We Saw the Light - SOLD

Hello from sunny, dry Arizona! Please note I won't be able to ship paintings until I get home, June 5th. I apologize for this inconvenience!

Odd Company - SOLD

I've been saving this very cool green bottle for the perfect moment. It was a gift from a student, and I am very grateful to add it to my collection. Thank you!

Tomato Tea

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I have to admit I did a little happy dance when I found this green teapot at the thrift store recently. I did NOT do a happy dance last night when I attended a figure session and had to wipe my painting after 3 hours. I think it is so easy for a figure painting to get ... awkward, and that's what happened to mine. But not to worry, I was doing a sort of sloppy, happy dance after drowning my sorrows in wine with my friend Sarah, whose painting DID turn out (though she hasn't posted it yet).

Sitting Still

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Right after I finished this one, as I was taking it off my easel, I managed to drop it on the floor - you got it - paint down! (sigh) What I have learned from past experience is - resist the temptation to get all the grit off while it's still wet!! If you wait until the paint is dry all the little bits come right off and usually the paint is just fine, as it was in this case.

Veggie Royalty

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My husband just came out with a new widget for my blog. You can see it over on the right here. It cycles through my latest 20 paintings from my DPW gallery, with the title, whether it's sold or not, and a link to buy or bid. He will soon have versions for all Daily Paintworks members. It is super cool!

Ordered By Size

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I really enjoyed capturing all the color bouncing around in this one. I've always like painting shiny things for that very reason.

Sweet Enough?

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I had this same sugar bowl before the fire. I have found it again, many times over. I love it. David finished one set of studio shelves yesterday and amazingly I've already collected enough to fill the entire thing! I'll post a picture soon.

Breakfast Eggcetera

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This is the last of the eggs for a while. What I liked especially about this one was the egg white pooling in the bottom of both shells. It's such a challenge to capture, but so satisfying when it works.

Fall Dishes

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I've been doing so many paintings with white in them lately, I decided to see if I could make it work with ALL color! I don't think I've ever done this particular combination of colors before, and I'm diggin' it.

Balancing Act

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We got our new silverware from IKEA, and the side benefit is they make great props! They have lovely shapes, even from the end. As for my other props, I find myself getting mostly the same basic stuff again. I already have 7 different white cups and several little white plates. I had this exact glass pourer before, and of course you've already seen a few of my new bottles and jars. I have my eye out for different stuff, of course, but I seem to be able to endlessly compose with cups, plates, fruit and silverware.

Troglodytic Tomato

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This is a new size for me - 5x7in. I saw a student recently painting something horizontal and I thought - why on earth have I been doing squares, exclusively for so long?! Duh.

And regarding the title, sometimes I look up words in the thesaurus so both words start with the same letter. Silly, I know. Troglodytic means someone who lives a secluded life, who is unaquainted with affairs of the world. Maybe the tomato wants to live that way, but it sure looks lonely.

Just Leafing

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I NEVER experienced a fall in Texas like this one here in Eugene. The leaves have been absolutely spectacular. And there are still quite a few of them hanging on. I found this one on the way home from Jacob's bus-stop and HAD to paint it. It was orange on one side and mostly red on the other side, hence the awesome glow.

Dramatic Stacks

I went to a figure session tonight and lo and behold there was a naked tomato! It was shy so it undressed behind stacks of cups and refused to come out into the light. Ok, really, our model tonight was a good-looking African American guy, not shy at all. After the first break he didn't quite make it back into the same pose. I tried to change my composition accordingly, but I just ended up making a mess. So I wiped it off and called it lesson learned.

One Helluva Party & Red Sweater

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Last night I went to another figure session with Sarah. Our model had some mega dreadlocks, and a fuzzy red sweater. About an hour into the 3-hour pose I started over. I decided on the second try to experiment with wilder colors in shadows. The part I'm happiest with is the suggestion of a hand. I find I spend about 2/3 of the time on the face and 1/3 on the rest (ha! - just read that was Sarah's experience as well)!

Click Here to Bid - 8x10in

And below is the belated group photo of last week's Sedona kids. It was a really fun group!

Following Green

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So I survived the 6 mile race, (whew!) and am here to report (will post about the run tomorrow). My class in Sedona last week went swimmingly. Ok, aside from the force fed wine and dessert. The first day we woke up to snow. This was the view from my hotel balcony:

The snow eventually changed to hail, and everything melted by the end of the day ... except for way up high in the mountains. It was a good day to be inside painting.

I always seem to forget something when I travel, and this time I forgot my camera. So I had to settle for iphone pics. Above are my kids slaving away. And below are some of the paintings produced, including 4 of my demos (sold), one row up from the bottom.

We took a group photo, but it was with a better camera than mine and is being emailed to me - will post later. So I'll end with a very serious question: how many artists does it take to change a lightbulb? My kids and I were brainstorming an answer. Please tell me your ideas and I'll post some good ones tomorrow, including our favorite from last week!

The Kitchen Sink

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This painting has everything except ... you guessed it, the kitchen sink. I have to admit, it is sometimes quite difficult to come up with new titles, especially after 1,420 of them! My husband helped with this one. Thank you, sweetheart!

How Many Cups Do You See?

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My husband began wearing reading glasses recently (he is 12 years older than I) and is constantly losing them around the house. And every time he does he asks "have YOU seen my glasses?" in a distinctly blaming tone, as if I was the one who misplaced them. And until he finds them he is a grumpy-pants. That or until I deposit him on the couch with a glass of wine. Either will make him happy.

WORKSHOP - Here is one more workshop for 2012, in Toronto, Canada, Aug 27-31, email Marina to register.

Euro Dishes

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I found these very cool cups in Germany at a little store in St. Blasien. They were more expensive than what I can usually find here in resale shops, but I couldn't pass them up. You'll probably see them a time or two more ...

I Beg Your Pardon?!

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The watermelon was having a nice visit with the spoon. But the spoon has no social filter and eventually said something offensive. The watermelon is now a bit taken aback!

Watermelon Soup

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I had a vision of this painting before I painted it. I was lying in bed with my eyes closed, after having just woken up. The first thing I think about is what I'm going to paint for the day, but I usually have just very vague images as ideas. This time I envisioned this almost exactly. I jumped out of bed and ran to my studio to capture it. Ok, so maybe I stopped to have breakfast along the way, but ...