PIQUANT from the series SPICY LASS

PIQUANT from the series SPICY LASS

6" X 8' acrylic on canvas fragment and illustration board

Having a nice weekend?

SAVORY from the series SPICY LASS

SAVORY from the series SPICY LASS

6" X 8" acrylic on canvas shard and illustration board

You will get two bonus paintings this week. I did seven in this series. So I will see you tomarrow.

SEASONED from the series SPICY LASS

SEASONED from the series SPICY LASS

6" X 8" acrylic on canvas fragment and illustration board

AROMATIC from the series SPICY LASS

AROMATIC from the series SPICY LASS
6" X 8" acrylic on canvas fragment and illustration board

I really liked the raw edges of the canvas shard and the threads that pulled free. It's like discovering a fragment of an old painting that has been torn up and tossed away.

The curled canvas and threads are well secured to the illustration board with Golden's clear acrylic gel. The gel also stiffens the curl and allows it to hold it's curved shape.

ZESTY from the eries SPICY LASS

ZESTY from the series SPICY LASS

6" X 8" acrylic on canvas fragment and illustration board

HOT from the series SPICY LASS

HOT from the series SPICY LASS

6" X 8" acrylic on canvas fragment and illustration board

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SPICY LASS

Spice up your life, relish the flavor,
Season with care, so each taste you will savor.

Simmer it slowly, await its florescence,
Enjoy the aroma, anticipate the essence.

We’re each like spice, to add to the blend,
With gentle combining, a delectable end.

Recognize what each person, adds to the pot.
Some add a little, others a lot.

Spice up your life, just taste with one finger,
Ingest it with leisure, so the flavor will linear.

__________

I hope you all enjoyed wonderful weather for your weekend. It couldn't have been better for my two days of photo shooting. both at Oaks Park with Laurie Excell on the Scott Kelby World Wide photo shoot on Saturday and on Sunday to the Great Oregon Steam-Up. I took a lot of pictures and hopefully I will have some that will inspire me to paint some daily paintings.

ASTONISHED from the series RED HOT MAMA

ASTONISHED from the series RED HOT MAMA
6" X 8" acrylic on 100% rag illustration board
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RED HOT MAMA

The little toucan flying by,
A bowl of sweets she did spy.

Red hot candies with a zest,
A perfect place to make her nest.

By chance the candy bowl did spill,
The little toucan ate her fill.

But after such a grand repast,
It’s time to lay her egg at last.

And much to her complete surprise,
She laid an egg of awesome size.

The day the egg began to crack,
The baby broke out with one whack.

Instantly it flew away,
And vanished in the Milky Way.

The red hot mama, was in shock,
Her baby toucan sure did rock.
__________

I hope you enjoyed the adventure of the Red Hot Mama. This series would be perfect for a child's room. A fun memory to last a lifetime.

I am looking forward to going out on a photo shoot tomorrow morning with Laurie Excell and her group. It is part of the world wide photo shoot. We will be going to Oaks Park before it opens to the public. That means getting up at 4:AM as we need to be there by 5:30. That is an early hour but so much fun it is worth it. Last years shoot was in down town Portland. It is always fun to see the different prospectives that people come up with. And who knows I may end up doing a series of daily paintings from my shots. See you Monday.

HATCHING from the series RED HOT MAMA

HATCHING from the series RED HOT MAMA
6" X 8" acrylic on 100% rag illustration board
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RED HOT MAMA

The little toucan flying by,
A bowl of sweets she did spy.

Red hot candies with a zest,
A perfect place to make her nest.

By chance the candy bowl did spill,
The little toucan ate her fill.

But after such a grand repast,
It’s time to lay her egg at last.

And much to her complete surprise,
She laid an egg of awesome size.

The day the egg began to crack,
The baby broke out with one whack.
____________

STUFFED from the series RED HOT MAMA

STUFFED from the series RED HOT MAMA

6" X 8" acrylic on 100% rag illustration board

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RED HOT MAMA

The little toucan flying by,
A bowl of sweets she did spy.

Red hot candies with a zest,
A perfect place to make her nest.

By chance the candy bowl did spill,
The little toucan ate her fill.

But after such a grand repast,
It’s time to lay her egg at last.
________

FEASTING from the series RED HOT MAMA

FEASTING from the series RED HOT MAMA
6" X 8" acrylic on 100% rag illustration board

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RED HOT MAMA

The little toucan flying by,
A bowl of sweets she did spy.

Red hot candies with a zest,
A perfect place to make her nest.

By chance the candy bowl did spill,
The little toucan ate her fill.
________

RED HOT MAMA from the series of the same name.

RED HOT MAMA

6' X 8" acrylic on 100% rag illustration board



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RED HOT MAMA

The little toucan flying by,
A bowl of sweets she did spy.

Red hot candies with a zest,
A perfect place to make her nest.

___________


I set up a still life as inspiration for these paintings. The bowl, which was the lid to an old hand made ceramic cookie jar, sits by my easel, filled with red hot candies. It would make a perfect nest for the little toucan, once belonging to my mother.Thus, the name for the series.
“RED HOT MAMA"

The five paintings in this series make up a whimsical narrative. I hope you will get a kick out of following along on her adventures as they unfold through the week. I decided to brake up the poem so as not to give away the story. I will print the entire poem on Friday.

EVER WATCHFUL from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS

EVER WATCHFUL from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS
6' X 8" acrylic and mixed media on 100% rag illustration board

I hope you enjoyed my little frogs. Some of the tadpoles in my pond are now getting there legs. the next generation of frogs are growing up and will soon leave the pond until next spring. And so the cycle of life goes on.

REFLECTIONS OF A NIGHT SKY from the series NIGHTTIME CHARMERS

REFLECTIONS OF A NIGHT SKY from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS
6" X 8" acrylic and mixed media on 100% rag illustration board

I have my new MacBook Pro computer and so far I have only been able to send Emails from it. I will be taking there classes and hope to be whizzing along on it soon. In the meantime I will be jumping back and forth. Everything needs to be transfered from this system to the Mac, and I am sure it will take a while.

AT HOME AMONG THE REEDS from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS

AT HOME AMONG THE REEDS from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS
6" X 8" acrylic and mixed media on 100%rag illustration board


In this series, I challenged myself to paint over an existing backgrounds that I had prepared with no thought to what they would become. The backgrounds suggested water to me.
I experimented with Jelly fish and then gold fish. I was not happy with either. I then did a frog. The rest just fell into place.
The frogs seemed totally at home among the bubbles and blotches. The reeds and rocks seemed to unfold from the backgrounds I had prepared. I was able to do the painting quickly and zero in on the details such as eyes and reflections.

WATERY WONDERLAND from the series NIGHTHARMERSTIME C

WATERY WONDERLAND from the series NIGHTTIME CHARMERS

6" X 8" acrylic and mixed media on 100% rag illustration board

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NIGHT TIME CHARMERS

Among the first signs of spring,
You hear the night frogs start to sing.

Although the frogs are very small,
With loud voices they will call.

One always seams to take the lead,
A chorus follows with surprising speed.

Still for a moment, then burst back into song,
with a concert of ribbots they chirp along.

There courtship music fills the air,
Around there pond and everywhere.

At home among the bubbles they croon,
The night time charmers serenade the moon.

__________

LOOKING FOR LOVE from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS

LOOKING FOR LOVE from the series NIGHT TIME CHARMERS
6" X 8" acrylic and mixed media on 100% rag illustration board

I love the singing of the little frogs in our pond in the spring and early summer. They can sing you to sleep at night. And now the pond is filled with tadpoles as well. What could be more fun.

RESTOCK--- from the series FRUITSTAND BOUNTY

RESTOCK--- from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY
6" X 8" acrylic on canvas on Masonite

So much for being cleaver, back to painting what I see.

Next week I am going to buy a new computer, a Mac. I am so excited. I have been having so many problems on this old Dell recently. I am sure there will be a learning curve from using this PC. I hope there won't be too much disruption, but if there is, please have patience with me.
Apple seems to be the computer of choice for anyone working in the arts.

PIT STOP from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY

PIT STOP from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY
6" X 8" acrylic on canvas on Masonite

This play on words was so much fun to do. It's a bit of a stretch for the series, but I hope you get a chuckle out of it.

IT'S THE PITS from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY

IT'S THE PITS from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY

6" X 8" acrylic on canvas on Masonite.

How often do you run into a pit that brakes in half? So I decided to make it a feature of this painting.

PAINT EM OR EAT EM? from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY

PAINT EM OR EAT EM? from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY
6" X 8" acrylic on canvas on Masonite

I was not happy with the way the first painting photographed, so I re took them again this morning. but then I was having trouble downloading them to the computer. I finally got it to work. and It is much better. Taking the pictures outside, the canvas texture picked up light making the painting look grainy. I ended up taking them inside but with only the natural light that came through the slider. even the color was closer to the painting.

LOVE THIS SEASON from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY

LOVE THIS SEASON from the series FRUIT STAND BOUNTY
6" X 8" acrylic on canvas on Masonite

I'm posting a little late today as I had to photograph these this morning. I promised you a series from the fruit stand and with so much luscious produce it was hard to decide where to start. But cherries are my favorite, so that was it.
As a kid we had two cherry trees. One was a Royal Ann cherry tree, which I favored. I would love to climb up the tree and sit on the branches eating cherries until my tummy was full. Sometimes we would have slumber parties, sleep in the back yard, and during the night we would raid the cherry tree for a midnight snack. Life was good, and the cherries were sweet!

ELECTROPLATING GOLD DUST from the series MOLTEN GOLD

ELECTROPLATING GLOD DUST from the series MOLTEN GOLD

6"X 8" acrylic plaster and gold paint on illystration board

You get a bonus this week, there were six paintings in this series. Next week back to realism.

We are having the family over tomarrow for the 4th of July picnic. I hope you all are doing something fun to celibrate the day. Taking in some Fireworks perhaps.

THE GOLDEN MEAN from the series MOLTEN GOLD

THE GOLDEN MEAN from the series MOLTEN GOLD
6"X 8" acrylic,plaster & gold paint on illustration board.

for those of you who are not familiar with the golden mean, It is a mathematically determined spot on the canvas that is most ideal. It is derived by a series of vertical and horizontal lines. way beyond my pea picking brain. it lies about where the splash of bright gold lies in this painting.

GOLDEN FLEECE from the series MOLTEN GOLD

GOLDEN FLEECE from the series MOLTEN GOLD
6" X 8" acrylic, plaster & gold paint on illustration board

GOLDEN FLEECE from the series MOLTEN GOLD