Sunhat Sisters

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It looked so nice, I painted it twice. I had so much interest in this piece when I painted it last spring that I decided to give it another go.  The first version was 11"x14". This one is a bit smaller.

MollyKay's Vanity

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My daughter, MollyKay, is starting her career as a hair stylist and make-up artist. This still life is painted from the tools of her trade. It will be used as the image on her new business and note cards. I am using an online printing company Zazzle to make the stationary. I recently produced two greeting cards with this company from two of my other paintings. The color quality and glossy finish are outstanding. If you would like to buy either of those note cards or one with this latest image, just click the link above and it will take you to my store artnotes at Zazzle.

February Seascape #1

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Today I finally did it. I took my easel to the beach. I have been wanting to do that - envisioning myself doing that for a very long time. Resistance, fear of exposure, fear of standing out there alone, kept me safely tucked inside my studio, until today. I was inspired and got the final push from Roos Schuring , a plein aire painter from the Netherlands, whom I met via her blog and facebook. She wrote me yesterday and told me to take my easel for a walk... and so I did. Hooray!

Amaryllis

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The challenge this week from Daily Paintworks was to use "Tangerine Tango," named by the Pantone Company to be THE color of 2012. In truth, I have no idea what the Pantone Company is, nor do I own "Tangerine Tango" as a tube of paint. I did, however, make the color mixing cadmium orange and cadmium red. It just so happened that I had this amaryllis in full bloom on my kitchen table. To my eye, it is this color exactly - beautiful and powerful.

Reflected Sailboat

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This week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint reflections in water. I just happened to have a photograph of this covered little sailboat that I took last summer. I was so happy to finally get to paint it.

Florentine Bike

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When I was in Florence a few weeks ago, I was drawn to all the bicycles in that lovely Italian city. It was sweet to see them along the narrow streets, left unattended and often unlocked - waiting patiently for their owners to return. And what a sight to see them all in motion at rush hour!

Crowded Sill

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I painted this from a black and white photograph as part of this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. There was great freedom in choosing the color palette completely from my imagination. I must say, the color charts I rely on while painting came in very handy because this challenge was really about values. That is, the darkness or lightness of a color. My color charts run from the darkest value of a color to the lightest. So, if I squinted at the photograph and then squinted at my color chart, I could see what color to mix to get the appropriate value. Just before completeing, I took a photo of my painting and eliminated the color to see how I did with the values. You be the judge!