#44 - Happy Cottage

Happy Cottage

6"x6" oil on linen panel

#44

$100

Thanks to everyone who voted for my painting, "Riley's River" on the Bold Brush Painting Competition. 

The painting above, is a 6"x6" oil on linen panel, titled "Happy Cottage".  It is a nod of thanks to a friend whose Cape Charles cottage I stayed in last spring.  It is really named "Happy Cottage", and it REALLY IS a happy cottage!  I think I painted it slightly wider than it really is.  It is a very tiny place, perfect!

There is still time, until the end of November, to vote!

Cast YOUR Vote!

Riley's River

40"x30" oil on canvas

I have just submitted my painting, "Riley's River" to the Bold Brush Painting Competition.  I would appreciate if you would like to go to the site and vote for my painting.  There are a lot of very talented artists who enter each month.  This is my first submission.  Just got to my painting's image, and click the thumbs-up "like" button.

#43 - Last of It's Kind

Last of It's Kind

oil on 6x6" linen panel

#43

Quite a profetic title I think!  This little jewel of a slice of Americana is on Topsail Island, North Carolina.  A put-put golf amd arcade kind of spot.  I took the photo inside, on a rainy day, so the quality is not the best, but you get the idea.  I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to get all 100 paintings done in the 100 days, but I'm going to keep track anyway, and drop it to 50.  Fun part is, it's my personal challenge, so I get to make/break the rules!  Cool!

#42 - Pink Gloves

Pink Gloves

6x6 oil on linen panel

#42

Switching subjects again!  I needed one more painting for the Montpelier Hunt Races, so this one flew off the brushes.  It now hanging at The Art Center in Orange.  

I am off now to work on several small woodsy paintings for an exhibition for which I was just asked to show my work.  James Madison University's Edith J. Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens   is located in Harrisonburg Virginia.  They have started a new exhibition opportunity for artists, featuring different artists every couple months.  I was asked to exhibit, next week!  The show will go into December.  So, I will be quickly putting together several pieces.  They would like some framed reproductions, and smaller, less expensive originals.  So, woodsy, flowery, plant paintings will be on the easel, and being made ready for that.  Never a dull moment!

#41 - Beach Colors

Beach Colors

6x6 oil on linen panel

#41

As much as I think that sticking to a particular subject really helps you understand and paint that subject better, sometimes life happens.  I needed to have several small pieces to take to the Montpelier Races this Saturday, so I have been going back and forth between my beach cottage paintings, and dogs.  Much easier to do with these small 6"x6"ers.  I have found that these small paintings keep me thinking and working on things such as color interactions, shapes, simplification, and a million other things more easily, because they are completed quickly.  It is so easy to get bogged down in tiny details, that I have to remember my reasons for working on different subjects.  On to the next one....

#39 - "Waiting"

Waiting

6x6" oil on linen panel

#39

This is a quick oil sketch of one of my daughter's dog, Tikka.  I had photos, as well as actually having her near me to paint from.  The position is a tough one to capture.  All legs it seems.  I don't feel that I stuck to my simplicity mode in this painting.  Each one is a challenge on some level, as well as a learning experience.  From every painting we do, we learn things that work, things that don't work, and they can give us ideas of what to work on in a future painting.  Happy November!