New Paintings 01.21.10

Wild at Heart
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Mountains and Prairie Sky
Original 18" x 24" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes a new floral piece entitled Wild at Heart, which is a variation on my signature Abstract Poppies composition. The other new painting, Mountains and Prairie Sky, is a variation on a few different compositions I've done over the years depicting the juxtaposition of mountains, prairie, and big skies.

Quote of the Day
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."

Aristotle

Work and More Work!

Abstract Poppies X
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Prairie and Pond in Late Summer (Commission)
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Radishes (Commission)
Original 14" x 18" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Eggplant (Commission)
Original 14" x 18" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Carrots (Commission)
Original 14" x 18" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Asparagus (Commission)
Original 14" x 18" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

I finished several commissions today, and painted a new edition in the Abstract Poppies series for my sales venues. I'm finally catching up with orders after my vacation (whew!).

Quote of the Day
"Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it." --Kathleen Casey Thiesen

Today's Paintings 7.17.09

Abstract Spring Floral III
Original 64" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Four 16" x 20" canvases
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Prairie and Pond in Late Summer
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes the newest edition in the Abstract Spring Floral series, and a new composition Prairie and Pond in Late Summer. The Floral painting is the newest in my decorative line of paintings, and the Prairie painting is my effort to capture the essence of the wide open spaces that I enjoy.

Quote of the Day
"Enlightenment is not separate from washing the dishes or growing lettuce. To learn how to live each moment of our lives in deep mindfulness and concentration is the practice." --Thich Nhat Hanh

Today's Paintings 5.18.09

Back Road Through Prairie Grass, East of the Rockies
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Twisted Apple Tree with Pink Blossoms VIII
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes a new composition featuring a big sky, Back Road Through Prairie Grass, East of the Rockies, and the latest edition in the Twisted Apple Tree with Pink Blossoms series.

Quote of the Day
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." --Ernest Hemingway

Prairie Creek and Sky VI

Prairie Creek and Sky VI
Original 72" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work included the latest in the Prairie Creek and Sky series on three 24" x 36" canvases. This painting's big sister, which I listed on my sales venues two days ago, sold this morning to a patron in New Hampshire who's bought reproductions of my work from artistrising.com. He also expressed interest in a commission (new original) of one of my compositions Red Cows, en route to Rollins Pass, which may be viewed in my online portfolio.

Tip of the Day
One of the issues with shipping your art to patrons is protecting your product during shipping. Let's face it--with shippers using automated equipment to move things along there is some risk involved shipping fragile items whether or not they're marked as "Fragile." I ship my paintings with extra cardboard cut to size against the canvas. Many people use bubble wrap or styrofoam peanuts (a.k.a. "ghost poop"), but those types of packing materials are a cost center too. I use newspaper for packing material. It's inexpensive, and a green alternative to plastic.

Quote of the Day
"Where you stumble, there lies your treasure." --Joseph Campbell

Prairie Creek and Sky V

Prairie Creek and Sky V
Original 88" x 28" x 0.75" painting
Four 22" x 28" canvases
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

I decided to go large on today's work--a four-canvas edition of my Prairie Creek and Sky series. The series is inspired by wide open spaces found in many parts of the country. Here in Colorado we have so many different kinds of ecosystems in one state: mountains, prairie, desert, and variations in the transitional areas between.

Tip of the Day
Photographing your work can be a time-consuming process, and depending on what you intend to use your photos for the choices you make in processing your photos make a big difference. If you're shooting photos for the web, keep in mind that many people don't have their monitors set for high resolution--so the size of your photos should be taken into consideration. Photos larger than 600 pixels high may require your viewers to do a lot of scrolling to see the entire image.

Also, color depth varies on monitors too, so your images may look great on your monitor and not so great on someone else's. My photos for the web are all 72 dpi. Brightness and contrast make a difference in what the viewer sees too, and since color rendering varies from monitor to monitor it's important that your images are crisp and clear. Since monitors vary so much it's necessary to find a middle ground for images that will work well for most viewers.

Quote of the Day
"There is an art to living life fully and paying attention to the details." --Anne Copeland

Today's Paintings 4/3/09

Sunrise Poppies VI
Original 18" x 24" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Prairie Creek and Blue Sky
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work features the latest in my Sunrise Poppies and Prairie series. The prairie landscapes feature large expanses of blue or red skies, sometimes with or without the creek. My patrons from all over the US have expressed their interest in the paintings from this series, and I enjoy painting them too.

My husband and I are starting a series of classes on selling your artwork online. There are numerous venues, strategies, and opportunities for artists and craftspersons to sell their work and quit their day jobs, depending on how much time, effort, and diligence you can bring to the table.

Starting next week I'll be featuring a Tip of the Day for how to sell your work online, so stay tuned.

Quote of the day: "Technical skills can be learned by almost anyone who has the determination to pursue it, but innovative ideas and the ability to express them come from some place beyond the material world." --Carole Ann Borges

Today's Paintings 3/27/09

Prairie Sky at Sunset II
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Mountain Sunset
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's paintings use sunset themes and were inspired by photographs from friends and my husband. Both Mountain Sunset and Prairie Sky at Sunset reflect dramatic skyscapes that are fun to paint and which my patrons like very much.

Quote of the day: "I am an artist… I am here to live out loud." --Emile Zola

Today's Paintings 3/14/09

Red Prairie Sky and Creek IV
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Asparagus
Original 12" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

For today's work I decided to paint a variation of the Prairie Sky and Creek series featuring a red sky. There was a quote on the wall in the painting studio at CSU, my alma mater, which stated: "If you can't make it good, make it big. If you can't make it big, make it red." I always loved that quote.

The second painting I did today is on a tall (36") canvas depicting asparagus stalks. I've done quite a few culinary-type paintings over the years. Back in December I had a patron who is a chef purchase several of my smaller pieces depicting fruits and vegetables. These paintings are often displayed in my patrons' kitchens.

Incidentally, I varnish all of my paintings, and mount hanger wire on the back so that they're ready to hang right out of the box--no framing required. Although I have had several patrons who have chosen to frame their pieces. The varnish protects the paint, so if you do hang your painting in a high-humidity environment as kitchens tend to be, the paint is protected from the higher humidity levels or the occasional splatter if you're a little more flamboyant in your cooking style.

Quote of the day: "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." --Edgar Degas

Today's Paintings 3/12/09

Prairie Creek and Sky IV
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Springtime Garden II
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Poppies and Blue Sky IX
Original 54" x 24" 0.75" painting
Three 18" x 24" canvases
Golden, Liquitex, and Atelier acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today was one of those painting at dawn kind of days. I have been working on commissions for weeks now, as well as painting new pieces to list on my sales venues. Today's paintings are recreations of compositions that do well on my sales venues. The Poppies and Blue Sky series is hot right now.

I have two more commissions in the works right now, and requests for a few more in the works. My job rocks! I love to paint, and have taken on an apprentice (my husband), who up to now has been my back office guy--he does the accounting, computer stuff, and shipping. It'll be interesting to see how that works out. I was thinking the other day that I take things like how to hold a brush for granted.

We're also lined up to teach classes on selling your art online. One of our classes starts next month at Colorado Free University. We're also in the process of developing a webinar to teach how to sell art online. More information is available on my web site.

Quote of the day: "Without atmosphere a painting is nothing." --Rembrandt

Recent Work Through 2/27/09

Sunrise Poppies V
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Prairie Sky and Country Road III
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Here are two new paintings from the Sunrise Poppies and Prairie Sky series. My patrons really gravitate to these compositions, so I like to keep them happy by having new editions of these paintings available on my sales venues.

Today I'm going to be working on some new paintings to list on my sales venues, and I have some new commissions lined up that I need to get started. I'll post some of today's work later this afternoon, so stay tuned.

Quote of the day: "Artists have to show us what is not going well within the person and within the society, not try to cover it up." --Thich Nhat Hanh

Recent Work

Prairie Sky at Sunset
Original 30" x 40" 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas


Red Poppies on Yellow VII
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas


Still Life with Daisy Bouquet and Red Vase V
Original 18" x 24" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's paintings are variations on two of my favorite compositions: the floral Red Poppies on Yellow series, and the abstract landscape Prairie Sky at Sunset. The third painting is one I painted a few days ago, and is a very popular still life in the Still Life with Daisy Bouquet and Red Vase series.

One of my patrons who owns a restaurant in Vail, CO purchased the previous iteration of the Daisy Bouquet painting along with a painting in the Flower Garden Against a Yellow Sky series, and a painting in the Fauve Farm series.

I worked on the Alaska commission more today, and should get that painting finished tomorrow. I'll be sure to share a photo of the finished painting with you.

Quote of the day: "At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough." --Toni Morrison

Recent Works

Pear Tree V

Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Prairie Sky and Country Road II

Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

These are two paintings I've done in the past two days. My sales have really picked up this week, which makes me a happy camper. I'm going to be getting started on the large Alaska landscape commission that my Atlanta-area publisher has ordered for one of their clients.

The Pear Tree series is one of my favorite ones to paint. I recently sold a variation of this composition to a woman in Brooklyn who bought it as a wedding present. The Prairie Sky series is one I've done several different compositions for. I love painting the huge sky and clouds, and my patrons really love it.

Quote of the day: "Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order." --Virginia Woolf

Wide Open Spaces

Red Prairie Sky with Creek

Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden and Liquitex acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

One of my favorite subjects to paint are the wide open spaces of the West. Fortunately, I live in a place that has many dramatic scenes from which to choose my subjects. Colorado has many such dramatic landscapes to choose from: prairie, mountains, forests, and deserts. We are also close to other states in the West that offer equally dramatic contrasts in topography.

I originally came from New York. I grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, but I moved upstate as a teen. The Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains are beautiful places too, and I have done many paintings of that part of the country as well. What struck me when I traveled west as a young woman was how there were so many wide open spaces between the cities and towns. Back East you leave one town and enter another as you travel. Here in the West you can travel for miles through open country before you reach the next town. It's a dramatic contrast to life in the East, and one that I've enjoyed now for nearly 30 years.

This painting is currently listed for sale on all of the online venues where I post my work. I invite you to choose a link from the top right section of my blog to see this and other original acrylics I currently have for sale.