The Last One

This is the last in the cosmetic still-life setups. I am so anxious to get back to doing looser still-lifes and trying my artistic hand at doing some Plein Air work now that the weather is finally warming up here in Portland.

After I completed this painting I realized what an odd composition this is; first that there is an equal number of objects in the piece ( I was taught to use an unequal number of objects to balance a composition) second, that I have a division in the center that draws the eye in to the background.....what was I thinking; I guess I lost my sense of balance.

As much as I am tired of painting so tightly, I do feel I learned to see values better. Painting metal is a challenge, but the real challenge for me is the clear glass objects, in my opinion they are the really difficult ones to capture in value.

Since I don't get time to paint everyday I am having a hard time keeping my paints from forming a film on top of the pigments I have squeezed onto my palette. I don't like breaking through that film to get to the wet paint, which seems to always wind up on my brush and in the painting. I am trying some new ideas I have toyed around with and will post any success. In the meantime I would love any ideas or suggestions anyone has to help solve this problem.

One More

I haven't had a lot of painting time lately; but managed to finish two more of the cosmetic series. This one and the next post are the last in the series and will be featured in the Howden Gallery in Oregon City from May through July.

Pearl of Portland

Last February our Daughter had some errands to do, so she brought along her Dog Pearl. She parked her car on a very busy street in Portland. When she opened her car door her dog Pearl who was wearing a lovely pink dogie coat jumped out of the car and ran like a crazy little Pug dog that she is down that very busy street. Our daughter was pregnant with twins at the time and couldn't run as fast as her dog was traveling. So, Pearl went missing for 17 days. Our daughter and her Dad scoured all of Portland day after day searching for her beloved Pearl. Finally Pearl was spotted running across a street not too far from where she was lost. Missing her pretty pink coat, smelling like a cat and a few pounds lighter; since she can't talk we can only assume she was picked up by someone and being the crazy dog that she is performed another escape trick from that person. Last year I did a painting for my son's birthday and this Collage of Pearl is for my daughter as an early birthday gift.

First Cosmetic

This is the first painting I did several years ago of cosmetics. I did in a class I was taking with the Artist Larry Morace. http://www.larrymorace.com/ in San Francisco. We worked from a photo, but he made us turn our photo upside down. It was a good learning experience because it forced us to look at the negative shapes and to not concentrate on the objects in the setup or photo.

Polish #3

This was an attempt to do the painting with more of a monochromatic feel. I should have had my head examined in attempting to do the wall paper back ground. Took way too long to paint and it gets me farther away from the way I want to paint. The next post is more the way I was painting and need to get back to. But, first I need to complete the Cosmetic Series I started.

Soft Beige

This is another painting in the Cosmetic Series. The gallery I am in had a wonderful response to them and sold all but one. So, I thought I would attempt to do several more. Once again the camera showed me something I didn't see when I looked at the painting in my studio. I hadn't painted in the pale shadow to the right of the compact and realized the compact didn't look grounded. So I put in a light shadow, but when I saw my first attempt it looked to dark and the lines didn't appear straight enough; so I ruled in new lines and still they don't look straight in the photo, but looking at the painting in my studio the lines look straight. UGH!

Jennifer's Perfume #1

This was my first idea for the perfume bottles and probably the one I like the best. which one . Any opinions about the two paintings would be appreciated.

Jennifer's Perfume #2

I was asked to do a commission of some perfume bottles. I have been working on some ideas and have completed two for the commission. It always helps for me to take a photo of the completed piece because I always see something that might need some more work. When I look at the blue shadow, the first one seems to be too bright a blue and I know it's really not so intense. The camera picked it up as being more intense then it really is. I am posting another one with a different background and would welcome suggestions.

Twists and Turns,

It's been awhile since my last posting. I have been working on a cosmetic painting that is a commission, which is close to being done. We have had some incredible weather here in the Portland area. I have basically been house bound for close to a week since we keep getting more and more snow everyday. Usually this time of year is all about rain, rain, rain and more rain; so since I haven't been able to leave the house I have gotten some painting finished.

This is another painting in the flower series and I thought I would set a price for it online. If anyone is interested in purchasing the piece the price is $550. plus shipping. Shipping outside of the Portland area usually runs about $35. This is an original Oil, size 24"x24" on a 1 1/2" stretched canvas

More Cosmetics

A note to add to this previous post. I am thrilled to say that these have sold and I have also received a commission from this series. That should keep me busy after the holidays. I started another flower painting and my husband says I should stick to the cosmetics. But I enjoy painting the flowers more. I like the freedom of the flowers, the looseness of the paint going on the canvas. The flowers always seem to be dancing around which I when I step away from the canvas always surprises me. These are some additional paintings I did in the Cosmetic series. Last Friday night the gallery I show in (Howden's) had their winter open house and I was fortunate to sell one of the lipstick paintings to a lovely women and fellow artists from Wisconsin. My daughter just gave me a bag full of nail polish and lipstick to keep me busy for awhile. I would like to try a few more with the wallpaper background but I am in the middle of another dried flower painting and hope to get that done this week to start on the smaller paintings. Just never seems to be enough time to get all the paintings done that roam around in my head!

End Of Summer ( NFS )

This painting was created as a gift for my sons 40Th birthday. Egad.....saying my son is 40 sure makes me sound old. He lives in Los Angeles with his family and their living room has a blank spot for a painting. He asked me if I would do a painting to fill the spot. I thought an LA scene would appeal to my son . I had a photo of a street not far from their house I thought would be good to try working from. Well, I gave it my best shot but I felt it was turning out to be a failure. I was not happy with my attempts at all; I like to think there wasn't enough information in the photo for me to work from. So, still wanting to fill that space on his living room wall and hoping to send him a nice surprise for his birthday; I decided to work from my dried flowers and hopefully give it a masculine touch since I know a painting of flowers would not be his first choice. One part of the gift I felt good about was the frame. I had a beautiful old antique oak frame that I wanted put on the painting and I knew if he hated the painting he and his wife would at least like the frame.

"Been Chewing on it" ( SOLD )

One of my favorite art forms is collage. I haven't focused on it for awhile, but when I get together with my Thursday Painters Group, I try and do something different from my normal attempts at art.

I found this picture of the sheep in a magazine and decided to try doing a collage with it. I cut out the sheep and some trees from another magazine; pasted them pictures down on a piece of Gatorboard and then decided to paint on top of all that I had pasted down. The title came from a sentence I found in another magazine, which is located at the base of the trees.

Plein Air Price $100.

My friend and fellow artist Wendy Dehart, http://www.wendydehart.com/ asked me to go out recently to paint in a local park. Our plan was to go out later in the day, around four o'clock to catch the afternoon long shadows. Well, it's Portland and while the summer has been beautiful and now that fall is approaching we didn't get to catch the long shadows. We had really no shadows as the afternoon just became overcast. We decided to paint anyway and this is my attempt at Plein Air. I have only been painting outdoors a handful of times and always seem overwhelmed. I have a hard time narrowing down what I want to paint. My daughter commented she thought the trees looked like they are doing a plie'. I realized I painted both trees with the same "V's" in their branches making them very repetative. Posting the photo's always gives me a differnt perspective of my paintings. It's a very good tool to help see what I don't always see when I'm painting.
I have another friend that has put her art on a new web sites for artist. Check out Patty Ryan's art at:http://greenfabric.com/ and also her blog; http://shialavati.blogspot.com/

Blue Nile (Agapanthus)

This is the most recent painting in the flower series. It's the first time I have worked on a canvas that is deep (1 1/2 inches ) on the side and the flowers continue on the edges. Nice not too have to frame this one. If you click on the picture you can get a larger view of the painting.

Lipstick #2 ( SOLD )

This is another painting in the cosmetic series. I have been painting this on my own prepared gessoed Gatorboard panels. It's been a challenge. I realized that I do prefer painting on canvas, but the panels with the smooth surface; let me do a more detailed painting. The gallery I am in wants some some smaller paintings for the Holiday show, so I will do a few more before the October dead line. My painting time has been limited this summer. Our Daughter gave birth to premature ( two month early ) twin boys in June; so I feel fortunate that we are close by to help care for them now that the boys are both home.

lipstick #1 ( SOLD )

I thought I'd give myself a break from the flower series and start another series with a different subject that I thought would be fun to try and paint. I also wanted to try approaching the subject with more drama or perhaps graphicness.....I don't know, this is my second attempt, several years ago I did an oil of nail polish bottles, which I enjoyed the challenge of painting. I will post that painting next to get perhaps some comments on this new direction of subject matter.

I do have another flower painting started and am hoping to have more than one painting going at a time. My daughter gave birth to twin boys that were two months premature. Both boys are finally home, so I try and help as much as I can to give her a little rest. I have been painting in the evening, which I find kind of difficult with the fading light.

I should really take a new photo of this painting, the tubes are standing straight, I think I didn't have the painting upright enough.

Pastel Sketch and Cone Flower Painting

The top picture is the pastel sketch I worked from. I originally tried painting the intense yellow and greens I had in the sketch, but felt the painting was screaming at me. Sometimes I find it hard to work large from such a small sketch. I had to improvise too much in the painting and therefore I am not happy with how the painting is going. Any suggestions?

Zinna Tango

Another finished in the dried flower series. I haven't had much time to paint lately. My daughter just gave birth to preemie twin boys named Cole and Jack. The boys are doing really well for such little guys ( 32 weeks). So I spend time with my daughter at the hospital until the boys can come home. I am in the process though of squeezing in time for a sketch on a new canvas, so I can start that painting. Not sure if I am liking the blue centers on the two flowers to the left...should they be more purple or toned down perhaps?

Back at it

My beautiful Grandchildren were visiting from LA so I put painting on hold for awhile. I started back on this painting and as usual am wondering how to tackle the background, which always seems to be my nemesis. I tried following the pastel sketch I had been working from but the lower area with the pale lavender just wasn't working. Now I am trying more white, so I shall see where that takes me.

In a Gallery!

I recently was accepted into a new Art Gallery/Framing store ( is a gallery a store? ) opened by Annie Howden. She has relocated her business from the West Linn area to my town of Oregon City. Needless to say it's wonderful to see my work hanging in a gallery. Annie has done an amazing job of renovating the space to 3000 sq feet which was a former garage/ pizza parlor and karate studio. Annie had a open house this past Friday ( the 16Th) which was standing room only and she provided us with delicious appetizers and beverages. Annie said she was thrilled with the response and several artists sold works that evening.

The finished Commision (SOLD )

I was asked to post the finished commision piece. It was a wedding gift and I spoke to the Bride and Groom who say they are very happy with the painting. Any comments?

From pastel to Oil

I recently started a new oil. Earlier I posted the pastel sketch that I am working from. I also have the dried flowers as reference, but find most of the painting is coming from my imagination, especially the composition. As always working this way I am usually not sure which direction the background will take. I'm still trying to work that out in my mind. The pastel sketch has a mid tone lavender in the lower half. It was suggested to me to make that darker, but I need to work out more of the leaves in that area to figure out what to do there.....any suggestions?