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!

Corgi Puppy SOLD

I am happy to say I have finally sold another painting! YEAH!! It has been a while so perhaps the spell has been broken. I SOLD the painting of the Corgi Puppy. I was a little nostalgic about letting it go because she was once my puppy. Oh well, photos will have to do.

Kitchen Fruit

This is another fruit that is commonly found in New Zealand. It is about the same size as the Kiwi fruit or may be a little smaller. This fruit too is very deceiving from the outside. It is a very dark deep purple with a smooth outer skin until it begins to ripen. At this point the outside almost turns black and the skin starts to shrivel into little divot like holes. Inside is the most delicious sweet succulent and flesh that surrounds the little black seeds. They are separated into two sides in the center. These wonderful little fruit are wonderful in a fruit salad or as a topping on ice cream. It is a "must try" if you ever get an opportunity. This was the final in my series for my daughter and I have to admit I really enjoyed doing them.

They look awesome along her kitchen wall!!

Kitchen Fruit

This odd little fellow has come to be known as a Kiwi fruit. I was born and raised in the land of Kiwi's and we never called them Kiwi fruit. Now get this, we knew them as Chinese Gooseberries. Whatever you know them by doesn't really make any difference......they are very deceiving. The outside is an unattractive furry, almost prickly brown. It is hard to imagine that there is anything about this oblong shaped blob that would be attractive to anyone. Yet if you cut this fruit in half when it is just getting soft to the touch and peel back the fur you will find the most delicious brilliant green juicy berry that is as sweet as can be. Added it to any fruit salad and you have the secrete ingredient to make your dish out of this world.

I tried to show this contrast in my painting as well as showing the little black seeds in the center. these give an awesome contrast against the green but really don't even show as far as the taste in the fruit. A study in contrasts from the land "down under", unless you live "down under" and then it would be a study in Oriental berries. It's a fun fruit what ever your perspective!

Kitchen Fruit

The second fruit I painted in this series was the coconut. I realized right away that my biggest challenge was going to be getting a contrast with all the white of the coconut and the white of the background. But don't you agree.....I think I managed to do it?? The image I was trying to create was that there was grated coconut spilling out of the front of it. Quit the challenge. My daughter was very happy with it.

Kitchen Fruit

My daughter asked me to paint her 4 tropical fruit for her kitchen wall at the beginning of the spring. I told her I though I was up to the task. I decided to do them on 8x8x1.5 square canvas and she had requested that the backgrounds just be white. The first one I tried was the papaya and I actually found it a bit of a challenge. I think it was mainly because it was the first time painting since my medical hiatus. the more i worked with it the better I felt about it and the better it made me feel. The colors just came together so beautifully with the contrast of the very smooth melon and the rough texture of the pithy center and seeds. It all worked Finally!

The Sunflower No. 4

This is the last of the series of sunflowers that is 6x6x1.5 that I have for sale as a set on eBay. I wanted to vaguely suggest the leaves and sky as background on this flower so that it would cause the beautiful color of red pop put at the viewer.To me i get the feeling that a gentle breeze is blowing on the back of this sunflower causing it to face the sun.

I have really enjoyed doing this series!

The Sunflower No.3

This is the third Sunflower in the series or study that I'm doing. I really like the way the background contrasted with flower in this painting. It really helped to pull out the warm "happy" color and rich density of the sunflower. Again on a
6x6x1.5 canvas.

The Sunflower No. 2

It has been almost a year since the last sunflower was painted. Unfortunately at the end of last summer I had to have 2 knee replacements 6 weeks apart and it has been a very slow recover. But I am now back into the swing of things and eager to get back to painting. This fun little sunflower intrigued me with all its spiky greenery. This is also on a 6x6x1.5.