lyrics
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/numbers/30000poundsofbananas.shtml

Day 24 Double Or Nothing

Aqua & Orange Wrapped Onions
Coffee & Onions

I Yam What I Yam

Here you go! . . . 4 more great little paintings . . . I've posted over 50 pieces in 24 days . . . as you can see I did the onions and yams on the same background as the granny smith from a few days ago . . . I love this dark rich color . . . the other two have charcoal drawings over and under the paint . . . I really like the way it shows the process of putting the painting together . . . so you'll probably see more of this . . . got my invitation to send work to jury for the Hockaday Miniatures Show. . . and need to get something done for the next Sandpiper show . . . click here for the Sandpiper 's Invitational Call for Art - the theme is Black, White & Shades of Gray

http://sandpiperartgallery.com/ . . . that's another week from the art geek!

Day 23 Grab Bag

Floral On Linen Darn . . . only one painting so far today . . . will paint some more tonight but wanted to get my post done . . . I am really enjoying doing these draped fabric pieces . . . also here is a photo of me painting from last summer at Doug & Irene's summer place on the Swan River . . . I was just finishing a little painting of the American flag the proudly display next to their riverside deck (note the river running behind me) . . . my wonderful painting friend Jodie just sent it via e-mail . . . it's not often we like photos of ourselves but I thought this one wasn't too bad as it shows how much I care about painting and how little I care about what I look like . . . here is the other painting I painted that day as well . . . it is still available (8x8 framed please e-mail me if you are interested in this piece) and was exhibited at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History this winter.

finally . . . here are two links . . . the first one is to the article about me in the Big Sky Journal and the other is the link to Big Dig (out of Boston) which picked up the article . . . nice little bit of PR . . . http://www.bigskyjournal.com/ or

http://www.bigdigdebacle.com/news/The-Big-Dig.html
. . . enjoy!

Day 22 Pulling It All Together

Onions AgainLayers
Paisley Without Purple

Did the onions again this morning in the sunlight . . . love this one . . . then started messing with the draped fabric . . . really like these other two as well . . .

the rust and purple are a great combination plus I love the composition created by the triangles . . .you may recognize the paisley scarf from before . . . I had the purple linen laid under it but it ended up looking like a shadow rather than cloth . . . so I took it out. . . overall a successful day at the easel . . . enjoy!

Day 21 Apples & Onions

Granny Smith

Your Table Cloth Is Showing

Yellow Onions

Really nailed this Granny Smith last night . . . the second painting (of the apple) was done this morning during our painting/drawing group session . . . the white triangle pointing up is the tablecloth under the purple fabric . . . it's a bit disturbing . . . probably should have removed it (as suggested by all my wonderful painting friends) but I like the composition . . . try holding your thumb up and look at the painting with the white covered up . . . without the triangle of white it becomes a nice little painting of the apple and purple cloth but lacks a lot of interest and movement . . . I'll leave it like it is . . . and try this idea in another composition sometime . . . the onions, especially the skins, were harder to paint and draw than expected . . . definitely want to paint them again . . . really pushed the color here . . . the actual still life is warm rusty oranges and browns (almost monochromatic) so will try it again . . . maybe later tonight . . . enjoy!

Day 20 When Scissors Hide

When Scissors Hide

Jade Again

One more Rock-Paper-Scissors painting . . . in this one I have decided the scissors must be hiding . . . for whatever reason they are not around . . . and another painting of Jade . . . done real quick, real late last night . . . I have a "screaming" headache today . . . which is very unusual . . .so that's all for now . . . tomorrow is Thursday which means drawing/painting session at my house . . . always a great time!

Day 19 Going To The Dogs

Jade Sleeping???

You would think with all the dogs I have laying around (3 German Shepherds) I would paint them more often . . . unfortunately dogs (especially mine) know exactly what you are up to at all times. . . even when they are sprawled out and "sound asleep" . . . the minute you start looking at them the move, roll over, wake up, get up or whatever it takes to completely throw off the first pose you have sketched on to your canvas . . . if you don't paint them however they will sleep without moving for hours . . . usually right behind you . . . so that you trip and damn near break your neck everytime you step back away from the easel . . . here is a quick, loose painting of Jade . . . she is two, very young and hyper . . . so she got up and moved around alot while I did this but I like the technique . . . for those of you that are familar with my other dog paintings . . . I worked from photographs on those . . . hence the nice tight crisp details . . . in fact here is a "formal portrait" of Jade I did last year . . . enjoy

Jade 2009

Day 18 Rock Paper Scissors

Rock-Paper-Scissors 1 Rock-Paper-Scissors 1 (detail)
Rock-Paper-Scissors 2

What can I say . . . I love "Rock, Paper, Scissors" . . . everything about it. . . . the words, the images, the concept . . . and it's a great way to decide things . . . like what to paint when you can't decide what to paint . . . I've included a detail . . . because both of these paintings (especially the scissors in the detail) are so "painterly" . . . for all my non-painting friends . . . that means look at how the shapes of each object are made up of loose strokes and blotches of various colors . . .all you have to do is mix the right color, paint the right shape in just the right spot . . . and do that over and over again, one stroke of color right after another, all on the same canvas without erasing . . . I you thought painting was "hard" . . . .enjoy!

Day 17 - Days Off

Glenn Reading Tocqueville
It Must Be Sunday

My wonderful husband works 6 days a week . . . so Sundays are all about him relaxing . . . which is great . . . and as you can see I have a free model . . . he is really way better looking than either of these paintings portray but I loved the thick painterly technique on the close up of him reading . . . he didn't realize I was painting him so there was a lot of movement . . . the second one is exactly what he looks like most of the day . . . reading and researching on the laptop . . . every time I really look at him I think of a quote from The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

". . . . I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough."

Happy Sunday My Love . . .

Day 16 Back To The Future

Back To The Future
This painting is in response to my thoughts and comments the other day about when you come to a point were you are really struggling with your work . . . you don't necessarily need to push forward . . . you are usually off on a tangent that may or may not work for you and you probably have learned something . . . but if "nothing" is working go back to the imagery, technique, color combinations or whatever that was last working for you . . . I painted these antlers several times last year (and loved those paintings) plus the antlers are out where I see them everyday and I really like the designs they create when cropped and/or by their shadows . . . so I set them up to paint again this afternoon . . . nice little painting! . . .
Collage of Work Shared Today
this photo is a collage of the ones I took to the critique today . . .we had a wonderful time . . . Mary did a great job . . . invited a bunch more people to the drawing/painting sessions on Thursday . . . hope they join us! . . . p.s Mary was very kind and used the three little still lives (with cloves of garlic and strong shadows) as examples of first defining your light and dark areas (called a duo-tone) . . . then working all the values in each area either up or down (lighter or darker) to create the form of the actual shapes/objects. . .that's my little blurb from the Art Geek this week . . . enjoy!

Day 15 I'm A Little Teapot

The Pair
I'm A Little Tea Pot
Finished "The Pair" of saddle shoes today . . . it's a muddled little painting because I was just doing them to get them done . . . and they were too well lit to made the colors and shadows very interesting . . . see the other painting of these shoes from January 1st or 2nd . . . the little yellow teapot sinks on my kitchen window sill and my wonderful "painter" friend Mary loves it . . . I was thinking about her while I was painting it and wishing her the best as she will be facilitating a critique at the Hockaday Museum in the morning . . . and I know she is a little nervous but she will do great because she it a wonderful person and a very accomplished painter . . . I have been critiquing her work for years so tomorrow the tables will be turned and she gets to "line me out" . . . haven't figured out which painting to take yet . . . will try and remember to post it tomorrow . . . good luck Mary!

Day 14 Found My Marbles & More

Found My Marbles

The Magic Paisley Scarf

The Pair (In Progress)

I spent most of yesterday cleaning my basement studio/workspace . . . obviously I had lost my marbles . . . in the process found a bunch of them . . . I had this great salad dressing jar and I thought once I removed the label, they would look great in the jar . . . . . . well you can guess the rest of the story . . . I spent way too long cleaning the damn jar . . . because if anything takes me more than 20 minutes (except painting) . . . I pretty much feel it's already taken too long . . . the label peeled right off . . . it was the "industrial strength sticky stuff from hell" that was the problem . . . oh I hear all of you . . . try baby oil, try WD-40, . . .try bleach, . . . try ammonia, . . .try lotion or dishwasher soap . . . or whatever other "magic" formulas that might have worked for you in the past . . . I scraped, I scrubbed, I tired enough solutions mixed together that I was beginning to be concerned about the air quality of my kitchen . . . guess what . . . Orderless Mineral Spirits work!!!! . . . yep that wonderful stuff right there in front of me . . . the stuff I dip my paintbrush into a hundred time a day . . . ugh! . . . oh by the way I think the painting of the marbles in the jar turned out too! . . . the other painting was about the paisley scarf . . . kind of a challenge . . . not sure I "nailed it" but love the colors . . . and yes the plate and bowl are "floating" they were actually placed on a small pedestal that the scarf was draped over . . . makes for an off balanced composition . . .confusing to the viewer?. . . working on the saddle shoes again . . . this is in progress so a lot more to do . . . but figured I would give you a sneak peek. . . my friend Cathy did a nice little drawing of them today . . . who does not love saddle shoes??? . . . thanks Rae Marie for the info on laces for these . . . they are traditionally flat laces not round . . .the ones in this pair are just too thick . . . so making them a little thinner in this painting . . . enjoy!

Day 13 Dried Fruit

You Old Sour Puss

Nope Radishes! This poor little lemon waited so long for me to paint it . . . I had planned to cut it open in order to add some lines and texture to the composition . . . but it's dried up,wrinkled and rock hard . . . hence the title . . . the radishes are getting a little wrinkled too . . . hope to paint them once more though . . . once again my friend Reese is the inspiration for this title . . . last summer I did a wonderful paintings of rose hips . . . she looked at it and said "oh wow radishes" . . . "nope rose hips" became the title for that painting . . . when she sees this painting I can just hear her say "oh wow rose hips" . . . "nope radishes!" . . . by the way daily paintings are $48 plus $4 shipping & handling . . . I probably should make that info part of my buy now button . . .always something to do other than paint. . . spent nearly all day cleaning my basement studio and workroom. . . tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the week (okay I like them all) . . .but on Thursday it's open drawing/painting session at my studio . . . hope I do something wonderful for you to enjoy next! . . . and thanks to all of you who have e-mailed me with encouraging comments . . . I really do enjoy your feedback . . . so keep those "cards & letters' coming!