Bedroom With Harbor View

Bedroom With Harbor View
oil on cradled board 9 x 12 inch

This is the third painting in my Cape Cod inspired series and there are three others in progress.  Colorado is gorgeous right now, so I am a bit distracted by the outdoors.

The week before last, I got to spend some time in New Mexico.  I had a wonderful time looking at some really beautiful art in Santa Fe.  I also had the pleasure of meeting an artist who's work I have admired for several years now...Gigi Mills.  Meeting her and seeing her art in person for the first time was absolutely delightful!  Her art is so soulful to me.  I just love it.  She is best known as a painter, but her sculptures are very special too - take a look at the link to see some of her work at GF Contemporary. 

I also got to see my dear friend in Las Cruces, Julie Ford Oliver.  Julie and I first met through our blogs, then met in person in 2014 shortly after my mother's passing.  Julie has a heart of gold and reached out by inviting me to her home so that I could attend a workshop she was teaching at her studio.  It was medicine for my hurting heart.  Then the following year she came to teach at the gallery I was in at the time Tessera Fine Art Gallery  in Wichita, Kansas.  Julie's art is extremely beautiful, always sells out, and her skill as a painter is very evident when you look at her work. 

Until next time,
♥ Lisa

Small Paintings and a Move to Colorado

Table With Plates and Things
acrylic on panel 5 x 7 inch
available here

Hello there!  In May 2017 the possibility of relocating to Colorado came into our world.  Needless to say it has been a topic that has consumed us all these months, and in the middle of April it will become our reality...we are moving one state over to the Denver area of Colordo. 

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you probably know how exciting this is because I love the outdoors.  What better place to be than near the magestic mountains?  And again, if you have followed this blog for long, you probably know how bittersweet this move will be because I love the comforts of home...having family and friends nearby is something I treasure.  It is going to be very hard to leave them and to not have them to call on for a walk or a meal together.  Technology is going to be our saving grace to stay connected.  That and trips home.  Thank goodness it is only an eight hour drive and Denver will be a direct flight to everywhere.

Chair and Dresser
acrylic on canvas panel 5 x 7 inch
available here

In between all the cleaning and sifting through things before we pack it all up, I have made a little time to paint which helps keep me sane. I have been painting in mostly oil for some time, but it really was nice to use acrylics again.  The fast drying time makes it so easy to put the idea down and so much easier to correct things.

Take care...until next time!

♥ Lisa

Little Interiors

Little Blue Kitchen
oil on canvas panel 4 x 6 inch
available here

These small interior paintings were done a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed the challenge of getting all the details in such small spaces.  There is something about tiny interiors paintings that remind me of doll houses filled with tiny furnishings.  I never had a doll house as a child, but I was always fascinated by them when I did see them.

Glow Desk
oil on canvas panel 4 x 6 inch
available here

My fifth painting in the Finding Faith series is underway and going well.  Slow, but well.  As usual, the nice weather, family time, and work is where I am spending my time these days.

Until next time!

♥ Lisa

His and Her Space and a Little About the Next Work in the Faith Project

His and Her Space

oil on canvas panel 4 x 6 inch

available for purchase

In preparation for the next painting in my Finding Faith series, it seemed like a good idea to get out the oils again.  Interior spaces has been the thing and I have completed three very small 4 x 6 inch paintings.  I love the challenge of putting a lot of detail on such a small canvas.  I will share the other two paintings when they are dry.  

Katie and I will be filming the next video this Sunday and I am so excited to be back on this project again.  The other day as I was out on my daily walk, I went through the scenario step by step, trying to organize the video in my mind.  Once I got home, I sat down and jotted down all my ideas with all the variations I could try if any one particular scene didn't work out.  I have to make sure I don't forget anything on the days we shoot the video and photographs, otherwise I would have to call Katie back and try to recreate "the look" we had previously.

The other challenge is actually coming up with stories that flow in a short amount of time and that actually make sense.  I want to keep them simple, but interesting enough to hold attention for 3-5 minutes.  It is not easy to do.

This is the dress for the next project.  I can't wait to paint the patterns on it.

See you soon!

♥ Lisa

Interiors, Exteriors, and Around Here Lately

Room With Feather Pictures
mixed media on panel 6 x 8 inch
Sold

Interiors and exteriors have been my favorite subject to sketch and paint lately.  The interior paintings are a playground for composition and color.  The house paintings have challenged my skill at painting materials such as brick and wood in my usual style.

Brick House

oil on panel

available here

Old Green House

oil on panel 6 x 8 inch

sold

On my daily walks I have been enjoying the quiet of winter.  It is full of fresh air and calmness, with inspiration everywhere.

I also recently flew to Rochester, New York to visit family.  There was snow on the ground, which was exciting because Kansas rarely gets snow.  

I love snow...

 But I also loves days like we had yesterday.  It was 68 degrees in February!  I painted on the patio all afternoon. 

I have been so inspired lately...to paint, to photograph and to listen to music.  I will close with sharing THIS surprising, beautiful, and powerful rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence. 

What is inspiring you lately?

Interior Paintings

Green Couch
mixed media on canvas
16 x 20 inch

Painting interiors, especially simple ones can be so pleasing.  These are mixed media works, but mostly done with acrylic paint.  I used cut papers for the pillows, lamps and coffee table in the couch painting, and on the chairs in the table painting.  I have another one in the works that is a kitchen scene.  I feel most at home with the kitchen painting because I spend so much time in my real kitchen.

Simplicity Table
mixed media on canvas
16 x 20 inch

Both of these are now at Tessera Fine Art Gallery here in Wichita.  I usually take my new pieces to the gallery and the rest of my art gets listed on Etsy.  Someone asked me if I wanted to do art fairs and festivals at some point.  I haven't taken that avenue because of having to buy equipment like a tent and the surfaces to hang the paintings on.  Plus, you have to find a way to take credit cards.  And there is weather to think about also.  Kansas is pretty windy, a bit risky when you are dealing with one-of-a-kind work you spent hours and hours creating.  Lastly, I am too energetic to hold still for two or three days.  I would be miserable sitting, sitting, sitting.  

I hope you have had a great beginning of your week!

Lisa

Sleepy Scenes and Their Inspiration

Sleeping
acrylic and ink on paper 9 x 12 inch
available here

Last year I painted these imaginary bedroom scenes in my sketchbook and this week they came to fruition.  When I sketch rooms like this, I sometimes draw inspiration from catalogs like Pottery Barn or some other place like that.  If my memory serves me, the above scene was inspired that way, but the painting below was 100% made up.  You may be able to see the difference in the drawing that is there, I know I can. 

 Lately I've been very inspired by a huge stack of interior design coffee table books that I bought at a local used bookstore sale.  The sale was $5 for a sack full of books, however it was a plastic grocery bag and I chose big hardback books.  You should have seen my bag!  It almost didn't make it out the door!   It was tearing as I walked it to the register and I felt like a kid trying to get away with cheating, but they said it was still fair to stuff it full the way I did and out of the store I marched with my bargain books and a happy grin on my face.  I think I made it home with about 10 beautiful coffee table books.  Happy me!

In a Red Bedroom
acrylic and ink on paper 9 x 12 inch
available here

After spending quite a bit of time looking at my new books, I was really in the mood to revisit my sketches to see what I could do with them.  In both of these I started with a very bright yellow and orange underpainting.  I was tempted to go over these with some oil paint and maybe cold wax, but they both came to a point where they looked finished, so I stopped while I was in a good place.  

Have a good weekend everyone!  Thank you for visiting.

Awakenings in the Upper Room

Awakenings in the Upper Room
20 x 16 inch acrylic and pumice on canvas panel
reserved for art show at City Arts

 I love interior paintings.  I know I have said this before.  They are a joy to look at and a joy to paint.  This is the last of my 2013 paintings and it was a fun one in every way.  I was looking at the image of one of Balthus' paintings Les joueurs de cartes and just had to paint a table with a checked table cloth, and this is the result.  Once it was finished, the new theme for my art show at City Arts in April was decided...rooms!  

detail

I already have enough work for an entire show because several of my paintings are  set in a room of some sort.  However, now that I have some direction on the theme, I am sure more interior paintings will emerge. 

detail

One thing that always eludes me is how to keep layering my paintings once the composition is down.  I liked the composition in this painting and didn't want to lose anything, but it was difficult for me to know how build up the layers. 

detail

  

 I went over each little check on that table cloth about three times and it just seemed to only change the color, rather than add interesting layers.  The same goes for all the other areas of the painting...the girl, the carpet, the picture, the window..etc. It was tedious and with little result.   The easiest parts to layer were the walls and ceiling.  They actually had more layers at one point, but I wiped them off and sanded them down because it seemed to bury all the other elements.   

detail

If I had a chance to change anything, I think I would have done this in oil rather than acrylic.  It probably would have layered the way I was striving for.   I am happy with it, but I do plan on practicing ways of building up the entire painting a little more...it's probably time to hit the sketchbooks and stay there a while.  

Are you having a good week?

Young Countess in an Almost Empty Room and its Inspiration

Young Countess in an Almost Empty Room
acrylic, oil pastel, colored pencil and ink
on 9 x 12 inch birch panel
SOLD

David Lloyd paints the most incredible interiors.  He recently had a show in New Orleans and I wish so much I could have seen it.  Watching him make one beautiful interior painting after another in preparations for his show inspired me to paint this interior in my own style.  Well..him and Edouard Vuillard. 

 I bought a book called Edouard Vuillard - a Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940 and when I saw the painting on page 94 Portrait of the Countess Marie-Blanche de Polignac I just had to do my own interior.  Vuillard's painting was a huge guide for me as I did this piece.

Here's what I did...

detail 

 First I "drew" the room...the corners, floor, ceiling and window placement.  I decided to keep it simple with only the chair, rug and standing figure rather than try to get too detailed (respecting my limitations as a painter) and I placed everything in one room rather than having two visible rooms like Vuillard's painting. 

 I loved the bedspread in his painting and tried to get some similar colors and designs into the dress of the countess.  At first she was dressed in something very modern looking...kind of a skinny jean outfit, but that just didn't look right in this old fashioned room so I quickly changed her clothing to a dress...the ease of acrylic!  I know changes can be done in oil too, but I think it's much harder.  It either turns muddy, or if you wipe it away you have to start over and for me getting the same matching colors is tough.  If I have to make corrections in oil, I often have to change the whole area because of this.  

   

detail

  I have had a few people ask me recently where my inspiration comes from and this is one of the ways my paintings are done...taking bits and pieces from a painting I love.  I would say that my favorite way to paint is still just to start laying down color and going with it...allowing the painting to "reveal" itself.  However, painting something that is inspired like my painting above is what teaches me the most.  I learn a little about drawing and color each time I paint this way. 

The sun is shining bright...yard work today.  My show at the gallery is Friday and our son KC is playing his keyboard at the event!  It is good to know people in high places. :)

 I will post about the show Monday.  Thank you for all your comments and well wishes everyone!  You all are awesome!!

Have a beautiful day and weekend!

♥ Lisa