An Expressive Painting of a Ballet Dancer

The posture was a challenge to paint. The arm is foreshortened and her pelvis was tilted toward us. I still may add more detail to this; perhaps lighten the background a bit and add some violet for contrast.

New self-portrait

Cut my hair and decided it needed to be recorded. I have never had hair this short but I like it. I painted this from life (of course) and it actually looks more like me than any portrait I have painted before. Maybe I am getting more accurate -- finally!!! I have only been doing this for eight years! What I like about this painting is the natural harmony of the red-green color scheme and also the very loose brushwork in the clothing. I was going after that "Sargent expressions with a stroke" look and I think I carried it off.

I am so tired of hearing- "Oh you got your hair cut! It looks nice" What are they GOING to say... "Oh you got your hair cut- what a shame." Well... they could, but that would be mean.

Steve from our Portrait Group

Two hours from life and another hour at home. I hope to finish up with the details like his hands and shirt next time.

Taylor

Key to Happiness

Until I can think of a better title this one will have to do.

A Busy Month

March has been a very productive month for me. I began teaching a pastel class and am wrapping up an acrylics and oil class next month. I volunteered to be the newsletter person for the Black Swamp Art Guild, which I joined in Janary and I have been painting away.
This is Solitude no.3 and Solitude no. 4

Black Gold

Finished this over the weekend as well. I had to do away with the dragon- not painted well enough and I decided I did not need fantasy as this is a painting about reality, especially with today's oil prices, which have risen to well over $100 a barrel.

Golden Retriver puppy

Completed yesterday except for a little brighter highlight in the eyes is needed.

The Solitude Series

Number one and number two in my series of paintings based on "solitude"

Don Shula

This is number 6 -- or is it 7? in my series of coaches for the Leadership series. Don Shula, who coached the Miami Dolphins for 17 seasons.

Color Theory Workshop

This is my demo painting for a class on Color Theory that I taught this past weekend. The dolphin was carved by my husband and the knife and glasses are supposed to make it look like the carver will return at any moment. This is called a "still-life portrait", as it suggest s the presence of a person without showing the person. It was painted using a very limited palette of cadmium yellow, cadmium red light, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, yellow ochre and titanium white. The goal was to have the students mix their own colors instead of reaching for that tube of synthetic bright green... or whatever. Everyone finished their painting and was quite happy with it.