Afternoon Highlights

Afternoon Highlights, 8 x 6, SOLD

The Austin Museum of Art School, where I teach, is situated on a gorgeous piece of property on Lake Austin. It's called Laguna Gloria because it's on a lagoon by that name. I can always find something there to paint... I loved the slanted light on this field and trees - it seemed to be coming in sideways in the pre-dusk afternoon.

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Shady Path

Shady Path, 8 x 6, SOLD

This weekend was a full one - I taught a plein air workshop here in Austin and had a fabulous time watching my students create wonderful paintings. It is so satisfying! It also always gives me the itch to smear some paint myself, so today I went back to one of our sites to paint this captivating tunnel of trees.

ALSO - many thanks to Katherine Tyrell for featuring my International Artist Magazine award on her March 29th blogpost on Making a Mark. Thank you for your support, Katherine!!

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Lingering Beautyberries

Lingering Beautyberries, 6 x 6, SOLD

Beautyberry bushes are so intriguing. All summer they just look like green shrubs, pretty, but background sort of plants. Then, the surprise. They push out these wonderful wringlets of purple berries on every branch. The color seems almost unnatural with it's other-worldly hue. These berries hung on all winter and look so beautiful with the new spring growth. We won't see them again until fall.

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Towering Palm

Towering Palm, 8 x 6, SOLD

This is my demo piece from my plein air class that started this morning. I must confess, however, that I did it in the studio from a photograph. Boo, Hiss, I know. The weather forecast included big winds and thunderstorms, which still haven't come. Now we have tornado and flash flood warnings to boot. We need the rain, so batten down the hatches...

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Spring Azaleas

Spring Azaleas, 8 x 6

Really, Azaleas are not supposed to like Texas. The soil or sun or heat or something is apparently not "right". However, the Azaleas in our yard defy that fact every spring. Without any special treatment at all, they just bloom like crazy. On a side note, today my husband and I celebrate our 30th anniversary! How great is that?


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Spring Green

Spring Green, 6 x 8, SOLD

Last Thursday our plein air painting group met up at Emma Long Park on Lake Austin. Campsites were full with springbreakers and SXSW attendees, but the lakefront was pretty quiet and peaceful. This row of trees had just leafed out and they completely caught my attention with their fresh brilliant color.

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Incredible Week!!

Sunlit Palm, 16 x 12

Thank you all for your outpouring of support and encouragement! I am truly overwhelmed and humbled! And now, I have more good news to share...

I have just joined Daily Paintworks, an online gallery that features 12 daily painters who post their work regularly on their blogs. It is a huge honor to show my work with the other eleven. They are all truly fabulous painters! Please take a minute to view the site and each of their contributions.

Thanks so much again for your kind and wonderful comments! My heart is full.

International Artist Magazine - 2nd Place Winner!!!

Agapanthus Blossoms, 18 x 18

I am so excited to share this wonderful honor with you all!! This piece won 2nd place in an International Artist Magazine contest and is published in their April/May Issue. The magazine came out this weekend and my painting is on page 6. The article also includes my comments about what inspires me, my design strategy and my overall painting process. This is such a thrill - I am still pinching myself!! :)

PS - If anyone is interested in reading the article but can't get the magazine, let me know and I will email a pdf image of the page. Unfortunately, there is no way to attach it to this blog post.

Good Day, Bad Day

Dying Sun, 30 x 30

I set aside Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to paint large versions of last week's studies. Tuesday was a good day... everything seemed to click and I was pretty pleased with this larger piece. The large ones are so different to execute and have a completely different presence than the small studies, so when it worked out, I thought I was on a roll! But...

Bruised Sky, 30 x 30, WIPEDOWN!

This is all that is left of yesterday's effort. After painting all day, my garbage can is full of scraped paint and oily paper towels, and only a ghost image of the stained paint remains on the canvas. Some days are just like this! Sigh.

Low-hanging fruit

Loquat Cluster, 16 x 16

Last year the birds ate all our loquats before I could paint them. I was waiting for them to fully ripen and I waited too long. So today, when I saw the very first cluster of ripened fruit, I grabbed my paintbox and went straight out to paint. I just love the way the fruit and leaves present themselves.

Draped and poised...

Flower Garlands, 12 x 16

On Thursday of this week, my painting group met up at a local botanical garden and discovered plants blooming everywhere! It was difficult to choose a subject (there was so much color for these starved winter eyes) but I couldn't resist these lacey trees, bedecked with flowers. They seemed draped in their finest and poised for a portrait.

A messy clash

Bruised Sky, 6 x 6, SOLD

When I painted another sunset awhile back, a dear friend of mine commented on how the "dying light is a messy clash... a battle between light and shadow." Isn't it so true? This sky reminds me of that - a battle ended, with lingering bruises.

Feeling empowered!

Dying Sun, 6 x 6, SOLD

This study is one of several I worked on today. I am thinking about my next large piece and trying to work out some color and composition decisions.

My really big achievement of the day was learning how to change out my own website pictures!! Thanks to my web magician friend, West Romberger, at Wildwood Interactive I completed my first update! Please visit my website and check out my recent larger work (the text is "in process" but most pictures are new.)

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Make a wish

Purple Clover, 6x6

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Another colorful sign of spring... slowly but surely we are getting a little color in our yards.

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