The Biker

Yay! The Biker is finished!!!!!!
For those of you who have been following along with this piece, it's been a long time coming. I took special care to go at a slow and steady pace on this commission piece so that it remained a labor of love and not a chore. It has taught me a few things along the way, one of the greatest of which has been patience!
So, it is done. I am well pleased and I do hope the client is as well.

On The Easel

Okay, here is the first step in blocking in some of the color to this Belly Dancer painting. These are just the "little" people.The main Belly Dancer has'nt had any color yet. I will show her to you when she gets a layer of paint on her. For now, this is where I am. There are three belly dancers in total. The camels need to get some color on them and some shadows and highlights yet are still to come. I thought though that perhaps you might like to see the construction.

....by any other name

My friend Martha took a picture of a rose recently and I loved it. I decided to do a close up of this rose and try and get a really velvety feel to the petals. Normally I would have done a rose in oils but I felt like challenging myself with the acrylics to get this feel. So, as usually occurs, in my jammies late at night, the rose came to life.

Blue Green

After a period of artistic abstinence, due to house guest, I needed a painting to wake up the right side of my brain. I knew I wanted the color blue green as the background so that part was easy. Next I had to just do a simple style of painting to loosen up my brush hand and stroke. I am in a flower mood of late so this came out onto the canvas and I didn't fight it.

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.

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.

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.

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!"

Sunset on the Water

A friend an I got together to paint and chat, as we do from time to time. This little acrylic was my "Go to" default painting. Usually I'll go to daytime beaches. For some of us though, reaching out to that greater Creator means a simple acknowledgment in the morning upon arising and again a beautiful goodnight in the evening. This, sometime very fragile connection, is all I get to re-mind myself where I come from and where I'll go.
Enjoy.

4567

Into The Mystic

This painting took some time to be born. Started off with a little Hendrix while I painted the background. I knew before this one was finished that it was going to be Van Morison's," Into The Mystic". I loved every step of this painting. I went to a lot of "places" while creating it. I will share with you now the lyrics that echoed in my mind during the whole process.

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when that fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
Then magnificently we will float into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it
I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on girl...

The Dragon

A friend of mine suggested I do a dragon painting and I was intrigued to say the least. Not at all my usual style. This is result. I hope you enjoy this one. There will be a more abstract dragon in the future so keep a look out.

My Sister

Recently, I got an opportunity to visit with my sister. She is quite a remarkable woman and I wanted to paint a picture to celebrate her. This painting depicts Mind, Body and Soul. The little jacks is about her childlike playfulness, that's the "Mind" part. The "Body" is represented by the pink ribbon, yes, she is a breast cancer survivor. And lastly the purple Irises, her favorite flower. This is her "Soul". Purple is a royal, regal color and she is royalty to me.
I hope to send it along to her soon.
Luv you Sis

Scatter the Fire-Soul 20, Private collection

This is the soul painting that's been in my soul for many years now. It had a hard time coming out or being born.
It's the story of how the stars got into the heavens. The ancestor fathers are dancing around a nighttime fire scattering the embers and these embers waft gently upward to become the night time stars. The ancestor mothers sit nearby making sure that the fathers are doing it right! This painting was done to the song "Scatter the Fire" by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In the natural, the night sky in this painting is a midnight blue going to a deep purple on the horizon. It just didn't photograph well.

Soul-2 at home

This Painting is a soul painting and was on loan to a meeting hall in town. It has recently found it's way back home to me. This was the second paiting I ever did and is titled, "Don't forget to remember who you are."
Soul paintings come from deep within or more exactly I hear them from deep within brought to me by that "still small voice". I did aproxamtely 19 or so of them, about 8 years ago, and then the voice got hard to hear for some reason. Just in the last month I can hear again and have started painting soul paintings again. They usually tell a story. I will post more of them as they arrive and are born again, so to speak.

Turquoise and Bronze

Been working on this very large abstract for two days now. I just love it. It's all textured and reflective in the light with a wealth of colors in the background. It is the largest painting I have done at 36"x48". I hope your monitor does it justice! Of course if you want to you may see it in person, for viewing call 256.233.3690

Poppy Explosion

This weekend is cold and barren. We're deep in the heart of winter and I was missing spring, so, I decided to paint flowers. This is the first painting and I will do and impasto of yellow and orange daisies tomorrow. Hope this brings you some hope for spring in the bitter cold.