Summer of '42 - Oil Painting of a Beach

"Summer of '42 Revisited"

16 x 20 inches, Oil on Gallery wrapped Canvas

A commission for a friend. I took the photo for this painting when the sky was overcast and still there is a glare on the bottom right side of the photo...Although the colors are lavender in that area it shows a lot lighter.

Sketches - Row Boat on Blue

Sketch of rowboat

Oil on Raymar Board 8 x 10"

Photo of another sketch I did - getting ready for when I can get everything in order to paint once again. Moving things around. Different paintings spaces. De-cluttering and cataloging. Total Spring Cleaning.

It snowed this past weekend in North Texas. First day of Snow and I open the window to a blanket of snow. Though people grumbled that we had had enough of the cold weather, it was nice to hear the quietness that snow brings. And today it is gorgeous outside. The budding leaves don't seem to have been hurt too badly by the cold weather.

I received a letter from the company that asked to make my blog "green". They tell me that they will be planting a tree for my blog next month. YAY! I wonder what would happen if everyone bought a sapling this spring and planted it. In their own yard or a neighbor's yard...added another life to this planet?

Speaking of adding another life to this planet - Spring is also when birds and bees start getting busy...please be a responsible pet owner and spay or neuter your pet. Having fostered a few dogs and picked up a bunch of strays - it always breaks my heart to see an animal that's been abandoned. Check out Art for the Animals blog on my link to the right!! I'm going to copy a quote from their blog:

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does" --William James

Happy Spring!

Make It Green and My Blog is Carbon Neutral

I received an email from an email from a German company called KaufDA who is who is working on an iniative to to reduce carbon footprints by raising awareness of how much carbon emssions. As part of their program they are have a campaign called "Make it Green" where bloggers can attache a "My Blog is Carbon Neutral" button on their blog and for that they will plant a tree in California where recent years' fires have demolished much of their forests.
Their goal is one blog = one tree planted so count me in!
Check out their website on 1 blog, 1 tree for more information.

Sketches - Row Boat

Sketch of Rowboat

8 x 10, oil on Raymar board

I've been so busy lately, my eyes spin in my sockets...ever have that kind of busy - I'm sure you have.

And so I've not be able to paint...aaaarrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!

I've listed a good number of my paintings on Ebay because I wanted to clean out my inventory and it was a good success! I usually don't varnish my paintings until I'm ready to exhibit it or it's ready to sell. Many of the paintings had never been exhibited so they needed that one extra step before preparing to pack. I have a special way of packing the paintings that Filomena Booth, my mentor who taught me how to sell on Ebay, showed me. And though I'd used this method before - to have to package 15 was a little bit of a challenge. I noticed though that by the eighth or so package, I'd finally gotten the rhythm of wrapping and my folds were neater, I didn't cut too much of the wrapping paper off, I had a sort of a handle on it...it felt comfortable and I was making the packages a whole lot neater.

Isn't that the way it is with a lot of things? Repetition, persistence, getting back on the horse again and again, exercise, habits...whatever it is, the more you do it, the easier it comes to you?

Tony Saladino who leads an Art Critique class here in the DFW Metroplex asked the critique attendees a few months ago - what do you do to improve?

Well you learn to do it. Then you do it....it doesn't feel right at first, it might not even turn out anywhere you'd expect it to, it might even be horrid or lopsided (my first clay turning experience....omg!!), but you do some more, and you learn from your mistakes and you might have to start from the beginning again, but you do it. (Ok, I'll admit, I didn't go back to clay classes, sorry, Kim!! of Norris Pottery)

Well I don't have too much time right now to paint but last week I did have a wee bit of time to visit with friends and paint at the same time so I did a couple of quick studies. The row boat is one that I did and might make it to some larger painting in the future.

Pink Rose Oil Painting

11 x 14 inches, Oil on Canvas

About five years ago I was sitting down to a cup of coffee and opened our local newspaper....I'd been feeling that middle-aged itch, I suppose. I was a Realtor at the time but I didn't feel like it was working for me. I guess I was feeling a little melancholic and sorry for myself that morning and reading the classifieds when I saw a little ad that read "Art Lessons".

That was all it took. I'd not painting in decades and suddenly here it was! Art lessons! I could take art lessons and get back into it. I immediately called and set up lessons and here I am.

I am so glad I'd called on that ad and got back into painting because it has been a joyous little journey. It has also taken me on a sometimes bumpy road.

This little rose painting is one of the first that I did when I started back into painting. It's not for sale - it reminds me of my first art lessons.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments." --- Cesare Pavase

Max - Pet Portrait Painting

"Max"

5 x 5 inches Oil on Board

This little fellow is a friend's pet who disappeared last month during the cold rainy, sleeting night we had here in North Texas when he was let out into his fenced back yard for his nightly perlustrations. They were devastated and commissioned me for a painting of him. I delivered this painting yesterday and was pleased that I was able to catch his inquisitive look. They were really happy to have an original painting of their beloved Max to remember him by.

I was looking at my inventory of paintings that I need to clear away so I can move around in my painting room. So starting later this day, I will be posting paintings on Ebay at super, incredible prices. Starting at 8x10 sized paintings to larger 20x24 inches at "Crazy Judy" prices...I picture a TV ad with someone smashing a window or an appliance calling themselves "crazy someone" is smashing prices... If you get a chance, please check visit my Ebay Store. The paintings will be sold auction style and will be available for one week and then they are gone. It's a huge Inventory Reduction Sale!

Seascape Palette Knife Oil Painting

"Seaside"

10 x 10 inches, Oil on Gallery wrapped canvas

Although we had some weather and snow flurries, I think my heart is looking forward to warmer days. Long, long, long and oh so long ago I visited the beaches north eastern part of Florida and remember the dunes and the salt grasses...but when someone asks me what beach I've painted I am at a loss because I also remember the beaches in Australia near Phillip Island where I went to go watch the penguins come out from the sea to feed their young one very cold November evening. And I spent many a youthful day on the beaches of Enoshima and Kamakura in Japan...