In a Car Accident Monday - And a Painting that I started a year ago I finally finished!

Ok, so Monday I was on my way to Christmas shop with my neighbor and a guy in a white truck ran a red light and plowed into us…

 A little whiplash…  

Fractured wrist…  (wine helps)

And here is the painting that i finished Saturday (typing with one hand)-- its experimental with the flower doodles. "She's got the Whole World in her Hands" 

My 17-year old daughter

30" x40" and of course she doesn't want it!  

Abstract Painting with Coral and Turquoise

I love these colors and wanted to paint something abstract with them.  I have always wanted to paint more abstracts, but was "blocked" when it came right down to it.  This new book "Brave Intuitive Painting" by Flora Bowley has helped me loosen up a lot and it's amazing how the ideas are really really starting to flow!!

Now remember, art is in the eye of the beholder! HA  I started this one with the intent of using coral and turquoise (or aqua) and then had a dream about using these shapes, which was my added inspiration.  It's VERY different from anything I've ever done!!

I'm calling it "Unblocking the Imagination". It's 30"x40" and I just listed it on Etsy. 

Here it sits on a table in my art studio.  A sneak peek at the doggy painting to the right. ;)

Another Abstract "Intuitive" Painting- Did I just paint what???

Ok, I finished my third in my series of "intuitive" paintings.  Unfortunately, because of the glaring images in this painting, I must be connecting to my inner woman! HA

 I haven't titled this one yet… suggestions?? 

Here is how it started out: 

Then this, which i was liking: 

And then I just put some finishing touches on it to get to this: 

Another Intuitive Abstract Painting - this one with a bird

Ok, so I am working on five paintings at once, a layer at a time.  Each one is going through several stages and this one has morphed quite a bit from the first layer.  It is 24"x24" on stretched canvas. Once again, I took these with my camera phone, which sucks but is convenient.

Here is the final: 

Here is the first layer:  (click on this blog window to see the full blog with images)

(yeah, really blurry!)

And here is the second layer: 

Not sure what I was doing-- just scribbling with paint!  

Next, I decided to keep some elements and cover the rest with some kind of ugly fish thing! HA

And then finally decided that this just wasn't working for me and I painted over most of it with black shapes and then filled them in with complimentary colors. Decided to do more doodling too.  And the final again: 

New "Intuitive" Painting Style

I got this new book-- "Brave Intuitive Painting" by Flora Bowley.  I love it!! It's a technique that is so different from my own very rigid way of painting!!
Here is my first finished piece. I think it's finished anyway… You paint from your intuition and layer and layer and layer.  I am working on 3 more and I think out of the 4, I will only like 2. LOL

Ok so it's a bit grainy-- I took it with my cell phone. Will take a better photo later.  Hmmmm I'm thinking I want to change it again!  Any thoughts?

Here is the progression:

I used a canvas that I had previously painted on… I wrote "Create Fearlessly" on it and then started adding color.  Then after that dried I made this mess:

 I sort of liked it-- but the shapes really bugged me.  I decided to work with the color combination. I used a spray bottle to muddle the colors and added some flowers:

Then I defined my lines and colors a bit more to get the finished painting.  Hmmmm… Very different from my normal style!! 

Schnauzer Painting

Friday night I stayed home and busted out this little gem of a doggy, Lady.  She's painted on 11"x14" canvas with acrylic.

Heading out to play a tennis match then drop this bad boy off at his owner's house!  See ya next time! (my imaginary friends! HA)

Woodland Animals Drinking Wine Series--- Fox Painting #2

I finished the 2nd woodland series on wood panel last night.  And don't even get me seeing that song!!!LOL
Wood is certainly a challenge to paint on… it sucked the paint up so fast that blending was nearly impossible.  I suppose if I had primed it properly it would have been easier to work with-- live and learn!!

"Foxy Red"

What woodland creature should I paint next??  I was thinking of painting a black bear… Any thoughts?  Here is the first one I painted:

"Pinot Squirrelio"

Painting of Blue, Boston Terrier Puppy

I just finished this painting last night.  This is Blue, my friend Lynn's Boston Terrier painted on 18"x24" gallery-wrapped canvas.  The photo I used as reference was taken with her cell phone when "Boo Boo" was just a puppy.   She wanted an abstract background with reds and yellows.

Blue has one blue eye and one brown one.   And yes, that is his little penis!! HA

Doodlephant! Zentangle-inspired painting

I have been wanting to use my new ZentangleTM skills in a large scale painting and here it is:

I'm calling it "Doodlephant."  It's 4'x3' on stretched canvas.  I really enjoyed doing this!  It's a little blurry because the lighting wasn't too good when I took the photo. But who cares-- it hangs now on a bare wall in my newly finished basement.  I still have several more walls that need paintings!

Today I am finishing a painting of one of my friend's dogs.  Then I have to work on a piece that I donated to a charity auction.  Then I'm doing some more animals with wine on leftover wood blocks.  AND I want to get started with some doodle stitching!!

My ideas are flowing much faster than my body is creating them...

Tennis Ball Dog Painting Series

I started playing tennis at 46... I can't believe that I waited until this age to learn this fun sport!! I have met a great group of friends and it inspired me to paint a series of dogs with tennis balls.  I got bored after three paintings (my fourth is a half-painted pit bull.)

But first, back in 2006, I was commissioned to paint this black lab with three tennis balls (not actually part of the series):

It has become a popular seller on my ETSY page.
Then I used my neighbor's dogs as models for the next three paintings:

"Cali", my next door neighbor's Weimaraner

"Holly", my neighbor's terrier/poodle mutt

"Holbrook", another neighbor's golden retriever.

Thanks for checking out my paintings of dogs with tennis balls! 

How to Make a One-Color Screen Print Image in Photoshop

I have been wanting to dabble with screen printing.  I was looking online about how to convert a digital color image into a one color (black and white) screen print image and there was nothing very straight forward.  So I played with Photoshop and came up with this easy way to do it:

Starting image:

In photoshop, I used the magic eraser tool set at tolerance of 30 to remove the background color:

I cleaned up the little specks left over in the background with the eraser tool.  The next step it to convert to black and white. In my Adobe Photoshope Elements Editor on my Mac, I selected "Enhance" and then "Convert to Black and White".  You can play with the different options to see which one gives you the right amount of black vs. white that you are looking for. 

Change your foreground color to black and background color to white using your color picker.  

The final step is to select >Filter and then >Stamp.  Use the sliding scale to adjust your image to give you the amount of black for the screen print. 

Taaa daaa!  I will post the final screen printed item when I finish.  

A funky doodle and a few old landscapes

Well today I was studying this artist's work, Yellena James.  She is an illustrator and I love her use of color and form.  It's funky.  So I painted and drew with pens in her "style" this strange piece:  (the water was another experiment in itself)

And here here are some landscapes that I painted around 2007ish.  They were painted in acrylic paint, except for the 2nd one, which was in oil.

This is a random one...  Started off as a simple moon painting, but it was boring so I added flowers. 

My daughter just saw that I was posting that piece that I did today and she was like "OMG, where are you posting that?" And "YOU have a blog?"  So yeah, I don't tell people about this.  HA

Wildlife Painting Phase

Ok, so I went through a wildlife painting phase in 2006, which was the year I quit my real day job.  What an adjustment that was!!!  I tried to feel useful and productive, but it was hard to be "on" so much of the time with painting..  I have to be in the mood to paint.  It's not an easy thing to do for hours on end.
Anyway, here are some paintings from that period:

I sold this elk to a woman on Etsy.com who was so nice and sent me a photo of her holding the painting.  

This is supposed to be a dingo...

And that was that!!  

Experimental Bird Phase

Back in 2006, I experimented with different subjects, wildlife, still life, birds, wildlife, etc.  I settled on the dogs mostly because I could get commissions of pets easily.   So here are some bird paintings I did back then.

This was a big canvas.  Back then I was selling a lot of paintings on eBay auctions.  I sold all of these on auction except for the purple swan painting below. That hangs in my bedroom.  It's very soothing to me! 

I love the peacock colors!  I wish I had used more vibrant colors. 

This was an oil painting as you can see the glossy glare in the corner.  I must have been in a spooky mood. 

This one is in my bedroom.  Something about it really calms me. 

I loved doing this "stained glass" look.  I have several more paintings with this look.  I will post them next.  I'm sure no one is thrilled.