ArtSync in now online

Many months ago i was contacted by the Editor of a new Magazine called ArtSync.
It is a great new publication about local artists and art happenings. Lucky for me i was featured in their first issue. You can go online and read the articles or pick one up at the many locations in the great state of North Carolina.
Just go to their website at www.artsync.com and it will give you all the prompts needed. The article on my work is on page 37...well written and features my cats, dogs and cows...

Dogs we love "I Will Ruin Your Life"

This dog, like so many, is just one of many we have had. Oh yes, we think we will always find the replacement dog for the perfect one who went to Dog Heaven, but it never happens. No, we get the dog who is so needy that she must touch us at every waking moment. If she had come with a note saying something like the painting, we would have known that our travels are limited and our days full of nothing but dog talk...has she been out, did she do her business, did she eat all her food, was that her crying out in the night, and look how she sleeps with her head on my shoe...
12 x 12 on gallery wrapped canvas $250

Red High Heels and Purse and Here I Go

This woman is all dressed up and looks very much like she is intent on escaping everyday life. Leaving behind all the piles of wash and the house to clean she is flying off for the day high above the colorful landscape. I think she has a great book in her red purse and will relax, with no interruptions and read. Maybe some chocolate is in her plans as well. I hope so.
16 x 20 on gallery wrapped canvas with fabric for dress. $450.00

So You're Having a Baby?

It seems babies are coming fast and furious these days. Across the street, Julia arrived with curly hair like her Dad and next door Oscar followed and looks like his Dad as well. Emma, my great niece will be one year old in May and this week was found eating the dog's food! In May i will get another great niece or nephew and hope to be there for the birth. So all of this baby stuff inspired this painting.
The dog, once the couple's baby, will have to move over for the new one. Watch his dog bowl!

Always Colorful and Sometime Crazy

Ok so my husband dan says i need to slow down with the paintings! I have been on a roll and if you know anything about being creative and the muse being with you, your have to strike while the iron is hot. I called Jane Filer, my friend and teacher for many years at her house at the beach.She is getting ready for her spring show at Tyndall Galleries in Chapel Hill and tells me she has painted 19 new ones, Go Jane.
So we were both feeling happy that we feel like painting and are able to "pull it off". Painting is hard work and it is a profession. In fact one book i was reading says that being a good painter is like being a good musician. "It takes as much practice to learn to paint as it does to learn to play the violin. "
I painted this painting right after "Cupcake Fever." I had learned that a dog named Puck, whose portrait i painted had gone to dog heaven. Using Puck's sweet face i put him (or his likeness) in the new one i call "The Paris Bakery". If you have been to Paris you know how they take their dogs out dining. So i painted the women at the Bakery with their lap dogs ...getting ready to eat some delicious cake.

Cupcake Fever

Let's all celebrate the lovely cupcake. In the painting all eyes are on one that is iced to perfection. This painting is 16 x 20 on gallery wrapped canvas, mixed media: acrylic and fabric for the Leopard skin pillbox hat$450

Harbor Town

 

this is a long vertical painting of Harbor Town. The houses are many colors and the people are out and about on a hot summer day

Touching up old work

I painted the Cat in the window...called "The Many Colored Cat" several years back and due to it's size it had only been out of my studio once. Last year, however, it got to go to the Mad Hatter for the summer show. A woman from NYC called me re Hens in the Kitchen, which she bought and took back with her, but also gave me some feedback on the cat..."it's eyes are not like cat eyes but more like human eyes." So this week i put it back on the easel and i think i was able to improve on it's looks. Anyway, the cat looks happier in this version...and i am happier to reexhibit the painting with an update.

The other painting i re did was a still life of a bowl of fruit which was in the cubist tradition. I liked the painting but decided it was a bit too busy and did not have all the "VanderMeer colors" in it...I like it this way and think a red frame will set it off.

Bald Man with Bird

This painting was inspired by all the birds in the park in San Miguel. The same people come everyday to feed them.

Trip to the Beach

This weekend we went to Pass a Grille and enjoyed a day of sunshine and sand. Sailboats were traveling by and inspired this painting. I called it "Sailboats in Sunny Bay"

"Whitebird Hat" Today the sky is full of birds and they are singing their hearts out... so i was painting this woman and the imagery came into my head and found its way into the painting.

These are the latest paintings i have completed this week all influenced by my recent travels.

The Houses of San Miguel, The Matador, Whitebird Hat, Sailboats in Sunny Bay

Fish Tacos and more paintings

In San Miguel lunch is best had at the local fish taco place where the beer is cold and the tacos fresh

town dogs

In San Miguel, the dogs almost out numbered the humans. Here we have two out on the prowl under the night sky. This painting will be auctioned off for the elementry school in Meadowmont

The Tango Band in San Telmo

For 4 days i have been working on the Tango Band and dancers in San Telmo a neighborhood in Buenos Aires...Some paintings give me fits and this one is no exception. I love to paint people and here i have the band...am adding the cello player next on the left, and couples dancing.

It is a work in progress and after a few more days it will be done. I have worked with lots of lights and darks in this painting, but mostly i am hoping to create the "feel" of this day...the energy of the Bandoneón players and the joy of the street musicians who play for pesos dropped in a hat.