Crazy On You

I think the title says it all - a girl and her big bear dog:)

Free form...

Here's one that's all about FUN! I used to do this a lot and remember the wonderful feeling of seeing everything in a different way and the way my hair felt hanging upside down:) This girl's smile said it all...

Renewal

With thought to the coming New Year the idea I had when painting this was renewal... renewing hope, love, and my commitment to taking good care of myself and those around me.

Finding Divinity in everyday moments...

There are moments of divinity in every day. Stopping to notice and appreciate those moments makes life so much richer. Art has really helped me pay attention to those still and quiet divine moments...

sold

Lavender Road

I painted this last night - listening to the snow melt.

Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed our traditional shrimp curry Christmas dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's beautiful new house on Christmas Eve. I wish all of you the very best of the season and a much better year to come in 2009!

More thoughts of spring...

Here's another indulgence in thinking about spring on a very cold and snowy winter night... It helps to remember that spring and her bountiful fresh produce will once again arrive:)

Sold

Sunbathing

I enjoyed painting this nice warm sunny painting today - while looking out my studio window at our Winter Wonderland here on Cornet Bay:)

Sold

Hark! The Hairy Angels Sing

This is really my last Christmas painting for 2008...

Sold

Santa's Arrival...

Here's my last Christmas painting for 2008...I just listed it on Ebay. Snow has arrived here on Whidbey Island!

Sold

A special occasion...

This painting celebrates one month of finally "putting my mouth where my heart is" and becoming vegetarian. For years I've been feeling guilty about loving animals and at the same time eating animals. I am now one month in to eating mostly grains, vegetables and beans with some occasional seafood. I feel so good - both physically and spiritually:) This is NOT a judgement on anyone but myself...

Just throw it...

This is my Different Strokes For Different Folks painting. If you don't get it - ask your dog:) If I'm wearing work boots it means I'm outside playing in the garden and the dirt and that is just what my dogs love best... So this one is for Dusty and Rainey and the ever present and ever glorious "red ball"!

All is calm

This is a 5"X7" watercolor pencil painting of Dusty enjoying a moment of rest among all the holiday bustle...

Sold

Nibblefest for December

This is a little ACEO that I created with colored pencil for this month's Nibblefest contest. The theme is chickens so I chose to paint a "Hip Chick". It doesn't start until the 20th so I'm way ahead of myself ... weird:)

Sold

You and me on Santa's Knee

This was painted from an old photo of me and my brother Steve making our Christmas wishes known on Santa's knee. I don't get to see him very often and painting this I just really miss him... If I could sit on Santa's lap right now my wish would be that this year I will get to spend some time with my brother.

Another Day in Paradise

This was a fun commission painted for a co-worker of mine. She wanted her cat Katie to be lying on the beach with a palm tree... wa-la - here she is doing just that:) Wish I was there sitting next to her!

Sold

Take Time

I've been trying out my watercolor pencil set lately and decided to try a landscape. I think they're better for more detailed paintings rather than these kind of loose, more blended type of images but it was fun to give it a try...I'm a forever student enjoying experimenting. The truth is I just love art supplies:) I've been making a lot of little landscape bookmarks and this was just a little bigger version of the same kind of image.

Morning Meditation

This is my entry for the Different Strokes for Different Folks weekly blog by Karin Jurick. Once again this week's challenge was something really different for me and I really enjoyed the loose painting of the flowers set against the more detailed statue.

Celebrate Good Times

I got to paint at Stoney Beach Studio today - yay!! As always - we had a great time painting the afternoon away. This was the first of two paintings I did. I'm a big fan of illustrative style artwork and that is what this feels like to me. The title comes from the song of the same name. A woman, a dog, a glass of champagne - sounds like a celebration to me:)

Sold

Our Finest Gift We Bring

Dusty and Rainey bring their finest gift to set before the King...pa-rum-pa-pum-pum:) This might be my Christmas card for 2008...

Sold

Rainey and me

I started this by doing a pretty detailed graphite sketch then tried out my new Graphitint pencils to add some color but I just have a small set and not the colors I really needed so I got out my mondo set of Derwent watercolor pencils and had a blast painting Rainey and me sitting on the couch. I love how one half of her face looks like it's sound asleep and the other side her eye is wide open:) My husband took the reference photo and I've been wanting to paint it for a few weeks so it was fun to finally have a few hours to do it. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I think I might have to try another watercolor pencil painting... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Sold

November's Nibblefest contest

"Noel"

This will be my entry for November's Nibblefest contest. The theme is Christmas trees. The listing will start at 5:30 tomorrow night and run for a week. The rules are that each listing starts at only 99 cents and the winner is the item with the most individual bids from different bidders "nibbles". I really enjoy the creative challenge each month.

Sold

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by My Different Strokes buddies Dominique http://artbydominiqueeichi.blogspot.com/
and Irit http://www.iritbourla.blogspot.com/ whose tagged factoids I enjoyed reading very much - thanks you two!! Yikes - and my A4C buddy Akiko tagged me too http://artbyakiko.blogspot.com/ - thanks Akiko - I can't wait to go and read your 7 facts:)

Ok - here are my (hopefully) interesting or unusual facts:
1. I've always loved playing the piano - at the age of 17 I passed all the tests to earn my Washington Piano Teachers Certification and taught lessons until I went away to college.

2. I worked for 10 years as a licensing director for a poster company - for one of our poster projects I got to meet with Jean Claude Van Damme at his house. After our meeting he kissed my hand good-bye - swoon...he's much shorter in person but still extremely good looking:)

3. I LOVE animals and share my life with 2 Australian Cattledogs, a Maine coon cat, 2 goldfish and the many wild critters I feed. I'm honored to be a juried member of two groups of artists that donate part of our ebay sales to animal charity organizations - A4C (Art For Critters) and AUAR (Artists United for Animal Rescue).

4. My husband and I were married on my birthday 15 years ago. He claims it's easier to only have to remember one date :)

5. I've lived in some unusual places - we lived on a boat for a year and we lived in and drove a semi-truck for 3 years.

6. One of my other favorite things is singing - I've sung in many choirs including our jazz choir in high school, then the BYU Women's Choir and more recently our local women's barbershop choir.

7. If I had been born a boy my mom was planning to name me Wilfred - just one of many reasons I thank goodness I'm a girl!!

I'm going to have to give some thought to who my 7 people to tag will be:)

Thanks for the fun Irit & Dominique and Akiko too!!

Skagit valley pastel

I took a reference photo awhile ago that I really loved - I have a feeling that I'm going to have to paint it several times before I really do it justice - here's my first study.

Off to take the dogs for a walk... then I'm working on some watercolor bookmarks to give as gifts for the annual Christmas tea.

Finished lighthouse painting

Here is the San Juan island lighthouse all finished and in the light of day:)

Ok, now what...

On the table - a work in progress

5"X7" watercolor


Here's what I'm working on this morning while sipping my coffee. I try to spend about 10 or 15 minutes each morning here in my studio before I get ready for work. I'm going out for dinner tonight but I hope to finish this lighthouse painting up tomorrow morning - yay Saturday's almost here:)

Driving

This is a self portrait of me driving through the Skagit Valley. It was a beautiful Fall afternoon and I was enjoying every minute of it - driving and taking pictures along the way! I was originally drawing this as a sketch to paint over with watercolors but really enjoyed just drawing away with my graphite pencils and decided to leave it as it is.

Breakthrough

This one is just for fun. I've had this concept in my head for awhile and finally decided to put pencil and paint to it this afternoon. I wish I'd made the grey horse breaking free a little smaller...oh well - it's done now.

Me and My Shadow

This is my Different Strokes From Different Folks attempt for this week. The reference photo was from Karin Jurick's blog - thank you Karin for giving us a new challenge each week!

Commission portrait

I should have taken the picture before I put the painting in the plastic holder but this is the watercolor portrait I just finished for a friend at work. These are her sister's two yorkie's - so cute:)

Sold

Hand painted pottery

Last weekend I went with my friend Heather and her two kids to paint some pottery. They painted ornaments and I painted this plate and a big salad bowl. You never know when you paint with the glazes exactly what they're going to turn out like once they're fired in the kiln but I was happy with both things I painted this time. This one is listed on ebay this week under my seller ID Hissnhowl and I think the other one is going to be a gift.

Sold

DSFDF painting for this week

Here is my attempt at this week's Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. I'm really enjoying getting to know some of the amazing artists that participate in this weekly blog by Karin Jurick. And many of the subjects, including this week's photo are subjects I would never otherwise paint - I really like the challenge of finding a way to put my own spin on each week's topic. My initial reaction is usually - "No way - I can't paint that" - then by about Saturday it changes to "How can I paint that?" And then - usually on Sunday I just start trying it...

Interupted Sleep

Rainey and Marley were sleeping quite comfortably on the dog bed until I came by and tried to take a picture... You'll just have to take my word for it - they really do sleep here together all the time - sorry Rainey & Marley I know it's embarrassing for both of you but it's true:) One of these days I'll sneek up on them so quietly they won't notice and capture the moment.

Morning Sunshine

I used to paint a lot of these little "roomscapes"in colored pencil but haven't done one for awhile and had the urge to try another - this time in watercolor. I originally had painted the walls a real violet purple but it seemd out of place with the warm colors in the bedding so I toned it down quite a bit and was much happier with it.

For Passion Horse Ranch

This is a little miniature 2 1/2"X3 1/2" acrylic on gesso primed masonite ACEO painting I did awhile ago and have been waiting for the right opportunity to list it for a horse charity. I just listed it for Passion Horse Ranch to help them raise the money to rescue 2 horses that are in need. It is listed through AUAR - Artists United for Animal Rescue which is a group of ebay artists with a commitment to help animals through the sale of our artwork and photography. 100% of the proceeds will go to Passion Horse.

Sold

Can't stop painting my sweet girl Rainey...

I got out my very unusual rough thick handmade watercolor paper today and painted Rainey sitting in her corner of the couch. This paper is definitely NOT for control freaks - it's like painting on cotton balls... for most of the painting I used a very wet on wet technique and the paint just shot out wherever it wanted to go - a very interesting and for me - fun process. I think it made for some nice shapes and textures and I'm pretty happy with the result. This one is 8"X8" and I also cut out some little 4"X4" squares that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

Speaking of Rainey - it's goreous outside this afternoon and she and Dusty are itching to get out in it so off we go...

Sold

Psalms on Sunday morning...

I started yesterday painting over the experimental preparation I did for this piece. It is on Richeson 275 lb watercolor paper which I primed with gesso and tried started to paint over but it was so slippery that the paint had trouble adhering so I just randomly put some oil color over the gesso and let that dry completely before starting this painting. The blue in the sky and the dark blue/green of the distant mountains are part of the underpainting showing through.

When I finished the piece I was looking for a title and decided it would be appropriate for a Sunday morning to go through my favorite passages in the bible - Psalms and I found a verse that seemed so right for the feeling of this piece -

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my
voice;
in the morninng I lay my requests
before you
and wait in expectation.
Psalm 5:3

Welcome Sweet Avery

My friend Stephanie and her husband just sent me some photos of their beautiful baby girl - Avery Lorraine. I couldn't resist doing a little watercolor sketch of her on a card to send to them. She was blessed with her mom's beautiful dark thick hair -lucky girl!

Windsor & Newton watercolors on a watercolor notecard.

One Moo Moon

I tried yet another new product this morning - Aquabord. It's watercolor paper mounted on an ampersand board. It was really different than painting on regular watercolor paper and I really liked it! No worrying about needing to prepare it or tape it down...very nice.

This is my entry for this week's Different Strokes Blog by Karin Jurick. I was so pleased to see it was an animal photo this week...ahhh a little more comfortable subject matter for me:)

Ok - off to do the necessary Saturday morning housework and a birthday party this afternoon but I hope to fit some art in there somewhere...

Thanks for looking at my blog!

Different Strokes painting for this week

This was actually a two week project instead of the usual one week on Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. I just did a very small bit of the reference photo and put it on the front page of the newpaper. I really had a hard time knowing what to do with this one. These assignments are really challenging:)

Nibblefest time!

The theme for October's Nibblefest is Tribal. I painted "Tribal Dusty" - a new look for my Australian Cattledog Dusty - but filled with red balls and milkbones to make sure he's comfortable with his new look:)

Nibblefest is a monthly contest on ebay - with every piece of art starting at only 99 cents. The idea is to get as many individual unique bidders to take "nibbles" and get as many bids as you can.

This piece will be up on ebay tomorrow morning at 10:00.

Sold

Asleep in the Hay

I showed the reference photo for this painting in an earlier blog. I've been wanting to paint it ever since I took the photo at the Washington Fair in Puyallup. This little cowgirl just looked so peaceful and sweet sleeping in the hay next to her cows. I really enjoyed the day painting her:)

Graphite drawing for Humane Society of the US

This morning I couldn't resist drawing sweet baby Boomer - safe in his dad's arm. They are all so lucky and blessed to have found each other:) My friends just adopted him from our Whidbey Island animal shelter and he is just the sweetest guy... I just listed it on ebay to benefit the Human Society so they can help some other sweet animal kids find their homes.

Commissioned work

This is a portrait I just finished of my dear friend's grandaughter. It's Windsor & Newton watercolor on Fabriano hot press watercolor paper and will be matted to 11"X14". Crossing my fingers she likes it:)

Sold

Hanging basket from Whistler

I went with some friends to Whistler - north of us in Canada - a few weekends ago. This basket was in the Upper Village - right next to the wonderful outdoor Sunday market. I was actually taking a picture of some dogs (my friends who were there with me will vouch for the fact that few dogs escaped my picture taking efforts:) but above where the dogs and their owner were standing was this lovely basket.

Card making class

Yesterday I did something kind of different for me and took a card making class. It was really fun just to play with different papers, ribbons, tools... I really had a good time - and these are the fruits of my "labors".