Book Break

5x5 oil on panel
sold

Lunch on the Lawn

5x5 oil on panel
$75 + s/h - Sold

Still enjoying my sunny lawn series here. Its great practice actually, painting small, putting in dabs of color, leaving some pure color, experimenting with flesh tones, reflected color, etc.

I think one of the most important things about painting people is to paint them with warmth. We have lots of blue and green undertones in skin, but when painted with blues and browns, people will just look ashy and aged. I like to make sure my shadows have lots of reds. A master of color in the human form is John Asaro. Check him out for some real inspiration.

A Tale of Two Piggies

5x5 oil on panel
$75 + s/h

Well, you can guess what part intrigued me about this little scene. The light on her feet was so cool. I am not perfectly happy with this... I might go back into it tomorrow a little but its best to wait and see tomorrow. The goal of these small paintings is to be accurate but not detailed. To mass in. But the scale does not actually allow for real looseness of brushwork. If anything, it makes me tighten up. So its a trade off - blocked in and undefined, but still tight.
Oh, and I realized that my panel was not quite so small.

The Devils in the Details

5x5 oil on panel
$75 + s/h

This pleasant summer scene is my first small painting in quite awhile. And I started back really small, didn't I? Made me ignore details for sure! I need to get my studio cleaned up and order some supplies before long. My daughter is back to school today - started second grade. She had a great day and I was only a little teary to say good bye. Seven is a great age, btw.

I saw this woman reading on a lawn in Chicago - no doubt taking a break to enjoy the lovely weather. If we did this in Texas right now, we'd probably burst into flames. I'm always interested in what people are reading and I could just barely make out the title, "The Devil in the White City"... this is owing to a fabulous zoom lens. I highly recommend one for taking pictures of people. I saw many people out enjoying the weather like this. I can't wait until we can get back outdoors here again. A blazing 105 right now, but there appears to be a storm blowing in. Lets hope so!

Lazy Days of Summer

If I weren't so lazy, I might at least scan in a sketch I've done during my recent travels. Lots of people in the plane or airports looking drowsy. BUT.... there are only 4 more days until my daughter goes to school and then I can refocus myself! I can't wait for that, though I am sorry to send her away again every day (and to have the alarm wake me daily.)

I have so much in my brain that I am anxious to get started on - I've been stocking up ideas all summer. Storing them up because I've been too "lazy" to actually get my palette set up and work even when I had the time. When I made that lazy comment to my friend V....Vaughan, she said these very wise and enlightening things:

NEVER CALL IT LAZY!!!

An artist (which you ARE) is ALWAYS working…even when there is no paint on the palette, the composition meter is still running…and the color picker eyes are in a constant state of evaluating…

The WORST thing for an artist is to be A L O N E !!! You are nurturing your longevity and health by taking care of a family (and organizing teas with your friends...)

So there you have it. I've been evaluating and planning paintings for several months and am putting you on notice now that there will be more small works available here soon. And more gallery pieces heading out to my anxious brick and mortar representatives.

Moses Botkin Mothly Challenge

Another limited palette challenge! What a duesy (I know where that comes from now I think... we just visited Auburn, Ind. and the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg car museum.) Anyway - I painted a figure, of course. He is yellow. But I really actually like the painting a lot in spite of the yellow flesh. I used Indian Yellow with ivory black and tit. white. Indian Yellow is a really interesting yellow. Its on my palette all the time. It is transparent, can be very warm and bright, or makes a nice gray green when mixed with black as I discovered.
Today we are heading into Chicago for the last "leg" of our trip. A couple days being tourists in the city and visiting the Art Institute should get me good and inspired to begin work again.


Yellow Man
12x12 oil on panel
(c)2010 Robin Cheers



Rose in Yellow Solo
7x5 oil on panel
(c)2010 Elizabeth Blaylock



Sunny Back Light
5x7 oil on hardboard
(c)2010 Diana Moses Botkin




Grisaille in Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black & White
14x11 oil on panel
(c)2010 Vicki Ross



Behind This!
12x12 oil on canvas
(c)2010 Suzanne Berry



Waterlilly in Evening Pond
6x6 oil on panel
(c)2010 Jeanne Illenye

Portrait of Major

12x9 oil on panel - not for sale

This is our new dog. He came to us a few months ago and I wanted to paint a portrait of him for his former owner. I feel badly that circumstances led to his needing a new home, but I am awfully glad he is part of our family now. He is a really neat dog. (An Irish Terrier). I can't resist a bearded dog, truth be told.

I'm feeling guilty today because we are packing to go on vacation again and the dogs are getting suspicious. They are generally lazing about a lot anyway though since its gotten so very hot here, so maybe they won't miss us much.