Leading the Pack

Leading the Pack, 22"x28" oil on canvas

As you've probably noticed, I've been painting a lot of ballerinas of late. I've just gotten into the groove with them, and have thoroughly enjoyed being able to experiment with different color palettes and poses. That said, I took a break recently, and decided to paint a scene of a horse race. I had done this once before in brush, but this was different as it was my first attempt in palette knife and the horses are coming right at you instead of a scene from the side (totally challenging in its own way!). I've enjoyed the way it's turned out, and can't wait for it to dry so I can pick out a frame for it. I think I may end up going with a solid dark wood, but we'll see!!! I have quite a few paintings to frame, and to be honest, picking out frames can be tough...the right frame enhances, the wrong frame detracts (kind of like jewelry with an evening gown, am I right?!). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the piece and are having a great week so far!

Slice of Life!

Happy Wednesday!  I'm really excited to share with you all a recent article from elan Magazine, called "Slice of Life."  I'll let the article say it all, but I was really honored to have this story published, written by the wonderfully talented Donna Cedar-Southworth and to this day, it still makes me cry even having read it a dozen times.  I hope you enjoy!

If you want to view it larger, click on the image below!

New website!

Happy New Years Eve!  It is a beautifully mild day here in DC, and also my anniversary!  I've had a really rough cold for the past week, but I'm excited that I'm going out to dinner tonight!  Yay!  

Here at the studio, I'm excited to share that I've developed a new website for my palette knife painting, so check it out below!  I had a good time with it as it's my first foray into Wordpress.  It's still being tweaked, so forgive any flaws, but it's for my palette knife painting and I'm excited to share it!

Be sure to sign up for the newsletters for details on the latest and greatest with the palette knife pieces!

www.paletteknifepainting.com

Noelle

Noelle, 36"x36" oil on canvas

Happy Monday!  I'm having a fun time with ballerinas these days, and I had an especially good time creating my most recent dancer, mostly because of all the burgundy, pinks, and greens...she's very much in the spirit of Christmas!  Christmas is my favorite holiday, and of course given the time of year it's constantly on my mind.  Besides that, I just love these colors together year round!

Noelle is a 36"x36" oil on canvas in palette knife.  This is the biggest ballerina I've created so far, but I needed a square canvas for her position.  I hope you have a great week ahead and a Merry Christmas!

Little Lion

Little Lion, 24"x24" oil on canvas

Happy Monday!  As promised, here is my latest sea creature, the lionfish.  As I've mentioned previously, Grand Cayman holds a special place in my heart.  There are a million reasons to love it, but for some reason it really feels like home.  In Cayman, like many other areas of the Caribbean, the lionfish has been introduced as a non-native species, and as a result, has been depleting natural fish populations as well as coral reefs due to its predatory tendencies. 

That said, Caymanian people are quite clever, and figured out that they are actually a very tasty fish, so spearfishing for lionfish has become a bit of a sport.  As a result of the influx of lionfish meat, many restaurants now have lionfish offerings on their menus.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm really looking forward to it!

So here he is, this gorgeous striped fish with a bit of a checkered history, ha! I've seen one in person once, and I can say they really are majestic looking!  Hope you enjoy!

Sir Turtle!

Sir Turtle, 24x24 oil on canvas

Wow, what an amazing weather day!  I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic under the gray skies last week, so this week has been pretty blissful.  I much prefer the sunshine to the rain, although we were a bit in need of some wet weather for the grass's sake.  Anyway, now that the sky is clear again, check out this underwater painting of this sweet little sea turtle. Sir Turtle as I like to call him (paying homage to the emblem of the Cayman Islands), is a 24"x24" oil on canvas.  I fell in love with his sweet little grumpy face and I love how dynamic he is headed toward you.

My aim is to make him a friend, I'm thinking this time a lion fish.  We'll see how that one goes, so stay tuned!

It's a Wrap!

Well hello! I'm back up for air after wrapping up the ValeArts show this past weekend.  I'm really thankful we had it last weekend instead of this weekend with the rain, whoa!  It's crazy outside right now!  Stay safe if you're reading this on the East Coast!

The show was great, a lot of hard work but a lot of fun at the same time.  We had a lot of new faces (and regulars!) coming out to see the pieces, which always makes things more vibrant.  Above you can see a painting I was about to wrap up for a customer, a quick bin piece of Washington Harbor.  Below, you can see artists Jenna, Linda, and Kathy setting up for the reception we had on Friday night.  

Overall it was a wonderful experience, and next week I'm back at the easel!  With all of this cold rain, I'm going to mentally hop on over the Caribbean for my next piece or two.  Stay tuned!