Butterfly Garden

Oil on Panel, 12x12

The Albuquerque BioPark is a fabulous place, combining the zoo, an aquarium and the botanical gardens, linked by a small train. The garden is actually divided into many theme gardens, from Moorish to Japanese, an amazing Children's garden, greenhouses, a farm, and many others. One that is particularly fun is the butterfly garden, an enclosed outdoor space that houses all the needs of the butterflies: flowers, food, water, and shade. Not a bad place for people, either!
One of my favorite things about the biopark is the ecological focus: the plants grown at the farm feed the zoo animals, who then kindly provide the fertilizer for the gardens.

This painting was done with a palette knife, with just a couple of details added by brush at the end.

Mountain Landscape

oil on panel, 14x18

I've been doing a number of experiments with using a palette knife. Very awkward at first, but I'm finding that I can get effects that are impossible for me with a brush. This landscape is all palette knife; my next couple of postings will be of paintings that use both a knife and brushes.

After the Rain

Oil on panel, 11x14

In this painting I was after a particular feeling in Montana after a fall rain - wet, misty, the smell of the damp earth. There was a promise that even though winter was coming the land was still fertile, resting, waiting for the next spring season.



Shameless advertising and horn tooting: Two of my friends have published books! First is Carrol Haushalter's story "Trail To Tomorrow", a charming book for young adults (say 10 - 12 years old). Its the story of a young girl who works as a cowboy on a cattle drive, moving with her family from Texas to New Mexico. Based on the author's great-grandmother's experience of masquerading as a boy in order to safely make the journey. Carrol and her husband travelled to New Mexico last year and joined in a cattle drive at the Burnt Well Guest Ranch as part of her research for the book and said they had the time of their lives. You can purchase Trail to Tomorrow here through Amazon.



Next is Andrew Cahner's work, "The Art Model's Handbook: The Naked Truth about Posing for Art Classes and Fine Artists". This is a long overdue book on everything related to being or hiring an art model. Andrew himself is a very experienced model, but instead of just relying on his own experiences he interviewed artists and photographers, managers of art programs and other models. The result is comprehensive, and extremely helpful in telling both the artist and the model what to expect and how to make a session professional and productive. You can buy this wonderful reference book here. A final horn toot: I'm very honored that Andrew included one of my drawings in the book:



Congratulations on your books Andrew and Carrol!

Snack Time

Oil on Panel, 8x8"

Just south of Albuquerque is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Its a gorgeous place in the Rio Grande valley, but never more so than in the fall migration. Thousands upon thousands of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese arrive for the winter months. Every day there is a Fly-Out (morning) and Fly-In (evening) as the birds leave to forage during the day and return to sleep. Eagles, Osprey, songbirds, coyotes, deer, turtles are all here too. Be sure to include the Bosque in your sightseeing if you come to New Mexico!

Sightseeing

oil on panel, 6x8"

Just got home from a wonderful trip through Scandinavia, St. Petersburg and 10 days of a cruise in the Baltic Sea. Still jetlagged and overwhelmed by all we saw.

I did this little duck painting just before we left on the trip but hadn't chosen a title - but after days of touring, the title seems quite obvious - we certainly spent many hours lined up to see the sights!

One of the many highlights of the trip was the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, housing the collection of Catherine the Great and the subsequent Russian rulers. Its huge and packed with sculpture, objet d'art, paintings.... just the architecture is incredible. They say that if you looked at each item for 3 seconds each, it would take 8 years to go through the collection. We had a couple of hours! Definitely a fast paced "look left, see that, now look right, see this, now move on".
Favorite countries were Norway (it snowed!) and Sweden; maybe we will get back there one day. Loved the 24 hours of daylight - I could do that year around!

Taxi!

oil on panel, 11x14"

Something totally different from my usual! The image for this comes from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes site. Every couple of weeks she posts one of her photos and invites all artists to work from it. Its great fun to see all the different interpretations and media used. When I participate, I try to challenge myself to work outside of my usual comfort zone. In this case there was no pre-drawing, just direct painting. I shifted the season to winter, and tried to convey the essence of crowded city traffic.

I'm leaving on vacation (Scandinavia!) so I won't be posting for a couple of weeks, but hope to come home with lots of sketches and new ideas -

Winning by a Hare

oil on panel, 16x16

This is the third (and last, for now) Carousel painting. Along with 7 other paintings, they will be going into a show next month benefiting the New Mexico Cancer Center Foundation, which provides services to patients and their families. Its been fun getting everything ready for it. Winning by a Hare is my personal favorite of the three...

Untamed

oil on panel, 16x16
This is the second of 3 carousel paintings, and just as much fun to paint as the first one. When you look at carousel horses alot you start to realize that many of the horses have wild-eyed expressions, especially the older carousels. Not what you would expect on a child's ride. These two horses seemed to me to be captive, but still free spirited, quite willing to take off at the first opportunity; hence the title.

Chris Beck and Faye Christian Phillips both tagged me with this Passion for Painting award a couple of weeks ago and I've been passing it along one person at a time. Katherine Treffinger is my choice for this post. Her work is alive and exuberant, definitely will brighten your day. She has been asking artists "What does doing art mean to you" and posting their answers and images of their works, so not only will you see her work but you'll also have the chance to find other new and wonderful artists! Today is "my" day to answer that question, so drop in and see it all!

Solo Pear

Oil on Canvas Board, 8x10

This painting, small and simple as it is, was one that went through several phases of seriously ugly. It wasn't until I thought it was so hopeless that nothing I could do would make it worse that it finally came together. The final touch was to take a discarded toothbrush and splatter reds and browns across all of it. I like the interesting fiber-like bits of paint that resulted.


A couple of weeks ago Chris Beck and Faye Christian Phillips both very sweetly tagged me with awards. I've been terribly slow about passing those awards along. I think I will nominate someone new with each post rather than put them all together, and for this post I want to introduce someone fairly new to blogging (although not to painting!), giving Susan Finch the Passion for Painting award. Her work is incredible, my favorites are her Kimono clad women and her Koi paintings. Be sure to check her out!

As always, here are the "rules" for the award; no pressure to participate unless you want to.
1. Post the logo on your blog
2. Nominate at least 7 blogs that show great gratitude and/or attitude
3. List and link your nominator in your post
4. List and link your nominees in your post, and let them know they're recipients

Ancient Bridge

oil on panel, 16x16"

We were lucky enough to spend a month in China 2 years ago; what an amazing place and civilization. There were so many highlights to the trip, but one of the things I liked everywhere was the sense of permanence, the simple age of things. How many generations of people have crossed this bridge?

Tuscan Light

oil on panel, 8x12

I'm not abandoning still lifes at all, but am doing some experimenting with landscapes too. Let me just say that green is a color I find very difficult to get right - its so easy to get too intense, or too muddy, hard to get just right!
Its been several years since we were in Italy, but the area around San Gimignano was such a highlight of that trip; I suddenly understood why people fall in love with Tuscany.

World Traveler

oil on panel, 16x16"

Transcending the everyday, Carousels let us travel time and space, going to exotic places and back to innocence. What more could anyone ask for? This painting was a real joy to do, getting to know each animal, each nook and cranny of the structure. I have another version about 1/2 done - I think I will do a whole series of these. If you have a favorite carousel animal or story, share it here!

At The Fair

oil on panel, 24x16.5"

I love going to the State Fair. Its such a production, with something for everyone. The rides, the food(!), art shows, crafts, traditional skills like baking and quilting, all kinds of music, Hispanic arts, African American arts, Native American dancing, the barns filled with 4-H projects, horses... Maybe what I like best is seeing all the families, parents sharing with wide-eyed kids, the teens being oh-so-cool but still having a great time. Its a day where everyone seems to shed the worries and cares, basking in the sunshine. My favorite Fair food has always been a corndog - last year I discovered a green chile corndog (I'm in New Mexico, after all) and it was the best ever. Can't wait till this year's Fair, but while we wait, what are Your favorite things about the Fair?

I'm not sure why, but this image looks so much better on my website than here at the blog - the link is on the upper right of this page, or click Here.

Pears III

8x10 oil on panel

I took a long break - the move and a few other events intruded into my painting life. But I'm finally back, and painting most days.
These pears were done taking a fabulous workshop with Laura Robb in Santa Fe. I'm finding myself drawn to more traditional still lifes and landscapes, so will be posting more of those along with my more unusual subjects.
The big news is that I entered New Mexico's Masterworks show and not only got accepted but won an award for "Things You Can Stack"; have to say, I'm happy! The second bit of news is that I finally put up a website: terryrafferty.com Please visit and let me know what you think!


Things You Can Stack
Oil on Panel, 18x6

We're moving!

oil on panel, 8x10"
This painting of Chicago's Cloudgate, more commonly called "The Bean" is another study/experiment from Karin Jurick's Different Strokes website. Its very different working from someone else's reference photo that you have no connection to, and - for me- to work in this looser, alla prima style. Keeps me challenged!

We are Moving! Yea! Our house needed more rebuilding than remodeling and it has taken a year, but we had a final inspection yesterday. Today is packing and tomorrow night we hope to be sleeping there. It's going to take a bit to get my studio up and painting again, so it may be a week or more before the next post, but its going to be great to get settled in!

'32 Chevy DeLuxe

oil on panel, 24x18"

I went to a car show early in the morning the last day of the event. Many of the cars were already gone, and no one was around, no owners and no admirers. Most of the cars were from the 50's and 60's, but this Sports Coupe was just a gem in a class of its own! I started the painting in the lower right corner, moved around it clockwise, just focusing on the abstract shapes. It wasn't until I did the chrome and the headlight that it started to pop - and when I finally did the grill this afternoon it all came together.

Season's Change

Oil on Panel, 8x8"

This is another challenge from Karin Jurick's "Different Strokes" site. I was having trouble seeing where to take the 3 white pumpkins until I thought of the single, beautifully colored leaf that Paz posted on the first day of fall. Using that as inspiration I splashed fall colors onto the ground and let them reflect back up onto the pumpkins, which I cropped to emphasize just the one in the center. There are some good posts this week - look for Kim Ratigan's in particular for a fun take.

Yesterday's News

oil on panel 8x8"

The marvelous Karin Jurick posted a photo at her newest blog,Different Strokes From Different Folks , a community of artists working from the same reference photo each week. Its a blast to see all the choices that get made, so stop in and see them.

The title for my version comes from my husband (who is responsible for many of my best titles!). He was referencing not the newspaper, but the way we view older people in our culture. Sad, in a way; on the other hand, what a lovely way to start your morning with a newspaper in the sun and a bag of what? Bagels? Jelly doughnuts? at your side!

** I just got a note from my daughter, the one who inspired the Keyboard painting. She informs me that the bag is filled with oranges. Hmm. Delicious and healthy, but I think I still prefer jelly doughnuts. With powdered sugar.

Monday's Memo: Chris Beck

Peck-Peck

Ribbit-Ribbit

Quackerroonies #2

Fe Fi Faux Fowl

Hollyhocks

Today's memo is all about Chris Beck. I just found her this past week and am so excited about her work. Even though she is a new discovery for me, she's well known, with awards for her watercolors, and was the Artist of the Month in The Artist's Magazine, January 2008. The five paintings above are just a tiny portion of her range - at her website you'll see not only the tin toys but florals, still lifes, abstracts and more. Her whimsical, happy toys are my personal favorite, but I included the beautiful Hollyhocks painting above just to give you an idea of the spectrum of her work.

I met Chris at Brushspace, and if you haven't been there GO NOW! The brain-child of some brilliant artists, it started this summer and now showcases about 1000 artists, by invitation only. Its a great way to discover some wonderful artwork being done today. Each artist has a page showing his or her work, and a link to their website. You can choose to "follow" an artist and will get updates when more work is added to the site. (You can even follow me there!)

Hope you enjoy Chris's paintings and check out more of them at her webpage, blog, or at BrushSpace....

No Batteries Required

oil on panel, 9 x 24"

Old tin toys - what's not to love? The dump truck is especially fun, both the back end and the front loader really work. I know I'll be painting these again - I'm thinking a Huge version of the truck is on the list.

Jen

charcoal on newsprint 18x24"

The painting I am working on now is taking longer than I had hoped, so I am posting a charcoal sketch I did this morning. I was late getting to the group studio and so got the seat on the far right, which is usually not a good place to be, but today it gave me this lovely back view.

Keyboard

Oil on panel, 16x12"

Cruising one of my favorite junk shops for still life objects, I spotted this board where the shop keeps all the keys for various display cabinets. It struck me as such a metaphoric thing: the keys to things we desire; the way that, like humans, the same form is replicated yet unique; the question of locking-in versus locking-out....

I also enjoy the fun of the word play with "Keyboard". When my daughter was in middle school she announced she was taking a keyboarding class - which surprised me because she hadn't shown any interest in music. Ummm - computer keyboard, Mom, not piano....

Elijah

Oil on panel, 8x6"

This is our dog; he has Perfected the manipulative "why not" look, as in "Why can't I go?" "Why can't I have more treats?" "Why isn't it time for a walk?" etc. When we give him a serious "No" he droops - ears, tail, and everything in between. Then he sulks. On the other hand, he has also perfected the Snoopy "happy dance" when the answer is "yes". He's a great dog :-)

Many Blessings

This week has been filled with blessings and I need to take the time to acknowledge them. My posts this summer have been few and far between as other projects and events have taken precedence over painting. There have been a few specific "crisies of faith" where I wondered why I was even trying to paint. I have been so blessed to have friends who have supported and encouraged me through that. So Thank You to Lorrie Drennanfor sending me the arte-y-pico award, you amaze me with all that you accomplish. And to Marsha Robinett for the Brillante award. Your drawings and blogs inspire me. I will pass those awards on below.
Thanks also to Seth Apter, whose blog remains my most favorite; you give us all so much through your art and by including us in your blog. Your kind words meant so much to me. To Paz, for being so nurturing a person. Kell Black, and Mary Young-Duarte - you both kept me going forward when I would have stopped. Instead, the button painting "Things You Can Lose" (shown above, oil on panel, 18x18") just won an award. Thank you all.

To pass on the awards I want to do something slightly different - instead of listing favorite blogs I am choosing some new ones that I have just found this week. Please check out as many of these sites as you can - all have something very special going on. Let's spread the magic!

ARTE-Y-PICO AWARDS:

Dianne Mise at Visual Composing: great discussions and examples on composition

Melody Johnson at Fibermania: a bit of everything here

Andrea Prat at Coloring Outside the Lines: photography and Wonderful mixed media paintings

Susan Carlin: lovely portraiture

Robyn at Art Propelled: Amazing assemblages, carved totems and photography from South Africa


BRILLANTE AWARDS:

Jo James at The Cart Before the Horse: pure fun!

Thinker Online: the name says it all. Very interesting place.

Kate Strickland at Art Vein Vessel: Wow. I definitely love this one.

Mark Oberndorf: Great paintings, I need to go back and look more.

Alvin Richard: Especially check out the Alfa Romeo post on May 17!

Paul Foxton at Learning To SeePaul Foxton at Learning To See: Oh so elegant.

And some long time favorites: Eric Orchard, Carol Marine, and The Altered Page



Arte-y-Pico rules:

The Origin of The Arte y Pico Award You might be interested in the origin of the "Arte y Pico Award" The designer of the award puts it like this..."The Arte y Pico Award has arisen from the daily visits that I make to many blogs which nourish and enrich me with creativity. In them, I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain and enrich me day to day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few."

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Show these rules and the paragraph (above) explaining the awards origination.

Brillante rules:

Rules of Acceptance:
Put the logo on your blog
Add a link to the person who awarded you.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Add links to those blogs on your blog.
Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
Participation is entirely voluntary (of course!).
Have fun...honoring the bloggers who inspire you regularly.

Bel Air

oil on panel, 14 x 24'"

I was drawn to the intense green color on this car, so unusual. Some wonderful abstract shapes resulted from our intense blue sky reflecting into it.

For another view of a Bel Air, see the wonderful painting by Stephen Magsig in his August 15th blog post. I'm terribly jealous of everyone in the Detroit area getting to go to the Woodward Dream Cruise today!
30,000 classic cars!!

Spike

oil on panel, 6x8"

Finally! Life has been such that I haven't been able to paint at all for weeks and weeks - finally I received a request for this painting from a friend to give as a gift to Spike's owner. Being on a deadline forced me to concentrate and get back to the easel: and boy, was it fun. My objective was to do this alla prima, keeping the strokes as fresh as possible. That forced me back to the basics of constantly thinking about the relationships of hue, value, temperature and shapes. I found that the painting came together pretty quickly when I kept those relationships in the front of my mind and avoided 'messing about' and endless revisions. Now if I can just apply that lesson to the next painting....

Do You Remember?

Oil on panel; 24x18"

Painting the abstractions on the chrome and the reflections and cast shadows on the side of the car was my favorite part of doing this painting.
I was just at another car show and took lots of pictures; it was fun to listen to everyone talking about the cars, how it was just like one they had owned, or their father's or brother's (remembering that this was an era when women didn't often own cars). Each car would spawn a whole new conversation about "Do you remember when...." followed by family lore. You could write a wonderful book just listening to the stories of how cars defined moments in our lives.

Kelsey

graphite on Strathmore drawing paper, 17x14"

When you get a model who is truly beautiful, the challenges of drawing are multiplied, not only by the subject, but by the intimidation. Fortunately, Kelsey is a great model. This sketch took about 1 1/2 hours.

Flowers to Everyone

I've been working for 2 weeks on a painting of clear glass chess pieces and just can't get it. The start was great, but the more I worked the less I liked it. I've set it aside for now and instead I'm sharing these lovely flowers my husband brought me yesterday - may they brighten everybody's day!

I started another painting that is actually turning out, so I should be able to post that in the next day or two -

Final Performance

Oil on panel, 24x18"

I found these slippers in a pile of junk in one of my favorite thrift shops and I had to wonder who threw them away and why? Are they too worn out from endless pirouettes and leaps, or were they the teenage dream of a woman now done with dreams? The ribbons are somewhat tattered at the ends and the soles are scuffed and dirty, so I like to think it is the former; that these shoes performed brilliantly for many audiences. And now they have had one last performance, bringing me pleasure, and I hope to you looking at the painting.

It was also my delighted pleasure to have Paz include me in her list for the You Make My Day Award! Thanks so much Paz! If you like to cook you should check out her second blog at Cooking Adventures. And now I am passing the award on to five more people who make my day. It was amazingly difficult to choose "just five" (and if you go to Paz's entry of May 30 you will see she didn't limit herself!) but here are the ones I hope you will go see and the reasons I chose each:



The Altered Page. This is one of the most intriguing blogs - always something fascinating and different, and the most generous blogger, always including other artists in the process.

Crazy Ravens. Paula does some beautiful and sensitive work (but she never believes it!)

Karin Jurick. Many of you should know her work, I can never believe all the information she gets into her paintings. She recently added a FAQ page to her website that I enjoyed.

Eric Orchard. Eric is an illustrator whose children's books look wonderful, but what I love most are his robots. Eventually the robot drawings will be in a book, so sign up now!

Jennifer Bellinger An artist I've been watching for awhile now, she just gets better and better - take a look at the fantastic striped fabrics she uses in the still lifes!

Okay, I'm going to sneak in a few extras here too - Postcards From Detroit, the Extraordinary Pencil,Jelaine Faunce, The House in Marrakesh, and The Hermitage....

Thanks to all of you, I enjoy all the time I get to spend in your worlds!

Sketch of Tirza

graphite pencil on Strathmore drawing paper, 14x17"

On Wednesdays I join a group of artists to work from a model. While in theory its a painting group, lately I have been just doing pencil drawings. This is the drawing from this week; my favorite part was doing Tirza's elegant legs and feet!

Things You Can Lose

oil on panel, 18x18"

Finally! I got my new computer yesterday and its a thing of beauty.
Finally! I did manage to get this painting done; I hate to admit to how many hours (weeks!) it took. I think there are 112 buttons, but I lose track as I count... While I normally work from a still life, for this one I relied primarily on a photo for two reasons: I found the spilled buttons really confusing to my eye, plus I set up the still life on my bed, just playing around. Not a good plan for a painting of this size, as I really did want to continue using my bed :-)

White buttons on a white background. A semi-insane choice; this was a huge challenge. It was also very satisfying in an odd way. I'm thinking of doing the buttons again, on a dark background this time, or maybe in their jar.... but I also went to a classic car show last weekend so maybe a car next? Its always a mystery.

New Title: I had originally posted this as Things You Can Spill, thinking about spilling buttons out of a jar. A friend suggested the change, which I think is brilliant!

No paintings yet...

I can't believe so much time has past since my last post - a combination of family visiting and more computer problems. I just learned that the motherboard is blown, so guess there is a new computer in my near future :-(
Meanwhile, I have been working on a large, complex piece, hope to have it ready to post in a few more days (along with a computer to post it on!)

What I do have to offer is a blog I just discovered: Stephen Magsig does wonderful contemporary urban pieces from Michigan. Do take a look!

Things You Can Stack

oil on panel, 15 x 6"

I was making omelets the other night and as I cracked each egg I set the shells in a stack in the carton on the window sill. The evening light was shining through and voila, the next painting idea. Of course, in moving the stack to my studio and setting up a light, I managed to knock it to the floor, and no, eggshells don't bounce. So, more omelets for dinner!
The challenge here was in making the dark side of the shells dark enough - I find it hard to paint something "white" with dark values - and to get the glow of the light shining through and around the shells.
The fun part was in choosing a title - everything from "All the King's Men" to "You Can't Make an Omelet" came up, but in the end Things You Can Stack seemed perfect.

The Chevy

oil on panel, 8x14"

I can't tell one end of an engine from another, and in real life a car for me is just transportation. But the old cars - oh how I love them. They speak, and the conversations are of mystery and romance, fast living and bad boys, Easter Sunday and family trips. They have style, and all that chrome.

This Chevy was parked near my house one day last week. I asked the owner if he would mind, grabbed my camera and took lots of pics. The grille, the chrome, the headlights, and those wheels - all just as much fun to paint as I thought they would be!

Rain Check

oil on RayMar panel, 11x14"

One more chilly, rainy day in California. The right side of this pier was taken up by warehouse buildings and an old coffeeshop - guess where all the fishermen were!

Sea Creatures

oil on RayMar panel, 12x16"

Exploring the tide pools on the west coast was always fun growing up and something I enjoyed sharing with my daughter as she grew up. Seeing kids doing the same thing when we were in California in January brought back wonderful memories. Here this young man is returning a crab to the sea. Nearby his sisters were playing on the rocks and the sea lions were barking and playing on the sand on the other side of the point. A perfect day.

Don't Look Back

oil on RayMar panel, 14x18"

It feels Great to have my computer back! It has new software, so its taking me a little bit to figure out how to do tasks like editing and uploading images, but I think I've got it now. Many, Many thanks to my computer genius, Dan.

This painting is one of the first times I have worked both from life and imagination. In studying with Tony Ryder and others I have been taught to faithfully render what I see - but there are just times that doesn't quite work for the story I want to tell. This model was posed with her hands in a prayer position, and backlit by a large window. The bow on her hat was more of a flower, quite large, and directly over her bun, which looked odd when I painted it in. After getting the portrait portion done I painted out the flower and her hands and added the background to create a setting for her poignant pose. For me, the question is whether she is leaving or staying, opening the door or closing it. Who she is doesn't really matter - I think she represents a universal moment, choosing a path.

still here...

I can't believe an entire week has gone by since my last post - I've actually been painting, but had a computer meltdown. After frustrating attempts to fix it myself it has gone to a computer genius, who says I can have it back tomorrow. Hopefully I will get everything hooked up and get posting again by the weekend... and caught up on all the work everyone else is doing - I miss my morning rituals of looking at all the wonderful photography and artwork out there.

Beauty Pageant (sold)

oil on RayMar panel, 6x18"

More fun, playing with reflections in the black mirror and with the idea of human emotions/events as played out by objects. Envy (posted March 15) was the first in this concept; here I am looking at competition, and of course, our concepts of beauty: how much is enough? When do we relegate being perfectly lovely to second place, to being the "ugly stepsisters"? Which one would You choose?

Blue Marble

oil on RayMar panel, 18x18"

Well. Some weeks just shouldn't be repeated. Lots of problems to resolve, no painting time and by Friday I just pulled the covers over my head and stayed in bed. All day. But its a new week, and the start of a new month, so on to new things!

This marble painting follows the jack - the jack went so easily but with this one I have really struggled, even though it seems less complex. Getting the circle round, the sense of fullness of the sphere, the semi-translucence of the glass, the reflection... lots going on here just on a technical basis. I plan to work with the marbles again, try to get better mastery of them. But tomorrow I'm painting cupcakes!

Jack

oil on RayMar panel, 18x18"

This was So much fun to paint! Shifting to a large, square panel was fresh, and working with bigger brushes forced me to make big decisions, not to noodle around so much. And I love jacks. I don't know why, I never played with them much as a kid, but something about the tactile mix of sharp points and roundnesses. To get the dark reflection I put the jack on a black mirror.

Seth atThe Altered Page is giving a look at artist's favorite works, with comments from the artist about why he or she chose that piece(s). It started today and will go on for a few days at least: more than 40 artists are participating, so take a look! If you enjoy assemblages and/or robots, also take a look at Guy Robot, the work is wonderful and the bios for each guy are too fun.

Where Is Everybody?

oil on RayMar panel, 8x16"

Well, I couldn't let Easter go by without at least one last egg painting! Today is the first day of Spring, and thats something to celebrate for sure. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

*A new link in my favorite painters is Ali Cavanaugh, she does the most fabulous compositions. My personal favorite (at least today) is "Doubtful", which was her Dec. 23 post, but there are many wonderful paintings there. Take a look!

Untitled

oil on canvas, 15x30"

This painting relates to a sad event in my life and I am posting it in response to the Door Event posting done by Neulekirppu. Doors can mean so many things, both opening and closing, beginnings and endings.

Envy

oil on RayMar panel, 9.5x12"

A great idea that doesn't quite work. This is a rose that my husband gave me, so that was the starting point; I wanted to paint colored glass, so chose the red vase; then the idea of perfume envying the real thing gave me a third element. And I think each element works, but somehow the whole is less than the parts. Maybe the perfume bottle is a bit small? Maybe I will revisit the idea in the future, right now its time to set it aside.


I have been meeting some wonderful new artists lately - some have been added to my links. Ambera Wellman, Mike Beeman, and Jelaine Faunce are three that are particularly fabulous.... I'll point out others as time goes on!

Apologies

Just after posting on the 12th for the Doors event, my internet connection was cut off for 2 days, keeping me from participating and commenting on so many postings. I'm playing catch-up now that I have my computer back, but I'm so sorry to be late. Many thanks to all who posted such nice comments at my site; hope to see you all again in another "event".

No. 13

oil on RayMar Panel, 13.5 x8"

DOOR DAY: Elizabeth from Marrakesh and Frank from Mexico have invited me to participate in a celebration of DOORS. As Frank explained "There is something intriguing about doors. Doors are all over the world. Doors lead somewhere. They keep things in, they keep things out. Doors have histories, stories, mystery. Let's share some."

I am joining artists from the U.K., Canada, Australia, Scotland, the U.S.A. and Finland in celebrating doors in paint, words, drawings, photographs, poems, etc.

My door painting is from a photo I took on our trip to China last year. It was in a tiny village and the only house with a painted door. The title, "No. 13" is the number on the door - perhaps more of a decoration than an address, as no other house was numbered (and in a village of 20 houses do you really need an address?) Its the same village that I painted "Way of Life" from (January 25 post). What is special there isn't so much a sense of going back in time as a timelessness; a sense of purpose and a fitting in with the world.

Faye Christian Phillips said in her "door" entry, "When I first began this blog, my intention was to share what I am doing with friends and family, but I could never have anticipated the many "doors" that would be opened to me as I am welcomed by new friends around the world." I can't say it any better. Thank you to all who have visited my blog and been so supportive; to my new friends let me say how inspiring I find you all, and a very special thank you to Carol Marine for introducing me to this wonderful world!

Here are links to the other artists joining in with their doors, please go and enjoy! (For pure fun make sure to go to the Skophammer's site!


Elizabeth Wix, "The House in Marrakesh", Marrakesh, Morroco

Frank Gardner, "My Paint Box", San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Ambera Wellmann, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Constance, "Rochambeau"

Jennifer Thermes, "Art-Words-Life" - Connecticut , USA

Joanne Giesbrecht,"Thistledown Arts", Alberta, Canada

Eric Orchard, Nova Scotia, Canada

Jack Riddle, Portland, Maine, USA

Christine Mercer-Vernon, "An Artist's Log", Pennsylvania, USA

Faye Christian Phillips , Kentucky, USA

Britt-Arnhild, Norway

Kate and Roger "The Skophammers", Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Terry Rafferty, USA

Barbara,"Ramblings from an English Garden", London, United Kingdom

Pam Aries,"Art and Soul", Charleston, S.C. ,USA

Mary Sheehan Winn," Just Painting", Florida, USA

"Some Pink Flowers", St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Rima, "The Hermitage", Scotland

Merisi,"Merisi's Vienna for Beginners", Austria

Paz, "Paz's New York Minute", New York

"Down Under Dale", Australia

The Aesthete, "Aesthete's Lament", USA

Mari/ Kameravena, Finland

Maryam, "My Marrakech", Morocco

Willow from "Willow's Cottage", California, USA

Ari, "Typo Blog", Finland

Lea,"Tales from the Labyrinth",USA

Stephanie, "Rodrigvitzstyle"

Madelyn,"Persisting Stars", Vancouver, Canada

Leslie,"Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tales", Pennsylvania, USA

Karen Cole,"Artsortments", Pennsylvania, USA

Barrie, San Diego, California, USA

Sherry/Cherie, Toronto, Canada

Claudia Schmid, London, United Kingdom

Sue, "The Magic Armchair Traveller", Congresbury, Bristol, United Kingdom

Gemma Wiseman, "Greyscaale Territory", Australia

Neulekirppu, Finland

Laura Fortune, "Amongst The Oaks",California, USA

Sara Lorayne, "Come Away With Me", California, USA

Caroyln

oil on panel, 11x14"

Carolyn is another new model for me; she is a dancer and a very modern woman who has a wonderful sense of costume. (Her shoes were particularly fabulous, a cross between 18th century European and Chinese!) Painting her was a great deal of fun; maybe next time I can get to those shoes :-)

Morning Tea

oil on RayMar panel, 8x8"

This was a joy to paint - watching reflective surfaces come to life on the easel is just magical. I found the teapot in some junk (there is a hole in the bottom!) and I found the spoon laying in the street on a walk in January. When I set them on my stand, which already had the blue drape on it, a pink rose seemed like the perfect addition to this "found" still life.
My mother was an endless tea drinker; she would have been 80 this week, so this painting is for her.