Stairway

This was a tough painting! The view from below made the drawing difficult--especially the facial features. It was also a challenge to paint the effect of the light hitting the black painted railing. But all in all, I am pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Flower Girl

I finished this painting a few days ago--the latest in my quest of trying to capture the effects of bright sunlight that creates interesting patterns. The possibilities are endless if you have a nice, bright window. Unfortunately, the lightest areas on her skin were washed out to pure white in the photo. To see what was really happening in those areas that the photo couldn't record, I had my daughter sit in front of a sunny window a few times and took some notes. Wouldn't it be nice to have a model sit perfectly still with the light never changing for hours at a time?

November Farm

Here is the painting I did the day after I painted "Autumn Oak". It was looking out at the same farm scene, but turned a little bit more to the east. It was another glorious day! The colors in this photo aren't really true to the painting. I need to play with the saturation a bit to get it closer. The next day was yet another beautiful day, so I went out to paint but gave up after driving around for an hour. Sometimes it's hard to find a place to pull over and safely set up!

Autumn Oak

I painted this scene en plein air a few weeks ago. I discovered this spot last fall. It's not far from my house, but the only problem is that I have to stand at the edge of a little cemetery; but other than the background noise of the traffic at the four-way stop nearby, it's a nice, quiet spot. It was a perfect day, weatherwise. I could have stayed longer and painted, but I knew after painting for 1.25 hrs that I would ruin it if I worked on it any longer, so I went out the next day too.

Sun Block

I painted Sun Block from a photo I took of my daughter on a sunny day. I really like the way sunlight causes interesting shadow shapes. This painting is currently available through the Lotton Gallery in Chicago. It is also included in the current issue of American Art Collector with a quote from me about my inspiration for this piece.

Copper & Gourd

This still life was painted during a workshop I took with artist, Qiang Huang a couple of weeks ago. This was the one I did on day 1 and I think it turned out the best of the 3. Qiang is a wonderful teacher and an even more wonderful artist! I learned so alot from him.

Leanora

This is a portrait commission I finished a few weeks ago. Leanora is such a sweet little 6-year-old and loved posing for me during our photo shoot.

Gardenia

This is my first posting on my new art blog! I painted this painting of Kayla from a photo I took of her in my garden this past summer. It was fun painting the cool shadows on her skin and the spots of sun hitting her face.