"And For You?"

6"x6"

Acrylic on Board
contact River Bend Fine Art Gallery for purchase information

I spent the day finishing up framing for my show, so didn't get to paint. I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to bring back a little painting I did over a year ago. I had painted this subject in oils a few months earlier and was curious to see how it would be to use acrylics instead. I was pleased with my efforts, but I have to admit that I just prefer the oils. I still have this thought, though, that someday I will switch over! We'll see!

"At the Ore House #3" (sold)

6"x8"

Oil 0n Board

$125 plus $10 domestic s/h

After yesterday's painting, I wanted to try a couple of different things: opening up the composition, trying to do a better job with the values and try using a simplified color scheme. I looked at my photo and saw that I'd cropped it to fit a square format and realized I like this rectangular composition better. Then I worked really hard getting the values down and liked how it looked (the 2nd photo). Then I started completing the shapes, adding lights and darks. Frankly, I wish I could figure out how to keep more of the composition I started with! I like the strength and values of the just-blocked-in painting. Seems like the more detail I added, the more "watered down" the whole thing became. I used pthalo blue, white and cad yellow, cad yellow deep, cad orange and the cad reds. I enjoyed exploring!

"Seen at the Byways Cafe" (sold)

11"x14"

Oil on Board

NFS at this time

This has been a blessed day. I opened my emails this morning to have received so much encouragement from some of you after yesterday's post. Jeff Boron (visit his site through the link on the right) commisserated as he said how as he and his wife, Linny, are getting ready for a show, too, that "fun paintings turn into nightmares and the bad spirits are having a party"!! A couple of things came to mind: one is seeing and appreciating the community of bloggers and the other is seeing that this enterprise takes some humility and acceptance of where I am--can't be anywhere else!

Anyway, this painting is finished and I am grateful for the opportunity to do it! It is from a visit to this cafe in Portland, OR.

Also, I am adding some other bloggers you might want to look up to my list of daily painters. Karin Jurick was my first inspiration to do this work--she is truly amazing in her portrayal of everyday events and people. Laine Lea is working with colored pencil and exploring different subjects. Don Gray has an exquisite series of ocean waves he's been working on along with other subjects. Lyn Feudner has some lovely watercolors of cactus and fruit. Craig and Tanya Amberson have fun paintings of animals--lots of dogs--and they offer some of the proceeds of their sales to helping animals. Mary Sheehan Winn works in a variety of media creating still lifes and landscapes.