Girl in Pink

"Girl in Pink", 12 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board
I've been doing portraits all this month and I am struggling! Sometime I scrape off a painting three days in a row and try over. But to do that and get anywhere, I need a focus and a goal and a new strategy. I'm working on figuring out what that might be. Currently I'm reading "Hensche on Painting." This painting is one that I had put aside a couple of weeks ago, and here it is now--on my blogspot!

PS--I just want to add that although I mentioned I was reading a book on Hensche, I didn't mean to imply that this painting was related to that reading or Hensche's methods of color painting. This painting is undoubtedly more of a colored tonalist painting--not what Hensche is talking about. It is interesting to study this distinction.

Old Man with Pipe - NFS

"Old Man with Pipe", 14 x 11, Oil on Museum Board

I posted this painting a long while back, but I'm posting it again because it was selected for the December 2014 FAV 15% Bold Brush Painting Contest. I entered on a whim and promptly forgot about it--then got the notification. This painting brings so many memories of my painting trips to China.

Liz - NFS

"Liz", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Museum Board"
I'm still cleaning up my studio and unearthing paintings that I probably considered as sketches at the time, but now I value for their simplicity. This one is of my youngest daughter.

Hood Canal Sky

"Hood Canal Sky", 6 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board

This is a little sketch I did last summer on the Plein Air Washington paint out on Hood Canal. The long highway along the Canal, next to the Olympia Mountains, is one of my favorite areas of the Puget Sound region--I have many memories from my teen years of going to camp in the summer on Hood Canal, canoeing on the water and backpacking in the mountains.

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Margaret - NFS

"Margaret", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Museum Board
This is another portrait of my eldest daughter.

Still Life with Apples

"Still Life with Apples", 20 x 20 In, Oil on Canvas

I used to be able to organize everything in my mind. Now that that is no longer possible, I have to organize everything in fact. It means keeping track of my paintings on my computer and in my studio. After so many years and so many paintings it is not easy! This is one of those paintings that I did last fall and basically just put aside. But I know I am not going to paint on it again, so I will say its finished and get it photographed and in my computer file.

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Meg - NFS

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"Meg", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Panel

As an artist, I always thought that I would just keep getting better and better as the years went on. But sometimes I look back, as in this portrait of my daughter done in 2007, and wonder how the heck did I do that--what was my state of mind, who had I been studying with and what have I forgotten. I always thought it would be in my hands and and a part of myself that is not intellectual, but now I'm realizing that some things can be forgotten, even if I have moved onward in other ways. Its an interesting testimony to what life is sometimes about.

Three Faces of Eve - NFS

"Three Faces of Eve", 8 x 11 In, Paper
There is a story behind this one. Last fall I went to a "horse experience" in Arizona with a famous horse whisperer woman. On the last day I was hoping to spend time with the horses--not an unreasonable expectation. However, the program that afternoon was to sit in her living room and meditate with a blind fold on, listening to some really horrible non-music that was so loud I could not think straight. In desperation I pulled off my blindfold, pulled out some regular paper and did this drawing--came right out of my brain-- "Three Faces of Eve"--and then I did "Three Faces of Adam." No idea where these ideas came from. And the most interesting part was that when I was focused on drawing, I didn't hear the "music."

Hood Canal

"Hood Canal", 6 x 8 In, Oil on Museum Board
This painting is from last summer--a fast sketch from the Dosewallips State Park on the banks of Hood Canal. Hood Canal is a long arm of Puget Sound that backs up to the Olympic Mountains--a place with so many childhood memories of canoeing on the Canal and hiking in the mountains. This view is looking east to the low hills on the other side of the Canal.

Purchase this unframed painting.
Contact me if you would like to purchase a plein air frame.

Girl in White Dress - NFS

"Girl in White Dress", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Canvas Board
I'm still experimenting with the Zorn palette (Cadmium Red Lightt, Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, White). The only zinc white I could find in my studio was so hard I had to throw it away, but I did find some Titanium/Zinc. Curious what you all who use zinc white think about its consistency. Also, my new year's resolution is to get all really bad stuff out of my studio, so I did this painting who no mineral spirirts or turp--definitely a challenge. Ordered some spike lavender painting medium today--hope I got the right stuff.