Day 6 of the 28 in 28 - Let Nothing Stand in Your Way

As I am sure many artists can say, I have been asked where I get my ideas..  It is a curiosity even to me, sometimes, when imagery pops unbidden into my mind.. this one is kind of like that. 

I am a Capricorn, and as such, I admire goats, so painting a goat is not a stretch.. Plus, the curly horned variety fascinate me.  I can't get over those horns! (see detail of the painting.. I LOVED painting the horns...)    I've also always had a fascination with Pysanka. In fact tried my had at making some years ago.  I found it to be extremely tedious and very time consuming, but love the end result.. Believe me, painting pictures of pysanka is much easier than creating pysanka designs on an egg.  

These two facts don't explain why I pictured putting a Goat and a pysanka together though... That and the elegant, starry teacup.  Sometimes it just feels right and I just go with it.  It turns out I am liking the strong design and focused results of stacking these three together. :) I love it when my hunch works out. Goats are known for their tenacity and ability to scale steep cliffs.  Balancing the delicate egg on her head seems to me to represent a great deal of focus.. And, as if the goat spoke... the title appeared...she said, Let Nothing Stand in Your Way... with tenacity and focus, you can achieve your intentions...

Let Nothing Stand in Your Way, Oil on panel, 10"x10"
To purchase click here

Day 28 of the 30 in 30 - "Bluebird for Happiness"

Bluebird for Happiness 

This merry little feathered friend, 

so cheery, bright and blue,

because he brings true happiness, 

I'm sending him to you! 

Bluebird for Happiness, oil, 8"x8", to purchase click here

Day 15 of the 30 in 30 - Warbling in Black & White

Midway through this painting, I had to ask myself, why did I decide to paint this?  Possibly I was thinking about the stark contrasts and the interesting designs... the graphic black and white lines... maybe I was trying to compose something different with an intricate black and white egg and a kind of intricate black and white bird... I don't know!  What I do know is it was a challenge in more ways than I expected. White is almost never white and the same can be said for black.. And to try to depict intricate black and white details in shadow and in highlight... not easy... In addition, I was painting not in my studio, but in the gallery today as I was working there today.  After setting up shop, I realized I forgot my medium!  For me this was a thing.  I have a very specific technique I use to paint alla prima and it involves using medium in a big way, and I had none.  Suffice it to say, I had to paint this on a dry panel, which is completely different than I am used to.  To clarify, I am not actually crying about this. I'm just stressing that not all paintings go as smoothly as one would hope, and this one was definitely a  hum dinger, to put it nicely. Don't have much more to say about it, other than I have some food for thought after painting this one... which, actually, is what all art should do for you after all... I guess. :)

Warbling in Black & White, Oil, 6"x6", to purchase click here

Day 13 of the 30 in 30 - Pysanka Perlustration

True story: Many years ago, I sat in my Mother's kitchen carefully blowing the innards out of several chicken eggs.  After washing and drying them, I super carefully and painstakingly applied layers of melted beeswax and dye to finally achieve the intricate artwork called Pysanky.  My mom still has a bowl of these relics in her basement (I think).  Just one bowl though... It was an art form I never pursued beyond this initial discovery stage as I found it was way too detail oriented and tedious of work to keep my attention!  I remembered just how tedious it is as I painted this painting that has a Pysanka egg in it today!  Oh yeah, and that Magpie...I love the position he is standing in!  Great lines and curves that seem to swirl and compete nicely with the egg and egg cup. And his intense inspection of this egg had me looking for a new word that would nicely sum up what was going on... Perlustration seemed to fit the bill.  

Pysanka Perlustration, Oil, 8"x8", to purchase click here