Introduction

"Introduction", Acrylic on Panel, 8x8"

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I' back to the little, holiday-themed paintings today - though this may be the last one for the month.  Today is the last day the kids are in school until after the holidays…

This is actually the second painting of my daughter with the nutcracker, but I wasn't happy with the other one.  In both, I played around with abstract patterns in the background.  I also added some bronze paint, which, though it looks yellow/brown online, is shiny in person.  It gives the painting some nice highlights.

Dreaming of Snow

"Dreaming of Snow", Acrylic on Board, 40x30"

The holiday season has reminded me of how much I miss snow.   Here's a take on one of my classic tree paintings, with colors that remind me of a snowy day.  Dream snow…better than the cold, icy and challenging to drive in variety… :)

Nutcracker Closeup

"Nutcracker Closeup", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I went back to one of the ones I did yesterday and fixed it up quite a bit.  This nutcracker was a christmas gift from my mother-in-law soon after my marriage.  It's just like the one in my childhood home, so I suppose it's the standard design.  Looking at it closely as I painted it, I was struck by how truly disturbing it is - not at all friendly, like most other Christmas decorations.    I like it all the better for that.

If you think part of the hat looks strange, it's because the paint is still wet.

Santa Baby

"Santa Baby", Acrylic on Panel, 12x9"

Though I think kids aren't quite as much fun to paint as older people (not as much facial definition), I do like painting my daughter.  Here she is enjoying a candy cane while posing as Santa.  I particularly like the background effect on the left and the roundness of her arms.

Santa Dog

"Santa Dog", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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I'm back to the holiday theme today.  I actually painted three small ones…this is the only one I liked well enough to share.  This hat is now a bit too small for Stuart.

Autumn Dance

"Autumn Dance", Acrylic on Board, 24x36"

I was too focused on finishing this big one to do a holiday themed daily today, but I'll resume tomorrow.  Also, I have an idea that will allow the two series to overlap a bit.

Snowman Smile

"Snowman Smile", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Here's another snowman to end the week.  Though we have no snow, it's feeling quite chilly in Austin today.  I started another big painting today, but I'm hoping to find time to keep up with this daily series. The series is a bit twee, but I'm feeling festive. :)

Ballerina

"Ballerina", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I realize that I've been focusing more on the ornaments than the trees.  I suppose that's not too surprising, as most christmas trees look similar - not nearly as interesting to paint as live oaks, for example.  I'll try to paint some more trees before the month is over.

Bicycle Ornament

"Bicycle Ornament", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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This ornament was given to me by my very first boss.  At the time (at 21), I thought it was a lame gift.  Now, I appreciate her thoughtfulness every time I hang it on the tree.

Texas Snowman

"Texas Snowman", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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No one sent me any tree pictures yet, so I decided to an ornament detail today.  It is sad to me that this is the closest my kids have ever gotten to a snowman.  Growing up in Ohio, I can't count the number of snowman I made when I was little.  It was always such fun.

There's still time, if you'd like to see your tree in paint! :)

Before Tree

"Before Tree", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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It's the holiday season, so it's natural that my tree obsession should turn towards Christmas trees.   We have a large artificial tree, which is lovely (and practical), but I found myself yearning for a real tree.  I got this tabletop version and am loving the pine smell in the house.    Here it is before decoration.

I am toying with the idea of doing a full month (well, more like 23 days) of tree paintings.   If you'd like to see your tree in paint, please send me a picture.  I'll paint the ones that I find inspiring. :)

Wink

"Wink". Acrylic on Panel, 12x9"

A last self-portrait to end the (very short) week.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Making Faces

"Making Faces", Acrylic on Panel, 12x9"

Here's another casual portrait  - this one with my daughter. :)

Also, you may notice that I've taken the plunge and taken the 'daily' designation off my blog.  I may very well get back to doing small daily paintings, but I don't want the pressure.  I'd rather be working on my larger pieces.

Artist in Owl Hat

"Artist in Owl Hat", Acrylic on Panel, 12x9"

Here is a small portrait for today.  I was inspired to do this for many reasons:

1. My mom asked me for a self-portrait for xmas (not sure if she's getting this one…)
2. I heard an NPR story this week about "selfless" and art portraits.
3. I saw Jennifer Balken's studio on this year's East tour and was inspired by her work.
4. I bought my daughter this owl hat and it fits me too. :)

Mosaic

"Mosaic", Stained Glass Mosaic, 13x10"

Lest you think I've been slacking off, here's my latest (play) project.  I thought it would be interesting to see if I could translate my work to mosaic.  I was hoping to develop a technique that might be suited to large-scale public projects.  This one took ~1 day and taught me a lot.  I used my painting, Shelter, as inspiration and wasn't deliberate about the glass choice, just grabbed things that appealed to me out of the scrap glass pile at Bluemoon.

Here's what I discovered:

• It's easy and fun to do and not terribly expensive.
• I can't get nearly the detail that I want - at least at this size and with medium sized glass shards.
• Subtle color differences don't read well - at least when using black grout.  

I may try another with a simpler subject and higher contrast glass.

Note: I had a lot of trouble getting a decent photo of the work, which is another thing I'd have to address if I end up doing more of these.

Confetti

"Confetti", Acrylic on Board, 25x36"

Here's the latest tree painting.  As you can see, I was drawn to extra vibrant colors for this one - not totally sure I like the effect, but maybe it will grow on me.

I'm toying with the idea of doing more daily paintings.  There's a new idea I want to develop.  Stay tuned.

Streamers

"Streamers", Acrylic on Board, 20x16"

Here is another largish painting.  I needed to do one more for the holiday show at Norwood Flynn, so I chose a tree/landscape (my old stand-by). I played around w/a bit more abstraction and thicker paint lines in the ground plane.  I find myself torn between going more real (w/figures) and more abstract with the landscape elements.

I've just about made up my mind to take a break from the daily paintings.  I'm beginning to feel like they are a distraction from the rest of my work - rather than a useful outlet for experimentation.

Touch

"Touch", Acrylic on Panel 24x30"

Things got really busy this week with a commission as well as finishing this piece in my figurative series.  I'm very pleased with this painting.  I love the ambiguity of expression and gesture - it cries out for the viewer to fill in the narrative.

I'll try to get back to the dailies on Monday…though I have to admit, I'm losing steam…

Saturday Dolls

"Saturday Dolls", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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I'll start off the week with the last painting in the dolls series.  These are Victorian era dolls that mimic the style of the time, plucking the hair to create an extra large expanse of forehead.

Tomorrow I'm moving on to the different subject…I just need to figure out what!

Friday Dolls

"Friday Dolls", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I forgot to upload this one yesterday.  I'm not as captured by the gentleman dolls.

Thursday Doll

"Thursday Doll", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I like the smirk on this doll - looks like she's about to get up to trouble.

On a separate note, I'm really liking the days of the week names.  It makes me think of that nursery rhyme, "Monday's child is…".   I think I'll try the same with different subjects.

Wednesday Doll

"Wednesday Doll", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I love this doll - with her broken doll and her creepy, old-fashion wig.  I've painted her before and will probably paint her again.  Who do you suppose posed her with the headless doll?  What was that person thinking when he/she did it?

Tuesday Dolls

"Tuesday Dolls", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I like how the division of the colors make them look almost like tribal totems, rather than dolls.

Monday Dolls

"Monday Dolls", Acrylic on Panel. 7x5"

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A couple of years ago I went to visit a friend out in Santa Monica and we went to this amazing doll museum.  I was struck by how wonderfully creepy the dolls were and went through a phase where I painted several of the things I saw that day.   I always wanted to get back to it, so here is some further exploration in the form of daily paintings.

I find myself compelled to use extra bright colors - a guess to contrast the actual pastel, faded drabness of most of the dolls.

Warhol Redux

"Warhol Redux", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Clearly I was struggling for a subject today... but I had a brainstorm this morning about what I'm going to tackle next week - stay tuned!

Orange Pepper

"Orange Pepper", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Another day, another pepper.  I love painting these.  Why is that?  But look, I'm actually doing my daily painting.  Hooray for me.

Potassium

"Potassium", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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Look, I've done an actual daily painting today!  We have a lot of bananas around the house of late.  My son, after a school field trip to Whole Foods, insists on having one banana (no more, no less) a day to get his daily supply of potassium.  Yes, he's an interesting kid.

Flicker

"Flicker", Acrylic on Board, 24x18"

Yet again I've put off doing my daily paintings in favor of working on a larger piece...   This one is called 'Flicker' because of the quality of light filtered through the foliage.  This is an odd, awkward pose that I nonetheless find appealing.  It's a companion piece for "Flotsam".

Verdant

"Verdant", Acrylic on Board, 20x16"

Here's a new, smallish painting that I just completed.  We've had a lot of rain recently and Austin feels green and vibrant - which I think is captured in this painting.  Looking at this outside of the studio, I see that it is very similar in color and composition to Slant... I guess it's just my current mood.

I'm finding is harder and harder to do the daily paintings.  I'm thinking that I may continue this as just a blog about the works I do - rather than imposing the constraint of having to do a daily painting.  I just can't  seem to find a groove w/the smaller sizes and it's not practical to expect to do a large one every day.  We'll see...

In The Garden

"In The Garden", Acrylic on Board, 24x18"

I'm taking a pass on a daily painting today in favor of completing one of my larger pieces.  I love the color and sense of light in this one.  I feel a bit bad that I hired this model and keep doing pictures where her face is obscured by her hair, but I just love the pink hair (it really was that color).

Colored Pumpkins

"Colored Pumpkins", Acrylic on Panel, 8x8"

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Over the weekend, my daughter (4 years old) and were painting some of our pumpkins with acrylic paint.  It inspired me to try the some different colors on the pumpkins in my painting today.

Heat

"Heat", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

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This, as you'll note,  is not a pumpkin.  I felt like doing a figure study from one of my earlier sessions.  Doesn't she look sultry?

Pumpkins on Porch

"Pumpkins on Porch", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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Here's another image of pumpkins - these are piled up on my back porch railing.  They're really quite a lot of fun to paint - gorgeous colors and shiny highlights.

Pumpkins

"Pumpkins", Acrylic on Panel, 8x8"

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As promised, here are some pumpkins.  I bought a bunch of these to get into the halloween mood, so expect to see a few more paintings of them, both whole and carved.  Though after my pumpkin carving accident last year, (8 stitches...), I'm a little nervous at the prospect.

Slant

"Slant", Acrylic on Panel, 36x24"

I'm back after a week-long break and am starting this off with a new large work (which I actually started last week before I left town).  Tomorrow, I'm back to normal dailies and will be starting off with pumpkins. :)

Glow

"Glow", Acrylic on Panel, 10x8"

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Here's yet another figure study to end my week.  I'm going out of town tomorrow and will be offline until Wednesday.

I think this is the most successful yet.  There's a great sense of light and movement, especially in the fabric of the dress.

Gaze

"Gaze", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

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Here's another figure study for my Dryad's series.  I love the ambiguous expressions.

Pause

"Pause", Acrylic on Panel, 10x8"

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I decided to do some of my figure studies as my daily paintings this week.  These are some images I was hesitating to do on large boards, but wanted to try.  I love the gesture of the figure in this one - it looks like she's thinking about something serious.

I opted to go a bit bigger than my usual daily size so I can get better detail on the figures.  I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.  I especially like the back foot.

Aurae

"Aurae", Acrylic on Board, 24x36"

Here's another large tree painting to start the week.  The title is a nod to the Greek nymphs of the breezes, which came to mind when I looked at the finished piece.  I think the swirling brushstrokes do a great job capturing the movement of wind through the leaves.

Coil

"Coil", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Here is yet another example of plant-life from the Pacific northwest.  I'm not quite as happy with how this one came out as it was hard to get the detail I wanted.  The tree had an amazing coiled trunk - maybe not a tree but some sort of overgrown vine?  I love the brushwork on the foliage in the background though.

Bough

"Bough", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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This is an image from one of my earlier shoots.  I think Meghan looks so graceful in this pose.  It was extremely frustrating to do it this small - even with a size 0 brush.  I don't know how other artists do it! Here's one of my local favorites who does incredible tiny portraits (www.fatimaronquillo.com).

Thorns

"Thorns", Acrylic on Panel, 36x24"

I decided that I'd finish and share my newly completed large painting today instead of doing my regular little piece.  For the most part, I'm happy with how how it turned out.  I was a bit frustrated that I couldn't get a better likeness of Meghan (the one in red), but I like the expression on her face as rendered.

I'm having a lot of fun with these multi-figure paintings.  As soon as you introduce a second figure, there's a sense of story - since you try to figure out the relationship between the two people.  I picked the title because the women reminded me of a flowers (rose & violet) and relationships between women are never simple.

Northwest #2

"Northwest #2", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Here's another tree from the trip to the Northwest.  I think this one is reminiscent of the work of Emily Carr - maybe just the subject matter?

Northwest

"Northwest", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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This is an amazing tree I saw while I was visiting Seattle.  It's hard to capture the full effect - but I gave it my best shot.

Practice Ivy #2

"Practice Ivy #2", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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I haven't been painting as much as I wanted this week (sick kid & then a trip to Dallas), but I hope to get back on track next week.  Here's another practice ivy to end the week.  I like the detail of the veins on the leaves.

Practice Ivy #1

"Practice Ivy #1", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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My sister commissioned me to do a multi-panel ivy painting for her newly renovated office.  I thought I'd warm up by doing some studies of ivy to see what works.  Here is the first.

I like the pop of the ivy against the dark on the left side.  I think for the final I'll play around w/scale a bit (close ups of individual leaves) and/or show ivy against different surfaces (wood, brick, etc.).

Squirrel

"Squirrel", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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It has seemed to me for a while that the squirrels in the neighborhood (in the whole city, really), are getting braver.  They don't run away, but sit right where they are until you're almost walking on them.  They also seem more numerous, but maybe that's just because I've been noticing them.

I saw a cat stalking one of these brave squirrels in a vacant lot the other morning and the squirrel just sat there - apparently trying to stare the cat down.  It ended up jumping to a tree and escaping.  I was a bit disappointed.

Subject matter aside, I'm happy with how this one turned out.  There's a great sense of sunlight on the fur.

Sit

"Sit", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

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Here's yet another of Stuart to end the week.  I like the extreme foreshortening of the body, but wish I'd done something more interesting with the ground.  Oh well, at least I managed to get a painting done each day this week.  I managed to finish a big one too.  I'm sooo glad to be back in the studio after the long break.

I wish I had a more consistent body of daily paintings.  I seem to jump from subject to subject at random.  I admire the other painters on the Daily Paintworks site who seem to have a subject that they are passionate about.

Arbor

"Arbor", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

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Here's another view from my neighborhood.  I love the quirky/picturesque things I see while walking my dog in the mornings.

Musician

"Musician", Acrylic on Panel, 6x6"

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I can't seem to stop taking pictures of random people I see on the street.  It started with the homeless who were panhandling w/signs and has expanded to include anyone interesting I see.  This guy was sitting outside of Walgreen's on a very hot day.