Pam 11x14 original oil

This was a model day last week.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to paint from life.  Painting can be such an isolating experience that the chance to paint with others is wonderful.  I have met a group of woman that are finding time in their day to pursue art after raising families, years of working and just the daily life that is necessary and consuming.  So again I am grateful to paint and share that time with such inspiring and caring human beings...thank you!

Bear In Mind 6x6 original oil

Only a few days till Christmas and it has been too cold to go out...for me.  This is one of my sons teddy bears from long ago.  So, here is another in my Christmas series.

Ornaments Unhung 5x7 original oil

Ah...yes another suggestion of the season.  This one started out on a black ground.  Karin Jurick works on a black ground a lot and so why not try it.  I thought it was quit difficult.   I now have several canvases with black grounds and so I will hopefully learn how to work on them.  I so enjoy a challenge.

Christmas Bug 6x6 original oil

Just keeping in the spirit.  Merry Christmas!

Jana 16x12 oil

This was a model day.  I have been asked why I paint the human form from life...especially if they don't wear clothes.  It is hard to explain just how wonderful the human body is to paint.   Maybe it is the challenge of capturing such an amazing 3D form on a 2D surface.  I am always challenged with creating something that looks like the real thing.  The human body is the ultimate challenge to bring to life something so amazingly complex and constantly changing.  I could paint the same person over and over again and get a different aspect and essense of them every time for an unbelievable amount of reasons.  You really get past the nude thing...really.  It is the form, value, color, line, cool, warm, dark, shadow, light, gesture and so many other things that captivates my mind and exhausts my thinking at the end of a model day.  It is being in the moment and it is a wonderful place to be!

Getting in the Season, Ho, Ho, Ho 6x6 original oil

Well today was a gray day outside and it just felt so good to walk across the house in my pajamas to paint.  I have only begun pulling the Christmas decorations out.  I am not highly motivated considering my husband and I are hosting both our families parties.  I just truly want to paint.  I could not be happier than to paint every day of my life.  So today my life is about getting organized enough to have time to paint through these busy days ahead.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Holiday Season...PEACE! 

A Cup Stands Between Them 6x6 original oil

I have been loving staying home this month.  It has been a perfect time to work on small studies.  

Boats on the Water 8x10 original oil

This was a very cold day out on Balboa Island.  The air was windy and cold and the sky only let a haze of sun light come through.

TEXT

Unfinished Wes #2 16x12 oil on linen

Wes #2 Value View
Wes #2 color-  

Worked on this again on Tuesday with Jason Dowd and I really like the refinement that is starting to happen.  I took a little more active role in painting and making these changes, although Jason helped me see what needed to be defined.  I can see that there is a problem, but can't see exactly what needs to be moved or changed.  I probably would have made some unneccessary changes if I had been left to do it alone.  That of course would have created more problems.  I think that is why I will quit working on a painting for a while.  It is like any job we start without the full knowledge we need to complete it.  That is why we call out the professional.  I so appreciated the eye of Jason to set me on a more productive track to seeing the end of this painting.
Wes #1 to compare the changes in the developement. 

Unfinished Wes 16x12 oil on linen

This is a painting I am working on with Jason Dowd at The Art Studio in Westminster California.  I feel very fortunate to be taking a few lessons with him.  I am intimidated and really just want to watch him paint.  I started this painting of my son Wes with some concern that I could not capture the beautiful spirit of this young man.  I started laying in the basic form and values of the planes of his head.  The first fight I had with myself was to not go to the eyes or for that matter any of the features.  Second is understanding the slight differences of color as they move about the face.  Third is the warm and cool of shadow and light.  All of these things are overwhelming to think about in starting a portrait.  Until it becomes understood through experiencing the process it is exhausting.  I know that is a lot of brush miles.  So I must say that I got a lot of help from Jason on this.  I found it just as important to watch him and ask myself questions as he went along.  I asked him questions.  He could see so much more than me.  I have this desire to rush and watching him relaxed me enough to understand the importance of process.  I hope to finish this soon and post it.
Meet my son Wes.  

Eliot Sketch #2 11x8 pastel

Here is another one of Eliot done a few years ago.  I think I got a slight likeness of him at the time.  It is hard to draw my children as I know all their little nuances.  I know all the little expressions that go beyond what they look like but adds so much to who they are and and in the end what they look like.  I think it is the spirit of the person that comes across in a good likeness.  Oh how I want to capture that. 

A Sketch of Eliot 8x11 pastel

This is my son Eliot a few years ago.  I am studying portraiture again and have been looking at past work.  

Looking Out on the Horizon 6x6 oil

Here is another beach, wave, and cloud painting. 

Shore Line 6x4 oil

A small study from a photo on a very cold and foggy day at home.  

Patty 16x12 oil

This was a model day a few weeks ago that I did not finish.  I even wiped off the face.  I finally thought I needed practice and needed to finish her or paint over her.  I worked from a photo Patty allowed me to take of her.  It is not a good likeness.  I will keep up with the figure work and hopefully I will get better.  

Protein, Protein 7x5 acrylic on canvas

Back side

A bit of a blast to the past...like 1969.   I remember painting this one and another one like it on my multi colored shag carpeting.  I stayed up all night painting this one in acrylic and another one in oil.  This was an ad in a magazine obviously for dairy products.  

Last Detail 12.5x16 pastel on wallis paper

We were in Hana on a family vacation when I came across this group of soldiers in formation marching down the street.  They were leaving a funeral of one of their own.  It always struck me that the last man was alone.  I will not forget this scene.  

I did this awhile back and just needed to finish up a few things.  It was time.