Big Red

Since I'm rather tired of looking at the abstract I painted for my son, and since I'm not finished with 3 paintings I am working on right now, I thought I'd post a favorite until I can get my act together and finish something.

My friend, Rose Gesford, (who is possibly my biggest "fan"), added this guy to her collection of roosters and it looks great on her wall. It's very gratifying when a friend wants to purchase one of your paintings...especially when they are watercolorists themselves.

Big Red is actually the "man" of my chicken ranch (the Texas girls from Artcolony have named my place so aptly). For those of you who know nothing about how really stupid chickens are in general...the hens don't even go into the chicken house at night unless he leads them. Such a funny sight to watch them around sundown as you might call it "single file, Indian style". I do have other little bantam roosters, but Big Red is King of the Roost for sure.

Untitled Abstract

Thought I'd show you an abstract that I painted for my son yesterday. Please keep in mind...I don't do abstracts!!! I'm a very realistic painter at heart, but when your son needs a painting and his mother happens to be an artist...he gets a painting. It is an acrylic, 30 x 40 in size which is large for me, and was done strictly for the colors that they use in their home. I'm so partial to reds and brighter colors that this was somewhat challenging in color selection, but they needed a really contemporary painting to go in their really contemporary home. We actually found a similar piece in a home decorating magazine and decided that this banded color technique would work really well...so...this will fit in perfectly in the hills of north Austin.

Ritzy Rose Finished

This probably has to be some sort of record for me...posting a finished piece so soon after putting the brush down. All this red really needs to settle a bit in my mind's eye, and then...we'll see. My rule is to live with a painting for a bit and if nothing "bothers" me, then I know I'm done. It's just those little things that we can fiddle with and fiddle with that make an artist crazy!

This is quarter sheet, Arches #140 paper, and mostly AJ paints (think I've shared this before).

Ritzy Rose WIP

I'm still struggling with these silly stripes on Ritzy Rose. I'm ignoring them for a while as I've really wanted to get to the little teapot. So, now I'm looking at the stripes again in the reflection of the bottom of the teapot. They start there at the cloth and fade upward into the reds...I'm guessing that this will take several glazes with the different reds even after I put the stripes in...stay tuned...

Ruidoso Daisies

When we were in Ruidoso, we were luckey enough to be there on the weekend when they were having an art tour. Seven fabulous homes were on display with local artists (3 or 4 in each home) displaying their art...was a real treat. These daisies and butterfly bush blossoms(budalleia..sp?) were in one of the gardens. Since it is in a mountainous area, they aren't bothered by the heat like we are in Texas so their gardens were in full blast. I used lots of masking...more than I've ever used before...so I could get a continuous flow with a really dark "drop in" background. This is quarter sheet Arches #140...as usual...and a rather limited palette.

Ruidiso Colors

This photo crop is a little bit off, but I think I'm finished with Ruidoso Colors. I started to go in with a really deep, dark background, but have sorta changed my mind...for right now. It's my custom to live with a painting for a few days before signing it...so there's always a window for change.

This is a quarter page, done with mostly AJ paints (cobalt, sap green, gamboge, perm red, DS perm rose, a touch here and there of thalo green and blue off of my Joyce Faulknor porcelain tray from her workshop that I just hate to wash away...so I haven't).

Bookmark Fun

I belong to a wonderful forum, Painting Friends, and we have this little bookmark exchange going to right now and this is my original bookmark all laminated and already in the mail. I can post it here on my blog and even if some of the PR'ers see it...they won't know where it is going. It's been great fun.

Had the lamination done at FedX (old Kinko's), made copies and had 4 others made for grandchildren (especially Henry...my 7 yr old GS who reads everything he can get his hands on) and the whole cost was only $6.45...what a deal. These exchanges are always so much fun and they give us wonderful little originals from friends afar.