Free Birthday Giveaway - Day Seven (and it's a free painting ...)

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"Safe and Sound"

Oil, 6" x 6"

This painting could be yours ...

Congratulations to Susan Walker. She won the free video featuring her art!

At last. The final day of the birthday giveaway. It has been so fun sharing so many things with you this past week and thanks to all of you for going along for the ride. To win the painting listed above, you don't have to do anything. Well, actually you do have to comment on this blog post so I know that you actually want to win the painting! I'll announce the winner tomorrow, I promise. Good luck. And thanks for letting me celebrate my birthday by thanking all of you for another great year. You guys are awesome.

Waiting For ...

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"Waiting For ..."

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel

$200.00 with display easel.

That's right ... what have I been waiting for? It's been so long since I have actually painted in my studio that I was afraid maybe I had forgotten how to paint. I know these "stages" happen, and I had a lot of valid reasons why I haven't been painting ... but ... it was time to get back to what I love most ... painting!
I think I was inspired by our AHA radio show with Carol and David Marine yesterday.  If you think about it ... Carol is almost a month ahead with her paintings ... yes ... that means she has an entire wall full of paintings that are drying and just waiting to be posted on her blog. I still don't have any "waiting" to be posted, but at least I have one to post today!
I think I underestimated the response I would have to my private marketing consultations so I have been very busy working with artists to sell more art through their blogs, websites, newsletters and facebook. It's been fun but has kept me out of my studio for too long. Dreama even "threatened" me yesterday. She said if I didn't find something to paint today she was going to pick the subject matter ... and I believe the word "Eddie" was part of the conversation.
One final thought ... one of the good things about being so busy is that I just didn't have time to take advantage of the fact that today is April Fool's Day. Over the years I have been pretty creative and have pulled off some pretty funny pranks ... my favorite was when I put my girlfriends house up for sale. I know this sounds harsh but if you knew the pranks she had pulled on me this was actually pretty tame. Although I advertised a price that was less than half market value so she did get a lot of calls ... for months ...
So to my dear best friend Dreama ... you are safe for yet another year ...

Safe and Sound - SOLD

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"Safe and Sound"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

After painitng a beach scene yesterday ... I decided I would paint a boat scene. I spent most of the day working on a big commission but just wanted to try some different colors and compositions while I had lots of leftover wet paint.
I had a fun interview with a very popular on-line women's site. If the article appears tonight, I promise to post it tomorrow!

Fall Colors II - SOLD and step-by-step video

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"Fall Colors II"

Oil, 34" x 47"

Sold.

This is a commission painting I completed for a new client. The client saw the original painting I completed for the TV Show "Law & Order: Los Angeles" and asked me to paint another one. What she really liked was the fact the painting was of boats ... but had no blue in it!
So this is the finished painting. It's quite a bit different from the original inspiration. There's a lot more detail and yet it is painted in a looser style. (Sorry if that last statement is contradictory ... but it is true!)
I took a lot of photos of the painting "in process" and put together a video so you could see how the step-by-step process. I should mention the colors are a bit off as the photos were taken in my studio at night. But you will get the idea ... I thought it might be fun to see how I create a much larger painting ... So ... enjoy!

Contemplation

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"Contemplation"

Oil, 6" x 6"

$200 with display easel.

I made a list this morning of all of the things I have to do before I leave for my Atlanta workshop with Dreama ... and basically I can do nothing for the next 11 days but paint. Somehow I have managed to take on four commissions which all need to be finished before I leave. And I have two paintings that are finally dry that need to go to Randy Higbee's for framing. Whoever thought life as an artist was relaxing and simple was nuts!
Dreama and I start our workshop in Atlanta on February 10th. We just had another artist sign up yesterday so we are almost full. It's still not too late to rearrange your schedule and join us. Dreama and I sent out a letter to all of the workshop participants earlier this week and I think this statement really sums up what you can expect from our workshop:
"Bring your questions, answers and open minds. Be ready to push yourselves and get out of that so called “comfort zone”. Ask any questions, even the one you never had the courage to ask. Be ready to talk about your art, as we will have two wonderful evenings to get to know each other, brainstorm and talk about anything you want to talk about. These three days will be about you. And we can’t wait!"
Don't miss out. We would love it if you could join us!

Color Reflections

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"Color Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on museum quality panel.

$200 with display easel.

Close up view of palette knife

Every once in a while I get in a loose, kind of sloppy mood for painting. I have no idea what predicates this ... my mood ... the weather ... the stars? Tee hee. Today was one of those days and I just decided to go for it. I really like the painting and the colors kind of jump off the painting.  I use to comment in my workshops that Cad Orange was my favorite color. But I have grown away from that ... and now I absolutely love the combination of cad orange, alizrin and cad yellow. I could paint all day with these three colors ... Maybe I should. Go out and try it!

Where's the Yellow?

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I am often asked why I don't paint more with the color yellow. At first I thought it was a silly question. Yellow? Of course I paint with yellow. But ... when I went back through my painting photos there were very few paintings featuring the color yellow. I also noted that my tube of Cad Yellow is by far the oldest tube I own ... and its really hard to squeeze out the paint because it's been around so long!
The irony here is that some of my favorite paintings feature yellow as the primary color. So ... although I am not adding "paint with yellow" to my list of goals (it's already WAY too long) I am making a mental note ... more yellow!
Can you guess which color I use the most?

Tranquility

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 "Tranquility"

Oil, 6" x 6" on museum quality canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Close-up of palette knife strokes

Next time we film a commercial at my house and the producer says they want to throw eggs at my front door ... please remind me to say no. What seemed like a simple request, and actually included a promise to re-paint my front door if needed, turned into eggs not only being thrown at my door ... but also the front of the house and ... um ... inside my house. Apparently someone came up with the idea that the scene would be much more effective if the eggs were thrown not only at my front door but also at the person answering the door ... and subsequently inside the house. Even though they were told "absolutely no" they did it anyway. So, the bad news is my house has a lot of egg on the outside ... and on the inside of the house. The good news is the painters will be here on Monday to start re-painting everything. So, other than the rotten egg smell in my house, it will actually look better than it did before we filed the commercial. But, no eggs ... ever again.

We have filmed a lot of movies, TV shows and commercials at our house and I am usually pretty easy going. A friend asked me tonight .. so do you ever say no? Let's see. I said no to CSI when they wanted to film a murder scene in the living room with blood everywhere and the kids were maybe ... ten years old. And another time they wanted to use our house for the movie about the Zodiac killer with Robert Downey Jr. The scene was going to be about the only victim that survived one of the attacks. When I asked why they weren't filming the scene in San Francisco, the location scout told me everyone was afraid to film it at their house since they never caught the killer. Needless to say ... I passed on that one too.

At Ease

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 "At Ease"

Oil, 6" x 6" on museum quality panel.

$200 with display easel.

Close-up of palette knife strokes

So they are filming a commercial in my house and I am locked upstairs on our third floor, enjoying the peace and quiet. Finally ... I am ready to start painting ... . Apparently they are about to move outside and start all of the "Halloween" scenes.  I just can't get used to the pumpkins and spider decorations in front of my house. It's January!
Dreama and I had a very fun "Artists Helping Artists" radio show this morning. Our guest was Randy Higbee, owner of Randy Higbee Gallery and www.kingofframe.com. Randy talked all about the success he had with his 6" Squared Exhibition and Facebook. It's a great show and you can listen to it here.

The Good Life - SOLD

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The Good Life

Oil, 6" x 6" on museum quality canvas panel.

Sold.

Close-up of palette knife strokes

The Good Life ... that's how I look at it. It's a new year and it's going to be a good one. I can just tell. I am blessed with an amazing family and husband who let me pursue my "late in life" discovered obsession with oil painting. Actually ... I am obsessed with palette knife painting to be a bit more specific.
So ... I know this painting is colorful (probably too much for some of you out there - you know who you are ...) but I am having a great day. So I decided to take the colors to the next level. Why not?
Oh ... and did I forget to mention that Stanford won the Orange Bowl game last night? Smile.

Sunlit Reflections

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"Sunlit Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on museum quality canvas panel

$200 with display easel.

Today was a crazy day as I was taking care of all of the final plans for the workshop. Dreama and I really want this to be an incredible experience so we have lots of surprises and fun things to do during the four days. But the preparation is pretty hectic ... and we still have a few last minute things to do (like shop for the gourmet meals ...).
I managed to find a bit of time this afternoon to head up to my studio to paint. I am trying to finish a few paintings and I had a lot of fun with the yellow in this one. It's not a color I use often and wow ... is it fun to paint with!
I did get a notice that my painting "Stuck Together" was selected for the National "Painting Only" Competition & Exhibition at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. Oh darn ... looks like I will need to head up to Palo Alto to see my painting displayed! (Palo alto is the town next to Stanford). Sounds like an important "business trip" in my near future!

Morning Colors

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"Morning Colors"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 with display easel.

So, I just completed the drawing for the free marketing 60-minute marketing consultation. This prize is valued at $200.00. If you have been listening to my radio show, "Artists Helping Artists" you will know that I have plenty of ideas and suggestions when it comes to selling art on-line. The consultation includes a discussion of new ideas for the winning artists' website and blog, marketing materials, facebook, whatever the artist wants! This is their chance for personal one-on-one marketing advice. The winner of the free consultation is Kelley Sanford! Too funny ... it is not often that I pick a name of someone I feel like I know well!


Today's painting is a bit of a departure from the sailboats that I normally paint. I was looking for something different and thought these boats would be fun. I was up at 4:45 a.m. getting my son ready to head to the airport for volleyball camp and this painting was finished by 6:00 am. This is probably the earliest in the day that I have ever painted. Hence, the title "Morning Colors" seemed appropriate.

Please help me name this painting! - SOLD

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"Please give me a name ..."

Oil, 6" x 6"

Sold.

So, I painted this painting today and was in the mood to use bright colors. Now, I know I am in a "bright colors" mood practically every day but if you could see the "inspiration photo" which was a VERY gloomy day, you might get what I mean! The only problem is ... this painting needs a title! There are those days ... and today is one of them ... when the creative side of me is GONE and I just can't be clever. I even took this issue to the experts ... my boys ... and the best they came up with were "Two Boats" and "Lemon and Orange". Hmmm ... boring!
Whoever comes up with the best name for this painting will win a package of note cards (and my shipment of new notecards just arrived a few minutes ago!). So please ... help!
I also wanted to mention I just had a wonderful lunch with two blogging buddies ... Laurie Allee, who takes amazing photographs and posts them on Glimpses of South Pasadena and Kathy Watson who has a great blog and will soon be featuring daily photos from Mammoth, CA. If you recall, Laurie's photos have served as a great inspiration for many of my South Pasadena paintings and today was our first chance to meet! We had a great time and thanks Kathy for putting this lunch together!

Sunny But No Wind

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"Sunny But No Wind"

Oil, 6" x 6"

$200 unframed with easel.

Finally ... it feels like summer! My boys are sleeping until noon (except Andrew who has swim practice at 6:00am), the pool heater is on and there is no food in the house! And ... I am painting boats and loving every minute of it! The brighter, the better.
Now ... all I need is a big Laker victory tonight!

Lakers update ... Lakers won by 22 points so all of my paintings are discounted by 22% until the next game which is Thursday night!

First Day of Summer - SOLD

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"First Day of Summer"

Oil, 8" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 unframed.

Sold.

Even though the weather was overcast, today officially felt like the first day of summer. Andrew and I arrived last night from Stanford with a car stuffed full of ... well ... "stuff". He is home for ten days and then he will head out of state swim and train all summer. So ... for a short time all three of my boys are home (yeah!) and just having them around the house today left a smile on my face. We started early with pancakes and the World Cup (at 7:00 am) and we will complete the day with a barbecue tonight with the five of us. I feel complete again.

Free Birthday Giveaway - Day #1

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Today officially starts my "birthday week". And I have always believed it is way more fun to give presents than to receive them! Some of you may remember that last year I painted 27 6" x 6" paintings in three days and gave one to each couple attending my 50th birthday party (see photo above). It was really fun, but I wish I would have thought of the idea farther in advance (like maybe even five days ...). Painting twenty-seven paintings in three days was a marathon!
So this year, I have decided to give something away for free for the seven days leading up to my birthday. Today will award two packs of notecards (12 total - value $36.00) to one of you that leaves a comment on my blog. And no birthday wishes ... I have a week until my birthday!
One more thing ... all blog posts this week will be eligible for the free painting giveaway (next Tuesday!) so the more you post ... the better chance you have!

A Sunny Day

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"A Sunny Day"

Oil, 8" x 16" on canvas panel.

NFS

I gave a palette knife demonstration at SoPas Gallery yesterday and ... it was so much fun! There were wonderful artists and friends in attendance and I do think I might have some new "converted palette knife painters". The painting above is the completed demo piece, and one of the lucky attendees was awarded the painting as my gift!
I used a reference photo that featured a very cloudy day, so it was fun to bring out the sun and brighten up the painting. It only took me about an hour and twenty minutes to complete the demonstration. I will be teaching a palette knife workshop in the fall so let me know if you are interested!

Clear Waters

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"Clear Waters"

Oil, 8" x 8" on canvas panel.

$450.00 framed.

I am ready for the Balboa ArtWalk which is this Sunday, May 16th. The Artwalk is held on Balboa Island from the hours of 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. I think it will be a really good show as there are lots of great artists in the show. My booth will be located between Topaz and Turquoise Streets, along the boardwalk. It should be tons of fun!

This painting is a larger version of a daily painting I did a few months back. I love the colors and the bigger size really jumps out at you!

Second Wind

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"Second Wind"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

OK, so I m back. I feel as if my little "Olympics" paintings were a nice change of pace and it forced me to paint scenes that I never would normally paint! It did require me to get out of my comfort zone and there were many great things that came from it. I found myself reading a lot more about the Vancouver Olympics and the heartfelt stories about the Canadian people and their incredible generosity. I love Canada!

So, back to boats for a while. I am working on a few commissions and my big April show so I will probably post a lot of these small fun ones. The reflections in the water make me smile so I will probably continue to paint them for a very long time.

Speaking of things that make me smile, one of the advantages of having a blog has been the wonderful people I have met. It seems odd to call someone you have never met a "dear friend" but I must say there's one woman out there in "blogspace" that I want to make sure you know about. Dreama Tolle Perry has become not only one of my favorite artists, but she is also one of my favorite people. It is funny how I can just pick up the phone and call her at any time and we can talk forever. We are having fun trying to figure out how artists should take advantage of the incredible opportunities via the internet and she has been a wonderful mentor and teacher. She has way more art experience than I do yet she is so willing to discuss my crazy marketing ideas (at any hour). If you haven't had a chance to check out her art, please do!

Dual Reflections

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"Dual Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6", Oil on canvas panel.

$200.00 unframed.

"Artists Helping Artists" - I just signed up for a free conference call service that allows 240 callers to participate on a conference call (for free). My intent is to host bi-monthly "Artist Helping Artists" conference calls. Anybody can call in, the purpose of the call is to share ideas and for artists all over the country to participate! I will post the date, call in time, etc. tomorrow on my blog, but let me know your thoughts. I have some ideas for topics but please post suggestions here! Thanks!