Dr. Lovelorn

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

Dr. Lovelorn is a recent favorite and I must say he makes me smile. Hope he finds a new home with someone who also could use a little sniggle!

Lost Marble

6x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

Ok, seriously...I lost most of my marbles a while ago. Working on a marble rejuvenation program right now. It requires but is not limited to: Hibernation time every single day, naps without explanation, quiet time when I want it and my choice of music when I don't, one cup of very strong coffee in the morning and one slushy, almost frozen beer around 5:30 (pm) and no whining dogs or children. Really. That's pretty much what it's gonna take. (We all need a dream....right?)

Center Of His Own Attention

24x36" oil on canvas, SOLD

400! Yep, this post is number 400. Wow...deep breath.

That's a lot of chatter by yours truly. I hope you enjoy the stories of my life, my kids, my struggles and enchantment with art-making. But mostly I hope you are touched by my art. It's like putting a little piece of my soul "out there" and at this point in my life, I'm OK with that. Really. This is what I do and who I am; definitely not mainstream.

But the folks that appreciate my paintings are passionate and just a little bit twisted. Like me. And, as unbelievable as it seems, somehow we find each other. For me, it's like finding a long lost friend--someone who speaks the same language, someone who appreciates the absurd and still sees the intrinsic beauty. So to my slightly twisted and passionate followers and collectors: thank you for coming along with me on this wacky little adventure and I promise you at least 400 more equally quirky and slightly bizarre works of art. From my heart.

Archangel Of The Silver Bullet, Recession Angel #1

4x4" mixed media, SOLD

OK, I am starting on this year's angel series for the Holidays. And my guess is that not many folks are feeling all that festive this year with the constant brain upload of bad news about the economy, the recession, unemployment, blah, blah, blah...Are we sick of this...or what?

So in an effort to be mindful of the the wallet, irreverent about the issues and still make art for the people out there that "get" me, I'm introducing the Recession Angels. I have been collecting "recession bits" from the news that has now become a part of our language (I mean really, did you ever even say the words underwater mortgage before last year?). And I'm turning these bits into angels. Small angel paintings that have little pieces of old newspaper (1910 on this one) collaged into the background or the wings. Each canvas is 1 1/2" deep and the sides are painted and collaged. The Recession Angels sell for $100 bucks and I'll pick up the shipping.

My way of thumbing my nose at too much bad news and starting the holidays off with a little twinkle in my eye!

32 Flavors And Then Some

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

I was listening to Ani DiFranco while I was painting this and one of my favorite songs by Ani is 32 Flavors. Seemed like it applied to this piece. You really should listen to it sometime. Anyway, I really like the way this one turned out--loose and brushy (that's a technical term, by the way). And that outrageous blue in the background! Can't get enough of it lately. So here ya go, Ani, a poster girl with no poster...

Waiting For Queen B

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

Feelin' like a drone...too much "real life" lately and not enough art. I didn't even pick up my paintbrush today. Sigh...Queen B is just a little cranky.

Lovers And Other Strangers

10x8" oil on canvas, SOLD

OK, so the "lovers" are obvious but the "strangers"? They are there too...bottom left corner. Can you guess what the little strangers represent? Aw, c'mon...any parents out there?

Brainstorm

6x8" oil on canvas, SOLD

Most of today was spent working on my website. Really not my thing! Have I mentioned that I'd rather paint? I did manage some easel time today and came up with this funny little painting. But I'm on a deadline to have a website up and running by the 15th--Jeez! Well, back to my HTML codes...

Marvin And Teensy

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

Is it just me or is the Holiday Hoopla turned up full blast? I know I'm getting a little wiggy already. Not good. As I cross-reference my calendars (yes, an absolutely necessary survival skill) I see that I have two Holiday coffees to attend, two more Christmas parties (one at my house), my daughter's Sweet Sixteen party (23 hormonal teenagers), two more carpool turns, three doctor/dentist appointments, four more birthdays thrown in and just in case, I'm not having enough fun, my Mom is coming to visit for a week. I'm just a little tense. Can't imagine how I'm going to paint...ho, ho, ho!

Whispering Smith

5x5" oil on canvas, SOLD

Growing up in the midwest, my family did not have air-conditioning. Instead we had a fan in each room. Those fans were pretty darn important on a summer night when the temperatures were in the nineties and the humidity about the same. For some odd reason, my family had names for these fans based on the sounds they made; purring, rattling, whining, etc. You get the picture. Anyway, my fan was named Whispering Smith, hence the name of this painting. I know the painting has nothing to do with a fan but there is some whispering going on here. And Smith seems like a respectable name for a bird.

Akimbo Man

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

Make A Wish

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

September is the start of Birthday Season around here. We're ridin' the birthday train from now until mid-January--nineteen birthdays to be exact. All family and close friends. My son Zac is first. He turns 20 on the 23rd of September. An indisputable fact that makes me feel much older than I actually will be on my birthday--two weeks after his. Daughter, Cameron, celebrates her 16th year right after Christmas and husband, Christopher's birthday is two weeks after that in mid-January. Nineteen birthdays. So I'm going to make my birthday wish now...I wish the Birthday Fairy would drop by and shop for all those birthday gifts and wrap them up with lots of beautiful paper and ribbons. And while I'm at it, could I put in a request for the Christmas Fairy, too?

Purple Haze

8x6" oil on canvas available in MY EBAY STORE

Red-Hot

8x10" oil on canvas, SOLD

My studio has been miserably hot so I haven't been painting as much as usual. When I have tried to work, I aim three different fans in the direction of my easel so it's like painting in a wind tunnel. So here I am, too hot, a little grumpy and blowin' in the wind.

Dry Heat

10x8" oil on canvas (in my private collection)

Nearly everyone I tell that I've just returned from Tucson after moving my son into his dorm in 109 degree temperatures says, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat." --everyone! Like that makes it a refreshing afternoon in the desert. Well, I'm a weenie about heat and I did my share of whining. My son, however, well...he's a trooper. Not much rocks his boat. A few days after returning home I got a call from my brother-in-law in Kuwait where he reports the temperature tops 130 degrees. But guess what? It's a dry heat.

Simpatico

8x10" oil on canvas, SOLD

Chapeau

10x8" oil on canvas, SOLD

Today, I've posted three paintings...whew! I'm going out of town for a few days. Taking my son back to college in Tucson tomorrow so I won't be posting or painting for a few days. Instead I'll be driving through the desert and feeling a little blue...(big sigh).

Question Of Balance

8x6" oil on canvas panel, available in MY EBAY STORE

Red Encounter #22

8x6" oil on canvas, SOLD

"Green Light"

8x6" oil on canvas, (in my private collection)

Some paintings just come together. I don't know what it is...but I love that thing that happens when everything just flows. The colors are right, you've captured the mood, the look, the composition works and you can hang it on the wall and not have that nagging feeling that surely you can make it better. So, on average, I paint around twenty of these small paintings in a month. They're taking over my studio. And right now there are exactly two paintings that I can absolutely say there is nothing else I can do to improve upon what I have already painted. Nothing. And this is one of them. I just really love this piece!