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.

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!

Perfect Day - Workshop Day One

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 "Perfect Day"

Oil, 12" x 12"

$550.00

I held a two day palette knife workshop this week and it was wonderful. The artists in attendance came from as far as Oregon and Palo Alto and we painted, laughed, painted, shared stories, painted, shared a fun meal together and painted some more! As you can see from the collection of a few of the paintings below, everyone really did a fantatic job. I am only sorry that I didn't tell everyone to leave their paintings so I could photograph all of them!  I now have ten new (and some old!) friends and I am very thankful to have gotten to know so many wonderful artists.
Also thank you Marian Fortunati for your wonderful post about the workshop!

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?

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.

Summer Reruns ... #3

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"Dual Reflections"

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

$200 with display easel, $250 framed.

As summer winds down I seem to want to spend more time outside with my boys.  We have had some awesome late summer dinners. The "outdoor kitchen" is still under construction and I think it will be completed within another week or do. Last night we enjoyed grilled pizza and tonight we had ahi and steak ... very fun with wonderful friends! Now that's my idea of a perfect summer night!
This painting is one I finished a while ago and it seemed like the perfect painting to post tonight. I love the colors and reflections ... (big surprise) ... and I am taking a painting workshop this week and I am very excited. It's with Debra Huse and it's about painting boats! It may seem odd that I am taking a workshop to learn how to paint boats, but I figure ... why not? I might as well get better at it! So I am heading down to Balboa for a couple of days with the boys for lots of painting and lots of fun .Gotta enjoy those last few days of summer while we can!

Chit Chat

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"Chit Chat"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 with display easel.

So, I have painted a lot of boats this summer and I am thinking it is time to mix it up a bit. So, beginning next week you will see new material. That's right. I am moving outside of my comfort zone.
So ... help me out guys. Please let me know what you think I should paint. Just remember I am working exclusively with a palette knife, I really like bright colors and I LOVE reflections. Other than that, I am all open to your suggestions. Let the comments begin!

Stuck Together

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"Stuck Together"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 with display easel.

The inspirational photo for this painting featured a very gloomy day, so I thought it might be fun to try to change the "mood" and create a very bright and sunny day. It was a fun experiment and I love the red boat. It is so hot in Sacramento that this seemed the right painting to post today. Enjoy!

Treading Water - SOLD

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"Treading Water"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

Ahhh ... the weekend is almost over and aside from being exhausted I am getting ready to leave tomorrow to take my son to two baseball camps! I am painting away today with hopes that I can get ahead of schedule. I will take my paints with me (I mean come on, you can only watch so much baseball, right?) as I hope to get more of my daily smaller paintings done.
My "Summer Special" is going very well. I said I would only offer 10 of these large (but very inexpensive) paintings and I have already sold six! So if you want one, please email me right away. They are keeping me very busy and I cant wait to get back to work on them when I return back in town!

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!

The Calm Before the Storm - SOLD

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"The Calm Before the Storm"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I decided that today I would use the same reference photo that I used for my demo last Saturday. I wanted to try a smaller one in my usual "daily" 6" x 6" size. I brightened up the water a bit and also opted for the yellow highlight on the boat on the left. The photograph of the painting could be better but I am in a rush. I need to leave for the airport to pick up my oldest son. He is home for three days for a swim meet ... and then back to Stanford for dead week and finals. The calm before the storm ... perhaps?

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!

Another Day

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"Another Day"

12" x 24" Oil, on canvas.

$750.00

What a great weekend. We watched Andrew swim and hosted the Stanford swim team for a very large meal! I will be back painting schools and colleges tomorrow, I promise. I know I have painted these two boats a million times but I couldn't resist. Some things just make me happy!

I received a lot of great news about exhibitions as I was accepted into four shows this month. They are:

Pasadena Society of Artist 85th Annual Exhibition

March 17 - April 3, 2010

VIVA Gallery, Sherman Oaks, CA

13261 Moorpark , Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.

My painting "Leaving the Winery” will be in this show.

Pacific Art League “Landscapes” Exhibition

March 5 - 27, 2010

Pacific Art League

668 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301

My painting “A Friendly Sail” was juried into this show. Opening reception is Friday, March 5, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Ironstone Vineyards, “Spring Obsession” Art Competition and Show

March 6 - May 2, 2010

My painting “Fields of Daffodils” was juried into this show. Opening reception is Saturday, March 6th from 4 - 6:00 p.m.

Ironstone Vineyards, 1894 Six Mile Road, Murphys, CA 95247 www.ironstonevineyards.com

Women Painters West: One Foot Show

February 6 - 27, 2010

Orlando Gallery, Tarzana CA

18376 Venture Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356

My painting “Dual Reflections” was juried in to the show.

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!

Gone For A Swim

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"Gone For A Swim"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 unframed.

It's been a very busy weekend with baseball and volleyball games all over town. But it finally started raining (and they are predicting tons of rain this week) so this is a perfect time to paint! Sales have been amazing these past few days (sold three paintings on Friday, one yesterday and one today) so I really need to get to my studio. Enough said!

Early Sunday Afternoon

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"Early Sunday Afternoon"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I went and saw the movie "Julie and Julia" today. I read the book five years ago and I remember at the time thinking to myself "what is a blog?". I feel a bit like the character Julie in the movie when I think of how much my life has changed this year. And it is really due in large part to my blog.
When I sat down last December and created my blog "Painting is my Passion" I did it because I wanted to paint more. I decided to create a blog to make myself paint (and post) at least five paintings a week. When you consider that in 2008 I had only painted a total of 25 paintings, this was a pretty lofty goal. But I felt like I needed to try something radical to see if I should take my art more seriously.
Here I am ten months later. And my how things have changed! I have posted 157 paintings on my blog and sold 61 paintings so far this year. I even send out a monthly newsletter to 527 contacts, many of whom I still had never met. How odd to think that none of this would have happened had it not been for my blog!
So thank you to all of you who have encouraged me, said nice things about even my paintings that weren't that great (oh yes, I know which ones those are) and of course, thanks to those of you who have purchased my paintings. What a difference this year has made! I am now officially what one might call "an artist"! Thanks to you!

Done For the Day

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"Done For the Day"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

This painting is sold.

I have been really busy finishing paintings for my upcoming show at Gale's Restaurant. I can't wait to share all of my new paintings. I will post them after the show opens on July 11th! This little painting was done this afternoon. I finished it after I completed a lovely painting of the Balboa Pavilion (in Newport Beach) that I am really happy with. Although it is much larger ... and for the show.

At The Beach

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Waiting to Sail, Oil 8" x 6"

This painting was actually started a really long time ago. All I had done previously was some minor blocking. When today's painting today was scraped for the "second time" I started to panic and thought well ... at least this one was "kind of" already started ...
So I went at it with my palette knife and had some fun in the process.