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?

The Flower of Love

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"The Flower of Love"

Oil, 6" x 6"

$200 unframed.

I almost named this painting "The Misunderstood flower". Carnations are lovely flowers, but they just don't get any respect. Carnations are part of the "dianthus" flower family and their name is translated to "the flower of love". One of the world's oldest cultivated flowers, the carnation is appreciated for its ruffled appearance, clove-like scent, and extended blooming period.Carnations are nice flowers but somehow they just don't get the respect they deserve.

I think I know what happened. A while ago someone decided it would be really cool if you stuck a white carnation in a glass of blue food coloring because the flower would "suck up" the dye and voila ... you could have a blue carnation. Or a green one ... or even a black one.  I have to admit, when I see a green carnation I think they look "cheap". And yucky.

So, I panted this carnation to honor the true beauty of the flower ... as it was originally intended!

A Good Day

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"A Good Day"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 unframed.

Today was a good day. I got a call from a friend who is in the restaurant business. She and her husband would like me to display (and sell) my art on a new wall they are building in one of their restaurants. The wall will have custom lighting and the art will look great. The art will be featured in the restaurant for a year and I will change it frequently. I expect this will be a great place for me to display my daily paintings!

Some of you have asked about my upcoming "Headlines" show and why I have been spending so much time in the library doing research for my paintings. The show will feature 20 - 25 paintings and all will be titled after headlines that I found in our local newspaper. The headlines are all from the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's.  The paintings will depict a scene from the headline, but in today's world. For example, one of the headlines I DID NOT use was "Man Pleased With Broken Legs, Neck Saved". Hmmm ... I am not kidding ... that was a front page headline in 1935! The painting would have to be something that depicts this headline but in South Pasadena today. So ... by now it should be obvious why I had to pick the headlines carefully and why this example was not picked!

The research was fun, interesting and also pretty emotional. I learned a lot about our town and was amazed that the headlines over the years are still about the same old thing ... fighting the freeway, local elections and human interest stories. Sadly, the headlines in the early 1940's frequently featured a story about a son, brother or father who was either killed or missing in WWII.  The paper is published weekly and every week there was a new story. So sad and so tragic.
So, the headlines have all been selected and I am painting away. When the show opens in the gallery, the original article (and headline) will be placed next to each painting. It has been a lot of work but I think it will be worth it! The show will be at the SouthPas Gallery from April 28 - May 29, 2010. I will keep you updated!

One Day At a Time

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"One Day At a Time"

Oil, 6" x 6" 0n canvas.

$200 unframed.

I think I am enjoying painting flowers this week because the sun is out and the air is finally warm! It has been a very cold and wet "winter" in Southern California and I know I deserve no sympathy from anyone east of here because your weather has been much worse! But there is nothing that reminds me more of spring than a single flower sprouting up in a bed of green ...

Tag, You're It!

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So, I have been tagged. And since I am new to blogging, I wasn't really sure what this meant. But Marian Fortunati, who has a wonderful blog entitled On Painting Daily by Marian Fortunati, tagged me! Apparently I need to tell you seven things about myself that you don't already know. So here goes ...
1. I went to four different elementary schools. I was an Air force brat and needless to say, we moved a lot.
2. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is make a latte. In fact, I have been making a morning latte for 28 years. Fortunately cappuccino machines have gotten a lot more sophisticated over the years.
3. I made my own wedding dress. I probably missed my calling by not studying fashion design. I love to sew and designed my own wedding dress. I actually had to make it twice, once out of muslin and the second time out of silk. And I am not sure why I chose to hand sew 1000 pearls to the lace. I am pretty sure you can buy lace with the pearls already attached.
4. I have been to Hawaii over 40 times. But 37 of the trips were for business.
5. I have been in two emergency landings. Both were on American Airlines.
6. I swam competitively through high school but apparently I was really slow. When my son was nine he found some of my old ribbons and we soon realized that he was already faster at nine than I was at 14. I tried to tell him the clocks were slower back then ...
7. I still, at age 49, cannot do a cartwheel. My sisters can attest to their many attempts to teach me how to do one, with or without vodka.

So now I need to find 7 bloggers to tag. I am on a hunt!