Day 27 - Freewheeling Spirit

 So, if you've been following along with me this month, you will know that I have spent some of it exploring different ways to get rainbows into my paintings.  This image came to me the other day, the turtle with rainbow skates and a little rainbow flag on his back, and toting around a snail friend.. it wasn't until I started painting him that I decided to also give him a rainbow shell.. 

Doing a 30 day challenge does so many things for you as an artist, and one of them is to help you to explore new ideas.. And while the work I've created is still rooted firmly in the whimsical and always designed for smiles, the rainbow is an area I wasn't sure about, but wanted to explore..  

(Here is today's painting, titled "Freewheeling Spirit" because, well, isn't he just?)

"Freewheeling Spirit", oil, 10"x10", purchasing details can be found here

One reason I hesitated using rainbow imagery is that the rainbow has strong connections with whole communities of people, such as the LGBTQ+ community.. And, to clarify, I fully support anyone's sexual preference, identity etc.. and have people in my life who I care deeply about who are gay or lesbian.. I'm totally down that the rainbow is a symbol that is used in their community. 

But, I am not LGBT or Q... so that is not why I wanted to explore it.. instead, the Rainbow resonates with me for other reasons..  I wondered, when I first thought of exploring the rainbow, if it perhaps has been too strongly branded LGBTQ, and therefore can only be seen as an LGBTQ symbol... will it work for my paintings???

...but then, I decided I was way over thinking things again... Geeze.. I simply wanted design paintings with rainbow elements for crying out loud.. (I  argue with myself a lot..)  Whatever the meaning is for you, that is great!  For me, I love COLOR... I love actual rainbows (I mean, who doesn't, right?)  and I have just loved the infinite design possibilities I've realized by adding the rainbow to my paintings. Alright.. enough of the blabbing ramble. 

Oh, wait.. one more thing.. as I was painting this guy, I thought about how he is a perfect companion for the Rainbow Roller-skating Rabbit from a few paintings back! You know, the Tortoise and the Hare, and all that..?

And here is "Roller Skating Rainbow Rabbit", also still for sale here :)

Day 19 - Seeing Clearly

Todays painting is tentatively titled "I can see clearly Now"... there are so many odd things going on in this painting, I was having trouble landing on the meaning...Plus I'm a little under the weather so also having trouble coming up with words!   Here goes.. We have a Llama, of course, and the rainbow in the background.. the Llama is wearing the funky 80's, square engineering glasses and, what is the leaf doing on his head?  I don't know!  Sometimes when I design images, I'll have ideas fly through my head and I put them together not necessarily knowing why or where the ideas came from.. and this is one of them.. the best I can do is say that I do have a rainbow theme going in some of my paintings this month and I wanted to explore that a bit more.. plus, as I've said many times, I love making images that make people smile, so I hope this one does that. :)

And thinking about it, its quite ironic that I chose the temporary title "Seeing Clearly" when it is clear I am seeing anything but clearly about this one!

"Seeing Clearly", oil, 10"x10", purchasing details can be found here

Day 14 - Roller Skating Rainbow Rabbit

 Good day and a happy Saturday to you :)  

I've only roller skated a handful of times in my life, but I do remember liking it quite a bit when I did. Haven't done it in years.. and while I don't seek it out on social media, Roller Skating (with a capital R) comes up in my feed sometimes, reminding me that the sport is still alive and well in some areas of the country..  

Gliding around on wheels attached to your feet is just a little bit like flying.. and that is what I imagine this bunny is feeling as he glides around the roller rink, blissfully breezing through the moment...

Continuing on with the rainbow theme.. I dunno.. it keeps drawing me back in with it's happy vibes and infinite design possibilities. And I know, this one is a lot more illustrative in nature. If I'm brave enough, I may keep exploring this direction :)

Roller Skating Rainbow Rabbit, oil, 10"x10", purchasing details can be found here

Day 11 - Happiness

When I look at this frog serenely gazing at a ladybug, with the colors of the rainbow boldly in the background, well, this painting just exudes happiness to me and toadally makes me smile (I am so sorry... I had to..) :)  But, seriously, this got me thinking about happiness..

How can a picture just.. well.. make me happy?  Well, for one, I think smiles can be contagious and this frog has a big one.  And, if you read my rainbow musings post, you will remember that I think rainbows and even images of rainbows can make us happy due to the complete range of wavelengths we are seeing. Rainbows rev up the brain... :) So there's those two things. Plus there's the story happening between the ladybug and the frog.. what exactly is going on? Whatever it is, the story makes me smile too.

Another thought... why is Happiness sometimes elusive? One moment you are happy and in an instant, something "bad" happens and everything changes..  

After a lifetime of contemplating things like this, I've come to think happiness is not about what is going on outside of you, but rather what is going on inside of you... it is about inner balance and peace.. and letting go too..

*When that instant comes, as it inevitably will, your inner peace will be disrupted.  How you react to the disruption is everything. Will you fight to hang on to a desire to remain in your previous blissful state, or will you flow from one moment to the next without letting your expectations of the moment disturb your inner peace.

 Sometime I bend like a willow.. Sometimes I break like an oak.. always practicing, not always hitting the mark..

Anyway, nuff about that.. look at this happy frog! 
I hope that in this instant, you feel happy, for however fleeting of a moment it may be. :)

Whatever happiness is, may you have it right now..

"Happiness", oil, 8"x8", purchasing details can be found here

Day 6 - Bun Bow

 What can I say about this one?  I know the background in this isn't a traditional rainbow, but it is still a bow... and somehow I've now included rainbow-esque designs in 3 of my challenge paintings, and hope to do a few more.. So, as you'd expect, I've been thinking about rainbows, and I'm wondering why they are popping up in my paintings..  Here's a theory...  rainbows comprise all of the wave lengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that make up Light... In the northern hemisphere, we are currently in the dark part of the year, and, I know quite a few people who don't fare too well during the dark months... lack of light is known to affect mood.. I feel for those folks who get sad in the Winter due to lack of light.. And who knows.. I'm probably affected too, to a degree.  So, I'm thinking that rainbows are showing up in my work lately in an effort to bring a little light to the situation... a few more wavelengths.. 

And really, who doesn't love rainbows?  Every time it rains.. and then the sun comes out, even when it is still sprinkling just a bit.. I'm running outside to see if there's a rainbow.. It's a special thing to see one, really kind of magical.. So, maybe this is the start of a new series.. my magical rainbow paintings:)

Can't not mention the bunny in chucks with her ladybug companion.. I couldn't help myself. They're just too cute.. Painting this fluffy little bun, well.. she was just plain fun. 

All together, I hope this one makes you smile big and brings a little light to your day. :) 

BunBow, oil, 10"x10", Click here for purchasing details

Day 5 - Prismatic Contemplation

 It is day 5 of the challenge and today you will notice I'm experimenting with a more colorful background than is typical for my paintings... I enjoyed the little rainbow that the duck was sitting on the other day and decided to take another look, also continuing with a muted but saturated color color scheme, making the prism really pop against the black cat..

Why a cat with it's tongue sticking out?  Likely because, why not?  Honestly, I wanted to see how I would feel about it once I committed it to paint and, I think I like it.  For some reason, I can picture this painting surrounded by house plants near a sunny window.. scroll down to see for yourself if it looks good with plants.. :)

 Prismatic Contemplation, oil, 9"x12", Click here for purchasing details

And for some reason, I also see this cat as deep in a meditative state.. Have I seen some yogi somewhere meditating with his tongue out? Well, anyway, due to all of that, I've named this one Prismatic Contemplation.

Day 2 - I'll Light a Candle for You

 It's day 2 of the January 30 and 30 and I'm in the groove.. Leaning into yesterday's spark of Simple Gifts, today's painting is a different take..  Titled "I'll Light a Candle for You", this one features a Duck in Chucks, a trope I come back to time and again.. kind of like peanut butter and jelly.  He's wearing a birthday candle for a hat, and is atop a soft rainbow. All together, the image feels like a simple gift to me...

"I'll Light a Candle for You", 8"x8", oil on panel, click here for purchasing details.

There is something to being able to appreciate the little things in life that helps bring happiness and peace to the chaos.. It's the simple gifts that make up our safety net, I think.. :) The wee duckling here agrees..

To take this a little further, I paint a lot of small paintings.. 8"x8", 10"x10" and 9"x12" are some of the most common sizes for me.. but, if you look closely, you will see that I try to pack a lot into every mark I make on this small space..  My painting style is what is known as Alla Prima, which means all at once.  This helps me to keep my marks fresh and along with my often thick and juicy textures, I hope to convey a sense of joyful life in each small image.  Take a look at some of the details below..

And my imagery is fairy simple when taken by itself.. What intrigues me is when you put the simple things together you often get a story. I try to make my stories ones that convey happiness..

Lucky Fishin' Hole

Sometimes you just need to go sit by a creek and enjoy the day. And sometimes you are blessed with the good fortune of having a fabulous sky-scape to beautify the scenery... Although there wasn't a definitive rainbow in the sky in this picture, there were some amazing shifts in color that brought rainbows to my mind.  It seemed like good fortune to me!  This painting is available for auction on my Daily Paintworks website.  Click here to view and bid. 

Lucky Fishin' Hole, oil on panel, 6" X 6"
click here to bid in auction