Tunes for the Troops

I've been doing some spring cleaning this weekend and I remembered seeing a feature story on the evening news of a young girl who was sending CDs and DVDs to the military serving overseas. I googled the words 'cds for the troops" and found the website

There are a couple of ways to participate you can just send the media you would like to donate to:

Tunes 4 the Troops
P. O. Box 2008
Cleveland, TN 37320

Or you can become a collection center or donate money. What a great way to spread some happiness!

Dabbing Paint

These are ACEOs (for those of you not familiar with the tern it stands for Artist Card Edition or Original and it must measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches)
The yellow border is just a virtual mat.
I was experimenting with dabs of thick paint using a fully loaded brush. You need to really plan ahead with your color placement. As I expected they look better from a distance and I expect that this style will lend itself very effectively to certain subject matter.

Spring Greens

I was down in Peninsula Saturday at the Art Academy hanging some new paintings and thinking about spring... sure it will come soon, right? Soon we'll be back on the bike trail riding the Cuyahoga River. I pulled out some photos and re-worked this 8x10 a bit while the snow fell.
The Teacher/Student show opens there this weekend and the evening will be capped off with Open Mike Blues Night.
Saturday is also the day for dropping off entries in the HSA Mid-Winter Show.
~~~~~

How about this great idea... famous people donate a doodle and its auctioned off to help feed the hungry.

Chinatown

Most of you know I spend a LOT of time on the WetCanvas website. Its a great meeting place for artists and we have a lot of fun showing off our stuff. I did this collage in response to a challenge posted in the Open Critique Forum. A photo of a scene in Chinatown NYC was posted for us to interpret. This 4x6" collage is my effort.

Channeling Sydney Laurence

With the return of the artic cold and blowing snow my thoughts turned to the great landscape painter Sydney Laurence.

Laurence painted Alaska and studying his work is a great way to learn how to paint snow.

This piece is based on his painting Wet Weather in Juneau.
Mine is 5x7" on ampersand board.

Flower Power

After a week or milder weather we are in the middle of another snow event. Theres about 3 inches of fresh 'lake effect' on the ground with more expected. But the Home and Garden Shows are going on and the grocery store is featuring primroses so I thought I might try some flower aceos. Each of these is done in a different style.
The pussy willows are in a more formal asian/zen motif; the tulips in a traditional fresh garden 'spring is here!' look and the modern, dramatic roses in a contemporary style. I wasnt sure about the roses but have to confess they are my favorites now. The green sure loves those orange tones.

Buy one now!

Old Boots

Old leather has such great texture and personality doesnt it?
I painted this 8x8" study alla prima canvas mounted on board, yesterday from a photo ref. I think I could do a whole series on boots.

8x8 original

Option 1 $60.00

Ships free

Tag! I'm It!

Tagged!
I've been tagged by Karen Phipps in her blog. If you haven't seen her work click on her name to link to her blogsite. She does beautiful work.

The rules of the Blogger's Tag game are:

1. put a link in your posting about the artist that tagged you.
2. write 5 -7 unusual things about yourself.
3. tag 5 - 7 other bloggers and let them know.

I am tagging these six artists - I know you will enjoy thier blogs!

1. A wonderful miniature artist Melody Lamb who paints terrific ACEOs

2. Clare Carnell a terrific artist and new blogger

3. From the Netherlands, Karel Tuinart who paints brillantly simple still lifes

4.Karen Koch an ACEO artist and Queen of networking

5. Debra Bures and husband the potter Stephen, gallery owner, blogger documenting life in the Cuyahoga Valley

6. Collage artist Shirley Ende Saxe

_________
Putting this list together was harder than I thought it would be. Here are seven things you may not know about me:

1.When I was a pre-schooler my mother took me to audition for the show Art Linkletter's House Party - but I didn’t get on; they said I talked too much.

2. My father helped build the World Trade Center. Years later his wife's niece died in the second tower.
3. I am a Signature member of the National Collage Society.

4. I once worked as part of a legal team and my main task was jury selection.

5.I went all through Catholic Schools… even college.

6. My mother had Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize and Joe Page autograph my baby picture. She ran into them one day while walking me in my carriage on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
7. I love movies. But I hardly ever watch a movie more than once.

Old Friends

You know them so well... they are old friends who have been there for you through thick impasto and thin glazes. You know the capabilities of each and
exactly which one is needed and when.

and the pot... well you've had it so long you can't even remember where exactly where it came from.


Here's to old friends!

ACEO 2.5 x 3.5"

Hog Wild

This is just a fun aceo I did for Valentines Day.
Love to you all!

The Potter's Hands

I thought it time to tackle painting hands. No more cute tricks like hands in the pocket, hands holding large bunches of flowers, hands just out of sight. They weren't quite as hard as I feared.

Same old rules about values and temperature. A big thank you to Fred Graff for his helpful critique which had me darkening the darks, and using a mosre consistent brushwork.

This painting is 8x10 on stretched canvas.

Does a Robin Mean Spring?

We're expecting to have temperatures in the 40s today. Compared to the weather of the past few weeks if will seem like a heat wave. This little guy has his feathers all puffed up in an effort to stay warm on a 3 degrees morning.

Thinking of things tropical.... painting this image was a group challenge on Wet Canvas. The photo was of a fabulous tropical flower. I had some paper I wanted to try - shell paper made from ground up sea shells. It has little mica like flakes in it and is very textured like grass cloth. I used watercolor pencils and the paper stood up to many washes.

ACEO Collectors

I want to share a brillant idea that was sent to me by Ms J - a great customer and a woman with a discerning eye for art. She has collected quite a few of my ACEOs and found a new way to enjoy her collection. Hows this for making the most of technology?

She has loaded the digital image of the artwork into her MP3 player so its portable and always available. This is a terrific idea for the ACEO artist - well - its great for any artist who wants to be able to share their work.

A big thanks to Ms J... I'm hoping the memory card is huge so you can keep adding to it!

ACEO Awards

Most ACEOs are sold on ebay and this year a community group sponsored the Years Best ACEO awards. Since I paint ACEOs nearly every day of the year I had a good number to choose from and entered 8 or 9 categories.

I was lucky enough to win a Finalist place in seven categories.

Further voting brought me Honorable Mention in 2 areas - Photography and Scenic/Landscape

and Second place ribbons in Cityscape and Seascape.

A big thank you to all who took the time to vote and to Wendy for organizing the contest. It was a huge undertaking with over 900 entries.

Two Lemons and a Pear

What I like most about this aceo is that the pear seems to be hiding...or maybe he's just spying on the lemons?

In Memorium

Pebble Beach

I thought it was time for a break from winter weather so I wet to my file of reference photos and found this scene of the ocean at Pebble Beach. What struck me was the clarity of the atmosphere and the brillant color.
I painted it on gessoed hardboard - is 9x 12"

Around Town

I was driving around town and each time I caught a red light I had time to enjoy the view of white show on evergreens and woods. From the front seat of the car I had the sight line of looking at the base of trees and the snow underneath. I hought it would make an interesting paining to focus on this low angle.

This is an ACEO that will be listed on ebay.