Thinking of my Dad

Tomorrow is the anniversary of when my dad passed away. I have lots of his things here among all the objects I collect. I have thought about painting some of these things for a long time. Today I painted an old musket that he had passed down through his family from the Civil War. It is another small little painting that is good practice. I do feel the slightest bit lazy when I sit and do these at my table instead of the physicality of standing at the easel working large. It sure is a lovely way to spend time with puppy at my feet and nice tunes in my ears.

Back to Reality

I had a great time in Vegas at the Blackboard World 08 conference. I teach an online drawing class that is on Blackboard, thus the invite to attend. It was fabulous. The Venetian/Palazzo Hotel is amazing. The trip included seeing 2 musicals-Momma Mia and The Phantom. Both were at discount prices and were great. One thing that had my attention is the vast amount of art to be seen. Murals everywhere! Lots of work for artists in that town.
Meanwhile I finished a painting of the California poppies I had in the front yard this spring. They were in their second year and twenty times more flowers came up. I harvested lots of seeds so next year should be great too. I enjoyed the painting, but don't know that I came anywhere close to the beauty of the flowers. Their petals were so brilliant and the size and movement of them were very intense.
I painted another little cigar. This time the tobacco leaf is more evident. I also did a little fortune cookie. It was fun. A big painting on my easel has a long way to go. It is "Fall From Grace". I have been looking at Michaelangelo and feeling very inadequate. We will see where this one ends up. The little studies are an easy break for me after that one.

Remembering Nacho

Today I painted our dear dog Nacho's collar. (I don't know why it is sideways in this posting.) The puppy is Kelli our Boston Terrier who is my summer project. She helped fill that sad void left by Nacho's sudden passing. You can expect some paintings of her soon!

This Week's Paintings

These paintings were all done over the past few days. It has been fun to paint "from observation"various subjects. The sunflowers gave me the most trouble. I changed the background several times. I like the dark edge that overlaying the lighter blue left.

Getting to Work

The month of July hits teachers like a rude awakening. We begin to panic that summer is almost over and the big plans for the vacation days have not been even started! My plan was to paint and paint. Well I did clean out the studio space which somehow turns into the "catch-all". I am really pretty happy with it now. Got a nice adjustable chair for the table and a tall stool for contemplating work on the easel.
After all that prep I am finally cranking out the work. First was a couple of pet portraits- Pearl and Ruby which are 9x12" acrylics. Took several photos and printed up the best to paint from. They really kind of flowed on to the canvas without a hitch. Nice start to the month!

First Things First

Finally getting to set up a blog...I am just trying to keep up with the rest of the modern world! How exciting and unnerving to know that these ramblings can go off into the universe of cyberspace to be viewed by unknown eyes. I have been a faithful reader of several blogs myself and am sure mine will pale next to theirs. Insightful musings and well written texts..I hope share some of my creative process with others...maybe inspire...maybe let one other person know they are not alone in the community of artists..