"Straight Up Falling" - An Expressionist Painting of the Falls in Yosemite

"Straight Up Falling"     2.5" x 3.5"     Acrylic on Canvas Paper (ACEO)

Here's another one of my expressionistic paintings of the falls in Yosemite. I think I could paint hundreds upon thousands of works based on that amazing place, that is if I ever had that much time... And if there were any way at all that our family could swing living there and that I could land a job being their Artist in Residence, oh man, would I ever be all over that!!! Man, how amazing would that be?! To live in that gorgeous park, or almost ANY State Park for that matter, and to get paid to paint on location, do demos, and sit in the lobby and paint in front of visitors - WOW! What a dream come true that would be! Shoot, I would love even just living CLOSE to a place like that! There's something just so special and inspiring about the fresh alpine air, full of pine and dew and wildflowers, that makes an artist's blood boil with excitement. I'm getting excited just thinking about it! =0)

"Purple Falls" - An Expressionistic Painting of the Falls in Yosemite

"Purple Falls"     2.5" x 3.5"     Acrylic on Canvas Paper (ACEO)

SOLD

Well hello there! Today's painting has an interesting little story to it. It is the second attempt at an expressionistic painting that was commissioned by my winner of one of my contests, Sea. I don't know if you remember it, but the first one ended up rather pink, and it wasn't until it had sat on my shelf for awhile that I realized what I created, while lovely in my own opinion, wasn't exactly what she had asked for. The color pallette ended up more along the green and pink scale rather than purple, blue and green.

Luckily I realized all that before sending it out, and even though it was a bit embarrassing, I had to make sure she truly liked it first before I sent it overseas. I was right - the painting wasn't quite what she was hoping for, so I gladly offered to try my hand at it again, wanting to make sure that what she ended up with would be something she would truly treasure. So here it is, my second and very joyous attempt to get things right.  =0)

And you know, even though it was humbling to admit my own error, I'm glad I brought it up to her and not the other way around. It's never fun finding out you didn't please your clients, so if you have the opportunity to make sure they like it beforehand, I strongly recommend it. And now because of all this I  have an extra little painting to sell. If you're interested, here it is:

"Path to Power"     2.5" x 3.5"     Acrylic on Canvas Paper (ACEO)

As for the pretty little purple one at the top of this post, well it will shortly make it's way across the ocean and to her door. How cool is that?! I'm super excited, more than you can imagine, at knowing that my work will be owned internationally. That's AMAZING!!! It's just about one of the coolest things you can hope for with your art, or at least that's how I feel about it. =D

And as for the process behind this work, well, I challenged myself to be more free and loose with both my strokes and my use of color than I was in the first one, and honestly I was really surprised at how difficult that was. I guess working small does come with some restraints after all! No using big brushes here... Hahaha! No, no, no... And the teeny-tiny ones didn't work either, which was even more shocking. What ended up working best was a size 3 round. It allowed me to make small yet overstated brushstrokes and to create a feeling that was more expressionistic in nature than my first attempt.

And now I'm off to work on one of my other commissioned pieces by one of my first winners. Thank God she's a good friend of mine and is being rather patient, because I would be in a mess of trouble if not. It's just taking a bit longer than normal. But luckily I found my sweet spot with it and am on a roll. I can't wait to post it when it's done - her idea was awesome and while it's a difficult painting for me, it's turning out beautifully. Well, I suppose I should let you be the judge of that, but hey, a girl can like her own work, right? Oh I sure hope so...! =0)  Well, take care my friends. As for me, I'm off to paint! =D

"Calla Lily" - A Floral Painting of a Calla Lily

"Calla Lily"     4" x 5"     Acrylic on Archival Canvas Board

I realized the other day that I never did repost this painting after fixing my signature so that it wasn't so glaringly obvious. Here's how it looked before:

Big improvement, right?! I can thank my Ty for that - he's always so honest and straightforward about my work, and I love him for it, even if it hurts at times. But he was totally right on this one, the signature was too bold and took away from the overall look of the painting by creating a fight over the spotlight. The Lily won in the end, and I think you'll agree it looks a ton better for it. And I think I'm getting better with my editing too - the top one is a more real to life version of the painting than the first one, so I'm happy as a clam over here! =D

WORK IN PROGRESS - Watercolor Painting "Silhouetted Shadows"

WORK IN PROGRESS - "Silhouetted Shadows"

Here's a little watercolor work that I started while waiting between my appointments the other day. I was absolutely entranced by the delicate silhouetted shadows of the leaves of the bush next to me, balanced harmoniously with the shimmering, clamoring leaves of the trees above. It was just begging to be painted. But for some reason, my plein air version just doesn't quite do it for me, and now that I'm back in the studio I don't exactly know what to do with it. So, that's where you come in. Any ideas on what I might be able to do to make this painting feel more complete? I was thinking perhaps a baby blueish colored wash dripping down from the top, perhaps adding salts to make the results more fun and interesting and well, just downright cool. I love salted watercolors. And salted toffees. And salted caramels. And mochas. And Hot Chocolates. And, well, any form of salted candy/chocolate/drink etc. Awww man! Now I'm HUNGRY! Oops... Anyways, I'd love to hear from you any ideas you might have. And I thank you in advance for your help!!! =D

"Night Lights" - A Whimsical Garden Painting

"Night Lights"     2.5" x 3.5"     Acrylic on Canvas Paper (ACEO) 

This sweet little painting was actually started en plein air, as funny as that might seem, back at the cabin in Montana this summer. They have some beautiful rows of lavender blossoms that were absolutely breathtaking lining the outer walls, and I just couldn't resist them. Who can?

I never got the chance to finish the painting while we were there, but I'm actually glad for that, as when I got home with it I just started to play around and ended up coming up with this delightful little scene to go with it. I've always had a fascination with Snails, Inch Worms and Fireflies (who doesn't, right?) and I thought it would be fun to make a scene lit by them, similar in a way to how the Baroque painters, whom I absolutely adore, used to light their scenes with a single candle or oil lamp in order to create intensity in their works. I've always wanted to paint like them, and even though this isn't exactly even remotely like their work, I love the fun little flair it added to this piece. I hope you like it too!

It looks absolutely AMAZING in it's black frame, with the white matting adding an extra pop to the colors of the piece. It's sure to delight young and young of heart alike, so if you're interested in buying this adorable and original work of art, email me and let me know! Or you can buy it from my Daily Paintworks Gallery as well.  Well, I hope you have a great one today. Take care!  =D

Contest Winner for July is Announced, as well as the New Contest for August!!!

"The Light in the Willow"     5" x 7"     Acrylic on Museum Quality Claybord

Whew! FINALLY!!!!

So my winner for last months contest (where we got a whopping 31 entries!) was Suzanne Berry! Congratulations my friend!!! I have to admit I always feel a bit odd if one of my friends wins, even though the method I use is completely random and safe, using the random number generator, so there's no way for me to fix it or anything, but I always worry about what it might look like to others. But you know, it doesn't really matter what others may think I suppose, I'm just happy that so many people played along this month and that a truly great artist will now be the proud(?) owner of my art. =D Yay, Suzanne, I'm so happy you won and I can't wait to see which painting you pick! I really appreciate the amount of comments you left on here too - it always feels so good to have people comment back on your work. Well, I'll be in contact with you over which paintings you can choose from, okay. =0)  And I also really want to say a special thank you to everyone who participated this month - you made me feel so very, very loved (so much more than you could ever possibly imagine!) and I just adored being able to read each and every comment you all wrote. So thank you all so very, very much!!! You're awesome!!!!

Well, this month's contest is the same as last month - anyone who comments on any of my new posts during this month, whether on here or on my Facebook Fan Page - will get a shot to win the prize. You will get one point for every post you comment on, so you can truly wrack up a ton of points by the end of the month if you stay an active commentator on my blog or my fan page, and especially if you do both. I love hearing from you all, as I've said before, and it's so much fun to hear your thoughts on everything, including how I can improve. So good luck my friends! And just so you know, you can start commenting today on any post made from the 1st of August until the 31st, so if you're interested in winning this one, go ahead and hop to it! =0) And did I mention you can win more than once? So if you're an art lover or a friend of one and want to try to win another prize on here or hoping to win your first, feel free to play along! =D

Busy, busy, busy... =P

My dear friends, I haven't forgotten about you! We have been a bit more busy these last few days than I anticipated and I need a little more time tallying up all the participants in last months contest and in deciding exactly which paintings to have available for that winner to chose from. So if you'll bear with me I will be posting our winner and our new contest for this month as soon as I possibly can - though honestly it may be a few days. I will try my hardest to get it done more quickly than that, but sometimes life is a bit busy and this week just happens to be one of the busier ones.

I hope you are doing well though and I can't wait to be talking to you after I get these next few posts up. Ooh, plus I have two new paintings I'm pretty excited about - sweet little ACEOs that are sure to bring a smile to your face. Or so I hope! Haha, well, have a great Saturday and I hope to be seeing you soon!