Sunny Cafe

10x12 oil on panel
Ask Gardner Colby Gallery about this painting.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT time!
I've been invited to join Gardner Colby Gallery in Naples, Florida. I am very excited to have my work represented by this excellent gallery in such a great market. 

There has been more than a little shifting around of my work this late summer and soon my gallery from Vermont will be relocated to Louisville, KY and renamed "Fine Art Firm." I will be sending them new work for their grand opening. More on these openings and events to come!

Work in Progress

Well here it is - a little glimpse of a work in progress. Isn't that white daunting? This is my first larger "vignette". I love the intimate, slice-of-life, subject matter and have wanted try working on a larger scale. I didn't do much to alter this blank sheet of linen (I'll stretch or mount it later). I first tried sketching in with my brush but then felt I needed more drawing so went in with charcoal. And made a mess.

Once I wiped off the false start, I used my more usual method of sketching a road map of sorts with the brush and then massing in. The goal is not to create an exact duplicate of a scene, so I forgave myself little errors in drawing and eliminated some clutter.

I made some "notes" on the darks and then used my favorite little trick of wiping out the lightest lights with a little OMS on a rag. Linen is great for this reason - you can wipe it back to a clean white surface again. And clean lights/whites are important to create beautiful highlights.

 Now I worked all the darker and middle tones -most of the painting.

A little more progress being made... but its not done yet. I've left her face and clothes undone and set the painting aside today to work on a new painting while I mull this one over for a few days. I'm not quite satisfied with the "tightness" either. (Everything is compartmentalized. ?) I might even have my model come back to sit for the final touches. This was painted from a study and photos of a model. My second go at a larger work began more easily - with lots of massing in and moving around the panel.

This is as yet unnamed, and is 22x28" on linen. My plan is to show it at the Russell Collection Fine Art Gallery "Femme" show opening in December in Austin. Its nice to have time to work on these larger pieces and live with them before sending them out.

If you care to keep reading, I will tell you that I my plan this year is to paint larger and slow down. I tend to work fast, but that meant that each week I was trying to create multiple gallery-worthy paintings and stressing about it. I have a lot of work available (lots of small works since the Vignettes show) and I think I can relax and really consider what I want to paint and what I want to say.

Basking in the Sun

8x10 oil on paper (paper size 9x12)
$120 + s/h
PURCHASE

An image of basking in the sun today following a full day of rain in central Texas yesterday. We have had beautiful weather and I do believe that fall is really here. I can't believe how quickly the days are going already now that school is in session.

My new goal is to work larger, and I have begun! It definitely takes longer than the small scale I've been used to. But I find that if I can move around and work in different areas, with enough interesting elements in the image, I don't get bored. I've taken some pictures during the process and perhaps I will show you those tomorrow as I wrap up my first larger scale scene.

Daily Distraction

5x7 oil on panel
$100 + s/h
PURCHASE

This is from the "archives" as was yesterday's post. After my studio clean up, I realized I have a lot of little paintings here that haven't been seen in awhile. Remember to look at ETSY for more paintings available direct from my studio.

Spring Fling

6x6 oil on panel
sold

A couple of kids swimming in the luxuriously cold waters of Barton Springs Pool in Austin. I love the green water - its so clear and reflective. And such a relief on hot days!

Sketches @ Le Cordon Bleu

I'm officially back to work! I spent the first two weeks of the new school year putting my studio back into order. I've rearranged and cleared out and have a beautiful space to work in again! I began painting again today - working on a few painted sketches for a beach commission. I hope the client likes one of the ideas so I can get to work on the large piece.

I've been sketching a lot lately. My friend V...Vaughan is teaching a sketching workshop once a week this month so I've joined her in that. And then I heard of an open house at our local cooking school in Austin and we met over there to enjoy the demo, sketch and take notes on some delicious French and Italian dishes.

I have more and more things in the works this fall and a full page of "to do" items so stay tuned. :-)