Tennis anyone?

I don't have a painting to post today. I'm working on a commissioned painting of a barn right now. I donated the apple painting from the last post to a benefit auction to raise money for a child in our town who is very sick.

I don't know if I've mentioned before that I also play tennis. I started playing about 3 yrs ago and fell in love immediately. I try to play twice a week or more. As an artist, I find myself getting more and more comfortable being alone which isn't good all the time. Tennis has allowed me to meet people and make really good friendships. This year I decided to join USTA Team Tennis to see if I would like the more competitive play. I've never been a very competitive person so this has been a huge challenge for me. My nerves almost get the better of me before each match. The worst thing is I have not won ANYTHING yet. This is starting to really get in my head and I'm afraid it's now keeping me from winning. I'm trying to remember that it's just a game, I'm not getting paid to do this. I'll keep you posted on my progress and you can be sure I'll let you know the minute I win:) I'm wearing the green shirt in the picture above.

Apple Trio

Today I was determined to start and finish a painting. I knew I better not put too much thinking into or it would never get done. That's how I usually roll. I think more than I do. It still took me until noon to get situated and start painting. Not sure how I will get over all the fussing I do to prepare. Anyway, I used only brights for brushes because I've always liked the look of paintings done in that style. It's hard to leave it alone and not work it to death. I also used Cobalt dryer to speed the drying time and apparently used too much because the paint started drying too quickly. It became so sticky that I had to finish sooner than I probably would have otherwise. Good and bad. I was told after it was all said and done that I should only use the dryer in my white and cadmiums. I'm excited to one tomorrow if I have time. I play in a tennis tournament tomorrow afternoon.

Wino Wednesdays

What a great day today was. I spent it with my friends and fellow artists Tim Tyler and Vicki Ross. I've studied with Tim for about three years and have learned so much from him. He's a great teacher but now a great friend. We meet at Tim's about 9:00 am every Wednesday, paint, talk and listen to great music. We go to lunch, have a couple glasses of wine and then it's back to painting. Today I finished the dog that I've been working on for a while. This dog belongs to the same client who owns Bailey from a previous post. I believe this one's name is Scarlett. I'm excited to let the client know that I'm finished. I have one more dog of hers to paint. Today I also worked on a still life that Tim set up for me of a vase with a beautiful leather mask hanging from it. Can't wait to get back to that next wednesday.

"Mallory"

This painting was HARD! It probably took a total of 10 hrs which is longer than it should have. I only had one photo to work from and the dog was wet. I will never do that again. I am trying to build a larger portfolio of pet portraits. My interest in pet portraits has increased since the passing of my birth mother, Peggy Bang. She was quite famous for her depiction of the Cocker Spaniel and her work can been seen at peggybang.com

Mexican Pottery

Today's painting is a still life with some Mexican pottery my birth mother gave me after one of her trips to San Miguel. She was an artist as well and loved the Mexican people. She would take many trips there to get inspiration for her art. I met her for the first time 10 years ago and she passed away in March of '08. I wanted to include something of her's in a still life and I have to say that pottery was fun to paint. I'm not sure I love the rest of the set up but I plan to use the pottery again in other still life settings. I am still experimenting with thick paint and big brushstrokes. It's the very opposite of how I am used to painting but Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I don't want to go insane so I'm trying something different no matter how painful.

Mandarin orange with Bowl

I'm really going to try and be a better blogger. The holidays have been hectic for me. I had a double portrait commission that had a Christmas Eve deadline and so for a couple of months, that's all I could think about. Now that it's done and the client is happy, I'm feeling motivated to get back to painting the small daily paintings. I'm really trying to loosen up and use big brushes and lots of paint. It's hard to break bad habits and though I'm doing better, I still am not there. I bought some new large brushes today to see if that helps. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Three Red Pears

It's been so long since I posted anything! I've been painting almost every day but no time to sit at the computer. Yesterday I spent the whole day painting these three pears. It's 14"x18" and it was an exercise in painting with large brushes only and finishing in one sitting. That is extremely hard for me to do. I have to resist the urge to bring out the small brushes and put too many details in. I'm please with this one. I chose to paint the background green since it's the compliment to red but that is a tricky thing to do so that it doesn't look too Christmas-y. It might look Christmas-y but I like it anyway. I'm going to keep painting pears for a while. I'm sure it can only help to paint the same thing over and over. The challenge will be to keep them interesting.