detroit artist's market

Wow, it sure has been quiet here.  Well, I was asked to be in a show!  I posted about it HERE!!!

Here's a sampling.

swirl

6x6

Wow, I can't believe it.  I haven't put a brush to any surface since July.  JULY!  How in the world did that happen...  Well, it is good to be back.  Great even.  I can't really go beyond great, because the painting itself wasn't so great.  It is very apparent that I am out of practice.  And I have to admit, I never really took too much stock in the whole you have to paint every day to keep limber thing.  But maybe that's because I WAS painting every day.  Or almost every day.  Or once a week, maybe...  In any case, I was painting quite a bit more frequently than ten months.  Wow.  TEN MONTHS.  I still can't believe it...

So what have I been doing, you ask?  Well, even if you didn't ask, I'll tell you anyway.  I have been writing a cookbook.  

Random?  Yes.  

But not so much if you think about it.  My son has life threatening allergies, and after having to cook three meals a day, every day, I have developed several tricks of the trade I guess you can say.  All while amassing a nice little collection of recipes...  If this interests you, please check out my other blog, mama makes from scratch (mamamakesfromscratch.blogspot.com).  It has recipes, crafts, and really bloggy type stuff....  

I have also been making bears.  Teddy bears.  That fit in the palm of your hand...  

Random, yes.

one no. six

6x6


I don't have much to say about this one.  It's a blueberry.  From behind.

one no. five

6x6


Well.....  here is yet another blueberry... I don't really have anything to say about this one that would be any different from the last one.  Or the one before that.  In my own defense, my mind has been on other things. My daughter has a cold and my dog has to go see a shrink....   But just as I was about to apologize for being so monotonous with my paintings (just a note to remind you that I am following a dream idea with all of these blueberries), I received a lovely message complimenting me on them!  It really doesn't get any better than that..  I will keep on keepin on then.......

one no. four

6x6


Well this is really starting to shape up into a pretty interesting display.  I still need about 6 more and then I'll be happy..

I have discovered, incidentally, that if there is even one fly buzzing around in the room, I can't help but feel like it's landing on me every 3 seconds.  And that it called it's friends over to crawl on my legs and burrow in my hair.  I'm just really glad that this one didn't take me that long to paint.......

in the pink

4x6


What can I say about this one..................

For some reason, it really looks way better in person.  And the 95 degree heat was really pounding on my back so that I could smell my skin while painting.  And there were two flies dive bombing my head.  So actually, between the heat, the skin burning smell, and the kamikaze flies......

Not bad.  Not bad at all.

one no. three

6x6

The series continues...  I really don't know what the deal is though, about these photos.  They are really quite lousy.  I just can't seem to find the right spot to photograph the final paintings........

one no. two

6x6

I had a dream where I had a huge cluster of these on the wall, all together, and it really looked phenomenal.  So here is my experiment to see how fine the line actually is between dream and reality.

Wow.  That sounded way too deep for a Friday afternoon.

yellow

8x6

This painting has just grown on me.  And by just, I literally mean just now, this very moment, as I loaded it here.  It was a real menace, this one, maybe because I've been out of town with my feet in the sand for the past week.  It's so funny.  The first painting in after a hiatus, no matter how long, is usually pretty rough.  Especially when I have a deadline that is quickly closing in....  I don't like them while I am painting, but after I'm through, they end up being some of my favorites.  Go figure.

this little piggy

6x6


I took a sky break today..  I actually can't believe I hadn't thought to paint this little guy months ago.  It is a magnet, and it's less than an inch long, and a little more than half an inch wide.  I really felt my age today.  I had to wear my glasses for pretty much the entire painting.......

crosswalk

8x6


I love this painting.  That's all.

december dusk

6x6


This painting is of an image taken while driving from Berlin to Blonay, Switzerland.  It's about a 9 hour drive, give or take an hour....  or three.  We started our journey at dawn and arrived in Blonay at dusk, which, from an artist's perspective, is pretty convenient.  And rather poetic, actually.  When I saw this sunset I made my husband immediately get off at the first stop he saw, which involved some pretty interesting driving...  But it was totally worth it.  I shot off about 20 photos, several of which are on deck for future paintings.  They are very special to me, so they have been moved to the "only paint when you have a lot of time" pile.  I really love (and need) to drink in the photo as I'm painting it.  It takes me right back to the place and the time it was taken.  Just looking at this, I can still feel the chill in the air and smell it's wintery mountain freshness..

escape

6x4


I knew it wasn't the best idea.  I knew that it would be a mess.  I knew because that's what people tell you.  Don't give glitter to a toddler.  So I didn't get glitter.  I got sequins.  Yeah, it's pretty much the same thing....

wind farm

6x8


I am exhausted.  My son is going through something, I'm not quite sure what though.  He isn't really sleeping at night, which means that I am not really sleeping at night.  When he does wake up, smoke starts coming out of his ears.  About an hour later, his head begins to rotate.  By nighttime, his horns are at their full extension.  Growth spurt?  Maybe.  Will he start talking soon?  I sure hope so.  But whatever it is, I can't wait for it to happen already......  Somehow I was able to paint today and make dinner, although the trout was a bit on the dark brown side.  It was still pretty tasty though.....

lausanne

8x6


I have been wanting to paint this one for a long long time..  I just love the warm glow of the lamp and the stillness of the lake....

schoenhauser allee

6x8


This is the view from the apartment we love to stay in when we go to Berlin.  Oh how I miss it so....

cross country

6x8

This is the first painting I have done from someone else's photo.  I have never wanted to use photos that weren't my own.  I always felt that would be cheating...  But after getting her approval, I simply had to paint it.  What an outstanding image.  I couldn't resist.  And knowing that this was taken on the cross country move from New York to San Francisco, I just think of my friends with their sweet kitty in the back, eagerly, anxiously, excitedly anticipating their new life together.....

pillows

I haven't been sleeping lately.  It's either due to a kid waking up in the middle of the night, a dog (or two) barking (or howling), a cat (barking or howling or chirping- she is very talented), horrifying nightmares, or as in the case of last night, insomnia.  By the time the babies go down for their nap, I have been so exhausted that painting is completely out of the question.  Instead, I have been making pillows.  How ironic, I said to myself.  I can't sleep.  So I made pillows.  Without even making that connection until 10 minutes ago.  My subconscious, ladies and gentlemen, hard at work.

clearing

6x6


This loveliness is a view of Lake Michigan taken from the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park in Glen Arbor, Michigan.  I can't wait to go back up....

rooftop

8x6


I think this may have actually been the photo that planted the seed for this whole sky series.  We were eating in a restaurant and I saw the sky from our table.  I ran out and snapped some photos, knowing that one day, these would become paintings.  And it seems silly, but I haven't had the chance to get this going- I have been so excited to get these onto canvas but I was always in the middle of something else.
Woohoo.. good painting day....

And now I'm off to make my pecan crusted trout with edamame succotash- before the babies wake up!