Just off the easel - "Sunrise over Vashon Island."  24" x 30" Oil.  This is the first painting I have done in 11 months.  It felt good to get the paints out again and George really did help paint this one.  We have had a lot of smokey air in the NW the last few weeks - all the colors - sunrise, sunset, moon, are much more intense than normal.

Just sold - "Winter Pansies."  I have always loved this one - the plate with the fish was very difficult to paint - glad it has a new home.

I have sold several paintings at Gallery Row in Gig Harbor, WA during the last few months - inventory getting low. Maybe time to get out the brushes.  Selling Mom's Tulips was bittersweet. George took the reference photo when we visited La Conner on my Mom's 91st birthday.  It took me several years to get around to painting it.

"Big Yellow"

"Doc"

"Montana Spring" used "Road Home" as a study for this larger painting.

"Mom's Tulips" 

"The Wave"

As some of you know, I lost my dear husband very suddenly a few months ago.  Life will never be the same and neither will my paint brushes.  I have had trouble picking them up - not something he would be happy about.

Sold  Road Home - 11" x 14" Oil on Linen panel

Sold The World Needs More Sunflowers 2 - 8" x 16" Oil on panel

Sold Salt River Cliffs - 8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Sold  The World Needs More Sunflowers - 30" x 40" Oil on canvas
I have been tweaking this painting on and off for the last year - it has gone to a wonderful home in California of collectors and dear friends.

This was the week for peony paintings.  Sold my last one Friday - I need to get back into doing more florals.  This one will be shipped to a collector in California.  Heading up to my dear friend Cathryn's garden to cut some of her black eyed susan's - had fun painting them last year.
"Summer Peonies" 24" x 24"

Sold "Sweet Peonies" to a new collector in Gig Harbor, Washington. My brush is feeling rusty this summer with a lot activities and visitors.  Back to doing a few rose studies in the garden while they are still beautiful.

This painting sold yesterday.  "Forgotten Rose" 8" x 10" - oil on panel. This has been a great year for rose paintings - the reference for this one was a rose from my Arizona garden.  I really am nuts about flowers in general and especially roses. Time to paint more.

I have been working on this painting for some time.  Since we live by the water, I am always intrigued by boats and how they sit and reflect in the water.  The reference photo for this is actually a small harbor in Cornwall, England.  I know my dear cousin Kenneth will enjoy this.

This painting of "Sunflowers" sold last week.  I painted it about three years ago when I was doing more formal still lifes.  I had it in our home and decided it was time to take it to the gallery at the Mesa Arts Center in Arizona.  I am very happy that it has found a new home.

My dear grandson Alden is a terrific photographer.  He sent me a photo he took in the woods close to his home in New York.  I absolutely loved the imaged and recently painted it.  This is an 8" x 10" - I am thinking of doing a larger one from the same reference. The photo on top and the painting on the bottom.

The following paintings just sold.  "In the Sticks" - became interested in the stick houses that reside on the water in the Northwest - took many, many photos - this one is about a mile from our house.

And, "Elizabeth's Sunflowers."  A dear friend sent me several photos she took last year of sunflower fields - I could not resist painting them.

Painted "Here She Comes" from a photo I took in January from our deck in the Northwest looking at Vashon Island.

Several years ago, my husband took some amazing photos of the tulips in La Conner, Washington.  I finally got around to painting them this week - just in time for spring.

Painted these sunflowers from an image some friends sent last summer. Enjoyed painting this size, 8" x 16".  Playing around with another one with a bit different composition.

Just finished "Nuts about Geraniums" 10" x 20" Oil on Canvas.  I decided I wanted to tackle a clay pot filled with geraniums, focusing mostly on the pot and the leaves.  I did not expect the pot to be so difficult to paint.  It took many tries, with lots of scraping in between.  I think it was the under painting of some blue that did the trick.

Just off the easel "Sentimental Geraniums" 18" x 18" Oil on Canvas

First sale of 2016.  "Peaceful Water"  purchased by the President of Midwestern University for one of their two campuses.  Often artists are not told who buys their artwork.  Really nice to know.

The following paintings sold in the last month Dancing Pansies and Manchester.  Great to see the art market so active.

The following paintings recently sold, "Hot Cocoa," and "Coronado Roses."  Hot Cocoa was painted from roses of the same name from my garden in the Northwest.  They were at the end of a cycle, drooping and changing color quickly.  Coronado Roses was painted on the island of Coronado in California, this past July.  It was a family vacation - I was able to sneak in some painting time during a rain storm.

 

 

I learned a lot from this painting.  Always take a photo of your reference.  I had a panel that I wanted to reuse - set up a few flowers and leaves - painted for a couple of hours - then set it aside.  A few days later, the flowers long since past their prime - and no photo to look at - I went into the garden, found an almost dead sunflower bud, some lazy Susan stems with no leaves and let my imagination take over.  I am very pleased with the result...

I spent last weekend plein air painting in Snoqualmie and Seattle on the docks.  The weather was perfect. 

I painted this "shed" the first day.  The light was terrific and I could not resist the addition of the red can.

The next day by the river the air was very misty and there was a lot of smoke from the wildfires several hundred miles south.  The result was a very subdued painting.  I added a few hard edges to take the eye back, but kept the composition and the palette, much like the day, subdued.

The Seattle fisheries dock provided lots of opportunities to paint.  In the morning, I painted an old boat that had seen better days, the hull had originally been painted a turquoise blue, which showed through a lot of rust.  In the afternoon, I turned my easel and painted a large yellow truck - such fun.  This one painted itself!

 

 

 

I have many rose bushes in my NW garden - one of the most remarkable is "Hot Cocoa."  The buds are a dark pinky violet, as they begin to open they turn to orange and then a rusty tone. With the recent hot weather the roses are not lasting as long as usual.  I picked these yesterday and they were turning color and drooping as quickly as I was painting them.  It's parents are Playboy and Easy Living - this particular bush is between the two.  Over the years I often see roses take on the characters of other roses beside them, a white becoming pink, etc.  One of the things I love about gardening!

Just returned from a family vacation in Coronado, California.  Not much time to paint, more fun being a Grandma.  During a huge rainstorm I was able to take a few hours and paint some roses I had spied in a neighbors garden.  No matter how many times I paint roses - it always seems like the first.

I recently launched a new website and have made a commitment to blog more frequently.

The idea for this painting began last summer - a few miles from our home in the Northwest is a lovely garden - each August it boasts amazing sunflowers.  I took several photos last year - some in the evening - the result is this painting - "Full Moon" 30"x40" Oil on canvas.