It's a Secret

This is a quick one that I did in between traveling to Las Vegas, and Palm Springs. Now that I'll be home for awhile, I'm looking forward to having time to paint. Can hardly wait! Being away allows you time to clarify ideas, and make plans for what to come! I have all kinds of painting ideas going through my head, and am so excited, and ready to get started!

Palm Springs, Birger Sandzen, and Pam Holnback

We just arrived home from Palm Springs. While Brian was in meetings, I did my usual, and headed for the nearest art museum. In Palm Springs, that museum is, The Palm Springs Art Museum. The main exhibit is, "Colors of the West", showing the work of Birger Sandzen. His paintings are gorgeous landscapes of Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. His work is so much like my friend, fellow artist, and blogger, Pam Holnback's beautiful work. To see for yourself, take a look at Pam's paintings, on her blog, pamholnback.blogspot .com. Next, compare it to Birger Sandzen's work at psmuseum.org. You'll be amazed!

The Lafayette Farmer's Market

Here we are at the first Lafayette Farmer's Market of the summer, Sadie, Maggie, and me. We were lucky to have a beautiful afternoon with , sunny skies, lots of food, people, small children, and dogs. The gallery will have a booth at the farmer's market one Thursday afternoon a month for the rest of the summer. See you there!

Leaving Las Vegas

Today is the first day back, after a short trip to Las Vegas. While Brian was in meetings, I was on my own. First on my list of things to do, is to see what is showing in the local art exhibits. The Bellagio, has a wonderful art museum, with world class art! I had a chance to see, " Figuratively Speaking", showing various artist's work based on the human figure. Sadly, no photos were allowed. With security everywhere, there was also no hope of sneaking out the camera. The exhibit included works by some of my favorite artists, David Hockney, Picasso, and on and on. Meanwhile, the fresh flowers in the hotel lobby are always gorgeous, and photography is allowed!

Joined at the Hip

The Lafayette Gallery will be participating in the Lafayette Farmer's Market, starting next week. The farmer's market will be open from 4 to 8, on Thursday evenings, in downtown Lafayette. I volunteered, along with two other gallery artists, to show some of my work in our booth, next Thursday. Trying to finish, and frame a few last minute paintings, has kept me busy. Let's hope for a break in our recent rainy days, and lots of customers!

Ready To Go

This week I've been busy framing, and trying to get organized. These two small paintings are now framed, and ready to take to Valley Art Gallery, to replace two that have been sold. These frames are the new Franken Frames in the natural wood. I've been so happy with these frames, so easy!

Shall We Dance

One more for, "The Black and White Show", the May exhibit in the Lafayette Gallery. Still excavating my studio, in search of more black and white artwork. This dry point etching turned up. and will be submitted, along with yesterday's post. Now that this is done, it's time to get back to painting! Can hardly wait! Today, is a perfect spring day, sunny, flowers blooming, everything is springlike! So inspiring.! I have a million new ideas in my head, all ready to paint ! Can hardly wait to begin!

The Black and White Show

The May exhibit for the Lafayette Gallery is titled, "The Black and White Show". Today, I spent time trying to decide what I wanted to exhibit for this upcoming show, taking photos, and getting organized. I decided on two dry point etchings, from my printmaking days. This one is titled, "Knees Together". This was fun to do, and reminded me of how much I enjoy working with the ink, and printing press. This is the challenge, I also enjoy painting! So many wonderful ways to be creative, so little time!

Moving Forward, Back to the Familiar

After a very busy, and exhausting week, with no time for painting, I was determined to block out some painting time this afternoon. I decided to make things easy, and paint something familiar. Tomatoes are always fun, and uplifting! So here we are. This was the better of two paintings done on a rainy Sunday.
While I was painting, Brian was watching Tiger Woods, in the background. I couldn't help but be impressed, after all of his recent personal problems, and being away from the game for 144 days, Tiger was still able to be competitive, and placed fourth in the Masters. Not that this has anything to do with painting. I have to say, I admire Tiger's ability to rise above his personal difficulties, and perform, under pressure. A lesson for us all. No matter what else is going on, we need to keep moving forward.

Just One More

At the risk of being very redundant, I'm posting one more sliced grapefruit painting. This is the last in this little series, that was so much fun to paint. If anyone is interested, I forgot to mention, Friday is the last day for shipping Texas Rio Red grapefruit, at Rio Pride Orchard in Texas. The grapefruit season is coming to an end, so now is the time!

Still More, Texas Rio Star

As you can see, I really enjoyed painting these grapefruit slices. The dark reddish pink color is so inspiring! After reading Delphyne's comments from yesterday, I learned a lot about red grapefruit. More than I ever imagined. These paintings were actually done during last week's trip to Santa Fe, where I found the grapefruit, at a local grocery. I have since learned, from our San Ramon, Whole Foods, produce manager, that Texas Rio Star grapefruit are not available here, in CA. The grapefruit, sold in CA, comes from the CA Central Valley. The end result of all of this, I went online, and ordered, direct from Rio Pride Orchard of Texas, a dozen Rio Red grapefruit!

More Texas Rio Star

More Texas Rio Star grapefruit. I had so much fun painting this. All the time, wondering how grapefruit got it's name. Grapes are so tiny, and grapefruit is so big. Does anyone know why grapefruit is actually called, grapefruit? Actually, a name like, Texas Rio Star, seems like a much better choice!

Texas Rio Star

Grapefruit, one of my all time favorite foods! I love the color, taste, and everything about red grapefruit. Also lots of nutrition, especially vitamin C. The best part of all, painting grapefruit!

Wooden Floater Frames for Canvas Panels

I am so happy to finally find the frames that I have been looking for. I just received these great black wooden floater frames for canvas panels. They are from Franken Frames. The top photo shows a framed painting. The middle photo shows the support piece inside the wooden floater frame. Roger, from Franken Frames, 800 322-5899, told me over the phone, what to order, and how to put it together. He suggested using clear silicone caulking to attach the separate support piece to floater frame. Once this is done, the canvas panel should be attached to the support piece using more clear silicone caulking, or Velcro. Either way, the canvas panel can be changed out, to allow for use with different paintings on panels. The bottom photo shows the two separate pieces. He also suggested painting the support piece black, which I did. It was so wonderful to work with someone that is helpful, and knew exactly what I wanted! Thank you , Roger!!

Almost Quarters

Here is one of the same tomatoes from last week, cut in almost quarters. I tried for a looser look with this painting. It is fun to paint like this. I'll work on this direction some more, and see what happens!

Back from Baltimore, and More

We're back from a short trip to Baltimore. One of the best things about Baltimore is the "Baltimore Museum of Art". The current exhibit is, "Cezanne and American Modernism". This is a huge, and wonderful exhibit, showing Cezanne's work, along with many other well known artists of his era. This exhibit will be traveling to a few other museums around the country. If you have a chance to see it, it is well worth it!

Two out of Three

Finally back to painting, after being out of town. It's so wonderful to be back, but a little hard to get back in the painting mode. This one is the best result, after several attempts. Will forge ahead, with more to come!

Spring Cleaning

While in the midst of a long over do, cleaning out, and reorganization of my studio, I came across a much better monoprint of "Primavera". I just had to post this, to replace my last post. This print is much stronger, with more definition in the lights and darks. I am so happy to find this. Who knows what else might be buried in there. Meanwhile I'm tossing almost everything that is not nailed down. It's a wonderful feeling, so liberating!

Primavera

This is a drypoint monoprint that I did about 4 years ago, before I started painting the small paintings. Several very similar monoprints were made using the same plate. Each one is slightly different. I have one hanging in our living room, and one was hanging in the Lafayette Gallery. The one in the gallery was sold this this week. This made me think about much I enjoy printmaking. It is a challenge for me to stay focused, there are so many wonderful ways to make art. It is important not to spread yourself too thin. Painting is exciting and fun , but so is printmaking!! So much to do, so little time!

Spring, Almost

We arrived home from wonderful Santa Fe, on Monday, where there was snow on the ground, and temps in the 20's. In CA we've had weather in the high 60's with flowers on the fruit trees, and green everywhere. I felt like we came home to spring. Rain is expected soon, so this is temporary. It felt so good! I went for a walk, went to the store, and bought some flowers, painted, and here we are!

One More

Still working with the lilies. The positive thing about this flower is that it lasts a long time. I usually go for the lilies when I buy fresh flowers, for that reason. Anyway, things are busy, as always. I managed to find a little bit of uninterrupted time and finished this one, yesterday, alla prima, all at once. I'm still trying to find a longer uninterrupted block of time to start and finish a larger one, but will most likely have to wait until next week. We're headed out of town for the long weekend. I'll try to get a little painting in while we're away, you never know! To all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and Presidents Day weekend!

Lessons from Laurel

The title of Laurel's workshop was, " Still Life Alla Prima". The translation of Alla Prima is "first time". The concept is to complete a painting in one sitting, or all at once. This is a valuable lesson for me, and something that I need to work on. Because of this, my new resolve is to complete a painting at once. This post is a small, 6X8, which I was able to complete fairly quickly. I did this as a warm up for a larger painting soon to follow. My goal is to complete a single larger paining in one session. I am excited about challenging myself. Stay tuned for more!