Sunflowers

I always seem to gravitate toward the bright colors and this time it's sunflowers. This painting is 18"x24"x1 1/2" gallery wrap, acrylic on canvas.

Three Poppies

This little painting is done in oils and is on a 1 1/2 inch gallery wrap canvas.

Fish

I really really enjoy just scumbling in colors onto a canvas and just looking to see what it will become. This one started off all muted camo colors at first. I am drawn more to bright colors, if you hadn't noticed already, so I added a few brights! I swear to all that is holy, I did not try to make another fish! It just happened again! Well, what could I do but just go with it? I also skimmed in some iridescent copper and some blues and greens to set the fish and seaweed back some into the painting.

Coral Reef in Tandem

This painting is rather large at 30"x30"x1 1/2" gallery wrap. I started this one just by scumbling in some primary colors onto the canvas. I turned the canvas on it's various sides to see what would appear. My friend Michele Lee and I looked and waited to see what God wanted this painting to become. Well, I soon lost my light at the studio to paint by but not before we saw these wonderful little fish swimming out and through the coral reefs. The other sides revealed other options as well but the coral reef and all it's beautiful colors just called to me. I brought it to my home studio and there I began to pull out the basic elements that you now see. Coral Reef in Tandem was born!

Emerging Cockatoo

I was at the downtown studio the other day and just began scumbling in some color on a canvas. I stood back and saw this bird looking back at me! Okay, it's a sulfur crested cockatoo at that! As with the Emerging Koala, I just pulled the image that I saw, out. Just a few strokes of the brush. I brought it home and finished it off by painting in a branch, then I added some heavy gel medium and paint, lightly skimmed over the surface. If you were to tilt the canvas toward you, you would see painted on the 1 1/2" wrap end, the sulfur crest of the bird.

Starfish

spent some time with a friend painting one day, she on an abstract and me on this starfish. I suppose I was feeling a little "Beachey".
This starfish has just come ashore and has the water still lapping gently at some of it"s feet/arms/hmmm, I guess you know what I mean! The remarkable color of this particular specimen is true. God really did make this one green.

Sunlit Poppies II- SOLD

Hillside Poppies

This little beauty measures 8"x10". It's another perspective painting. This time the perspective is "Near" and "far". Remember when that Sesame Street Character who was blue, Grover I think, would run out and say "Far". Then he would run closer and say" Near"? Ha ha, cracks me up! Anyway I digress. The poppies are smaller in the background and larger in the foreground.
I do believe this is the last of the poppies for awhile. I may paint some red or yellow ones though, ya never know.

Emerging Koala

I spent 3 and a half years in Australia, 79' onward. I loved it there. The people are THE nicest folks. The land is massive, beauty from shore to shore. The animals are so unique, almost as if God had made Australia last. Making all the rest of the world and seeing that He could do it better on one last try.
Anyway, I made a large Flow Painting of greens and browns. I stood back, took a look and saw A Koala Bear resting in the top of a Eucalyptus Tree. With just a few strokes of the brush the Koala emerged and there you have it, "Emerging Koala".

You Look Wonderful Tonight

This painting came from many sources. I loved the idea of cowgirl boots, red cowgirl boots at that. A friend suggested a string of pearls would be nice. Another friend said that some steel/silver tipped toes would also be just perfect. So, thank you my friends for the creative critique.
I get the feeling that she worked hard all day, but when the evening comes the pearls go on. Even cowgirls wear pearls. I feel like her lover of the night hears Eric Clapton sing the song, "You look wonderful tonight", and it all comes around and in and creates this perfect picture of a woman. His woman.

Sunlit Poppies II

Ever just collapse on the grass and look up into the blue sky? Watching the clouds move and change as the soft winds blow? Oh, and how those flowers look from the ground up! Such beauty that our creator makes! I could just lay there forever. Close your eyes and see the bright imprint of the flowers and the day on your eyelids. Wow, I love that!
So, this painting is just that very thing, a moment captured in paint.

Still on the Easel

started this painting of an upward look under the poppies looking toward the sky. Got some of the color in. I love the cadmium reds and oranges of poppies against a blue sky.

All the flower color is in , now I just have to put in the stems and other un-blossomed poppy pods. When they go in the perpective that I can see will be obvious to you.

Drama Queens

I just fell in love with the idea of these poppies. Bold, Rich, Explosive in color! That's why I call them Drama Queens. The periwinkle of the sky is in such dramatic contrast to the orange and cadmium red of these poppies just waiting to fly open with the first light of day. There are also some thistle heads and other flowers laid into the background for color balance.
This painting is rather large at 20"x24", oil, with painted edges matching the orange and greens of the foliage.

Running Creek-SOLD

John's road trip

Ya know how you "friend" folks from high school on facebook? Well, I friended this guy John. As far as I can tell he posts mainly about all these wonderful road trips he takes on his motorcycle all around the country. I saw a couple of his shots and just got inspired. Wow such beautiful fall colors that he captured and I wanted to capture them in paint as well. So this one is called "the Leaves are Turning", because that's just what they're doing.



This next painting is called, "The Running Creek". I got so in tune to this painting while doing it that I could, in my mind, hear the babble and gurgle of the rushing waters as they flowed over and around the rocks. I could just feel the cool air with the warm sun just streaming through in a few spots, my feet just lightly crunching and whooshing through the fallen leaves. Oh man, can you smell the water and the moss, hear the rustle of natures creatures on the forest floor?

Thank you John for taking me on your journey with you.

The Birch Trees

Doc put me on steroids for a heel spur to try and calm it down, but it perked me up! So, in a steroid rush I had to put paint and knife to canvas. I just love mixing acrylic paints with gel medium but the biggest thrill is getting the knives out! Oh man, I get excited just thinking about the scrape of the knife as it deposits it's load of paint to canvas. This is a large painting measuring 24"x48"x1 1/2" gallery wrap. All the more exciting on the bigger canvases as it's a whole body movement with each stroke. I get fully involved and committed to the painting. Of course ya gotta have some music playing as well. I think my friend picked John Mayer this time. We chatted and painted, my friend and I, as stroke by stroke this painting came to life. Another snatch of Fall frozen in time with an Impasto flourish!

Angel Island Cafe'

Above you see some of my work hanging at the Angel Island Cafe' in Huntsville, Al.. I will be the exhibiting artist for the month of November.
If not for my friend Robin, I would never have gotten these paintings hung. She scaled the tallest ladder and hung each and everyone of the pieces! Go Robin! You rock girlfriend!

Still on the Easel

This little painting is still a work in progress. My girlfriends and I painted and chatted today while we worked. I will put in a rushing creek, some more rocks, trees and leaves yet.
Just thought I'd let you see the process of an oil landscape.

Haunted Trees

My husband is a photographer and was taking some pictures of trees. Actually He was looking for a shot for a contest entitled: Up a Tree. He took a picture of these trees from the ground looking upward through the tree branches. What I saw was faces in the trees, A couple of women and something else I'm not quite certain as to what it is but, there they all are.
Kinda spooky looking actually isn't it?

BB Red Rooster

Another rooster appeared while I was mixing up some colors on this canvas. Started with the gel medium with color added and just moved it around to get some good swirls and a sculpted look. I turned around and there it was! A Black Breasted Red Rooster!
I painted it out and it came to life.
I really like the colors on this one.

Calla Lillies

Just had to have fun one more time with the acrylic pouring. This time I mixed the paint directly with the pouring medium which resulted in a rather thick mixture. The colors where drawn into and out of each other with a sculpting type stick. (It's a brush shaft with a beveled rubber edge on it.) It was all then allowed to dry flat and level. The colors still melded into eachother while the paint set up creating it's own unique patterns.

Birdhouse in a Poppy Field

My friend Kathy took a picture of a birdhouse in a poppy field and wanted it to be a painting. I enjoyed the play of perspective on this one. The photo didn't turn out as well as we had hoped but I guess you get the idea.

The Cherry Blossom

I had this very large sheet of water color paper, 22"x30", and I decided to try my hand at it. So, I first misted the paper with different diluted acrylic colors, light yellow green, azo yellow and cad red med hue. Or, just light green, yellow and light red for short ; ) anyway. After I had done that I asked myself, "so just what do you see?" I immediately saw that cherry blossoms were needed to bring out the wonderful contrast in the flowers and the background colors that I had just applied. That's how the flowers came about. Next was the fact that I wanted to do a watercolor but I don't know how to. Oh well, the only cure for that is to just go ahead and try, right? So, in the company of a couple of friends, I tried my hand at watercolor and this is the resulting piece.
I did enjoy myself so I may try it again.

Flame Flower

Flame Flower is 22"x30" on water color paper. The flowers just formed themselves when I let the paint "go". It is acrylic paint thinned out and distributed by squeeze bottles. It's just three colors, olive green, cad medium red and Azo yellow. Because I used thinned acrylics the colors made these wonderful puddles of color nestled right in the cup of each flower. They also took about 36 hours to dry too! The result was just lovely. I am going to work on more for sure!

SOLD

This is Natasha O. and she purchased both "The Ring of Fire" which she is holding up and, "The Rose", pictured on the wall behind her! Yeah Natasha!
These two paintings were hanging in the halls of Madison City Hall and Natasha saw them everyday there and said that she had to have them. I am so excited for her to have them as well! Now, The Rose was painted at an artist retreat. I was inspired by a beautriful bouquet of roses and I just was overcome with the desire to paint one up close. I used a gel medium to thicken the paints and a very large pallette knife. With deliberate swipes of the knive I carved out this rose. The Ring Of Fire painting was done with very bright colors and huge brushes. Painted in the evening and in quiet seclusion. Purples and Magenta's play up brilliantly against the oranges and Cadmium red hues.
One of my favorites.
Thanks again Natasha for choosing my art and enjoy!

Old Souls

This painting shown in various angles is called," Old Souls." It measures 24"x72"x1 1/2" gallery wrap, and is an acrylic on stretched canvas.

Now, the story! Some time back I made a painting called "The Travelers". In that painting which was very similar to this one, the tumbling pieces represented souls or sparks of the divine, returning to Source, or, the greater spark/light. In this painting I was suddenly overcome at midnight to make many entries to Source. So, in my jammies I began to trowel and knife in the colors of the Light. I did this in silence, moving speedily and with great purpose. I mixed the colors with a gloss gel medium to better move with the knife and blend with the long trowel. I also wanted to have the movement recorded in the painting. I worked on the "Souls" which are represented by the blue travelers, each returning to source in their own way by many pathways.


Where they get their name as Old Souls , happens as a result of the many times they have made this journey. As we sometimes note, and I might add, all cultures do, recognize that certain look in the eyes of some. We may be heard to remark, "He has the eyes of an old soul". These travel weary souls journey back to Source, some finally completing their journey some already waiting expectantly for their next trip. The Old Souls were painted to various music from the 70"s mostly, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, and yeah I even threw in some gospel from Mahalia Jackson just because I like her.
So, look and see if you see what I saw. Or, do you see something else?

Winner of the Drawing!!!

Congratulations to Carleen Cowles who won the free drawing for this painting called, " Wall Flowers". I have been really enjoying the people who come to the booth at shows and stop by and look and admire, critique, and otherwise seem to enjoy the art work. Carleen was very happy to have won.

See ya at the next show and I hope you're the next winner.....!

Madison Street Fest

Today was the street fest in downtown old Madison. Here is the initial booth set up. It changed a little later in the day when I set up to paint on site.

Here is a lovely lady and her son with their purchases today
Here is another happy customer with her purchases as well.
We sold another painting to a gentleman, "Safe Harbor" was the one he bought. There were a few other paintings sold as well that we didn't get photos of. Ah well, we were very busy at times, talking and enjoying the great folks in Madison Alabama.
All in all it was a really wonderful day. We had a drawing for a free painting, and I also enjoyed painting for the people. I started a portrait of a little girl I know.
Jim and I did get really badly sunburned. Of course he looks all sporty and healthy, mine was only on one side of my face so I look ridiculous to say the least! : )

Oh, The Water

This painting is another gel medium smooszh painting. Yes, I know, it doesn't sound to technical but it is discriptive none the less. First the gel medium went on and some sap green paint. The large trowel and knives moved the color into what was a vertical pattern. I stood back, walked around the painting and saw that we had sails! It was either sails or another forest. I chose to bring out the sails. Ultra Marine blue and white with some olive green here and there, formed the waters and sky. You can see the underlying green of the first layer. Next came the sails themselves. A few licks of the knife here and there and we have, "Safe Harbor", 16"x16"x1 1/2" gallery wrap, acrylic knife work.


This beautifully framed oil painting has the sunset sky reflecting on the water. Up close you can see the foaming incoming tide water as a hungry sand piper scurries along looking for a late sand crab supper. The mood of this painting is a soothing one. Pinks and blues and lavenders fill this canvas. "The Pink Shore", 10"x20" framed, oil on canvas.

New paintings, Birds, Birds, Birds

This painting, "Seagulls on a Beach" I did at the last art show in Ft. Payne, as an exhibition painting. I really enjoy painting for the people and I think they like to watch the process happen.

Today I did two paintings, this one entitled simply, "The Rooster". I have been experimenting with a new technique and have really enjoyed it. I never know what the painting is going to be, I don't attack the canvass knowing, "I think I'll paint such and so..." This type of painting happens after I apply some gel medium and paint and smooszh it around some with knives. Yes, that is a technical term "Smooszh." I lay a color or two down and while it's drying the images I see while walking around the table and canvas become clear. This time it was a rooster.


This time it was birds on a branch. These Orioles came out last night. As a past resident of Maryland I just was thrilled to see them appear!

All three of these canvases have a 1 1/2 inch gallery wrap on the sides. The Seagulls are an 8"x8", the Rooster is a 16"x16" and the Orioles are an 8"x16".
Birds, Birds, Birds....!!!!!
By the way, the "Rooster" has SOLD!

Norhteast Alabama Art Council Art Show

This Saturday the 18th of September was the first annual art show for the newly formed Northeast Alabama Art Council. The event was held at The Grand Ole Lady house in Fort Payne Al.. It's the residence of Artist Anne Hamilton. Her home is an old Victorian style home painted a lively mint green with a lovely front porch which is featured here on the day of the show. As you can see there was a musician strumming and art placed around for the public to enjoy and purchase. Anne was a very gracious hostess to the event and is seated in the background wearing the black blouse and white slacks.
Also around the property were artist set up in booths. This is my side of the booth shared with Michele Lee. We both had easels set up and were painting on exhibit for the crowd.
Here is Michele seated on the other side of the booth, painting. This is her second piece to paint outdoors as the first one sold right off the easel!
This is one of the patrons with her purchase of my painting "Go Fish". She just knew right off the bat that this was her painting and exactly where she was going to hang it!

Michele and I stayed with Anne in advance of the art show to help with the preparations and to spend some quality time with this wonderful lady. She has taught me Sooo much, not only about art, she's a wonderfuly skilled teacher, but she's also a very intelligent and keen woman who has reinvented herself many times over in her life and she just keeps getting better and better. A perfect example of womanhood.
I look forward to next years event as it promises to be even greater than this past weekends.

Go Fish

Well, whaddaya know? I did another flow/trowel painting and look what I see, FISH! I was amazed that when I finished moving the paint around and it dried, there were little eyes attached to fins, staring back at me. Even my left brained ordered husband saw these little fish coming to life right before our eyes. A few brush strokes and few more layers and wallah, "Go Fish!"

Wolf Moon

The Wolf Moon is a full moon that occurs in January. Its name comes from hungry wolf packs that would howl outside the villages of Native Americans.
This painting is done in all reflective/ iridescent colors to give the full moon night sky a more illuminated presence. It's also done on a black gessoed canvas.

The Butterfly

This little butterfly is the last in a series of three. If you remember the past post info you will recall that my husband Jim True took the photo that this butterfly is modeled after, on our backyard butterfly bush this summer. These little paintings are the most zoomed in paintings I've done.

Winner of Free Drawing

Yesterday at the Athen's Art on the Square, I had the viewers participate in a drawing for a free painting. This was just my way of saying thank you to everyone who comes along to the booth. Most folks are just so kind and generous in thier ways, they make me want to just come back and do it all again no matter the work.
This is Kim Anderson, the lucky winner. Kim also purchased a painting while at the booth as well, so this was quite a surprise to both her and I that she would also win the drawing. There was one little girl who put her name in for the drawing, she carefully folded up her little slip of paper, put it in the middle of the bag and then turned to me and said, "You know you have to mix all those up before you pick one!" I assured her I would, Ha ha, what a sweety pie.
I believe I will continue this practice as I just want to continue to say , "Thank you".

Athens Art On The Square

Today was the Athens Art On The Square art show and festival. Here's a picture of me at the booth today. Because of the threat of rain , the arts council decided to move us all over to the Athens State University Gym on Pryor st.. I believe turn out was greatly affected because of the last minute change of plans, but the Athens folks are just real nice and surely made up for that. I would do this show again because of the people of Athens. Thank you to all of them who came by the booth today.

This is a lovely lady who stopped by today and really liked this painting called "Healing". She came by twice and finally decided she had to have it. So, off she went carrying her found treasure with just the perfect place in mind to hang it.
We also sold a few smaller pieces but I forgot to get pics of those nice folks. Sorry about that.

We had a free drawing for a painting and I will post tomorrow on the winner with a picture to share. That is, if I don't forget to bring the camera when I deliver it! Yikes! I am getting that old forgetfulness thing going on of late.

All in all a great day. Saw many old friends and made some new. The rain held off till after we loaded and went home.

Next week I will be at Ann Hamilton's art show in Fort Payne, Al..
I will be going with my friend Michele Lee of Artistic Finishes at atristicfinishesstudio.com
Stay tuned, more info to follow.