Birthday Cupcake

A special family member's birthday is coming up and I've been thinking of fun images for birthday cards.

Cupcake

Just fooling around with my color pencils and thoughts of cupcakes.

Sweethearts for Valentine's Day

These are such the quintessential Valentine Day candies from childhood.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a second version of my valentine ladybug done in watercolor and colored pencil.

Valentine Ladybug

I'm making this image into cards for Valentine's Day!

Art Opening!

As a founding member of "In Sight Artists", I am happy to announce we are having our first show of 2009 at Louise Minks' Millworks Studio & Gallery at the Montague Mill. Please click on the postcard above to see a larger view. I invite you to visit the "In Sight Artists" blog link under "links".

Fur Face Trio

Our kitty cats - Sammi, Sasha and Sabrina.

Cat Studies

I started with a pencil sketch of Sammi and did a couple of studies to play around with my watercolor pencils. Not surprisingly, one study ended up looking amazingly like Sasha (Sammi's brother). I really like the combo of my watercolor pencils and pen.

Out Sledding

It feels like winter is here to stay - for a long while!

Fancy S'more

I was thinking how fun it would be to make indoor s'mores since it's too cold to be outside!

after Pierre Bonnard, "The Table"

I read an interesting article in the NY Times this weekend about an exhibit at the Met of Bonnard's interiors. I'd love to go see it.

Nose to Nose

Aren't animals great just great!

Waving to the crowd

I saw an image of President Obama waving to the crowd and liked the compositional elements of having him in the foreground, from the back, in a sea of faces.

Abe

Have Presidents on the mind.....

Clown Fish

I saw this photo in a Smithsonian magazine and it brought back memories of being attacked by a clown fish on my first scuba diving experience. They're small, but don't underestimate them!

Sabrina's Dish

ok, it was late and I needed to get my daily sketch in. As you've probably guessed, Sabrina is one of our kitty cats.

Dev Patel

What an intense movie!

In Coach

Sketched this coming back from my impromptu trip out to SF.

View from Adagio Hotel

I tried out my colored pencil with this one.

Obama-rama

Obama!!

I started this as a blind contour drawing, then added shading.

California Street

I sketched this from a a magazine article - it brought back good memories of working in downtown San Francisco.

Brithday Breakfast 2009

I sketched this from a picture Christopher took of me as I ate my birthday breakfast sandwich. I really have to push myself to keep going, even after I've corrected angles, etc. That's the thing with sketching in ink- you can't erase or make parts lighter. It's a great exercise, though, and is helping me loosen up and not be so worried about my sketch being perfect. After all, its a sketch! Thanks to Christopher's well composed shot - I really like the composition.

Sammi & The Paper Clip

Sammi loves to play fetch with a bend rubber paper clip. She is hilarious! I was trying to capture her with the paper clip and had to take several photos. I thought this image was funny, although the lighting was terrible because of the flash and that she was so close. I love that the paper clip is in the center and that Sabrina is peeking up from the stairs.

Tropical Rain Forest Friend

This guy is the reason I bought my Tropical Rain Forest book - I saw this picture and knew I had to draw him.

New York Times Square

We were in the big apple at the beginning of January. I did these sketches from our photos. (click on the image to see it better)

Mother's Little Helper - Peppermint Mints

I have this little tin of "Mother's Little Helper" mints.

South American Hoatzin

A strange feathered friend from the tropical rain forest.

I've Been Adopted

I saw a photo of this cat, Gracie, in a box that said "I've been adopted". She had an expression of alarm bordering on panic that was so funny. I'm sure she is happy and well-loved in her new home.

New Year's Resolution

I really want to focus on honing my drawing skills, and the only way to do that is practice, practice and more practice. So, my new year's resolution is to do a sketch-a-day (of course, I'm starting 9 days into the new year, but it's never to late to start a new year's resolution!) . I particularly want to focus on animals and people. My goal is to do several gestural 10-15 minute sketches a day to build my accuracy and speed. To stay motivated, I'm planning on posting a daily sketch during the month of January. Please check back during the month - I'd love to hear your comments!

New Holiday Cards!

"Holiday Snowman"

"Holiday Tree"

To order holiday cards, please click on "HOLIDAY CARDS" label or visit the "HOLIDAY CARDS" category to the lower right. Paypal accepted. Thank you and happy holidays!!

Acorn Squash

6"x6" Oil on masonite

sold

The baskets of winter squash at the Hadley Sugar Shack have inspired me to try out a variety of squash recipes. A butternut and acorn squash soup with thyme and sage served with homemade croutons has been a big hit.

Pumpkin '08

6"x6" Oil on masonite

The other day, I noticed that it smelled like pumpkins when I went outside. I love New England in the autumn! I bought three little pumpkins from the Hadley Sugar Shack which I'm planning on using in a pumpkin soup.

Autumnal View

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel

This is a view from a friend's place in Pelham. I had a great time painting with Aaron and learned a lot! Check out his site www.storybreathing.com

Cook Dairy Barn

9"x12" Oil on canvas panel

I painted this at Flayvors farm stand on Cook Dairy Farm. I originally intended to include cows in this, but decided to leave it as is with the big shapes of color uninterrupted.

Autumn Road

12"x9" Oil on canvas board

I painted this Sunday morning during Louise Minks' "New England on Fire" workshop. It was sooo cold that morning.

The Red Tractor

10"x 20" Oil on canvas board

Plainsville Farm was harvesting their lovely field of butternut squash on Moody Bridge Road.

Apples & Two Pears

9"x12" Oil on canvas board

It's been fun working on this little "Apples and Pears" series of three paintings so far from one set-up.

Apple Half

6"x6" Oil on canvas

I've had these apples and pears set up in a still life for a couple of days as I've been working on a small series of paintings. They are slowly disappearing (yummy!), so I don't have much time to finish up.

Apples & Pears

6"x6" Oil on canvas

Fall is upon us here in New England!

Salt Pond

10"x20" Oil on canvas board

This Salt Pond/National Sea Shore in Eastham is such a wonderful spot on the Cape.

Grounded Sailboat

10"x10" Oil on masonite

This is Paine's Hollow in Wellfleet - the first location we painted as soon as we arrived on the cape.

Little Bunkhouse

9"x12" Oil on canvas panel

This is the original bunkhouse on a friend's Cape Cod property.

Winding Water

12"x9" Oil on canvas panel

I painted this view from Fort Hill on Cape Cod last week. I was there with Louise Minks who led a wonderful 4-day painting workshop.

Hadley Barns

12"x16" Oil on board

This is a view from Huntington Road in Handley looking over tobacco barns.

The Conversation

12"x12" Oil on masonite

This is the Black Sheep Deli in Amherst, a very popular place. Great ham & cheese croissants!

Red Window

10" x 10" Oil on masonite

I painted this at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum from their beautiful gardens today. We will be painting a series on and around the Porter-Phelps-Huntington grounds this next year in preparation for an on-site art show next summer in commemoration of Hadley's 350th anniversary. www.pphmuseum.org