Thursday, May 21, 2009

"The Long Road" 12" x 16" oil on canvas

Another image from my Barkerville series. This one is adapted from a very cool old black and white postcard taken of one of the men who spent days hiking overland on foot to the gold fields in Barkerville. This guy seems to have just collapsed with exhaustion and layed down on the ground for a nap. I loved the image, and it worked well in color.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Senorita

"Senorita" 9" x 12" oil on canvas

I have to try to get a better photo of this one, without the blur and the glare, but nonetheless, it's still one of my favorite paintings to date. I'm getting better with the loose brushstrokes, and this one literally flew off of the brush. It was really inspiring to achieve exactly what I was going for in this painting. It doesn't happen for me that often. The looseness worked, the colors worked...and thanks very much for the great contributors at WetCanvas for the great reference photo.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bookworm kitty cat aceo original art by Tahirih Goffic

"Bookworm" 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO oil on canvas paper

This is one of the ACEO's I sold last week on ebay.
Check out my new listings on Tuesday night. I should have a bunch more.
I enjoy doing these little paintings. I can get the great feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a painting, but in an hour instead of a week. It's a nice break sometimes, and they sell like hotcakes, too. It's a nice way to make a few extra bucks every week.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Randy Hall

"Randy" 12" x 12" oil on canvas

This is my husband's son, Randy. He's a handsome guy, and he looked so intense in this pose that I thought I'd try to capture his intensity.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Hula Girl

"Hula Girl" 9"x 12" oil on canvas

I took the photo for this one last winter in Maui at the Children's Hula in Lahaina. Although it was indoors, the light through the skylights was very dramatic, and I was able to get a lot of great shots. The sun shining today made me feel "Mauish", so I thought I'd post this painting, which I did a few weeks ago in a frenzy of creativity. I think I completed six paintings that week, all larger ones, too. I'm sure most of them will eventually end up on this blog, too.
I'm starting to feel a little like I'm coming out of the darkness of an extremely long and difficult winter. The weather is warmer, the grass is starting to come up, and I have tulips! It makes me feel like painting again, and dancing, and smiling...all that good stuff.
Happy Spring!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"Miss Wendle~Barkerville" 16 x 20" oil on canvas

Here's another of the previously "undercover" Barkerville paintings. I really liked the challenge with this one. The wrinkles in her shirt, the lace of the curtains, and the wallpaper patterning all gave me quite the hassle, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the result, although the paint took on a weird sheen in the far left where the glare is. The photo has quite a glare on the left hand side from the sheen that's not really there, though. I have to re-take all of my art photos now that I have the use of a good camera.

Monday, April 13, 2009

St. Saviour's Anglican Church

"St. Saviour's - Barkerville" 18" x 24" oil on canvas

Well, at this point my involvement in the Inside Barkerville project has been put on hiatus, my I now feel free to post some of the paintings I did for it. It consumed a lot of my time, and I finished a lot of work during that period. I am grateful for the experience, and the practice in illustration, but I doubt very much that I'll go back to this exacting style of painting. Nevertheless, I did turn out a few good paintings, and this one was one of the most challenging. I don't have much experience with buildings, and painting straight edges, and I am pleased with how it ended up.