Saturday, September 20, 2014


Baby
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
$100

     We all know that daily painting is good for us. I wish I could paint daily. Even though my recent work is not daily, it is more frequent than it sometimes has been, and I feel the difference! I can hardly express how important I believe it is to paint, paint, paint. You gain more confidence with your brush and paint when you paint all the time, but what happens with yours eyes is the main thing. How much more you begin to see when you are looking, looking, looking. I guess this is old news, but it is still exciting.

Friday, September 19, 2014



Hopkins
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
$100

     Miriam Hopkins has a lovely face and I enjoy her in the old movies. She aged beautifully. Bette Davis gave her a good shaking one time. They sure knew how to take photographs in those days.


Saturday, September 13, 2014


Young
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
$100

     I have been working on the value, regardless of the color. Now I need to try to get color right too.

Thursday, September 11, 2014


Dee
Oil on Canvas
7x5"
$100

     This was very difficult. Sometimes a painting just seems to paint itself. Not this time. In fact, I washed down the first effort and started over from scratch. It is OK. I believe in practice.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014


Garbo
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
$100

     Last week's Challenge enlivened an old love of mine--people! For me, there is nothing so interesting as the face. With the inspiration of the Challenge, I am lining up some of my favorite faces and wishing I had nothing but time on my hands!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Value over Color Challenge




Harlow 1
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
$75

     I love this Challenge. Use value, not local color. I will definitely try for this again. It makes for some very interesting paint. My goal for a long time has been to become more abstract. I find that to be the biggest challenge of all because I lose myself in what I am painting and the details begin to fascinate me and I forget what I am doing. In this one I tried very, very hard to concentrate on the planes of the face, not the details. And the Challenge to use value, not color, helped. (I should have made her lips blue.)

Monday, September 1, 2014


Michel
Oil on Canvas
10x10"

     This cat is so beautiful with his white, white fur, black tips on his ears, and golden eyes. When something is this beautiful, I do not know if I should try to paint it or just look at it. And, of course, I am rarely satisfied with the work because the subject surpasses my ability to paint its beauty.