Dandelion 1

I was commissioned to do a set of Dandelions by someone that had seen my set of Sunflowers on eBay. They really like them but their flower of choice was Dandelions. I have to admit when I first thought about them, "weeds" was the first thing that came into my mind. I have a whole new appreciation for Dandelions after doing these paintings. This particular one reminded me of my childhood when I use to see how many blows it would take to clean off all the seeds.

Kava Bowl with Plumeria

After being out of commission for a while again due to a broken hip and arm, I was brought back to a hasty reality when my daughter asked me to do this piece for her. It was done as a THANK YOU to a friend that works on a local TV Channel because he offered to come and do an assemble at her daughters' school as a favor. He is Polynesian an his comment on receiving the gift was.....How did you know that Kava bowls are my favorite?
Well she didn't, it was just a lucky guess. He loved the Painting! I think I need to do another one now to sell. 

A Family of ORCAS

This painting is probably something I would never have thought to do if it weren't for one of my grandsons, Jaxon. He is 9 turning 10 and is obsessed with Orcas. His father has taken him to Sea World in San Diego from the time he could walk and for some reason these mighty beasts have left an indelible impression on his mind. He asked me if I would do a painting for him and if wasn't hard to guess what he wanted me to paint. So this is why this painting exists. I must admit I found the reflections under water very challenging. From a distance it seems to work put close up it really looks like a mess to me. Oh well I guess you are to view a painting from a small distance. Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Piano Rose

This was a hard painting to get a real good picture of and do it justice. So I figured several pictures would help give the idea. I found these rather unusual shaped canvases that are long and skinney 12x4x1.5. How fun! but what do you paint on something that size. It kept reminding me of a keybaord for some reason so that is when I got the idea to make the top look like the black keys and put a rose across it. The work came in having to paint all the detail around the corners of each wrap. Particularly tricky on the rose. It worked however.

These are availble on eBay and Etsy.

A Hard Softball

These are actually two separate paintings. They are painted on 8x8x1.5 canvas. In this painting of the "Hard Softball" it appears to be very simple. But doing the stitching detail is very hard for me, hence the title "A Hard SOFTBALL". The inspiration for this painting came when my 10 year old granddaughter asked me if I would do a painting for her. When I asked her what she wanted me to paint, her quick response was "A Softball". She has been playing now for several seasons and just loves it. Her other trade mark however, is a ladybug. Ever since she was born she has been known as "Buggy" or Kalena Bug. It began on her first Halloween. She was about 2 months old and her parents found this darling tiny ladybug costume. She has been "The Bug" ever since. Now because of this we decided her softball needed a ladybug crawling on it. I will give it to her for her 11th birthday. I still felt inspired to paint another softball placing the stitching in a different place however I didn't find it any easier. Just Fun!

The Sunflower

I enjoyed doing the small sunflowers so much that I decided to do one of them up large when I found a large square canvas. As I discovered with painting the plumerias, it was a very different experience from painting the small flowers. At the moment it is hanging in my living room over the mantle and I have to admit it sure makes a bright colorful statement. It would add sunshine to any room on a dark and dreary day. If you are interested in purchasing any paintings they are listed on eBay or Etsy.

White Plumerias

This is the largest painting I have done I believe besides one that may have been about the same sizes when I was in High School. It is 36x48. It has now been framed in a beautiful gilded gold. I was encouraged to put this and the baseball painting I put int last year's State Fair, into the Salt Lake County Fair this year. It opens today but so far we have gone down to see if either of them managed to get an honorable mention. I also entered my grandson's painting too. He is only 10 and he did a great job of painting a pitcher for the Boston Red Soxs with the crowd in the background. What a fun thing for us to do together!
Well how exciting, my grandson won second place and I got 1st place with high Blue. That's like A+. The other painting I entered also won first place with high blue but it Got the BIG fancy Ribbon for Judges Choice!