Honest Abe

Happy President's Day a little bit late.  Makes me proud to be a Kentuckian when I look at Abe.  Tis I did for the dailypainters challenge.

Flowers for Japan

Today, I painted this to honor the Japanese who have shown such dignity in the face of such devastation and uncertainty.  A friend recently gave me this beautiful scarf of an Oriental design and the flowers were given by relatives last week for my birthday.  The cup from a friend.  Hang in there!

Zippo deedoodah

Yesterday I did this small painting and submitted it on the Daily Painter Challenge.  Michael Naples initiated the challenge.  I have admired his paintings for several years now.  I enjoy these small spontaneous challenges and always learn something - even if it is something I already knew.    Like my "achilles heel" of painting is 'too much white' - it gets into everything and lessens the impact of the color.  So today's challenge is to paint something without using white or at least minimally at the end for highlights.  The same challenge would be fine but I have a landscape in mind.  You can create all the values you need with ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and titanium white.  Even portraiture!  It really is all about values; values are to painting as line is to drawing.  

In The Swing

In Colorado up in the mountains, a fresh breeze arrives every morning.  Just right for a swing by the creek.  Here are some new friends doing just that.

St Augustine Sleek

Carol Marine issued a challenge to paint an old shiny car on the streets of St. Augustine.  I gave it a quick shot and had some fun with doing it.  

Let Sleeping Dog Smile

Our dear dog is aging gracefully having turned 16(or was it 17) recently. She loves being around people and gives us more warmth than this fire is providing her.

After Carlsen

This is a tiny painting I did of a detail of one of John Carlsen's landscapes. Nobody paints snowy trees like Carlsen. And his book on landscape painting is truly the best I have read.