Face-off

Oil on gallery wrapped canvas

16 x 8 inches

I have been working on this one off and on for a while. Trying to decide if I want to fill in the background, or leave it with the canvas showing. This is my son on the right taking a face-off in lacrosse. He said to be sure and make him look bigger than the other guy. He was, so that was no problem :). It really helps me to photograph a painting and then look at it and see where I need to make changes. I might play with this one in photoshop to see what to else I can do with it. I would love to hear your suggestions. Thanks for viewing and for your comments!!

The winner of the dog notecards from the drawing of my newsletter contest was— M S Coggins.
Sorry so late posting, I have been fighting a bad cold once again. Thanks everyone for signing up for my newsletter!!

Ballerina Dreams

6x6 inch oil on raymar canvas panel

Available in my Etsy Shop.

I think every little girl dreams of being a ballerina—I know I did. 

Painted this today thinking I was going to have a vendor booth at a dance recital, but they cancelled the booths. I am glad the event caused me to think of something different than my usual subject matter. Enjoyed studying paintings of Degas and admiring all of his beautiful paintings of dancers. I could not decide whether to keep the background light and airy or go with a darker background. I like the softness it evokes and would love to paint on a larger scale. I am working on a lacrosse painting for my son, so I have to switch gears from girly to manly. 

Little church with the Red Steeple —#2

NFS

8x10 oil on linen

This is the second time I have painted this view of this church. The first one was for a silent auction, and the top bidders were bidding back and forth and the lady that was the highest bid felt bad and gave it to the other bidder. I thought that was so sweet of her since she really wanted it, so I painted this one for her so she has her own now. :) 

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We Meet Again

Purchase in my Etsy Shop

6x6 inch oil on canvas panel

Painted for the challenge on Dailypaintworks. We were to select a portion of the picture that was of interest, crop it and play with the values and colors to determine what would result in a good composition. I liked this section of the photo and the story it could tell. What I love about painting figures is imagining might be going on, or what the people are talking about. I imagined this couple met while in Europe, and made a date to meet again at this beautiful European cafe. I added the roses and changed things up in the photo to tell a more romantic story. I really enjoyed this challenge!

Mama's Girl

Available at Laurel Leaf Gallery

8x10 inch

Oil on linen canvas panel

Back to painting what I am most comfortable painting today. Love God's critters!! This sweet foal was sticking close to mom, hence the title. I purchased a Gorilla 6x8 thum box today to use on my plein air excursions. So excited to find the box at our local Jerry's Artarama, and then ordered the tripod from the Gorilla web site. I met Pam Padgett at the Cheekwood paintout, and she had just recently purchased this box and said she was loving how easy it is to travel with.

Plein Air Study - The Cheek Mansion

6 x 8 inch oil on canvas panel

Purchase in my Etsy Shop

Another plein air study at Cheekwood this week. I loved the beautiful view of the back of the Cheek home. I was hidden halfway in a boxwood trying to hide from all of the people touring the grounds. I am still not feeling very secure about others looking at my paintings while I am painting. I painted to get the color key of the painting and then chickened out and came home and finished. Would love to someday paint this one bigger and try again. 

Liked this quote, since it seems I am jumping around on subject matter. :)

embracing the diversity of human beings is a sure way to find true happiness

Malcolm Gladwell - author of Blink

Plein Air Study- Stream of light - SOLD

6x8 inch

Purchase in my Etsy Shop

oil on raymar  panel

This is the other plein air painting I painted at Cheekwood. It is pretty loose, but I think you can tell it is a stream going under a walkway. The beauty of plein air is when you look at the painting it brings back all of the feelings of being there. It was in the mid 70's and just a beautiful day. I had to catch the light in the water before the shadows took over the stream, so it is kind of like a race—adrenaline kicks in .  We have a creek near our home, so I am anxious to get out and try painting it soon. Thanks for everyones support in my previous post!! I think I relaxed a little more in this painting. The other one my hand was shaking so bad you can probably tell in the painting.