The Storyteller ~ man playing flamenco guitar

The Storyteller ~ 5" x 7" oil on board

For sale at Daily Paintworks 

Bid Here

Confession: I've always had a thing for musicians… ;) I even ended up marrying one!  Lol!  I remember being a little girl, and watching my dad's fingers on the strings and just being in awe, tingling with excitement that such a beautiful sound could come from his fingers. The fascination has never left me. I'm the girl in the corner of the bar, sketchbook open, trying to capture some of their passion on paper instead of dancing. Not a few musicians discovered my habit, and own little sketches. Musicians open up their heart and soul to you, on stage, in person and I find it awe inspiring, raw, vulnerable and brave. I feel that they are most themselves when they're up there, and I want to capture that.

(reference photo attribution: Rich Anderson)

Going Away

Going Away ~ 6" x 6" oil on board

For sale at DailyPaintworks

BID NOW  (bidding starts Nov. 11)

It's getting colder…and colder…the frost hasn't left my yard in three days, and the wood stove has been burning furiously, trying to keep the chill off my new home.  Did I tell you we moved? It is a lovely house that my husband built with his dad about 35 years ago. It's big and solid and cozy with three bedrooms and two fireplaces and lots of quirky artistic details. I think his dad was a closet artist ;) Much too manly to admit it, but when I look at some of the love and attention to detail in this house, I can tell, although I never knew him.

Nevertheless, when the weather gets colder, all I can think about is travelling. Years ago I found this image on flickr and fell in love…I promptly emailed the photographer HaoJan Chang, who graciously gave me permission. When I see this, I'm filled with longing, expectation, excitement…all of the emotions that an upcoming trip can bring…it's a perfect image for how I'm feeling lately and I just had to capture it in paint. 

White Bisons and Music Festivals

White Bison ~ 6" x 6" oil on hardboard panel

For sale starting July 31st on Daily Paintworks

BID HERE

I finally had a whole four hours to paint yesterday! What a concept! In the last month I've had a mural to complete, four farmer's markets to make jewelry and baking for, three different sets of family visiting, three to four days a week at my "regular" job, and volunteering for the Art's Council, plus two kids to take to swimming lessons every day, a cottage to rent out, three specialty cakes this week and a normal household to look after. Wow! Summer! We look forward to it all year, and then it goes by so fast that we feel like we missed all the beautiful weather. 

But a whole four hours to paint by myself, with nobody around, was bliss :)

Here's one of the reasons you haven't seen much of me in the last little while. But I'm done, and proud if I do say so myself! It looks much better in real life...the surrounding cedar walls give the whole thing a bit of an unpleasant yellow tone.

                               

Bella Coola Music Festival Mural 10 ft x 20 ft

(He will be sitting on a piece of crown moulding instead of floating in space when the new door is installed)

Voice of the Wildnerness ~ Howling wolf painting

Voice of the Wilderness ~ 6" x 6" oil on hardboard panel

For sale at Daily Paintworks, click here to BID

You know those days when you just can't wake up? The alarm goes off, and your eyes creak open like a rusty door. Your body feels like a piece of waterlogged oak, and your brain feels like oatmeal? There's no excuse, no one to blame. No late night party or bottle of wine...I'm having one of those days. My eyes are half open as I type, and I'm already on my third yawn, even before I'm done the first paragraph. The one thing that I successfully accomplished today was this painting! It seems that my brain works fine on autopilot...Yay! I didn't have to think much at all for this one. An amazing wildlife photographer, who is a previous collector of mine, graciously offered up his artistry with the lens by suggesting I paint this photo he took of a wolf in Yellowstone. So really he did the easy part for me. All I had to do was paint what was in front of me. 

The Prince ~ Young bull elk in velvet

The Prince ~ 6" x 6" oil on hardboard panel

This little guy was a challenge from a fan to paint a white elk on a white background. I initially didn't think that I could do him justice, as my thought was that his antlers wouldn't fit. But at this angle, with his new velvet, the proportions worked perfectly.
For sale now on Daily Paintworks ~ Click HERE to bid

You Know You're An Artist When...

He Came out of the Fog ~ 6" x 6" oil on hardboard panel

Bid in the Daily Paintworks Auction  HERE

Have you ever notice that as an artist, you really do see the world differently than most people?

Almost everything on this list applies to me!

1. You know what shade of green the kale in your garden is.
2. There are multicoloured fingerprints on your phone, computer, countertop...
3. You accidentally clean your brushes in your coffee
4. You actually do judge a book by its cover
5. The highlights in your hair are from your palette, not Clairol
6. When travelling from one place to another you spend the whole time analyzing the color mixtures in the landscape instead of enjoying the scenery
7. When you get caught staring at people, but it's not because you're checking them out, it's because your trying to figure out the value of the shadow on the side of their face, or the exact shade of purple under their nose...
8. You long to be alone with your thoughts while others are lonely without much thought.
9. You go to the store and wonder why everyone is staring, only to come home and realize you had red paint on your face.
10. You consider things like showers and eating extremely annoying because they keep you from your easel.

Namaste ~ a Bengal Tiger in Hawaii

 Namaste ~ 6"x6" oil on hardboard panel

Bid Now in the Daily Paintworks Auction

Namaste is the white Bengal Tiger that lives at the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo in Hilo Hawaii. I have to say, I am opposed to wild animals being penned up, it is too un-natural and cruel as far as I'm concerned. But...it was an opportunity to show our kids something they would never get to see otherwise. Namaste was injured while we were there, and quite docile, but I was still able to get a few pictures of him before he decided to hide in his enclosure. 

Here is a in progress demo so you can see a few of the steps I take to create a painting like this. Usually the background of the reference photos are busy, or too colorful, or just plain bad, so I like to make a plain light or dark background. 

When I'm painting a portrait, whether a person or animal, I feel that zooming in close and getting rid of the background makes the subject the most important, and gives them a sense of individual character and personality.

The whole painting took me about 2 and a half hours.

Stage 2 ~ one hour in

Stage 1 ~ 20 minutes in