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Kylie 💋

    
Kylie, 8″ x 8″, oil on canvas

I wanted to make a painting for my nephew but he doesn’t have a pet so instead I painted his celebrity crush, Kylie Jenner. Hopefully he likes his Xmas present as much as I enjoyed making it. I was kind of sick of doing pet portraits anyhow and this now makes me to want to paint more beautiful people. I’d love to get more practice painting people and it seems perfect to start by painting strangers before people I actually know, so I can avoid offending anyone in case I do a terrible job!

Levi & Riley

  

Posting my latest paintings…a pair of dog portraits for my nieces of their adorable shih tzus for Christmas. It was the first time I painted 2 paintings at the same time. I enjoyed being able to go back and forth between the canvases. When I was bored with one, I could work on the other. The key to doing this is to use the same palette for both. In this case, I used a palette of titanium white, ivory black, burnt umber, cadmium yellow, and French ultramarine.

Levi, 8″x8″, oil on canvas
Riley, 8″x8″, oil on canvas

Napa

  

Sharing a few favorites pics from a trip to Napa earlier this month ❤

  • Domaine Carneros
  • Domaine Carneros
  • Domaine Carneros
  • Domaine Carneros
  • Domaine Carneros
  • Beringer Vineyards
  • Beringer Vineyards
  • Beringer Vineyards
  • Beringer Vineyards
  • Beringer Vineyards
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa
  • Castello di Amorosa

First Plein Air

 
Me & pup living our best lives

I was very excited today to try out my new ‘pochade box’ for painting ‘en plein air’ (outdoors). I’m looking forward to bringing it on my travels. I love that I have to paint kind of faster and looser than I normally would. I’d love to keep loosening up the brush strokes and get more impressionistic or even abstract over time. Today’s painting was made with a limited palette of burnt umber, phthalo blue, cadmium yellow, permanent rose, and titanium white.

My first plein air painting

Secret Harbor Beach

 
Secret Harbor Beach, 4″ x 4″, oil on canvas

This is my first tiny painting. It measures only 4″ x 4″. Sometimes when I haven’t painted in a while I feel overwhelmed looking at a big empty white canvas and I feel like I just don’t have the time, energy, or talent to do anything with it. But when I saw these teeny tiny canvases at the art supply, I knew they’d help for those moments and ease me back into painting after extended breaks.

It was also fun to paint with a limited palette of only 4 colors (titanium white, cobalt blue, lemon yellow, and burnt umber)  and alla prima (meaning “at first attempt”). Normally I take days to weeks to finish a painting. Very satisfying to finish a painting in an hour!
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NJ / NY / LI

   

I had a fun trip a week ago to New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island to visit family and thought I’d share a few of the pics. 🙂 I was running around a bit, so these pics were just taken on my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S20).

Seaside Heights, NJ

NY, NY

Long Island, NY

Island Art

St. John has some cute little shops and galleries that feature art from local artists. Below are a few paintings that I loved (…and are making me feel like painting something tropical). The first is by artist Lisa Etre, the second is by Ayn Riehle, and the last 2 are by artist Kristen Maize. They can all be found at the Bajo el Sol gallery, in case any of you has a beach house to decorate. 😉

  • Heading Home
    Lisa Etre
  • Sundowner
    Ayn Riehle
  • From Below
    Kristen Maize
  • Halved
    Kristen Maize

USVI

  

Just sharing a few pics from vacation in the beautiful US Virgin Islands. I regret not bringing my actual camera on the trip as the views were just stunning. These were taken with just my smartphone.

  • Secret Harbor Beach
  • Cruz Bay, St. John
  • Trunk Bay, St. John
  • Cruz Bay at sunset, St. John
  • Magens Bay Beach at sunset, St. Thomas
  • Magens Bay at sunset, St. Thomas
  • St. Thomas Harbor, viewed from Paradise Point

Basquiat at MFA Boston

 

I had the great pleasure of seeing the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit at MFA Boston with my son on Mother’s Day. 😊 The photos don’t do them justice, especially in terms of scale, but these were a few of my favorite works.

  • Hollywood Africans
  • Untitled
  • Untitled (Thor)
  • Charles the First
  • Six Crimee

Sleepy Kitty

  
Tomato II, 8″x 8″, oil on canvas

Belated birthday present for my nephew…this is his cat Tomato. 🙂 Last year I painted a different version of Tomato for his sister.