Happy Valentine's Day!

Last fall when we visited our friend Jack in San Francisco, he had a large painting over his fireplace of a couple dancing in the woods.  I didn't try to copy it exactly, but painted a large interpretation (24x36) of it.  It is my Valentine's Day card to my wonderful husband.   Happy Valentine's Day!

Figure Painting!

I'm taking another figure class from Miriam Durkin!  This week we worked on skin tones and shadow colors. I can tell that I am making progress!

Series Painting

I've never done "a series" of paintings - in other words, taking the same subject and experimenting with it in different ways.  Recently, a friend ask me to paint two small paintings of her as a child.  Her wish is to give them to her sisters for Christmas.  I've known and traveled with this friend for almost forty years.  The fact that she has cancer, made this assignment/commission even more special.  I hoped that I would be up to the challenge.  It was quite a challenge as the reference photo she gave me was only about 2x3 inches, black and white, and she was one of five people in the shot.  In addition, she wanted the paintings to be small - about 3x5 inches, so her sisters could put them on their desks.  Following are my renditions.  It was a pleasure to paint these for her.  I hope she'll find two that make her (and her sisters') heart sing!

Lunch with "old" friends

Today I was so lucky!  I had lunch with friends from Steele Creek Elementary.  We worked together from 1976-1983.   I hadn't seen some of these ladies in almost thirty years.  What  a special blessing it was to reconnect with my friend Nettie Gentry.  We taught kindergarten next to each other for seven years!  It's hard to believe that we were in our early twenties when we started working together.  So many memories!  After lunch, we went over to my studio.  Here's a picture of Nettie with her new painting!

Thank you to Joy Cheek for organizing our lunch and to Betty, Kay, Marie, Sandy, and Joey for a great time together!

Introduction to Figure

Figure Class - November 2012

Yesterday I went to an Intro to the Figure session at Andy Braitman's studio taught by Charlotte!  Great class with lots of reminders, input, and feedback.  It was interesting to have a young male model - different energy and a need for more straight lines and angles.    The above drawings are just sketches, but I thought they were worth  posting.

BIG Picture FIgure Class

I've been taking a figure painting class from Miriam Durkin!  It's really been great!  The first four weeks we worked with one model, Kelly.  The first week we planned our compositions using smaller canvases.  Then, the next three weeks we worked on larger paintings - working on skin tones, shadow shapes, values, and light source.  Above is my result.  Tomorrow, we'll start the process again.  

Blue Chairs

Here is the fourth interior painting that I did while in the mountains.