Art is Good For You

It is a pleasure to know that some of my recent landscapes have been featured in the Art is Good for You Group on Fine Art America. This one was inspired by the beautiful lavender fields near Sequim, Washington in the Northwestern region of the United States where I live. The painting was created with professional grade acrylic paints on a 12x12 inch stretched canvas. Prints are available from the Fine Art America website, here.

Autumn Abstract Landscape

The autumn season has arrived.  Sunshine and cool temperatures make September one of my favorite months.  Strolling along a country road, noticing the changing colors of the vegetation, and feeling good was the inspiration for this square format landscape painting.  It was created with oil paints on a square canvas.  Although the original was a 12x12 inch canvas, reproductions up to 36x36 are available from my website.  I hope you will stop by for a visit.

In the Kitchen

Working on the values in white ceramic and glass are always a good challenge.  My first attempt on this 12x12 inch painting was wiped out with a paper towel and a some mineral spirits.  When I finished the second attempt, I decided oil paint loves me.  It is so forgiving.  To go from a muddy mess of malformed objects to an entirely new painting feels really good.  Right now this painting is for sale at my Daily Paintworks Gallery along with my other 12-inch square paintings.  Most of my smaller studies are still available at Etsy. Click here to purchase this painting or view it in the gallery. 

Fruit and Mint

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Inspired by the unruly mint growing in my yard and the fresh nectarines on my table, today's painting includes a plant for which I am planning certain death.  If you've never grown mint, beware; it is a carnivore.  A few years ago, a friend gave me a small mint plant.  She warned me that it spreads easily, so I probably shouldn't plant it in the garden.  Instead I planted it in a small flower pot, assured that it would be great on my deck.  Needless to say, I was careless.  It went to seed and blew all over the back yard.  I didn't really pay too much attention, not knowing it could result in disaster.  The next year there were mint plants in the garden, plants that were not invited.  They were pretty and smelled nice, so I let them continue sharing a home with the rest of the yard even though they were not on the guest list.  Now, several years later, it has invaded the entire north side of the garden.  It is beautiful and smells delicious, but it is greedy and won't share with other plants.  So, as soon as the weather cools, this selfish little beauty will be pulled out, doused with Round-Up, and no funeral will be held.  The painting is 12x12 inches on a gallery-wrapped canvas and can be purchased here at my Daily Paintworks Gallery.  The paint is wet, so it will be several weeks before it can be safely shipped to a new home. I promise not to include any small starts or seeds.  Canvas and paint only. 

Vacation Painting

Nothing like a summer vacation, a fishing pole, and a paintbox to get relaxed.  This 6x8 inch painting was inspired by all of those.  Unfortunately, the paint is wet and I had to leave it drying at our summer getaway.  In a few weeks, I will  retrieve it and put it in my new Paintworks Gallery.

Fruit and Gallery Glitches

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My gallery at Daily Paintworks Gallery is filling up nicely.  It is always a challenge when a new online venue is undertaken.  New procedures, glitches, and temporarily unanswered questions arise.  There is usually a learning curve of several days.  However, I must say, so far the experience has been great.  No glitches and no unanswered questions.

This painting is the third is my 12x12 still life series.  The paintings were created on a 3/4-inch gallery wrapped canvas.  You can view the others here and here.  All three are for sale  in my Paintworks Gallery. The subject of this one was a collection of fruit purchased at a newly opened fruit stand near my house.  The fruit is sweet and full of color making it delightful to paint and even more delightful to eat when I finished. 

Against Giants

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Today I have exciting news.  I've joined a wonderful group of painters and added a new selling venue for my art.  For quite a while now, I've contemplated joining Daily Paintworks and took the plunge today.  If I've clicked all the right buttons, work should be showing up in my Daily Paintworks Gallery tomorrow.

In my last posting I mentioned a series of 12x12 inch paintings I'd been working on.  This is another from the series.   I call it "Against Giants."  Both were created on 3/4-inch gallery-wrapped canvases.  I plan to have this series entered as some of the first paintings in my Daily Paintworks Gallery.  I'll be adding work frequently.

For those of you who follow my work at Etsy, I will continue to sell small format paintings at that site, too.

More Shapes and Colors

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My last posting was a small 4x6 painting of roses from my yard.  As I mentioned then, painting roses is somewhat intimidating, but the flowers were so lovely, I took the plunge and chose the subject again.  The hardest part was the rose on the right.  I wiped it off a couple of times before it finally began to look like the side view I was interested in creating.  This painting is the third in a series of still life paintings in the 12x12 inch format. I'm enjoying the format.  When the paint is dry, it will be ready to hang.  Contact me at smallimpressions@hotmail.com if you have questions.

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