My sweet Harry died today. After 11 & 1/2 safe and happy years he somehow ingested antifreeze and despite heroic efforts to save him, we had to let him go. This painting will no longer be for sale.

Wow! A lot's happened since I last showed you what I was working on. I finally finished it. Here's what it looked like (yes, I said looked like)

These are the pictures I was working from and merging together.

As it turns out, the person commissioning the work had been misinformed about which child was the cousin and was to be left out, and which was the brother in the family to be left in and I had to do some fast and heavy editing at the last minute. But I managed to do it freehand with just a brush! I usually have to do a drawing first but surprised myself and here is the finished product which is now on its way to meet the family. (There's more to the story but for the sake of brevity that's the gist of it)

This is what I've been working on for a while. This is a commissioned portrait of a family with a bittersweet story. The two primary pictures I am working from were taken in 1967. One is of the mom and dad in front of the "57 Chevy. He's in uniform because he is about to ship off to Viet Nam. The other is of mom with all of the kids you see here plus a cousin that is not in this painting. I merged the two pictures and have used some school pictures for some of the children.
This family's pictures were destroyed in a fire 3 months before the father was killed in a construction accident after coming back from Viet Nam. The eldest son, on the right, died in his 20s of cancer. The painting is a gift for the son to the immediate right of the father. I love the period in time thats captured here and it will be the only picture wth all of them together. The lady that comissioned this is giving the painting to the boy that is between his father and brother who have passed away for a Christmas gift. She hopes it will bring back some of the closeness the family once had. I'll keep you updated as I go.

These are a series I did from a few pictures I shot one morning when the sun was coming in my kitchen window and hitting this wild apple that my husband had picked while working out in the country. We used to have a scrawny apple tree that produced apples like this in our back yard and our neighbor called them "horse apples" because that was all they were good for-feeding to the horses. (I had heard that this was also what you called horse poop but who am I to say?)

Anyway, I thought the sunlight was so beautiful and fleeting, I added a few zinnias from the garden and changed the angles as the sun was going in and out of clouds and this is the result. I hope you like them!

Acrylic on museum profile canvas which means that they don't have to be framed because the edges are deep and finished (see picture) and they are 12 x 12.

Kara at Bodega Bay

This is my latest portrait. It's going to be a wedding gift for a couple that lives in New York state. Kara and I worked together for about a year and I just love her. I know she is going to be half of a very happy marriage and this portrait seems to have her looking off into the future and as a friend put it "looking very contented".

Thanks to some brilliant suggestions from my friends at Wet Canvas, I went back into this and tweaked some areas. The face was not showing enough contrast to differentiate it from the background and the rocks were lacking a little definition. See what you think.

Sketches

I thought I would share some of my sketches from a portrait drawing class I took a while back at ABTech. I'm going to be starting another class next week on painting. I hope I get better! I'm at a mental road block right now with colors so I'm hoping to get some inspiration and direction.

Sanctuary of Stuff

We've added a new location for displaying the lamps and my paintings. It's Sanctuary of Stuff in north Asheville just off Merrimon Ave. in Woodfin. After 4 months at Biltmore Emporium we've had no sales. Now it could be that people just don't like our stuff but I've had several people tell me that they just couldn't stand the heat because the place doesn't have air conditioning. We rented the space in the spring when it was still cool and the thought just didn't occur to us that this would be the case. Parking is a little awkward there too and they still have a fair amount of empty booths. I think the place still has great possibilities but just not for us.
S.O.S on the other hand has AC, YAY!!!!, ample parking, lots of traffic already as it's been in business for a while, and it's full of wonderful vendors with lots of stuff to look at and buy. Check out their website at http://www.sactuaryofstuff.com/

Harry and The Daisies

Here's another one done this week. My cat Harry and a vase of daisies from the garden. I invented the rug so it's a bit weird but this was done for fun.

18x24

Acrylic on canvas

Charles

Charles reworked.

I pulled out an old sketch I did in a drawing class a few years ago and turned it into a painting. I've never attempted dark skin before and I think it looks OK. I'm thinking of making his tank a simple plaid, what do you think?
I've always been fond of this sketch because the model, Charles, had such a sweet face and demeanor. During breaks, he showed us pictures of his new baby. So sweet.

16x20
Acrylic on canvas

Finished?

I wonder if any artist ever feels as if they are truly finished with a work. I'm not happy with Amy's shirt and I may go back and make her have a little more form or shape but overall I feel like I'm done for today anyway. We'll see what my friends over at WetCanvas.com have to say about it too.

I made some changes to the shirt and I think I'm satisfied. The brush strokes are showing up more harshly here than they are in real life. I'm going to let this rest a bit before I varnish it to see if anything else bothers me.

More Progress

I've been able to do a lot of work on this today.

The cat box smell got to me so I worked all day yesterday cleaning out some bookshelves to make room for my setup in a spare bedroom. Today I got down to work again and added some more clouds to carry the horizon away and worked on David's face mostly, and a little on Amy. It feels good to be out of the basement and I hope it means I'm going to pick up a little progress. Hope you like it!

Paintings are up!

This is the wonderful Marilyn that runs the Biltmore Emporium. She has a can do attitude and a genuine enthusiasm for doing the job. She has 9 Cocker Spaniels and one of them, Miss Daisy, comes with her to work every day and greets customers from her perch on the counter. Marilyn makes dog clothing and hats and used to be a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas. You need to come by just to meet her and Miss Daisy!




Here's the booth nearly all set up. We've still got to put in a few more lamps but this is pretty much how it's going to look. As I get more paintings done that will be for sale, the walls will fill up. A friend suggested that I have prints made that people could buy without having the investment of their own portrait. Tourists like souvenirs and Asheville is a tourist destination so it's a great idea.

Yippee!

We (the current owner of the lamp company that I have worked for for the last 10 years and I) rented a booth today in a new venue for arts, antiques, etc. We're sharing the space and offering the lamps and my paintings. To begin with, I'll be showing a couple of my already owned paintings in hopes of getting commissions for portraits and as I'm able to paint more, I'll add some pieces that will be for sale. The name of the place is Biltmore Emporium and it's just out of Biltmore Village on Sweeten Creek Road. Wish me luck!

Jordan Siblings

I didn't get much done on this today. Grayed up the sky with a wash and umber washed in the features. I think this one is going to be better than I thought but that's counting your chickens before they're hatched.

Mason, Callen and Tulip

This is a portrait of my dear friends' children and their dog. I had a lot of fun doing this one and learned a lot. It's very big(don't remember the demensions) and the girls are close to life size. Acrylic on canvas.

Made it to the stinky basement

I'm waiting on the background to dry before I begin to block in the faces. The photo I'm using for reference is a not so hot one with a blurred image of the beach house and bushes in the background so I've changed it to look like the beach at low tide and bright midday sun especially appropiate as they're all three squinting. Their father was my brother and passed away in 2000. He'd get a kick out of this.





Proof of the never empty cat boxes.


Attempt to cover up smell.

View From Craggy Pinnacle

This is "View from Craggy Pinnacle"

This was donated to an auction for a local art group.

Cherry Tree

These are two views of the cherry tree in our yard in late winter.They are 24x48 and acrylic. All of my work is acrylic and a little on the large side.

Me and my Sister

Me and my sister, Martha. The necklace she is wearing is not the one that was in the photo I went by. I went shopping and found one that had three crystal hearts and when I gave it to her, she(being a big fan of jewelry) noticed it and I surprised her with the gift of the necklace too. I told her the three crystals were representative of her three beautiful daughters. Tears were had all around.