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.

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!

Hawaiian Palm Reflections

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"Hawaiian Palm Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I had so many emails about a painting I finished last month similar to this one that I thought I would give a similar one a try. I am happy with the outcome as I love the colors. If I could paint with orange in every one of my paintings I would!

Hawaii Reflections

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"Hawaii Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I am heading to Maui in the morning for a week. And for the record, this is business. For most of my adult life I have worked full time as a corporate event planner and I have an incentive group of 200 people that I am responsible for next week. Amazingly enough, I have been working with this client for 20 years!
I am bringing my paints with hope that I can get an hour away here and there to do some painting. Keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to paint in Maui!

A Great Response

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Waiting For Christmas, Oil 14" x 11"

I want to thank all of you for such an amazing response to my newsletter. There have been so many wonderful comments from many of you and I appreciate the wonderful feedback. The good news is ... it worked ... as I have already sold three paintings since the newsletter went out three days ago. And they are all new collectors of my art! I also know that 61% of the people I sent the newsletter to actually opened it and another 58% have gone back to look at it more than once. And please don't think I calculated these statistics ... they are readily available with the newsletter program I am using (Constant Contact)! It is still not too late to sign up for the newsletter if you are interested.
I spent some time painting this weekend once I tore myself away from my computer and finished this one yesterday. They are fun colors and I didn't even think about the red and green until after it was done!

Reflection of a Sail

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Reflection of a Sail, Oil, 6" x 8"

I am not crazy about this one but I spent so much time today on the school auction (that I am in charge of) that I had no time to paint tonight! So this is the only new painting I had available to post. I will paint more this weekend!

Two Reflections

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Two Reflections, Oil, 6" x 8"

I painted this one last night after a long day on jury duty. I felt a bit rushed and frustrated but I liked it a lot more when I saw it on my easel this morning. Funny how that always happens. Hope you like it!

Twelve Angry Men and Women?

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Favorite Boats, Oil, 8" x 10"

I spent my entire day in downtown Los Angeles at the criminal courts building today. My number was up and it was my turn to "serve" on jury duty. I am amazed that when I entered the building at 7:30 am I was determined to get out of it ... when I left at lunch I was intrigued ... and when I left for the day at 4:14 pm I was disappointed that I might not end up on the jury. I can't talk about the case (strict instructions from the judge) but I can tell you that I do not think they will get to me before the 12 chairs are full and the jury is selected. I guess that is fortunate for me, but it is intriguing. I am frightened by the responsibility that this jury will have in determining one man's fate, especially since he is accused of ... well ... a really, really, really bad thing (am I being vague enough?). My favorite part of the jury selection process was when the judge asked "How many of you are either related to or personally know any lawyers?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Who doesn't know a lawyer? I think at least ten live on my street. I also can't help but wonder how many of the 55 individuals in the room answered the question honestly when the judge asked "Which of you sitting here has been charged with a crime?" Apparently DUI's are as common as traffic citations these days. And one incident was "so bad" a woman had to tell the judge and attorneys "secretly" what she had been accused of ... now that got me wondering!

Late in the day I was focusing on the ten individuals currently sitting in the jury box ... they all looked a little frightened, scared and intrigued. I can't blame them. This one is a biggie.

Needless to say, since I was being a good upstanding citizen of Los Angeles County today, I didn't find any time to paint. So enjoy an oldie but goodie ...

I am curious if any of you have any interesting "jury duty" stories. Hopefully when this thing is over I can share mine.

Boats in the Harbor

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Boats in the Harbor, Oil, 12" x 12" Sold

I am posting more boat reflections today because the painting I started this morning, that I thought would be great, has been "scraped" twice. I think the scene I am painting is too busy and I can't figure out how to simplify it ... I think I am afraid I will lose too many of the reflections. So I have finally put it aside and moved on to another painting. I have learned recently there is a time to walk away from a painting before I get too frustrated. If I don't I might not paint again for weeks.

I wonder how many other artists experience daily highs and lows of good and bad paintings. Some of the blogs I visit regularly have beautiful paintings every single day. With me however, I find that one day I will be on a roll and have so much success ... and yet my next painting will be a flop. Go figure. It's kind of like the first night your baby sleeps through the night ... all mothers try to duplicate everything they did the day before convinced the daily routine was the reason their precious child finally slept through the night ... only to find out it was a complete fluke. My paintings are a bit like that! There appears to be no rhyme or reason why they work one day and why they don't the next!

This week's theme will be "Reflections" again ... Send me your ideas for future themes!

Boat Reflections

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Boat Reflections, Oil, 6" x 8"

This painting is for sale.

I think I might have to continue my "reflections" theme next week since I am having so much fun with it. I have more rain reflection paintings to try ... Also, I have decided in the future I will follow a "theme" each week and I have some ideas - such as favorite restaurants, my favorite cities, etc. If you have any suggestions please let me know! I think a theme keeps me focused and painting more. Sometimes I spend too much time looking for photos and inspiration and I don't get to my easel.
I sent out an email to all of my buddies announcing that next week I will post my "50th" blog entry and painting. Most of you have no idea what this represents for me ... in all of 2008 I did not even paint 50 paintings ... so thanks for your encouragement! My goal to paint more and improve my painting skills is working ... well at least the "paint more" goal is working ...

City Hall Reflections

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City Hall Reflections, Oil, 6" x 8"

I am still having fun this week with my "reflections" theme. I thought I would try a "rain" painting and I love the "city hall" reflection in this one. I hope the pink umbrella isn't too vivid, but the other colors in the painting were so dull and I wanted to liven up the painting somehow! I might enter this one in the small works juried competition but I am just not sure. Any comments or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Reflections III

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Reflections III, Oil 8" x 6"

This painting is for sale.

I painted this yesterday and I think I will enter this one (as one of three submissions) for the small works art juried competition this weekend. I am not sure why I rarely use red in my paintings when the color is so fantastic in paintings. I need to use it more often! I know that I keep mentioning that I like to paint boats ... but actually ... I like to paint reflections. Not boats, reflections!

Reflections

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Reflections, Oil, 8" x 10"

This painting is for sale.

I just finished this painting about 15 minutes ago, in fact I see that I still have paint on my fingers! I started it last night, but ended up scraping the paint off the entire canvas. Sometimes when I work with the palette knife, I end up working the painting too much and it turns out muddy. That is where I was last night when I did the "big scrape". I am happier with it today but I think I will try to paint it again sometime in the future. I left out so much of the detail in the water - there were waves everywhere - but it was just too busy.

Back to Boats

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Boat Docked, Oil 10" x 8"

This painting is for sale.

Old habits die hard so I am back to painting boats. I really struggled with this painting as I scraped the paint off the canvas twice. That is the nice thing about working with a palette knife, it is so easy to just scrape everything off the canvas when the painting starts heading south. Of course then you have a nice pile of "used paint" which becomes ... muddy gray paint! Good thing oil paint is pretty inexpensive.
I had a great time at our book club last night. We read "Edgar Sawtelle" which is over 500 pages long and I did have some "not so nice" things to say about the ending. I won't spoil it for you but I hate it when books do that ... Regardless, the discussion was wonderful ... and we are looking for a good "classic" to read this month so please send your suggestions. Just click on the comments button below ... it is ok to identify yourself as anonymous if you don't already have an ID.
Well, I am back to the easel. I am trying to finish up two very belated Christmas gifts before we head into February ... my oldest brother and youngest sister are finally going to get their gifts!

More Boats

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Favorite Boats Oil, 8" x 10"

This painting is for sale.

Another crazy day at the house. We hosted the Stanford Men's volleyball team for lunch (they played USC tonight). You can only imagine how much eighteen 6'8" young men can eat!

I love this painting. Very loose but really fun to paint. I have plans to do a lot of painting this weekend plus tomorrow is the Artist Reception at White's Gallery in Montrose. If you are free, I will be there from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. See you there!

Toy Boat, Toy Boat, Toy Boat

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Toy Boat, Toy Boat, Toy Boat Oil, 12 x 12

This painting is for sale.
I am back to my old habits again. I wanted to try a square version of this painting and add some more colors. It came out ok, I think! I painted this today while listening to pounding and hammering ... we are only about three days from completing our construction project!
I could kick myself for forgetting my camera this past weekend. I was in Long Beach for a swim meet and drove past the marina many times ... there were so many great painting opportunities!

Painting Boats

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Two and a Half Boats Oil, 8" x 6" Sold
Finished another painting. But this one is for my brother and his wife. My favorite "subject" to paint is boats. I have no idea why, especially since I don't even like boating (or sailing). I just love to paint boats!