Monthly Free Painting Giveaway ... It's Back!!!!

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"Stanford Afternoon"

Oil, 6" x 6" 

Sold.

Yep ... I have decided to bring back the "monthly painting giveaway". I have to be honest ... giving away things for free is just too much fun. I love, love my Birthday Week free giveaways and I had a blast with the Twelve Days of Christmas giveaways. But those only happen in June and December. I guess I just can't wait another six months ...
So, I am giving away a 6" x 6" original painting on February 1st. All you have to do between now and then is click the Facebook LIKE and RECOMMEND buttons on my website. Everytime you share you will be entered in the drawing ... so go to my website and find all of the "share" buttons. There are a lot of them ... and everytime you share you get another chance. If we are not friends on facebook, please friend request me!
And yes, there will be a free giveaway every month ... I promise!

Stanford Quad - SOLD

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"Stanford Quad"

Oil, 6" x 6"

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I really love painting paintings of colleges and universities. Those four years (oops ... maybe five ...) of college represent such an importantt time in every teenager's life. College is a time to meet lifelong friends, find your passion, discover opportunities and even fall in love. I don't know of any other time in your life when you can live with your peers while discovering what you want to do (with the rest of your life).
When I am asked to paint a painting featuring a college I find myself wandering down memory lane ... so I am always refecting back on my four years at UCSB. I have also found that every time we travel to Stanford to visit my son, I remind him that I would love to attend college all over again at Stanford.  Fortunately my son no longer shows an expression of panic on his face ... he knows I am kidding ... but the memories of my four college years will last a lifetime.
So ... I hope this painting provides many great memories of Stanford. I do know the new owner has had many (and I do mean many ...) years at Stanford!

The Good Life - SOLD

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The Good Life

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

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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.

Stanford Cardinal and Orange

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"Stanford Cardinal and Orange"

Oil, 6" x 6"

$200 with display easel.

Close-up of palette knife strokes

So ... the long awaited Orange Bowl Football game starts in a few hours. Ok, so maybe all of you aren't as excited about the game today ... but my house has been counting the days to when our beloved Stanford Cardinal football team plays against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. We all know Stanford should have played in the Rose Bowl but that's another story for another time.
So today's painting is a tribute to all of my Stanford friends. Go Cardinal! Let's win tonight!

Entering Stanford

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"Entering Stanford"

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

$200.00 with free display easel (can also be purchased framed)

It's getting to be that dreaded time of the year again. It's college application time! College applications ... more stress than ever imagined ... and the "dreadful waiting period". The college admissions process is unforgettable. And really not that much fun. At least not until it is over ...
Throughout all of the stress (which includes excitement and disappointments) I honestly believe the process does work. There are so many wonderful colleges out there and eventually most kids find a college that is well suited for them. There are the big universities and the small liberal arts colleges and a few thousand others in between. And most of them represent a great place to go to college.
One of my favorite universities is Stanford. I did not go there (I am a UCSB alum) although my husband's entire family did and my oldest son is a sophomore at Stanford. When I dropped him off to college this year I wanted to stay and go to college all over again. It just looked like so much fun (Andrew ... don't panic ... I promise your mom will not go to your college ... I was just kidding).
So I decided to paint a Stanford painting today. I thought it might make a nice Christmas gift for a Stanford alum or student. And I promise there will be UCLA, UCSB and Oregon paintings completed shortly. And maybe even one from a really awesome college in North Carolina ...

Mem Chu

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"Mem Chu"

Oil, 8" x 8" on canvas panel

$350 unframed with easel.

"Mem Chu" actually stands for Memorial Church which is located at Stanford University. It is a famous landmark and I thought it would be fun to paint!
Most of you recall that I asked for help in yesterday's post. I could not come up with a name for my painting! I offered a prize for the best submission and ... boy ... did I hit the jackpot! Forty-seven potential titles were submitted (via blog comments, facebook comments and the chat box on my blog) and it was VERY HARD to pick a winner. But ... I had to choose one ... and the winning title is listed below!

"Come Here Often?"

So Robert was the winner! Robert - I hope you are reading this because your email was not listed and I need to send you your winning prize! Please email me your info.
There is one other thing I need to mention. I forgot to add the "small print" in yesterday's blog post stating that all of the "non-winning" title submissions could and would be used BY ME to name future paintings. I hope this is ok, because there were so many great submissions! I will never have to think of another title for my boat paintings again! Yippee!

Stanford From Afar

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"Stanford From Afar"

Oil, 8" x 8" on canvas panel.

Sold.

Wow, what a week. I know it has been way too long since I have posted a painting but I really did have good intentions to paint between sporting events! It just didn't work out that way.

The Pac10 swimming championships were amazing. Stanford won their 29th consecutive title. Thank heavens ... my son did not want his freshman class to be the one to break the streak! The races were amazing and we had the chance to get to know all of the parents of the swimmers. What a wonderful group of people. And yes, I have a sore throat from cheering so much!

Baseball and volleyball games went real well too. We caught a lot of those games in between the swimming prelims and finals ...

I am back in the studio and was waiting for the sun to come out to take a picture of this latest painting. I did a similar one a year ago and love the sunlight on Hoover Tower!

Canadian Warmth

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"Canadian Warmth"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 unframed.

If I had to pick one thing that reminds me most about this Olympics, it would have to be the wonderful Canadian mittens! Everyone is wearing them in Vancouver and Whistler and I fell in love with them. Early last week I actually found a pair on ebay for close to retail price! They arrived last Thursday and I absolutely love them.

We spent a long weekend up at Stanford and wow! The Cal vs. Stanford swim meet was so exciting. I honestly did not think Stanford could win and it came down to the last event. Stanford pulled it off and the roar in the stands was wonderful. What a great honor to watch our son swim for Stanford!

So we are back home ... watching the Olympics again ... and gearing up for the Pac 10 Swimming Championships in just over a week. Can you tell I love sports? I am a hopeless fan!

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.

Overlooking Stanford

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"Overlooking Stanford"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

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We have been spending every other weekend up at Stanford watching my son swim. Although the weather has been "rainy and freezing" (which is a huge drag when you bike to morning practice in the dark), the campus has never looked more beautiful. I am so jealous ... what an incredible place to spend four great years. I painted this one in honor of all of my Stanford buddies!

Orange Reflections

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"Orange Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 unframed.

My husband and I spent the weekend up at Stanford watching our son swim in his first Pac-10 meet. It was so much fun and I still can't believe he is swimming in college!

I will be busy for the next six weeks finishing paintings for my upcoming gallery show titled "Headlines". The show opens on April 28th and will be held at the South Pas Gallery. The show will feature 25 paintings which will were all inspired by headlines from past issues of the South Pasadena Review, our wonderful small town newspaper. The displayed paintings will include copies of the newspaper headlines and articles that inspired each painting. I promise to post the paintings on my blog and website as soon as the show opens!

A Friendly Sail

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"A Friendly Sail"

Oil, 16" x 8" on canvas panel.

$650.00 framed.

As promised, I decided it was time to paint boats again. It has been way too long and am so glad I went back to my favorite subject matter because I really like this one. I like the format (tall and skinny) and also the colors. Maybe I will paint boats again tomorrow ...

I do have quite a few entries for competitions to paint. Most are landscapes, i.e. city scenes. I will be doing a few Stanford and Palo Alto paintings in the next week so stay posted!

Stanford Bound

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"Stanford Bound"

8" x 8", Oil on canvas panel.

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We are moving our oldest son into his college dorm this weekend. Technically he already left for college ... as he has been gone this entire week at a training camp in Baton Rouge (with the swim team). He flies in on Sunday and we will get him settled and then say goodbye ... It is hard to accept but we are so excited for him and I am sure he will have the experience of a lifetime.
It seemed appropriate to paint something from the Stanford campus today. This is Hoover Tower and I am sure my son will get to know this view well in no time.
Fortunately we have already had a week to get use to him being gone so I do hope that I am over the teary stage and can instead be excited for him. Wishful thinking I am afraid ...