3 of 4 Completed - Private Commission - NFS

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6" x 6" - oil on canvas - private commission
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And here we have the final product. I'm not leaving this one out for the landscapers to do a repeat of last weekend. It is safely tucked away in my studio, near a sunny window.

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Once completed, the heavens parted, angels descended from above, playing their harps and sprinkling gold dust around my head. Then I stepped out to Coldstone Creamery. On my way there, I saw some landscapers get out of their truck along the side of the road. I resisted the urge to mow them down in a bitter rage. But I THOUGHT ABOUT IT.

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Still Working on It - 3 of 4 Redo

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A slightly detailed piece, no? I have one more round of details to go. I had hoped to finish it today, but needed just a little longer drying time between layers, so I missed my deadline. But, tomorrow it will definitely be done as I am down to the last layer. And then I'll go celebrate, probably with frozen yogurt. Sprinkles, too. Chocolate sprinkles. And fudge. Maybe some whipped cream?

4 of 4 - Private Commission

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6" x 6" - oil on canvas
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So, in all the uproar with my destroyed painting #3 this weekend, I drafted and then forgot to hit 'send' on the email of the 4th of 4 paintings to the buyer. I was waiting to hear from her on what she thought of this piece before posting anything to my blog. Then I realized, after several days had passed with no word from her, that maybe something went wrong with the email. I checked my 'sent' items folder to see that, oops, it never went out. Cuz I'm perfeshinul, apparently. So, I pulled it out of the draft file where it had been collecting dust and feeling lonely, and sent it along. And now I'm posting it here for you to see, too.

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If you've followed my paintings in the last year, you might recognize this cup and saucer. It's the inspiration for all my Depression Glass pieces. I've just never added all the design details that are all over the set. When the buyer commissioned 4 highly detailed cup paintings, I figured it was time to get over my fear of that cup and saucer and just get on with it. So, I did. And this was the end result. After all my fretting and worrying, I rather like it. I won't be painting it again any time soon, at least not with all that information on it, but I'm glad I did it this time.

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Okay, now to go finish the 3rd piece for tomorrow, landscapers be dam*ned.

"Filler" aka Painting in Progress

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After this weekend's painting debacle, I had to do some reprioritizing. The daily paintings I had planned to work on and list this week were put on the back burner while I began the teacup painting all over again. I won't lie. It's been a painful couple of days where that painting is concerned. It was the most complicated piece. Second time around, it still remains the most complicated piece. In case anyone was wondering if painting something twice is easier on the second pass, the answer is NO.

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I am trying really hard not to leave the blog blank for more than a couple days at a time. Seeing as I don't have any daily paintings to list, I decided to post the base layers of a 24"x24" commission I'm working on for a lovely little family. Rather than have their portrait done, they decided to represent themselves as their 3 favorite delicacies from the local bakery. When I call this "Filler", I mean it in every sense of the word. While working on this, even in the infant stages seen above, I spent my time ogling larger than life desserts with drool trailing down my chin. I have this overwhelming desire to eat croissants with butter and jam and chocolate for dinner. I smell sugar when I should be smelling paint. It's amazing.

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I'll post more as it progresses. Hopefully you'll gain weight, too. Misery loves company.

Playing Taps

This evening I was going to post the 3rd of 4 commissioned tea cups for your viewing pleasure. I had set it out in the back yard to dry in the warm sun this morning, planning to add a few tiny details this afternoon before photographing and revealing it. But the landscapers came by today and decided to check on the back yard. Kindly, they cleared excess weeds from the rocky areas. Not so kindly, they knocked over my painting and, it appears, trampled it. Face down. On the rocks. Gouged. Scraped. Ruined.

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This is me having a mild heart attack.

Early Grey & Egg

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10" x 10" - oil on gallery wrapped canvas - sides painted black

I'd like to say I'm listing on a Friday because I'm a rebel who thumbs her nose at authority, daring the online art buying gods to challenge me. It sounds romantic. It's also a total lie. This painting was supposed to be done Wednesday, then Thursday. But, like life, there were more things to be done to get it just so. After fussing with it all day, I finally felt satisfied and ready to list it. It's up for a 10 day duration so that it won't end on the dreaded Friday night as it was started. Fridays - good for going out, bad for listing art.

But isn't it a perky little thing? A variation on the private commission I did a while back, without the tea kettle. I liked the freedom to mess with details that painting on a larger canvas gave me, although the extra fussing was not so pleasant. But that's my own fault, not the painting's.

Click here for purchase information.

Maui Ranch Cattle

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6" x 8" - oil on canvas - daily painting
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A little change of pace now and then does an artist good. On this fine spring day, I've decided to paint an outdoor scene, a cattle ranch on Maui's eastern shores. I took the photo for this painting on a trip to the islands back in 2005. Gosh, has it been that long??? The other week, another artist commented to me that they'd seen me paint just about everything, but where was the beef? I'd painted beef before, a scene from one of the photos in this series to be exact, but the cattle were quite far away in the image. So, here I am again, painting cows for John (the artist who inquired). Okay, John! Here's your beef! ;o)

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Click here for purchase information. (available beginning at 6pm Pacific)

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