Happy Trails

Happy Trails

8"x8" Oil on Canvas

SOLD

     I've never painted cowboy boots before but I decided to borrow a pair from a co-worker and give it a try!  I have worked for a General Surgery private practice for over 19 years and our senior partner,  affectionately known as "Papa Bear", was retiring.  He has lived in Texas and New Mexico in the past and still has many ties to that area.  He also loves all things Southwest so I thought boots would make an appropriate retirement gift.  

     I had to keep telling myself to paint "what I see" not "what I know" which is the mantra all artists try to go by.  For a bit, these cowboy boots resembled Ugg boots and I had to keep working at them to make them look like what I had sitting before me!!!  For my first try, I was generally pleased with the end product.

     Happy Trails, Dr. Parsons, you will be sorely missed...

Surprise!

Surprise!

12'x12" Oil on Panel

$325.00 framed

     This image may look familiar if you follow my blog.  I originally painted a smaller version of this wrapped box for my daughter as a Christmas present.  In November Kim and I spent three days in New York City having a grand time and while she was shopping in Tiffany's, I was snapping photos of their beautiful display cases!   After I gave the original painting to Kim I felt I needed to do another painting of their beautifully decorated boxes.  It really was fun to do and I got out of Tiffany's without spending any money!  

Waiting to Ride

Waiting to Ride

6"x6" Oil on Panel

$95.00 framed

     This red bike is painted from a photo given to me by my friend Nancy from a trip she took to Key West a couple years ago.  By the way, this photo appears much darker on my monitor than the original painting.  I've never painted a bicycle before and for me the roundness of the tires was the most difficult because I did not want them to appear too predictable or realistic.  Gotta work on that!

The Present

 

The Present

8"x8" Oil on Panel

 

     The weekend before Thanksgiving my daughter Kim and I travelled to New York City with her Meredith College (Raleigh NC) alumni.  We had a fabulous time being tourists and of course doing the obligatory shopping that all women love to do!  We went into Tiffany's on 5th Avenue and I was so excited to see their iconic robin egg blue colored boxes wrapped up and posing for me as a gorgeous still life!  Over a year ago, I bought a tube of Gamblin Radiant Turquoise and it seemed the perfect tube to use to bring this box to life! 

Lined Up

Lined Up

18"x24" Oil on canvas

 

 

     Someday I will travel to Italy to snap photos right and left of all the colorful images popping up all over the place but for now I continue to use my friend Renee's photos from one of her recent trips.  Fortunately for me she snapped quite a few boat photos and in this painting I tried to capture the rugged-looking boats which have been sun drenched through the years from sitting by the dock waiting for someone to come along and take it out into the beautiful waters.

 

Bon Appetit

    

Bon Appetit

24"x24" Oil on Canvas

     For the past three years, I have attended weekly art classes with Curt Butler and this most recent five-week session was "photo-free".  Usually we work on landscapes, etc. from our own photos but our challenge was to work solely from life, in this case, still-life.  Curt tried to introduce us to Cubism and Abstract art and this is my effort in that direction.

     I must say I really enjoyed the process causing me to experiment more with drips, to be more ambiguous with the shapes and to stretch my sense of adventure playing with the oil paints.  Working larger is so freeing and I have already started another piece, a 24"x30", here at home and am really having fun with it.  Stay tuned!

French Cafe

French Cafe

18"x24" oil on canvas

$695.00 framed

     Back in the Spring of 2003, I "lived" in France while I was attending a ten-day oil painting workshop with Connie Winters.  It was a fabulous experience and we had several daily excursions into little villages throughout Provence on days when we were not painting.   This is a lovely cafe in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue where we had a delightful lunch after wandering through this antique-lovers paradise where canals dart in and around the village.  I have been looking at this photo off and on for over nine years and finally decided to give it a try.