OPA National Exhibition Acceptance and More Tulle!

Very excited! "Veiled Beauty" above was juried into the OPA National Juried Exhibition which is in Dallas from May 13 - June 15, 2016. Wasn't sure if the tulle would work, but got lucky! Did another small 12x12  above in a similar pose. So fun to paint. I've got one more on the easel which I'll post soon.

Veiled Beauty

I got inspired to paint this from a photograph I saw of a little girl in a costume with a veil over her head. So headed to the store, bought a piece of "toile", and snapped some quick photos of my daughter and the toile. Got some pretty interesting shots. I recently entered this one into the OPA National. Fingers crossed!

New Miniature Still Lifes

Here are some more small still life paintings from the past few weeks. I've really been enjoying painting these, but I think it's time to get back to portraits!

Portrait Society of America Award!

I am overwhelmed with the news that this commissioned portrait I entered into the Portrait Society of America's Members Only Competition for 2015 received the 5th place award. I just love painting portraits and this award adds to my motivation to continue!
Thanks for looking!

Pomegranates and Pears

I've been in the still life mood lately. These little pieces were done last week. So fun to paint those pomegranate "arils". Plus we had them with dinner and they are pretty good!

Crab Apples

Here are a couple little 9x12s I recently finished using some crab apples I found. I discovered that since we Westerners read from left to right, it is a good idea to leave some empty space to the left in the composition to give your eye time to see the objects. Interesting!

"en plein air" part 2

Here is the second batch of little plein air paintings I've done in the past couple of weeks. Painted in Hernando and Southaven, MS and at the Memphis Botanic Gardens (Japanese gardens). Challenging, but fun!