Two more flower girls

I have finished a couple more in my series of flower girls   'Violet'  and  'Holly'.  Each created to reflect the blooms they are named for, these women are painted on llx14 canvases.  Sort of a continuation of my things on people's heads or around their faces.  If you check the archives you can see 'Lily'  in January of 2006, she started it all.  Then there are 'Rose' in June  and   'Iris' in September of 2012.  I have sketches and ideas for a Daisy, let's hope she dosen't take years to make her appearance.

local sites

This little 8x10 landscape is the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls.  If you are local to western Massachusetts it is a beautiful place to spend a day.  Down below the falls there are the 'devil's pock marks' which are holes the water wore in the rocks. 

fabulous floating frames

My husband came up with a great way to frame paintings that are painted over the edges.  These floating frames not only show off the painted sides of these paintings but I think they give these very different landscapes a conteporary look.  He keeps coming up with ways to make my art look wonderful!

Another local landscape

This is Paradise Pond at Smith College.  I have never been there and noticed it on the internet while browsing.  It was just after painting the Old Mill waterfall so I suppose that might have been why I was inspired to paint it.  The painting is a 16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas.

Night on the Town

Summer is here an it's time for me to finish up some paintings begun in the winter.  This 3D applied canvas board is 18x24.  While working on 'Nate's Diner' I applied some everyday items to 2 canvases.  This one with the items a woman might use before her big date, and the other has office supplies.

Long before I got the idea for Night on the Town I thought I might like to paint a row of brownstone like buildings, so I placed my couple right out in the street.

If you have any ideas for the office supplies leave me a comment...

THANK YOU!

Thanks to all who visited the Wood Museum at the Quadrangle and voted for The Mechanical Mouser in the Technical Topper, we received first place for the people's choice award.  We nearly skipped the Culture and Cocktails Night at the museums, it was the same night as my student's art exhibit, so I was a bit tired.  There was a great band, good food, and wonderful people.  The Steampunk Springfield exhibit will be there through September - so if your local there is still time to see all the artistic contraptions.

a great place to visit

Here is a painting of The Old Mill Inn, located in Hatfield, Ma.  In addition to being a beautiful place to stay the owners are now offering local artwork, including mine, for sale at affordable prices.  The last two post paintings as well as this one and others are now on sale at this location.  Check out their site   @oldmillinn.ma

covered bridge

Nothing says New England like a covered bridge.  This is the one in Stanley Park in Westfield, Ma.  A little breath of spring for our unusually cool April.

Area Paintings

I have begun a series of local landscapes, you may remember the Keystone Bridge painting, in the January 2012 archives.  At that time I had thought to start these but never did.  This one is The Grist Mill in Sudbury, Ma. built in 1929 and still in use today! 

The Mechanical Mouser in the Technical Topper

He has been delivered and will be on display at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, which is the newest building of the Ouadrangle.  The exhibit, Steampunk Springfield will open March 22nd.  There will be many of Springfield's historic icons in steampunk style, and over at the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum there will be a steampunk fashion exhibit.  So if your local you might want to go down and check it out.  If you visit before May first you can vote on your favorite one.

Our cat is around five feet tall, and an assembledge of wood, metal,sculpting materials, and found objects.  When we (my husband and I) began working on it we thought we would gather actual gears and gauges to assemble into a cat.  The spirit of Suess soon took over and we began sculpting gears to look like the parts in the wonderful contraptions found in the stories of Dr. Suess.  It became more about what the characeters might do if they decided to get steampunked.

Detailed views of "Saint John Hears the Voice of God"

Here are some of the details of the tryptich, first the left, center, and right panels.  They are painted of paper with singed edges then applied to wood.  I won't go into great detail about the religious meanings of these details.  Those of you who are familure with the story and the icons of medievil painting will see them.  If you have further interest a simple internet search will provide the answers, or leave a comment and I will get back to you.

I will tell you a project of this kind involves more research than painting!

It's been a Long time...

I have quite a few projects to share.  I will start with a rather involved painting, or set of paintings.  A religious tryptich of the apocalyspe for an open call to artists for The Apocalyspe Prize.

Hope for Creativity auction time is here again

Once again this year I have painted a palette for donation to the folks at Hope for Creativity, who give art supplies to kids in need.  This year I played on last year's concept, where I painted a landscape and had my hand holding a brush painted over it.   So the idea this year is called   "What's in your paint tube?"  and you can see what was in mine:

You can visit the site to read about the program and the other artists  involved in the auction:   http://www.hopeforcreativity.org/Artists_of_Engage.html    there will be information there for the auction when it begins if you are interested in purchasing one of the palettes.

day three

So here is the finished table, and some closeups of the animals - also note Zoe's fantastic flowers and Cole's fabulous foliage.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                   

day two - picnic table

So before I jump right into day two, a word about day one-  My student helper Zoe and I had a great start, as my husband had helped prep the table.  So we jumped right into the painting.  On day two we got another student helper Cole.  The three of us had a good time and worked hard as you can see by the progress:

Turtle all done - on to the picnic table!

So here is the finished turtle, and the first day of the picnic table project.  THANKS to all the people who voted on facebook!

More to come...

eye only have eyes for u

So here is a close up of the turtle's peepers - he really came to life now that he seems to be looking back at me!

Turtle nearly finished

So Things are going well in the new location, just have to watch the sun - it gets a little hot in the afternoon.  Most of what is left is details, but they say the devils in the details.

THANK YOU!

Thanks to all who voted, I will be painting my design down at the museums the first week in August.  I will put up some pictures then, it should be fun.  I can't wait to meet the art student who will be helping me.

Your votes are needed!

A little break from painting the turtle - I have a design entered for the Springfield Museum's art picnic project and people who like my work can vote for it on facebook at the museum's page.  My concept is to paint a jungle scene safari scavenger hunt.  The tables will be at the museum so if your local you can visit them at the end of the summer!  So please vote and soon, you only have a couple of days before they announce the designs that will be used.  Happy 4th!