"Juniper Cow" 8x10, while re-modeling

 

A series of minor disasters over the holidays had me running around for a bit. Total net change for the last six weeks of life is that I gained a nice vacuum cleaner, and I lost my car. Since New Year's I've acquired a nice new easel, too, which has required a full week-long tear out/clean/re-organize of my studio space.

 

I finally made use of a cow-shaped butter dish I picked up at German Deli, which is nicely located right up the road (in Texas terms) from my residence. The juniper sprig is a clipping from a decorative tree in the parking lot of the Costco where I bought the new Dyson.

"Title" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar linen panel

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The Bear is Back. "Chrome Bear On Red"

 

Here again is my holiday friend, the strangest ornament ever to grace a Jo-Ann's shelf, the Chrome Bear. The berries were trimmed from a bush in downtown Grand Prairie just across the street from the farmer's market, and I have no idea what they actually are. I think the red is out of my system now, and I'll work on blue paintings for the next week or so.

"Title" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar oil-primed linen panel

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Back just in time for Thanksgiving.

 

I hate long haituses (hiati? haitii?). I've been squeezing art into the cracks of chaos whenever possible, but fortunately things seem to be settling down around here. I have some temp work coming up between now and December, meshed in with the usual end-of-year reorganizing and resupply.

 

The first thing I'm pulling off of the "Things I've Done Since July" pile is called "Three Sizes". These apples were indeed wee, nae'-sa-wee, and f-in' HUGE! I have some Scottish heritage, but you won't find this sold at Everything Scottish. It's up in my shop instead.

"Three Sizes" - 8" x 10" oil on Ray-Mar linen panel

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Six Weeks, Second Job, "Plum Buddha" 8x10 - SOLD

 

Six weeks plus is far too long to go without posting... I've picked up a job after eight months of looking and that has bitten into my painting schedule a bit.

 

I purchased a 10-pack of 8x10 double oil primed Ray-Mar panels last month and I think I've fallen in love with these things... They even smell good. It's frustrating to finish a painting and have it not seem as good as the surface deserves. I've painted a bunch lately but there are only a couple of survivors that I'm not going to immediately recycle through the "Paint Over This" pile. I picked up this Buddha statue at Whole Foods, of all places, and right near it was a bin full of "Texas plums". The plums tasted awful, but they were good subjects.

"Plum Buddha" - 8" x 10" oil on double oil-primed Ray-Mar canvas panel

SOLD!

 

"Orchids Old And New" for a Late Wednesday

 

A follow on to the subject of the first "eBay Thursday" (now available on Etsy, by the way): the second painting of Philaenopsis Orchids. I had to pause and leave the painting mid-way through completion, and when I returned later in the week to finish it, one of the orchid blossoms had perished and collapsed in a sad, floppy heap. I decided to paint what was there, instead of faking the complete blossom in the background. I find that I don't have any objection to painting shriveled, dead blossoms... In fact I rather like the contrast they provide. Flowers are finicky, delicate things, and they die just as they live, so that's how I like painting them... It's either that, or I'll have to go old school and start putting skulls in my arrangements!

"Orchids Old And New" - 8" x 10" oil on Ampersand panel

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