St. Lyle

Lyle Lovett, acrylic on canvas.

Love painting mature men's faces - we don't airbrush out all the lines and character. This might be the start of a series.

siblings sharing a shirley

Caught a quick snapshot of my kids sharing their first shirley temple at Hali's wedding. It was too dark as a photo but I loved the composition.

Acrylic on canvas, 24ish x 36ish"

Still life with wine and red purse

Acrylic on canvas, 18x24"

Hali's wedding gown

Watercolor and ink on paper, 5x7"

pear

The pomegranate needed a companion piece. I have them both hanging together. Will have to get a photo.
This is also 36x36", acrylic on canvas. Wasn't sure about the bright green, but the more I look at it, the more I like it.

pomegranate

I love pomegranates. Love to look at them, love to open them, love to drink the juice (especially with champagne) and eat the seeds. Love that they are so many shades of red all wrapped up in one powerful little ball. Love that they are bursting with so much magic.

Pomegranates are an ancient fruit (learn more here) and show up throughout history representing fertility and rebirth - particularly in the Greek myth of Persephone (remember that one? Persephone is kidnapped by Hades, and her mother Demeter goes into mourning and shuts the whole world down. Zeus intervenes but since Persephone was tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds while down there, she can return, but must spend 6 months of each year down under. Hence winter.)

I've been planning this one in my head for a while, twice I have bought the prettiest pomegranate I could find at the store and brought it home, only to watch it slowly shrivel and get tough before I had a chance to paint it. So last night I finally seized the opportunity.

Pomegranate, acrylic on canvas. 36 x 36" 

This photo was taken with my phone, which is not ideal and certainly far from perfect. But hey, this is me trying to document more!

As always, if you are interested in buying this piece or commissioning something, drop me a line.

Abstract color exercise: six persimmons (on strings)

Another color exercise assignment - this one painted from a written description of Six Persimmons, a 13th-century Chinese painting that is widely considered a Zen masterpiece:

And again, my work is much different, as it should be, since this is really an interpretation of an interpretation:

Six Persimmons (on strings). Acrylic on canvas. 11x14"

I love this piece. Somehow those stems just wanted to go up further. I think it helps ground the composition. What do you think?

PS: it just feels so good to paint again!

Abstract color exercise: Rothko-ish

I'm thrilled to be taking an abstract painting class for the next six weeks. If nothing else, it is an appointment to paint for a few hours every Wednesday. Sort of like how you could go to the gym by yourself and work out, but it is so much more effective to pay a trainer - then you HAVE to go. 

Plus, I love assignments. Something about having constraints to work against/within. Limits to push. Instant focus.

This was a color exercise to paint a piece according to a description of another piece - Rothko in this case. Rothko's work is mainly known for being soft fields of saturated color, sometimes painted/washed directly into the canvas, soaking into the fibers. 

My interpretation is, of course, a little different. I too love saturated colors, but also love texture and movement.

Abstract color exercise. Acrylic on canvas. 18x24"

wedding dress painting - vintage suit

I was commissioned to do this piece before the holidays and I absolutely love it. I do a lot of wedding dresses and baptismal gowns, this is one of the more interesting outfits I've done in a while. It was worn by the grandmother of the recipient. Couple of thoughts:

• I am in love with the cut of this suit. The jacket is like a perfect S-curve. 
• From a painting perspective, it was fun to do something with more ink and paint to it - I usually do a white dress on white paper. You don't exactly get to throw down the color for that, so even though this was in greys and blacks, it was fun.
• I like how the silver ink pops.
• Hats!

One of my new years goals is to document my work better. Probably the last 10 pieces I have done have gone undocumented - I get so excited to deliver the finished piece that I just skip it. And then of course regret it later.