The First Beach Painting

Here is my first beach painting. Many people wonder who the woman is in the foreground. What is your guess?

My painting is going to the dogs...

This is a portrait of Daisy, my sister-in-laws bull dog. I took a photo of her looking out the door when we were in Illinois. I decided since we are in the "dog days of summer" that it was time to paint this picture. I hope I captured the spirit of this dog. I also hope my sister-in-law doesn't read this post, because I am sending her this picture as a surprize.

Fresh from Laguna Beach

So, I went to Laguna Beach to teach a wonderfully creative group of mixed media artists. I was fortunate enough to spend some extra time down there and visit some spectacular beaches and coves. So what is the first painting I do when I return home? A portrait of a wonderful cat who lives at the house of a friend in Laguna. Beach scenes will be coming soon, first things first.

My latest theory of painting

My newest theory(I have lots of theories, many of which don't work in practice), is to "just keep painting... which is based on the old time theory that practice makes perfect. Many times I find myself trying to correct a painting mistake which I know in theory. Here is a painting I completed Saturday night. Perhaps I need to call them practice exercises, instead of paintings. Painting is a scary word which means one has to complete something wonderful to hang on a wall. Okay, this is a practice exercise. A photo I took in the seaside town of Cornelia, Italy inspired this practice exercise.

Monastery Window

This painting is hot off my painting desk. I always like the idea of painting the inside looking out. This is a window in the monastery we stayed at in Cortona. The view outside is the garden. I think I might try this painting one more time. I am not thrilled with the blue inside walls and might want to try another color. What do you think?

Photo morphs into painting one year later

I took this photo on my May 06 trip to Tuscany. We took a train a short distance south of Cortona, then took a ferry to get to this wonderful island. There was a nun's convent still in operation on the island and the ferry was filled with giggling soon to be nuns and a couple of mother superiors. The island was beautiful and sunny on the mid May morning we were there, but I don't think I'd like to be sequestered in a convent there in the middle of winter. Anyway, I took a photo of this entryway as we were walking by. I loved the urn on the bricks. I finally took a stab at painting it last week. What do you think?