Ah summertime, alive with freshly mowed grass, haybales, and freshly squeezed lemonade while listening to the cicada's sing. Could anything be sweeter?

Kentucky is hot, as is half of the nation! I spent a somewhat enjoyable, because I was loosing a pint of water a minute, afternoon on a beautiful Paris farm and produced this little number.
Available on dailypaintworks.com

I recently returned from an awesome trip down to Savannah and Tybee beach. Unfortunately it was a rather rainy week at times, but it made for some awesome clouds moving in over the marsh.
Available for purchase on Daily Paintworks

Standing Tall 5"x7"

Everything in Kentucky is turning green! I am so happy to see signs of spring popping up all over the beautiful bluegrass state. Available for purchase on Daily Paintworks

I am returning to my blog and will be posting daily painting studies in hopes of improvement which will be available at Daily Paintworks for auction.

I am experimenting away and officially driving myself nuts trying to get this right. I am trying so hard to get down edge mastery, while at the same time still trying to find my style. This little guy is becoming a direct result of my frustration.

Over and over again it seems I take one step forward and two steps back with each painting. I really need to leave a post-it note on my easel to remember everything, but the most important thing I try to remember is to have fun. I may have said this a time or two before.
I feel like I am banging my head up against this wall waiting for a break-through in understanding. I just know that if I keep chiseling away one day a light bulb will go off.

I am going to start off by admitting that I realize that I am behind yet again. The holidays are drawing nearer and the annual most stressful time-of-the-year has commenced. While trying to get as many projects done as possible outside of work, I am sorry to say my painting time has been sliced to a fraction at the moment, but I plan on catching up over the holiday break.

I have noticed lately that I have been drawn to more challenging subject matter, which is of course a good and a bad thing. Good for creating some brain work on how to tackle it, bad for frustration and potentially really bad paintings for a while, but that is how it goes.

One of my favorite quotes by Dan McCaw "There is no such thing as failed paintings, only failure to paint." is something I often think of when the going gets tough. It is important to remember that without failure there is no success, and if there is one thing I guarantee is that you will fail over and over again. It is those who accept this fact and use it as a learning experience and press on who will inevitably succeed. (I hope)

Weisenberger Bridge | 6"x8" | oil on canvas

Painting over old paintings is something I enjoy doing every now and then. I have never been one to waste a canvas or two, plus I just love the effect of letting the old painting seep through creating interesting variety and textures.

This week I played around with using thick paint. I pasted it on like butter and it was so interesting to see what different effects could be achieved using this technique. I must confess that I conserve paint far to often. Each tube is so expensive, to me at least, and I become afraid to use too much of it for fear of waste. Truth is I think I waste more paint this way, plus just look at those delicious textures that are created by using thick paint! How can you resist?!

The Dairy Barn | 7"x5" | $225

This week I thought about edges some and then some more. Where do I want them to be sharp and create interest, a closing off if you will of one value shape from another. Where do I want them to be soft and almost invisible where I want to viewer to softly walk into a combined shape. It is like this well executed dance across the canvas. Where is there a smooth transition or a sharp turn?
I have always been a great admirer of Carolyn Anderson's work. I look at her paintings and am just in awe of how much she says with simplification and truly powerful and effective brush strokes. Her painting Mother and Child just takes my breath away. She is a true master of edges and a great inspiration if you are looking to improve your edge work.
Winter seems to have arrived early in the bluegrass and I am rounding up some painting buddies who are brave enough to paint in 30 degree weather and capture some beautiful snow scenes.

Waiting at the Dock | oil on linen | 7"x5" | $200

This week I decided to paint something I have never painted before, the beautiful Arizona desert. This point is near the Superstition Mountains. I am absolutely amazed at the splendor that is there. It's like a giant disguise for all the painful and deadly items that lay there, similar to one of Odysseus' sirens luring you in. The white piece in the front is nicknamed the 'Teddy Bear' cactus, and it is anything but nice and soft.
Needless to say I had a lot of fun creating this one with lots of layering with paint and color. I hope you enjoy it.

Very Superstitious | oil on canvas | 8"x6" | $250

I have tried to come up with excuses for why I am behind, like allergies, change in season, overtired, overworked and really I do have all those things going on, but are they viable excuses for why I did not paint last week? The masochist in me says 'no'. So now I am officially one painting behind and I will have to make that up at some point this week.

   Week two and I am already breaking a rule or two. Not only is this one is larger, it is also not going to be for sale. I am afraid you all will just have to forgive me for this one, but it has been a very frustrating painting week. I have been working on a new painting all week and keep hitting road blocks so I decided to do a mastercopy study hoping for an enlightenment. This one is based on a painting by a wonderful artist, Scott Christensen, who I will get the pleasure of painting with next year!

Cottonwood Sunset | oil on linen | 9"x12" | NFS

I decided to challenge myself to a fairly reasonable challenge since I have to realize I have a full time job other than painting. I will be completing one small painting a week, 5"x7" and posting them here on my blog for the remainder of this year, and with the rush of cold air breezing in it felt very appropriate to do a fall painting for my first painting.

Oil on canvas | 5"x7" | $200

For a while now I have been on this speed race to get better as fast as possible. While working a full-time job it isn't easy to not get burnt out really quick. I panic on nights that I don't study or paint thinking that one day of not doing these things is going to seriously set me back. All the while my local painting friends keep telling me to stop rushing and just take a breather, which is hard for me to do... I mean really REALLY hard.

My dogs surgery forced me to breathe. I couldn't paint; It just wasn't in me to enjoy myself while my dog was suffering. I read a book, looked at paintings (ok so I didn't really stop studying) and just sort of took it all in. I felt really guilty for not painting, but knew that it was necessary for me to slow down.

Then I noticed that I began to think about and understand the other side of painting. The movement, the importance, the mood, the REASON for painting. Why am I doing this after all? Why do I love to paint? What makes me passionate? I'll be darned if these aren't some of the most important aspects but I never gave myself time to even give it a thought. So I have applied a few of these things that I contemplated and now I am really having fun playing with paint!

If it hasn't been obvious by now Richard Schmid is my favorite living master artists. The way he works with paint and brushstrokes, lost and found edges ( I really could go on forever) is just an amazing melody across the canvas.

I picture myself painting in his presence someday (fingers-crossed) but until that day I continue to study his books and lessons and paint with him in my mind's eye.

Here I have included a mastercopy of his Lilie's demo painting I created. Below is Richard with the original work. I am far and away from recreating the painting to the standard I would like but I learned so much insight from recreating it. It is so much fun to find new ways to make the paint and brush work for you. How exciting!

It has been quite some time since I posted on here. My dog recently had to undergo surgery for a tumor that could have been malignant but it wasn't! Such great news. Now that she has completely recovered I can finally pick up the brush again.

I took a workshop with Lori Putnam a few months ago and she is just absolutely sensational. A peppy ball of energy, which totally makes her my favorite type of painter, and also a fabulous teacher. We focused a lot of doing thumbnail sketches before we paint plein air, which is something I never do and it was such a great thing to do, since if we lost our light we would still have our light/dark pattern. I learned a lot about values, although I already knew a lot about them something snapped when I took her class and all of a sudden they made more sense as to just how important they are to get right.
"Value is King!"

One of my favorite quotes is from a book by Dan McCaw. 'There are no such things as failed paintings, only failure to paint.'
This quote could not ring with more truth. There are days when we work tirelessly on a painting only to finally call it done and only be halfway satisfied, and we then find it hard to find something good about that painting, but there is something good. You painted, and I guarantee you learned something, even if it was from mistakes. I find that most often I learn the most from the paintings that I feel I failed. I learned what not to do, and just hope that I do not repeat it.
Remember it takes probably 10 paintings to finally get a good one you want to sell, so keep on painting!

It has probably reached a whopping 34 degrees here over the past week and with the mix of freezing rain and the onset of a bug I caught, I just really have not felt like painting. About 2 or 3 times a year this happens to me. So for a week and a half I have not been in to my studio, which my studio-mates kindly reminded me of.

Last night was my last night with my instructor so I mustered up the strength and went, albeit I almost fell asleep during the presentation. I talked to some fellow classmates for a bit and finally bit the bullet and started painting.

It was like a miracle. Once I started putting my brush in the solvent it was like an overwhelming feeling of something good stirring, and for an hour I completely forgot I was ill. Creating art truly does have some magic over us.

I spoke to my instructor about what to do in those painting lulls and he said 'When you get in a lull just make yourself pick up your brush and canvas and paint for 20 min. That's it. Just do a tree or something small.' I think to manage these moments better I am going to get a second set of paints and bring my small easel home so I have no excuse.
Hope everyone is staying warm!

As an artist I know that the cold, hard truth to getting better at art is to do it. I feel it is important to also focus on the fact that an important part of this process is to not only to experiment with your own ideas but to also experiment by recreating previous works of art.

You may think 'Why on earth would I want to copy someone else's work?', but the truth is you should, and often. (Selling them is a big no-no) You learn so much from trying to recreate something someone else's done and you may even go about getting an effect they did in a different manner.
I can even guarantee there will be some collective sighing and possibly foot-stamping (who, me?). but the end result will astound you. You may not produce an exact replica of said persons painting but I bet will even inspire you to do it again!

My lovely painting is a re-creation of the great master, Richard Schmid. There is a lot, and I mean a lot wrong with this painting in comparing it to the original, but the lessons I learned from it are invaluable.

Over the past 2 years I have rediscovered my love and passion for creating art. I took a long hiatus after being unsatisfied with my work, but thankfully I felt a calling to try again and I have never been happier to have the brush re-marry my hand! I am taking workshop after workshop to continuously improve my work.