Tomato Number Two 4 x 4

"Tomato Number Two" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord

Off to the Castle Gallery in IN

Quote for the Day from The Art Spirit by Robert Henri - "Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours."

My Kindle is wonderful. As I'm reading if something strikes me as being pertinent to my world I can highlight it and then go to my Clippings folder and there it is.

Today's quote is on the side of not fashioning your paintings after another artist (whether it be plagiarism, derivative or plain old-fashioned admiration.) I was able to spell correctly plagiarism and derivative. (Thanks to my Kindle dictionary!)

Peach and Blue Cup 6 x6

"Peach and Blue Cup" 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Click Here to Purchase Painting

Such a fun paint! Another piece of vintage dinerware and my favorite (besides strawberries and cherries) ....peaches. Woke up to snow on the ground this morning, and it was a bit nippy in the studio. Thank goodness for space heaters. Painted till about 2pm and now having a litte "down" time before we go to Emma's for a play evening. That little girl just loves to play!

Portrait of a Strawberry

"Portrait os a Strawberry" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord

SOLD

Continuing to read Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

"In Eastern cultures, art that faithfully carries forward the tradition of an elder master is honored, in the West it is put down as derivative."

Diner Cup and Strawberries

"Diner Cup and Strawberries" 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Sold

I'll bet this coffee cup that looks like it's from a 50's diner has many stories to tell. I bought it at the Antique Mall a couple of weeks ago. It's not valuable but it does have that nostalgic feeling that I love. Maybe somewhere along Route 66 there was a diner called "Blanche's All Nighter" and this coffee cup served stale coffee at 3am in the morning to someone famous. Maybe Paul Newman's lips touched this cup!!!!

I bought a new Kindle and it arrived yesterday. I bought several art related books, one of them is Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. The other book I bought is just a little gem, The Artist's Tao-44 Principles for an Artist's Life by Sean Starr. I would like to share principal number eleven with you. This is meaningful to me as I was witness to some pretty hurtful behavior yesterday in art cyberspace. Not directed at me but at another artist who I enjoy. Not that the topic wasn't pertinent, it was....the possibility of plagerisim. It was the manner in which it called an individual artist out. Enough said.

"XI.

Contribution

Your artistic voice is not exclusive. There are others working on the exact same thing as you are right now.

We are connected as one organism across the globe.

Look at your work as a contribution, not an authority."

Thank you Sean Starr and The Artist's Tao, you made my day!

Cherry Festival

"One Rainier Cherry"
Not Available

"Two Rainier Cherries"
Not Available

It was cherry painting day, these two paintings are being sent off to Castle Gallery in Fort Wayne, IN. They LOVE cherries!

A little disconcerting today, we could see part of the Indian Gulch fire burning west of Golden.

Help Japan Challenge at DailyPaintworks

"Vintage Shaker" 5 x 7 Oil on Gessobord
Help Japan Challenge Auction

I follow the artists and participate in the challenges at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/.

This week's challenge is to donate a piece of artwork that can be auctioned and the proceeds of the sale will be donated to a charity to help the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

I have donated "Vintage Shaker" which was painted earlier this week. The charity I will donate the proceeds to is the American Red Cross. They have a button to be able to specify where you want the money to go...(i.e. Japan's Earthquake and Tsunami)

There is some great artwork on the DailyPaintworks site and if you click on the link just below my painting it will take you directly to my auction.

On behalf of all the artists donating their work, we would appreciate your support. Buy a painting and donate to the world family.

Classical Peach Daily Painting

"Classical Peach" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord Off to the Castle Gallery in IN

I've been studying the work of some classical painters, one of them being Hall Groat II. I ordered one of his DVD's on painting Tomatoes and Peaches. It was $32 and very nice quality along with a very thorough Instructional Guide on pdf. This was painted in about 2.5 hours and has a few things the bold stroke painting lacks. One being alot of atmosphere and soft edges.

I am quite pleased with it and hope to try more with this approach.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

"Fiesta Ware" or "Waring of the Green" 4 x 4" Oil on Gessobord

SOLD

In honor of St Patrick's Day and my Celtic ancestory....it was time to paint something green today. Those of you who have followed my work know that I HATE ellipses, but these shapes didn't turn out too bad. But my favorite part is the color of the cup.

Salt Shaker Finished

"Salt Shaker" 5 x 7 Oil on Gessobord

Click Here to Bid on Painting

Technically this isn't a daily painting, because I started it last week with the drawing and worked about an hour on it yesterday and finished it up today. But who cares...I'm calling it a daily painting.

I just love vintage items and this reminds me of cafes and diners from the '50's. There is a pepper shaker to go with it and I'll put them together in a painting one of these days soon.

Green Grapes 5 x 7 Daily Painting

"Green Grapes" 5 x 7 Oil on Gessobord
SOLD

Back in the studio today after being away from my little sanctuary for 19 days. Today it was grapes that were on my easel and they were very fun to paint. A little underpainting of orange showing through here and there gave them some warmth.

Savannah Apple Daily Painting

"Savannah Apple" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord, Daily Painting

SOLD

When I was in Savannah we stayed at the Country Inn & Suites downtown. Of course there was the continental breakfast every morning. This apple caught my eye just because it was soooo red. I gingerly packed it into my suitcase and brought it home to Denver. It got painted this morning.

The First Tomato in Oil

"Tomato" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord, Daily Painting
Not Available

Painting at home today...made a run to the grocery store to look for something fun to paint. I haven't yet painted a tomato so I thought that would be a good choice. Also picked up some green grapes, so hope to attempt them tomorrow.

I'm trying to keep my strokes simple and loose, along with keeping my colors pure. Keeping the strokes simple is very hard....I have a tendency to want to noodle with the painting until it turns into mud.

Home and Painting Again!

"Ode to an Onion" 4 x 4 Daily Oil Painting
Sold

"Lemon Aid" 4 x 4 Daily Oil Painting
Click Here to Purchase Painting

Returned home yesterday from Savannah, GA where the CPSA Governing Board assembled for our Spring meeting over the weekend. Very productive three days of meetings and the last afternoon we were able to take a couple of hours and tour historic downtown Savannah and especially River Street along the Savannah River. I learned that Savannah was the first seaport along the GA coast. River Street just oozed history!

I was able to get back to painting today and really enjoyed myself with some fast, loose paintings, especially the onion. Tomorrow I have to get back to my salt shaker 5 x 7 painting.

Two New Daily Painting 4 x 4's

"Lime #10" 4 x 4" Oil on Gessobord
Not Available

"Egg on Purple" 4 x 4" Oil on Gessobord
Painted for Challenge on http://www.dailypaintworks.com/
Click Here to Purchase Painting

The lime was painted last Friday, 2-25-11, and the egg was painted today, 3-2-11. The egg was painted as part of the challenge offered weekly by the painters at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/. The challenge was to make each brushstroke a different color and keep the brush as big as possible, at least 1/2" or larger. I can see I will need some new brushes to try this again. But it was fun and quite harder than it looks.