"Celebrate"

"Celebrate", Pastel on velour, 18" x 16"

"Celebrate" is #3 in my series "Paint What You Love".  The first two have my dog, Fancy, in them.  The idea for it came to me because I had received 1st. place awards for the first two, and I wanted her to get a 1st. place award for painting me, aka Fancy's mother.  If you don't catch on to that--I posed like in the famous painting, Whistler's Mother".  I have a lot of referance photos of Fancy, but not one of her jumping.  So, I took time to learn more about a dog's anatomy and did several sketches to see if the proportions were right.  I also took more photos of her in various positions.  Poor thing--she couldn't lay down for a nap without me bothering her.

"Celebrate" is currently in the Canyon Lake Art Guild's, Lasting Impressions Show, at the New Braunfel's Art Gallery, in New Braunfels, Texas, through Mar. 30th..

ENJOY!!

"Paint What You Love", Pastel, 16"x20"

"Have Fun", Pastel, 20"x16"

"MoonPie" Shined for Me

I am happy to share that my painting, "MoonPie", was awarded 1st. Place/Drawing Media, in the current show at New Braunfels Art League, put on by the Canyon Lake Art Guild.  The show, Lasting Impressions, will be there until March 30th..  Try to go see--there is some beautiful work displayed.  Thanks again, Molly Jackson White, for letting me paint MoonPie.  Thanks, also, to Lyn Belisle, our wonderful judge.  Be sure to check out her wonderful work at Lyn Belisle Art Studio on FaceBook.

"MoonPie", Pastel, 10" x 8"

Some pictures of my paintings have been published!

How exciting it is to see pictures of my paintings published in a book, especially alongside beautiful works of amazing and talented artists.  It was put together by a great team of artists of the Canyon Lake Art Guild.  So Professionally done and I am so happy to have it displayed on my coffee table!!

It can be viewed and purchased, by going to:  www.canyonlakeartguild.com

A New Venue

I don't know about you, but I sure enjoy waking up in the morning with a good cup of coffee in one of my favorite coffee cups.  I have several--most of them from someplace I have traveled.  Then there is my clear glass coffee cup--an all time favorite.  I just added one more, and possibly three.

I have put four of my paintings on a 11 oz. mug, ordered from ZAZZLE, at www.zazzle.com.  I LOVE THEM!!  They came out great.  I will be retailing them for only $20 (includes tax), plus shipping.  They will make great stocking stuffers for Christmas, and a good year round gift.  I personally think the Llama ones would be great for men.  Everybody likes unique coffee cups!  Just email me if interested.  Can you guess which one has become my new favorite?  "Paint What You Love".  I have already received orders for them--going to have to order more :)!

"Paint What You Love" 

"Worn Traveler"

"Llamacita"

"Llamacita Wants A Kiss"

I will probably be adding more designs on the mugs, plus some other products.  Stay tuned!!

"Moonpie"

"Moonpie", Pastel on pastelmat (buttercup), 10"x8"

An acquaintance/friend of mine, Molly White, from New Braunfels Art League and Facebook, posted a photo of Moonpie (a friend's goat).  Several of us asked if we could paint her and Molly said yes, and made it a challenge.  We were to post our finished paintings and see what everyone did.  THANKS, Molly!!  I really enjoyed painting her.

"Evening Grazin"

The minute I received the photos from my second cousin, Heath Crumley, I was inspired!  I loved the sunsets, but with the horses in them, really added a lot.  He took them out his back door.  Wouldn't you love to look out your back door and see that?!  WOW!!  Just had to do a painting!  What an inspiration!!  Thanks Heath, for generously sharing them with me.

I didn't take very many w.i.p. shots, so I'll tell my thinking process.  I decided on my composition, where I wanted the viewer to look first.  Then I studied the horses, ending up flipping two of them and resizing one(to show distance).  I added a windmill and the two trees.  I made up my own sunset by observing a lot of sunset photos, and I wanted the sun setting behind the horse to give a good contrast, to attract the viewer's eye.

This is my first sunset, and now have a couple of more ideas in mind.  Enjoy!!  Thanks for reading.

This painting is currently showing in the New Braunfels Art League Gallery's "Texas" show, from June 30th. to July 30th..

referance photo

referance photo

midway work in progress

"Evening Grazin", Pastel, 12"x16"

"Lamacita Wants A Kiss"

I enjoyed doing the first "Llmacita" so much, I had to do another one!  Photo ref. is one I took when we visited Linda and Jeff Mueller, last year.  (See previous post).

"Llamacita Wants A Kiss", Pastel, 8"x6"

Here are some work in progress shots:

referance photo

Thought my sky was too light, so blued it some.  Something was still bothering me about it, so put it in my colored pencil app. and darkened the sky.  That did make Llamacita stand out more.  So, I added trees in the app. and liked the effect.  

On the painting, I made the sky more turquoise (more complementary to the llama's color).  Then I added the trees.  The painting then said it was finished.

Thanks for looking!!

"Llamacita"

I would like to introduce you to "Llamacita".  It was love at first sight!!  This llama has personality!!  My husband and I visited his best friend, Skeet, last Oct., at Wallis, Texas.  Skeet is now living at his daughter(Linda) and husband's(Jeff) place and they have dogs, rabbits, cattle, chickens, etc., and "Llamacita".  We had a great time and I took a lot of referance photos.  If Jon and I had any acreage, I would definitely be tempted to have a llama.  They are so proud looking, the way they hold their head, and very protective.  Linda has sent me some more referance photos, and I am chopping at the bit to do another one, maybe even larger, and whole body.

Enjoy!!

"Llamacita", Pastel, 8"x6"