One of the Last Paintings of the Year

A Marilyn Monroe painting from an old black and white photograph taken in her early years.
16" x 20" oil on panel

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all

The Woody prints have all sold. Bo Schembechler is catching up slowly but surely. I sold three of these 11" x 14" matted prints in one week! Because these coach prints are selling so well I have decided to do an entire series of coaches. Tom Landry from the Dallas Cowboys and Vince Lombardi from when he was with the Green Bay Packers are the next two in the series. Then I'll go back to college football: probably Joe Paterno from Penn State is next. These are fun paintings to do- the backgrounds are totally open and even the guys expressions are open to interpretation. I always have to do a bit of research on the coach first because I need to know how he should be portrayed. People always have lots of suggestions about who I should paint next; it seems America is passionate about sports.
Here is Vince- 12" x 16" oil on panel

Woody Hayes is going, going almost gone

The Buckeyes are having a winning season and my Woody prints are almost gone. I think I have two of the 11" x 14" limited edition ones left. Bo is not selling as well. --sigh-- Go Bucks!

Mariah in oil

A 16" x 20" oil of Mariah from the first day she posed. I sold it almost immediately to a private collector. I really like the background in this one and another member of the group gave me a CD with some great photos of our beautiful model, Mariah, so I am going to attempt a large 24" x 36" canvas of her and use a similar background.

My portrait Exchange with "Smithy" from Australia

I signed up for the 4th annual portrait exchange in the portraiture forum at WC! My exchange partner, Graham, lives in Australia, so I had to mail his package overseas. It didn't take long to get there- six days is pretty good I think. I now have a total of three paintings hanging on the Australian continent. Graham's name at WC is Bluewindfisher, but for some reason I got mixed up and thought it was Bluefishwinder. I assumed the man liked to fish, especially for Bluefish, so I did a little research and actually placed a Bluefish into the painting with him. I found out later thatI got th name wrong, but he likes the painting anyway and posted a picture of himself along side it. He really looks like a guy who live sin the outback. I am posting the one he did of me here as well.
That's my dog, Jake, sneaking his nose into the picture. It's hard to go anywhere in my house without an animal following me.
Internet art groups allow artists from everywhere to communicate ideas and exchange information. The internet has totally changed the way art is presented to the consumer and has allowed anyone who can use a mouse to visit virtual galleries and become an art collector. I have thought a lot about this lately as several people have told me my prices are too low and I need to raise them to make them more in line with what galleries charge. I tend to disagree. In the old days a client might have to visit 5 or 6 galleries to find just the piece they were looking for. The internet allows buyers to connect directly with the artists and acquire their works at a substantial savings. Collectors can view hundreds of on-line galleries in the space of time it might take to visit just one or two in the past. Sure, the images aren't always representative of the actual piece, but you do get an idea of what the artist can do and can easily keep yourself updated on their work.

Margo and Gaby Finished

Love the way this piece turned out. Margo wanted Gaby to be smiling so I changed her entire face but she does look happier so it was worth the time. Dad looks like a movie star and daughter looks like an angel; more importantly they both look happy.
Commissioned by Rachel, who loves her son-in-law very much.

Mariah in Pastel

Mariah posed for our painting group in November. She is a beautiful girl. I started this from life and finished it at home using a photograph. I like the background.

Tom Kelly

A commission: the guy has passed on and I created the painting form a series of photographs.

TOM LANDRY ORIGINAL ART DALLAS COWBOYS OIL PAINTING NR

How is that for a key word headline? I listed this one on eBay as a BUY IT NOW and hopefully a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan will see some value in it and make the purchase. Investment grade art at bargain basement prices. My husband thought Tom, with his trademark fedora, would be a good subject. If there is interest I will do a few prints.

Way Behind on Posting

This is Reggie. He posed for our painting group this morning. Nice guy, very smiley. Oil on wooden panel coated with gesso. I bought some boards from Robert Buza, of Fabius, NY (giving Robert a plug here) and they are just awesome boards. Smooth, wonderful and a joy to work on. His company is Slivers and Sawdust- I think he is on the web. Robert makes wooden palettes too and sells them for less than you will pay for a disposable one so why go cheap? Wood is better, especially when you use oils. Christmas is almost here so I am way behind on posting my paintings here and at the website. Too busy baking and hauling the decorations up form the basement. But this is a great way to keep track of what I have painted because I tend to forget. So I need to be more diligent with it. It is easier than looking them up on my computer because my computer files need organized badly.