Happy Holidays - Ella, Lucy & Linus

Here are four pieces that my parents commissioned. All are 8x10, oil on canvasboard. My niece, Ella, at one month and one year, and the other two, are Lucy and Linus, my sisters' french bulldogs.
The piece of Linus is a copy of one I did of him for my first Forgotten Works Challenge, in 2008. My friend, Himanee, purchased that piece, much to my sisters' dismay.

So now my parents have asked me to paint the two dogs as a Christmas gift to my sister. I'm including the two paintings of my niece as well. I hope they like them.

The portraits of Ella were a challenge. I want to do more portraits of children, and I have to chalk these up as practice. And remember to get better reference photos in the future.

Forgotten Works Challenge - the Highlights

Above: 8"x10", oil or acrylics on CanvasBoard

I finished the Challenge. Not as well as I would like - I painted 16 pieces, and in the end, only 8 I feel, are decent. The rest are collaged paper and some stamping - we had to turn in 30 regardless of state of finish. But it was a good experience, as always, a learning experience as well. The advantage is, at the end, I feel that I have a starting point for new work - of all things, with the collage/paper work. They are getting me to think of what I want to paint on them once I get them back.

So, if you are in the Seattle area, I strongly encourage you to come see the show, if only to come to the Sneak Peek Preview Party - just to see the sheer volume of work - 1500 pieces of art for sale. The variety is staggering. I always enjoy it. Need more information? Email me.

WHEN: Preview Party (no sales) Wednesday, December 1st - 5-8pm
Big Sale Day: Thursday, December 2nd, 5 - 9pm
Open Sale Days: Saturday, December 4th & 11th, 12noon - 5pm

WHERE: Community Room, Tashiro Kaplan Building, 115 Prefontaine Place, Pioneer Square, Seattle.

The Forgotten Works Challenge #10 Starts

This past Saturday I picked up my 30 (8x10) panels for the Forgotten Works Challenge. This is the 10th year that Charles Holzey has done it, and my third year participating. The premise - you have exactly 30 days to finish 30 pieces of art - painting, drawing, printmaking, collage... whatever your muse. The Challenge is to finish and to hand in 30 pieces at the end of the 30 days.

The show will be held during the First Thursday Art Walk on Pioneer Square at the Tashiro Kaplan building in downtown Seattle. All pieces sell for $40, for an original piece of art!

The cool part of this is to see the final display. 52 artists entered this year, each will submit 30 pieces... that's 1560 pieces! And it's all at random - so we are not grouped in anyway, which is very democratic.

Stay tuned for upcoming work... Maybe I'll complete the 30 this year. I always turn in 30, but not all are up to par.

Animals, Animals, Animals

From the Top:
Roxie, 9x12, oil on wood panel
Aina, 8x10, oil on canvas
Woodsie, 8x10, oil on canvas
Aina (again), 8x10, oil on canvas

All are portrait commissions. If you would like me to paint a portrait of your pet, please, contact me. I am really enjoying the different characters.

Barong Mask - The Artist Challenge #38

12"x12" oil on gallery wrap canvas. $250 including shipping.
The Artist Challenge for September was "Where The Wild Things Are". I picked this mask from my parents collection of Indonesian antiques. I've spent most of my childhood with this mask. It has managed to scare most of my babysitters. The mask is of a spirit called a Barong. It is a good spirit, meant to fight off evil forces. With a face like that, I don't doubt it. He's worse for wear due to age - lost a couple of his tusks. Still, remarkably fun to paint.

One Day (3hour) Underpainting/study

9"x12" oil on panel.

Our model that was originally scheduled had a family emergency and could not make it, so we practiced doing an underpainting study with James. An excellent model.
Panel was double primed - first layer of gesso primer in a light grey with a little yellow ochre. Second layer was created by making a neutral mix of three primary colors (red, yellow and blue) into a thinned out "sauce". I brushed that over the grey gesso ground. I then drew with the brush for the darker areas and wiped out with a cloth rag to create lighter areas. The instructor said this is a similar ground to what Rubens used for his paintings. That was kinda cool to think about. I'm considering doing the next step - which would be adding the next painting layers (with color). But what I'd do would be make a copy of this piece (Kinkos or somewhere like that) and then put a layer of GAC on it, and happily paint right over the copy...

Dahlia Close Up

12"x12" Oil on Stretched Canvas
I was late to enter the rookie painters challenge, one of these days I'll make the deadline. I learned a lot. Flowers are tough. So kudos to all the flower/floral artists out there.