#4 - Let Me In

8" x 8" - Acrylic on Canvas Board
Purchase

Let me in! - One apple wants to hop in the pan with the other but it's not going to happen. Apples can be mean.

I'm really going to need to get some help with photography. Again, this one looks so much better in person! My little camera just isn't cutting it. I have several friends who are excellent photographers...maybe one of them can give me some tips. I need a lightbox for sure!

#3 Yellow Tomatoes

8" x 8" - Acrylic on canvas board
Purchase

Here is painting #3. I am really happy with how this one turned out! In Kroger this morning, I saw several beautiful bunches of yellow tomatoes and just had to buy some for today's painting. This may be the beginning of a series. I had a lot of fun with mixing colors on these.

Sidenote - I painted this during the UK football bowl game and I am glad I was distracted because we had the stuffing beaten out of us.

There is a point with all of my projects that I get a little discouraged, am convinced that it's all going to be crap and want to quit. I've learned over the years that if I just power through that moment, that it all turns out well in the end and sometimes it turns out much better than I would have ever expected. Now, when I reach that point I get a little excited because I know things are about to get very interesting.

#2 - Fleur De Louisville

8" x 8" - Acrylic on Canvas
Sold

Here is #2. I actually really like this one. It definitely looks nicer in reality. And see below the size? Sold. That's right! This baby is going to a good home.

You can't swing a cat in this city without hitting a Fleur de Lis. They are anywhere and everywhere. So I felt it only right to do a few of my own. This painting happened because a friend of mine asked me to create a purple and gold version of the fleur de liseseses that I draw in pastels. I did a a painting instead and she loves it. Win!

I love the background work on this. I actually like the background more than the Fleur de lis itself. No offense, King Louis.

#1 - You like apples?

8" x 6" - Acrylic on canvas board
Purchase

Ta daaa!!! My first painting of the year. And it can be YOURS for only $1! What a bargain.

What I like about it - Well for one, I was painting. That's always fun. And it was nice to hold a brush again after so long. I love the vibrant green of Granny Smith apples, so it was a challenge to mix the colors (somewhat) properly.

What I don't like about it - it looks somewhat cartoonish to me, but I was overworking it so I took it to what was it's most successful point without starting over and stopped. I also think I could have done a better job with composition. I would like to maybe try it again with the apple much larger, there's too much background showing.

Prep.

In 2011 I will create 100 paintings. This is an exercise to get myself back into habits that I have forgotten and rediscover the talent that I'm fairly sure is still there. Also, it should be a good time. I love all the tools that go along with painting. I love the smells and the textures and good grief don't get me started on how much fun gesso can be. sigh....

I have to give credit where credit is unknowingly due. I was browsing on etsy.com one day, looking around the painting section, trying to get inspired for my oil painting class that starts next week. I came across the work of Adam Houston. He spent 2010 also creating 100 paintings in order to rediscover his love of painting. Check out his blog, it's pretty cool. He still has a few of his works on sale at etsy if you want to snag one.

So, I read Adam's blog over a couple of days and the idea grew that this might be what I needed to kick start my own artistic endeavors. So here I go. The first few paintings with be in acrylics, but like I said, next week I begin an oil class and cannot WAIT. I've never worked in oils, just acrylics and watercolors.

So here goes. Feel free to leave comments be they nice or snarky. I'm hoping to have some gems amidst what will be lots of trial and errors.