Paco Plays with Pizza

My daughter's cat, Paco loves toys and people to an insane degree. I've never met any cat like him. Garfield has lasagna and here is Paco guarding his pizza. Painted for Cute Cat Challenge on DPW. Come and get it. Gone!

Encouragement

At the time that I received this fortune in my cookie, I didn't know what it meant but it did seem prophetic so I took a photograph of it. This was a few years back but now I know what it was for. I believe I am.

Mai Fun

Wouldn't it be great if we could get art supplies delivered to our door late at night?

Tomato Tomahto

More red, round things...tomatoes! But what I really like about this, besides the intense shiny redness, is the cast shadow. These guys are playing Shadow Puppets and making a perfect pair of cherries! Homestretch of 30 in 30.

Jack of Another Kind

Why are these two items together? Third in the ball 'n' jacks series. A little touch of levity for the otherwise sad image of an empty bottle. I like the way the red ball evokes a clown's nose. And the bottle was too pretty to just recycle straightaway.

Aging Hydrangea

Plucked from my backyard bushes and sitting on my mantle, it kept catching my eye while I was reading or pretending to watch tv. I wanted to capture that underlit glow. The blue hydrangeas are beautiful but as they fade and dry there's a certain understatement and complexity that develops as they age. Like us.

Sharing a Mattress (Prickly Pears)

I shop at a local outdoor market and it has fruits from all over, some I have not tried before. When I shop, it is for sustenance but with an eye for potential painting subjects. The exterior of the cactus fruit intrigued me and I was thrilled by the intensity of color inside. Not so much by the very fine hairlike thorns that pierce my hands and I cannot even see. Suffering for art? Check. SOLD

Take This Ring

No, really! Take it. It's a companion piece to the Shake and Roll painting from the other day. They'd go great together. Fun and colorful and there's chrome!

M is For Us All

I'm in love with light and white so I really worked to get this right. I hope the labor doesn't show and looks effortless. That's a beauty tip, right? Trivia: the title comes from the fact that, in my little family, our first names all start with M. Even my parents names. There are a lot of things around the house with M on them.

Happiness Beckons

In our household, the daughters and I refer to these as "the happy colors". They are employed for birthday celebrations, Easter, the Spring Equinox, wherever we can get away with it. And it occurred to me as I was painting, that the pink ribbon is reaching out to us, the viewers with a coy beckoning gesture. A party? Sure, we'll be there with bows on!

Clean Dispenser

I love white and all the colors held within it. Painting them is an enjoyable challenge. This minimalistic dispenser contains liquid lavender soap. Lavender is for relaxation, according to aromatherapy. It usually sits on the side of my white tub in my white bathroom. A cube of clean and relaxation waiting to be released.

Nectarine In Dappled Light

This is another in the stone fruit series. It's a little different in that it's painted upon a textured gesso ground. Double the brushstrokes, double the fun! And it's a white nectarine, like that matters. That little bit of glare? It's painted in! Not a faulty photo. I like that the dappled light appears as encroaching polka dots. Day 5 of 30.

My Best Shot

Tequila and limes. Limes and tequila. A good couple when you add a little salt. It's all about complement and contrast. Don't you just want to bite that lime?

Jailbreak

The sardines have swum!

Summer's End

Last of the crop of ripe stone fruit caught in a beam of light, casting a long afternoon shadow. The lighting's dramatic, the brushstrokes are loose and the peach is fuzzy. I'm a little wistful about summer winding down but happy with the painting.

Blowing Bubbles

There's a little bubble quivering on the wand just waiting for someone to come along and set it free. Summertime fun.

Boho Cherry Love

There's something so sweet about a pair of cherries that never have let go of one another. That -and of course the color- was the inspiration to set them on this napkin of Indian fabric. Anyone who has eaten at my house will surely recognize it. It was the first set of placemats and napkins I bought to set up house in the 70's. I painted them in a watercolor still life back then.

Full Bodied Rosie

Bodacious and ready for her close up. Somebody put her in a Dove commercial.

Ready To Toddle

I found this pair of little soft leather shoes among my mother's photos and letters. I don't know if they were my sister's or mine but they are sweet, aren't they? I keep them among some letters, photos and things. I hope another little girl will toddle around in these again someday. They were a pleasure to paint. Very familiar.

Seeking Fortune

This one said, "It is up to you to clarify." Have you ever opened a fortune cookie and gotten a blank one? Kind of terrifying.