Salamanders

Salamanders

8 x 10

2006

Original Sold

Signed 8 x 10 giclee print: $55

Note cards available

I have loved red eft salamanders since early childhood when we would find them at camp. Now my children enjoy finding them with me. We were in Milford, Pennsylvania at a family camping weekend when we found the models for this painting. My mom and my kids took a hike with me in the rain and we counted over 100 salamanders. I think they are lovely. We gently "borrowed" a dozen or so and brought them back to our cabin for a photo op before returning them where we found them. We find plenty of them in the woods close to home, too.

The painting has an abstract element in it that is unusual for me. I just wasn't interested in painting dirt, leaves and pine needles at the time. I was compelled to paint the little creatures and went loose for the background. I almost named this "Salamanders in Space" or "Space Salamanders". I just had more note cards printed. The proof showed the image a bit saturated and I decided to go with it because they are super bright orange in these note cards and I like them even better. The purple is more intense too.

I am leaving for the Adirondacks tomorrow morning on vacation. No new posts coming for more than a week. I am not high tech enough at the moment to bother learning how to tell the post to post while I am gone, plus I haven't finished packing and I have ice cream churning. (The ice cream is made with our fresh raw organic goat milk, our fresh raw eggs and local maple syrup! More about that on Jeff's "Wanna Bee Farm" blog someday maybe. It is almost midnight. Good night!

Frogs

Frog

8 x 10

2005

Sold

Note cards available

This was my first professional frog painting. Jeff took the reference photo at Omega Institute in Rheinbeck, NY. The original sold, as well as a couple of hundred note cards so far. Frogs are quite popular. I am not as strange as I thought for loving them!

Buddies
5 x 7
2006
Sold

Note cards
available





I got the reference photo for this paintings from Wetcanvas.com. The contributor has a strange screen name like Zarustor. I would check on the name now but the Website is down for maintenance. Wetcanvas is a place for artists, and includes an image library that members contribute to for the purpose of providing reference photos for other members. They have great forums and posts too.

Not Speaking

8 x 10
2006
$225.00 with mat and frame

I shot the reference photo at Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton. My mom gave the painting its name.

Goldfinch with flowers

Goldfinch with flowers

5 x 7

2008

Sold

Signed giclee print: $29.95

I finished this painting today. I like it much better than the Robin posted on Wednesday. I went a little wild with the pink and purple! The photo my camera took showed a light pink and blue background. I adjusted it to look as close to the actual painting as possible, with moderate success. I used another reference photo from Allan Wilson of Natures Pics Online. The photo reference did not have a pink and purple background. I can't wait to make note cards with this image!


I am going to take a little break from birds. Today I started the drawing for a 16 x 20 watercolor of Neuschwanstein castle. I have a photo I have been considering using for months but chose a better one from Wikimedia. This one looks like a magical fairy tale castle and shows the mountains behind it. This may take a while!

Robin Red Breast

Robin Red Breast
7 x 5
2008
$115

I just finished this painting today. Reference photo by Marie Read. (I think the photo is better than the painting.) She has many gorgeous photos at www.marieread.com. Thank you Marie!

Pumpkins, Pets and Playing Cards

I finished this painting yesterday. It is a 5 x 7 commission for Newt's Playing cards, and they now own this image and the painting. This is the 5th painting I have done for them to use as the card back of decks of playing cards. This deck is called "Pampered Pets of Pickaway County". It is still in the production stage and won't be out for months. They hope to make lots of decks like these as fundraisers for animal shelters and humane societies. I plan on having some for sale when they are done.

This is a 5 x 7 painting of the Ponce Lighthouse in Florida, painted for Newt's lighthouse deck. I painted this in May and these cards won't be available for a few months either. I'll post when I have them for sale.

(Update - January 2009 - Lighthouse deck available!)

I like this painting and deck best so far. It is the "Vintage Pumpkin Deck" and I was more creatively involved in the composition of the painting, another 5 x 7. I researched vintage tractors and looked at lots of pumpkins before painting. I like the pumpkin art images on the fronts of the cards. You can learn more about this deck and see some of the art by going to Newt's Cards. This deck has already been produced and I am selling them for $5.99 each, same as Newt's Cards does. The smaller picture shows the card back now that they put the title and "Pumpkins" on it.

The second card back I did for Newt's was for the Delphos Canal Commission Museum. The cards are a fund raiser and sell for $10 a piece by the museum. It was a little different taking a very horizontal building and putting it into a vertical painting. That is why there is so much sky.

Newt's Cards used this image as the back for the the Cumming County Historical Society playing card deck, another fund raiser. The museum used to be a train depot and still has a caboose.

Keep Newt's Cards in mind if you need a different kind of fund raiser for your organization or club.

Cheetah

Cheetah

11 x 14

2007

Giclee print $95

Note Cards available

I was Artist of the Month at Flatbread Company in Canton for October 2007. I showed 15 paintings and came in three evenings to demo. Cheetah is what I worked on. The lighting was poor and with all the distractions I didn't get very much done there. It was still kind of fun, and after spending many hours on the painting at home it is one of my favorites.

My friend Alan Perrie took the reference photo while on safari in Tanzania. Flatbread bought the painting from me and auctioned it off for charity, in this case to benefit a local food bank. My sister-in-law was the highest bidder and now owns the painting. I have prints and note cards. Flatbread has a new manager and discontinued the artist of the month program. Too bad. They still have great pizza though.

Autumn Splendor

Autumn Splendor

14 x 17

2007

Sold (again)

I refer to this painting as the "loose tree". The official name was suggested by someone when I was hanging it in a show. I hadn't put it on my web site because it doesn't look anything like my usual paintings. I actually never even took a photo of it until this morning. I considered naming this post "And now for something completely different".

I went to a Jeanne Carbonetti watercolor workshop last July at the Omega Institute in Rheinbeck, NY. Omega is a wonderful place and Jeanne is absolutely lovely. Overall, I think that loose is overrated in watercolor, but Jeanne's paintings have vibrant colors and look gorgeous. She is a splendid teacher too. Many artists talk about wanting to "loosen up" and many people like loose paintings. I rather like tight, realistic watercolors but do see how a little looseness could enhance a painting now and then. I could also see how it might be nice to complete a painting in a couple of hours instead of twenty.

I did this painting in class based on a photo I took in West Hartford. I like the painting, had a friend cut a mat and here it is. I actually sold it last month at the little outdoor art event to a woman who loved it. Now I own it again because her check bounced and she says that her fiance won't let her keep it. Go figure. So here it is for the world to see, and maybe somebody else will give it a good home. :)

Hendricks Head Lighthouse

Hendricks Head Lighthouse

11 x 14

$450 with mat and frame

2008

I finished this painting today, and submitted it to the Connecticut Watercolor Society 68th Annual Exhibition. I had borrowed Cheetah, a painting owned by my sister-in-law to enter in the show in case I didn't get the lighthouse done in time. Friday I was looking over the entry form and discovered I could enter two paintings. It was a busy weekend, but I squeezed in four or five hours of painting and feel good about entering both paintings. I have a better chance of getting in with two. The opening reception is next Sunday. I hope to be there.

This lighthouse is in Maine and the reference photo was taken by my friend Allan Perrie. He is the same person who took the photo of the Cheetah while on Safari in Tanzania. I will post the cheetah another day. Now that this painting is done I can go back to birds! I have a goldfinch already drawn out and a robin photo I really like. :)