Mommy Baby WIP II and raspberry still life

The raspberries my husband brought home were so fresh and plump so of course I had to take time to paint some before and the reward was to eat the model YAY! They were definitely pieces of heaven! I do love small pieces of original art as they are so precious like gems that we like to protect and admire upclose. I am enjoying this set so much that I want to keep them and decide if I want to sell them later. Mom bought me these canvases with easels and I don't know where to get them so maybe that's why I am feeling extra attached to these 2.5x2.5 canvases.

Speaking of my Mom she's been diagnosed with some health issues that she's still being tested for (enlarged heart and liquid in her lungs), so please keep her in your most positive thoughts. The umbilical cord is alive and well so I am most definitely feeling very imbalanced over this news especially because I live so far away from her and basically even if I lived with her, there's very little help I could offer. But there's something to be said about one human being roaming this world who I can vouch loves me the most and I could probably humbly claim same position in her life.
I am feeling a bit lost in my Mommy - Baby portrait. I had a definite picture in my mind about it and I somehow lost it lol I am loving the pinkish coralish colors going on. But you know what bugs me the most? That I've painted in the outline of the figures so strongls grrrrrrr for some reason it's impeding my progress. But there ya go, WIP 2!

Don't forget that you can click images to enlarge your view!

Mommy Baby oil portrait WIP

"Ash and Ava" work in progress....

This is 18x24 oil on canvas of my hubby's sweet niece and her first baby! She is the first bundle to grace the family since I legally joined the clan about 9 years ago :) Ash is so beautiful to watch with her baby and it touches me so much I just can't help but pay tribute to her loveliness. This is also an opportunity for me to warm up for some portraits I will be doing shortly. Well I'm very pleased with this start. Lately it seems I am enjoying not having a particular plan on under painting. I was mainly using up the mess on my palette to lay down the preliminaries. It's a good start :)

Soon the daffodils will be popping in their heads from my flowerbeds and I will go absolutely nuts if I once again have other things on my easel instead of painting them from life! Spring is coming YAY! (It's still cccold though).

Tulip oil painting and nude figure sculpture

"Tulip" 2.5x2.5 oil on canvas

Well Linda, here's the tulip I was painting while on the phone with you! I'm terrible! This was the freshest bloom left of my husband's lovely tulip bouquet that he came home with last Friday. It was so artsy with lanky stems that drooped down and each tipped with tulip in a beautiful red shade. We normally just go out to nice dinner for Valentines, but this year I got flowers, chocolates, a very thoughtful card, even some cash, dinner and show! Well we passed on the show since they were all goofy ones at the theater. :-p

I originally had a teenie landscape on this canvas because the view across my window was inviting with the sun hitting the pine trees and the house across the lake. Though I actually finished it, I decided the canvas was best saved for another still life so I took a napkin and wiped it off! I was just as pleased to satisfy my urge to paint the scene as I was to save the canvas for another piece! You see from the glare that it still have left over light source from my window.

It took a while to get started today as usual. But today was even more inconvenient because we had to clean up the house for company all weekend long lol When we clean up, things get thrown all over the place so it takes a some thinking to re-locate the usual items that are normally within my reach.

This is my only sculpture and I'm glad I took a couple photos before I ended up giving it to the model. It's 10 inches tall. I enjoyed it so much, working from a live model that had to be turned on a revolving stand every 20 minutes. We had to work fast! And when some of us weren't quite ready to let go of the view, we pushed our sculpting stands that were on wheels to find the same view again! I do wonder how much of that hectic energy is transferred to the poor model that had to maintain the pose and attitude. Not bad for my first sculpure, it would be so much fun to pick it up again at some point hopefully before I'm 100 years old.

Clementine Tangerine oil still life

"Clementine Tangerine" 2.5x2.5 oil on very mini canvas

I was so unimpressed with my caramel painting so I had to redeem myself somehow. Here is another still life on a dinky 2.5x2.5 canvas I did in less than an hour. It's not a contest on how quickly I can paint something discernable (that would be a very silly reason and would make any serious artist roll their eyes) , but more a race against my attention span waning on me. I'm glad we're having some sunny moments lately so maybe my brain can continue to thaw out. I was also SO READY to eat that fruit! Dear Theresa Rankin is blogging about some wonderful still life so I can thank her for the inspiration. How she finds time to be so generous as she prepares for her upcoming show is amazing!

Thanks so much to Gail H. Ragsdale for the Lemonade Award for Positive Attitude Blog! I think any artist who is continuously creating and pursuing their highest potential deserves this notice so I award all fellow artists who are creating along with me! Thanks again Gale!

So my self portrait was also awarded in the EBSQ Self Portrait show YAY for my Member's Mention award! Mark Satchwill complimented my painting and encouraged me to enter it in the show even though it wasn't done based on what I call a piece ready for primetime viewing lol But see it here along with a description about why I painted it. Also see other entries, they are fun to see! :) http://www.ebsqart.com/ArtShows/cmd_195_Exhibition_Entries_2_2_G.htm

Seal Change is Gonna Come

I saw this in DavidFoster.Com and it simply grabbed me I had to post and share here. Love this video and Seal's rendition, very very nice and smoooooth. I hope you enjoy it too :)

San Francisco Pacific Palisades DSDF 21-22 and an Award

"Pink Yellow Blue and Black" about 5x7 watercolor on paper

Another impressive challenge from Karin Jurick at Different Strokes by Different Folks. This was a daunting challenge for me. Straight lines and I usually don't get along well lol However when I was 10 minutes into the drawing, I realize that it was going to be a really good project to undertake because it's an opportunity for an excellent refresher study on basic shapes! Good grief, I was feeling sorry for the builders as their challenge was far bigger than mine! I was able to start over halfway through my drawing because that's when I realized the tops of the cone roofs (I bet there's an official name for those lol), were not going to fit and that's just not acceptable! Part of the reason why I took so long to make up my mind about painting this was that I was drooling over painting the molds and cool shapes in oils! But I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I were to paint it smaller than 11x14. I might still do it at some point, don't be surprised! Also, I try not to see what other people do with their DSDF challenge when I can help it so I can focus on my approach. As usual this challenged attracted a wonderful variety!

An admired fellow artist Akiko Watanabe has kindly given my an Art Blog Award! The recipient of this award is supposed to list 7 things that she/he loves. Here are my 7 things:

1. I love my sweet hubby :) Such a sweet spirit on that man!
2. I love art of many shapes: visual art, music, acting, photography, and the art of cooking.
3. I love people with passion. They are titillating to me and I applaud the ones who pursue it to its highest potentials!
4. Do I have to say I love food?
5. I love Japanese cuisine and the culture. Honto!
6. I love dogs! I really appreciate how happy they are to see you and their loyal friendship.
7. I love spring and fall seasons! It's the only time I don't complain about the weather lol Right now it's so cold I can hardly think!

Now I am giving an Art Blog Award to all the blogs I list on my right column that I list because I love them! Thanks Akiko!!! xxx