Golden Moment, fall landscape

What an age we live in! The internet and email puts me in contact with people all over the globe looking at my work. Their encouraging comments mean so much to me. I feel so gratified and thankful when they plunk down their hard-earned money to own one of my paintings.

Today I met a collector (Kay from California) in person. Some people you just click with right away. Kay is warm, vivacious and with a great sense of humor. Our lives paralleled each other in so many ways. It's funny when you feel you already know someone you just met.

Kay was here in Colorado visiting her parents. She spent many years living in CO and now misses it so much. Golden Moment is a fall scene of aspens on the road to Cottonwood Pass west of Buena Vista, CO, - a little bit of Colorado for Kay to take home.
SOLD

Fuchsia, 9045, original floral painting

Need a spot of color on your wall? This fuchsia closeup may do the trick. As things are starting to really green up in my yard, the garden centers are gearing up for the spring onslaught. I'm remembering this pot of fuchsias I had hanging on the patio last summer. I like the double flowers which have all these folded, twisted petals. For purchase information on this painting, please click here for my website.

Abner, 9044, original oil cat portrait

What I loved about this cat picture was the way the strong light caught the side of his face. I always love to paint cats because of their beautiful eyes. For purchase information, please click h ere to see my website. SOLD

Crossroads, 9043, mixed media abstract

This painting has stainless steel, aluminum, copper, and copper leaf embedded onto the canvas with acrylic modeling compound. In spite of the abundance of "cold metal" - the aluminum and stainless - it has a warm feeling because of the copper and the bronze and green acrylic metallic paints.

This painting did not evolve quickly. I spent the better part of last week working on it. As usual, there was a point when I was ready to trash it. I have learned not to despair or give up when all seems lost. That large bottom left section was blue at one time. And the vertical copper line was black. It was really cold looking then! In searching for a color that would warm up the blue area, I ended up with this "breen" - a combo of brown and green.

If you look carefully, you can see where I painted over the edges of the metal pieces with burnt umber. Two reasons I did that are (1) it softens a very hard edge a bit, and (2) it's difficult to get the glue and modeling compound completely off the surface of the metals so I cover up the imperfections. Maybe I should call it "Painted Lady."

Will someone call Grand Timber Lodge (where we have a timeshare) in Breckenridge, CO, and tell them this painting would look really good in their reception area? LOL (I wish.)
Please click here for purchase information on my website.

Failed email address

Dianne, from Calgary: I could not respond to your purchase inquiry because the Mailer Delivery System said your email address was invalid. Please try again. Thanks, Carol

Kung Pao, 9041 acrylic abstract

This is a rework of a piece I did about 6-8 months ago. It's been sitting around my studio glaring at me that long. I never put the finishing varnish on it - that's tells me that, subconsciously, I thought it needed something else.
The top picture is the old version-very muted palette and the main feature I was interested in was the texture contrast between the black micaceous iron oxide near the top and the white squiggle made of clear tar gel.
I took it out of the frame and just started adding color. With the original as an underpainting, there are layers of rich color notes that give it such depth. I just can't stop looking at it now. Of course, it was difficult to photograph with all the layers of metallic color, but this is a fairly accurate version. Do you think this is an improvement?

Painted Desert, 9042, abstract desert landscape

I'm back into my warm palette. These colors look so good in my house, I just may not be able to part with this one. Lots of texture and some metallic paints on this painting. I wasn't sure whether to file this under "landscapes" or "abstracts" on my website (it's under abstracts).
The side view shows it in a frame on my orange wall - looks really good there. I have some caramel/toast colored walls too that it looks great on.
That's what I do - drag paintings all around the house to see them on different colored walls. I was shocked to see how good the blue series paintings looked on my orange walls. They're complements so DUH, should have known that.
SOLD

A Passion for Painting Award

Sara Winters gave me the Passion for Painting blog award. THANK YOU! Sara is an incredible painter in her own right. Living in the northwest, she does a lot of paintings of boats, harbors, etc. Living here in land-locked Colorado, I can only imagine the beautiful scenes she paints. Check out her blog at www.winterspaintings.blogspot.com.

Companion of Diana, 9040, painting of marble sculpture

I now know that I have no interest in painting marble sculptures. This was the challenge painting for the blog, Different Strokes from Different Folks. Karin Jurick, manager of the blog, was in a truly diabolical mode when she presented the group with this photo to work from.

While is was a good exercise in painting the anatomy of the sculpture, I hated portraying the marble and being confined to shades of black, white, gray, with a touch of prussian blue and raw sienna. I struggle with painting fabric, especially when it's made from marble! For purchase information on this painting, click here for my website.
SOLD

Southwest Spirit, 9039 desert landscape abstract

I didn't start out with a southwest landscape in mind, but that's what I ended up with. Another of the allures of doing abstract work - as Forrest Gump said - abstracts are like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get. This 24x30 abstract on canvas can be purchased through my website by clicking here.

red-RED, abstract diptych

This is the THIRD reincarnation on these two 12x40 canvases. Abstracts can be SO DIFFICULT at times. There often are a lot of failures before success is achieved. I actually had to carve off some of the medium built up from previous efforts. I think I am finally happy with this effort.

About two years ago, I was in a scrapbooking store where I spotted these pewter alphabet charms. They have been waiting patiently in my studio for the right painting to happen. Since the theme of this painting is red, I used the r,e, and d letters on each side of the diptych. The charms have a lower case letter on one side and a capitol letter on the reverse. I've always liked little squares and these are smashing, don't you think? I embedded them in modeling compound to hold them in place.

I also used aluminum tape and stainless steel in this piece. I found the stainless steel in an art supply store. It is a thin guage that I could cut with a scissors. The aluminum tape is used for ductwork and I found that at Home Depot.

The whole effect of this painting is very sculptural with a clean, contemporary feel. There is a dramatic interplay of slick, shiny surfaces and heavily textured surfaces. I can see this painting in a corporate setting or home with ultra-modern accents.

For purchase information, please click here to see my website.

Art Show - Parker, CO

For those of you in the Denver area, consider this an invitation to the reception for the BLUE show, sponsored by Innovative Artists. The 3rd Floor Gallery is at the Parker Station Building on E. Mainstreet, in Parker, CO.

Roundup, original oil of wild horses

I based this painting on a photo taken by Bruce Norman, an associate of mine. What I love about this painting is the motion of the horses and the fantastic light shining through the cloud of dust and the horses manes.
I worry about the wild horses that roam the West. Their habitat is shrinking by the day. I would hate to see the end of this beautiful symbol of our wild west heritage.
For purchase information, please click here to see my website.

Blue Eyes, 9037, blue-eyed cat closeup

I love blue-eyed cats. Too bad I'm allergic to them or I would have a himalayan I think. Also I have 3 shih tzus, two of whom HATE cats. It would be chaos to add a cat to the mix.
For purchase information on this painting, please see my website.

Glitter Gluch 9036

This is another blue (more teal, actually) abstract. Because there are a lot metallic paints used, it was so difficult to photograph. The little squares are made with acrylic modeling compound that I spread over a grid pattern. After carefully lifting off the grid, I'm left with little cubes of acrylic medium which I let dry a couple days before painting.

On the tops of the cubes I put silver leaf. It was so glittery, I toned the shine down a bit with a glaze of Golden Primary Cyan fluid acrylic. This is the second time I've used Primary Cyan and it is lovely to work with - it's SO transparent - perfect for glazing. Mix it with Quinacridone Magenta fluid acrylic and you get a fantastic range of transparent hues from blue to purple.

For purchase information, please see my website.