"One for the Road"

"One for the Road"

18" x 24" x 1 5/8" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

This is my next completed piece for my art gallery exhibit scheduled for May 2011. I'm really enjoying doing these cloud paintings. I love how you get the details of the close-up object with the huge puffy clouds in the background.

I chose a Monarch butterfly because Del Rio is one stop of many in the great yearly Monarch migration. Del Rio is kind of on the edge of their migratory channel so we don't get overrun with them, but when they're coming through the front of your car will be redecorated with orange and red smears.

It's gross. And sad. But mostly gross.

My next few paintings will be different in style and application. I will be doing some abstract art that I have learned and enjoy to do for it's freehand styling.

And use of a spray bottle.

One can't flourish a spray bottle with enough flair. It's fantastically fun!

I'm happy with the end result of the butterfly, especially the three dimenionality of the wings. I'm not even sure I meant to do that.

I'm finding that shading lighting is getting easier and easier. I don't have to think about what to paint or how to paint something to get the shadows or highlights I want. My hand just seems to know what to do. Maybe it's the brush. But whatever it is I like it!


Isn't this color just luscious? I could swim in it, or eat it. Maybe both!

"Dog Walker"

"Dog Walker"

9" x 12" acrylic on paper

This is my submission for this months Calypso Moon Artist Movement. Our assignment was to paint a scene from our life that included people. Since I've already painted Paige, I thought I would get going on painting each of the other children.

Phoebe, pictured here, is 2 1/2 and full of herself like most toddlers. She likes what she likes, hates what she hates, and gets what she wants. Mostly. She is one of those people that have "it", whatever that "it" is that attracts people to them like moths to a flame. Kids at the park fight to see who will play with her. Kids in preschool punch each other to sit next to her. Her brother sneaks into her bed every night so he can sleep with her. Why? As he says because he loves her so much.

We all do.

Especially Belly, our 10 year old Great Dane. Belly is meek and passive so it's no problem letting Phoebe walk her which she does often. To and from the park, the garbage bin, the "ditch", Phoebe pulls on Belly to get to her going.

Its a great thing, really. It keeps Phoebe moving in the right direction and makes Belly feel loved.

"Northern Lights"

"Northern Lights"

14" x 14" x 2" acrylic on canvas

This is the next completed painting for my art show in May. I am looking for more free-flying objects to paint so if you have any ideas let me know!

I entitled it "Northern Lights" because we don't see a lot of fireflies here in the deep South. I know they are common up North so I decided to name it as such.

Fireflies? Lightning bugs?

Whatever you want to call them they add so much to the interest of a dusk sky!

Up next: Monarch Butterfly!

"Be Free, Dandelion"

"Be Free, Dandelion!"

12" x 36" x 2" acrylic on canvas

Now that I've sorta kinda gotten the hang of painting sorta kinda decent clouds, I've decided to use them as my central theme for my art show in May. You see, in Del Rio the sky is vast, an immense blue blanket thrown over the top of your everyday life. It's stunning in it's depth of color, immense space, and limitless freedom.

And don't forget the clouds! Though Del Rio is a desert, the sky holds a lot of moisture in these spectacular cloud formations that seem to go on forever.

"Look, Mom! A starfish! Look! A hippo! Over there! A Parasaurolophus!"

I'm also going with the freedom thing as another side theme. I love the idea of flying; flying away, flying towards...

"I'll fly away Old Glory,
I'll fly away,
When I die, hallelujah by and by,
I'll fly away!"

Here's a closer look of the dandelion. (There is a strange yellow hue on the bottom of this shot that does not exist on the actually painting.)


Closer....


...and closest!


It's really hard to get the scope of this painting from these cropped images. The color washes out, the subject goes out of focus, and the whole thing looks kind of blah.

So I included a picture of the painting on my sad, yellow wall. I painted the edge of the canvas an espresso brown that acts as a kind of frame.

1 down, 6554 to go!

Next up, lightning bugs!