Homeschool Art Classes in Williamsburg starting in January!

I will be teaching at a new location starting in January.

I will be teaching a homeschool art class for children from Kindergarten to 5th grade at the James City County Recreation Center starting in January.  This will be a combo art class/art history.  The goal is for the children to get a deeper appreciation for the art techniques and the artists that are known for creating these works.

I already teach this class at On the Hill Gallery in Yorktown and I am excited to be able to teach this class in Williamsburg.

Please email me if you have any questions.  Registration is being handled through James City County Parks and Recreation.

Thanks!

"Badger At Home", Acrylic on Canvas, 8"x10"

Piece #15 of my 30 day painting challenge!

I painted another painting of this subject earlier in the month.  The owner loved it so much that he wanted me to paint another larger piece for his wife for Christmas.  The dog, Badger, had been particularly close to his wife and crossed "the rainbow bridge" a few years ago.

The reference photo is below:

Since the dog had passed, I was pretty limited on the photos I had to chose from.  The photo was overexposed a little and the dog had "ghost eyes".  I am proud of the job I ended up doing.  I know that a few years ago it would have been much harder for me to paint the painting from the reference photos that I had.  I think it just comes with experience from painting to determine how the dog looks.  The owner thought I had did it spot on and I am anxious to see how his wife likes it.

Thanks for stopping by to read the blog!

"Iris", Acrylic on wood panel, 6"x6"

Piece #14 of my 30 day painting challenge. 

Iris passed over the rainbow bridge over a week and a half ago after a sudden illness. She is missed by her family terribly. Hopefully this painting will help heal heavy hearts. 

frown emoticon

 I used more light colors in the muzzle and chest to show highlights and shadows. I have been experimenting doing this during this challenge. 

Comments and critiques are always appreciated!

2016 Art Calendars available NOW!

My 2016 Calendars are now available!

When I did this a few years ago, they were a real hit.  I ended up selling all of the them.  I have had customers ask about them since then so I thought I would create a new one.

Each calendar has the images shown above.  They are printed full-color on thick glossy paper.

Each calendar is $12.00 plus $1.50 shipping.

If you would like to purchase a calendar, please hit the Paypal button below which will take you to the check out screen!

Please let me know what you think of the calendar when you get it!

"Basil", Charcoal on Pastelbord, 5"x7"

Piece #13 of the 30 Day painting challenge!

This kitty belongs to my cousin and I am going to surprise her with it.  I did it in one of my favorite mediums-charcoal.  I completed it and felt like it needed a small touch of color so I added some color in the nose and eyes via NuPastels.  I find cats a lot harder to draw and paint than dogs.  I have to be so much more accurate when drawing the face because if I am off just a little it just does not look right.  Profiles of cats are so much easier than front views.

Thanks for looking and stopping by!  Any comments and critiques are appreciated!

"I Want Two Wings", Mixed Media on Canvas, 5"x5"

Click here to bid (5"x5"inches)

Day 12 of my 30 day painting challenge!  I am feeling a little bit of pressure since I fell behind due to computer mis-haps, unexpected daily events and essentially LIFE!

I have to say that I have learned a lot in the 12 paintings that I have done so far.  One of the things that I feel like I am doing is expanding my horizons about my use of color and color combinations.  This piece started off as a canvas that I painted metallic gold.  I then decided that I was going to paint a goldfinch on it and started working on that.  Once I sat down to put it all together I remembered how I recently enjoyed working with all the lace I have.

I used a combination of yellow, steel blue, white and black lace on the piece.  I used another piece of music that I had found in the vintage 1949 Girl Scout songbook I recently purchased.  I was happy how it came all together in the end.

This piece is going to be up for auction at Daily Paintworks.

I appreciate any comments that you have about the piece or the process I used to create it.

As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look!

"Badger", Acrylic on Canvas, 5"x5"

Day 11 of my 30 day painting challenge!

I had to take a few days off because of some mishaps here at home.  I was having computer problems and lost a bunch of my reference photos.  Yikes!  It has totally stressed me out.

Anyway, here is Badger. A commission piece of a cute dachshund.  I had a light blue/gray background to begin with but I then saw a painting over the weekend at New Town Art Gallery of a black dog that had a fun happy green background on it.  I wanted to try it with this piece.

Thank you for stopping by and looking.  Any comments and critiques are appreciated!

"Morning Comes Early", Mixed Media on Canvas, 5"x5"

Click here to bid (5"x5")

Day 10 of the 30 day painting challenge!  I'm a third of the way done!  Yahoo!!!!!

I really like how this little piece turned out.  It's mixed media.  I used acrylic paint on a gallery wrap canvas.  I painted it in silver.  I added vintage sheet music and cut out pieces of lace to add to the canvas.  The bluebird and branch are done in Prismacolor pencils on mixed media paper.

I'm auctioning off this piece at a low bid on Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for looking!

"Poe's Raven", Mixed Media on Canvas, 8"x8"

Click here to bid(8"x8")

Day 9 of the 30 day painting challenge!  I had the background on the canvas done for a while. I have been playing with image transfer a little this year and I am still perfecting the process.  There is a lot to learn and there are a lot of websites on Pinterest devoted to this.  The background color is mostly painted in Liquitex gold paint.  The raven was created on mixed media paper with Prismacolors and applied onto the canvas.  I will be coating the whole canvas with Liquitex Pouring Medium later on today to give it a shiny resin-like coat.

I have been learning a lot about the physical differences between ravens and crows and this picture is kind of my "final exam".

Piece up for auction at Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for looking!

"Snowfall", Mixed Media on Canvas, 8"x8"

Click to bid(8"x8"in.)

Day 8 of my 30 day painting challenge!

I have had the actual canvas for "Snowfall" painted for awhile.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it or what kind of bird I wanted to put on it.  I have a lot of canvases in my studio which are in all stages of completion waiting for some inspiration for me to finish them.

The materials I used on this piece are a lot! I painted the canvas with acrylics and added vintage music sheets and rice paper for the background.  I glazed parts of the canvas with an iridescent white paint which gives it a little sparkle and sheen.  The cardinal and branches were drawn in Primsmacolor pencils on mixed media paper.  I then went back in and repainted the berries with acrylic paint.

Hope you are enjoying my work!  Thanks for stopping by!

"Summer Is a-Coming In", Mixed Media on Wood, 6"x6"

Click to Bid (6"x6")

Day 7 of the 30 day painting challenge!  That is one week so far!  Yeah!

This piece was inspired by an incident when my daughter and I spotted a different bird in our yard.  We participate in Project Feeder Watch through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology every year where we count birds on a weekly basis.  We spotted a flock of birds in one of our cherry blossom trees and soon discovered them to be cedar waxwings.  We were so surprised and happy since we normally get the same birds our our property.

It is a mixed media piece on wood.  I used Prismacolor pencils for the bird, cherry blossom and branch.  The wood panel has been painted and glazed with acrylics.  The sheet music was found in a thrift store and came from an old Girl Scout song handbook dated 1949.

This piece is up for auction at Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for stopping by to read the blog!

"Pepper", Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 5"x5"

Day 6 of the 30 day painting challenge!

I enjoyed doing this small painting.  I used a limited palette which I think worked great for this piece.

Thanks for stopping by and looking!

"Raccoon Study", Charcoal on Pastelbord, 5"x7"

Click to Bid (5"x7"inches)

It is now day 5 of my 30 day painting challenge.  Today. is not a painting though that I am posting.  I gave myself a little break and did a charcoal drawing on Ampersand Pastelbord.  I  have to say that I think I enjoy working in charcoal as much as painting.  Eons ago, charcoal was the first medium that I felt like I was successful in.

The reference photo for this piece I got from Morgue File.   Morgue File is an image library of free reference photos for artists to use with the photographer's permission.  The photo was taken by Canadian photographer Lisa Solonynko.

This piece will be up for auction through Daily Paintworks at a low starting bid.

Thanks for stopping by to look today!

"Nature's Candy", Acrylic on wood panel, 6"x6"

Click to Bid (6"x6"in)

Day 4 of the 30 day painting challenge!

When I woke up yesterday I had no idea that I would end the day painting figs!  The reference photo is one that a friend of mine posted on Facebook.  I thought it was kind of cool and I thought it would be a challenge.  Ten minutes into it and I was wondering if I made the right decision.  Who knew that figs were so complex?

I am happy how it turned out.  I have been using a store bought color wheel and using it when I try to decide my palette.  I tried to keep it all in one color "family" to make it cohesive.

This painting is up for auction at a low bid at Daily Paintworks.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Daisy", Acrylic on Canvas, 6"x9"

Day 3 of my 30 day painting challenge.   This is the point where I feel committed so I am actually panicking a little bit.  LOL!

This sweet face belongs to a friend of mine.  The canvas size is 6"x9" which is actually the first time I have painted on this size.  I like the size and can see if working in many different compositions that I have coming up.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my blog!

"Crim Dell, Williamsburg, Virginia", Acrylic, 8"x10"

SOLD!

Day 2 of my 30 day painting challenge.  The above painting was started out as a plein air painting and finished up recently in the studio.  When I was painting it outside, I was posting updates on my Instagram account.  One of my art patrons who is also one of my Instagram followers saw is as a "work of progress" and asked to purchase it.

I am happy how it turned out.  I was dabbling a little in plein air this year and I have a lot to learn.  I hope to be able to get outside more next year.

Thanks for looking,

"Habanero Harvest", Acrylic, 5"x7"

Click to Bid (5x7in.)

This is the first painting of the 30 day painting challenge that I am doing. It might be a strange time to start a painting challenge with Thanksgiving and Christmas but this is a good time of the year for me to do it. Things are a little laxer around the house so I am able to get some things done.

This painting was inspired by the bumper habanero crop that we got over here. My 13 year old son wanted me to grow a habanero plant because he likes hot peppers. This was the one plant that went crazy this summer. Now I have all these habaneros and I don't know what to do with them. My son wants me to make a spicy sauce. Can you believe that it is November 25th and this plant has finally died in our garden?

Shipping is FREE to US addresses. Painting is 5"x7" painted on wood panel. It is painted all around the edges and will be signed and ready to hang. Also can be framed.

Thanks for stopping and taking a look,