Look Sharp

Today I was very pleased to hear that I was accepted into the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts’ 2009-2010 Leadership Arts program.

I look forward to sharing what I learn about the arts and cultural organizations in our area in future posts!

In honor of that, I thought I'd post one of my award-winning paintings. This large (full sheet) watercolor painting was inspired by a rather out of control blooming cactus plant that had taken over our side garden. Like most of my paintings that are lucky enough to win an award, I keep it in my studio for that extra inspiration on a tough creative day.

Blue Jelly

TGIF everyone! I painted this watercolor for my friend Mark who is a diver. After looking at lot different sea creatures, I thought it would be really fun and challenging to paint jelly fish, especially the transparent parachute shapes and the tentacles.

This painting was a good example of the medium (transparent watercolor) working perfectly with the subject matter.

"Jellyfish Jamboree" watercolor on Arches, private collection

Alpha Rain

Since I also write, I love to include letters and words in my abstract paintings. In this particular abstract, I used stencils and Golden heavy bodied acrylic medium to build up the letters so they would also be tactile and textural, like a keyboard. I'm looking forward to doing another piece like this soon, since this one sold so quickly.

The "horned shape" above my signature is the Taurus symbol which I often "stubbornly" include somewhere in my abstracts.

"Alpha Rain" 24 x 24 Golden acrylics on board, Sold.
Scarlet Owl Studio is located in DENVER, COLORADO.

Artists Just Want to Have Fun!

Hot off the easel this is a new abstract mixed media painting, inspired in part by my new novel writing class at the Lighthouse Writer's Workshop.

There are those days in the studio where I think it's just good to paint without too much of a plan. My goal was just to play some music and have fun with color and media. Here, I've combined photos, an index page from an old book, vintage sign letters, oil pastel, and oil paint.

"Everyday I Write the Book" Mixed Media, 24 x 28 on board
This original is for purchase as are prints.
Please drop me a line at the studio email above for more info.

Noveau Iris

Last night I was thrilled to see an promo for the new Georgia O'Keeffe movie on Lifetime with Joan Allen playing the independent artist. It airs Saturday, Sept. 19.

In honor of that, I thought I'd post one of my favorite, "larger than life," Georgia-inspired floral paintings. This is transparent watercolor with oil pastel accents. Though not my original intention, I liked how a winged feminine form also seemed to emerge from the painting.

Nouveau Iris, 22 x 33 on Arches cold press, watercolor & oil pastel
Collection of the artist

Moody Blues

This abstract oil painting was a commission for a lovely East Coast family that I met at the Boulder Fall Art Festival. It was part of my series of abstract series inspired by my trip to Taos and the Rio Grande. I can't wait to visit Sedona in a few weeks to take more inspiring photos.

Also, check out my new article: 5 Great Reasons to Take an Art Class Now on TeachStreet.

Simply Gourd-geous

This morning I was thinking about the great painting opportunities that come with the colors and crispness of fall. This is one of my favorite autumn oil paintings.

Denver area has over 80 community gardens and this oil painting was inspired by one such urban "oasis" near my studio. I loved painting the organic shapes emerging from the tangled vines.

"Gourd-geous" 24x24, oil on board, SOLD

Georgia's Shadow

My classes are now posted on TeachStreet --It's a great online resource for local classes of all kinds. Welcome to my new visitors and students from there!

While Georgia O'Keeffe is well-known for her flower paintings, her skull paintings are my personal favorites.
As a result, just like Georgia, I have a collection of animal skulls in my studio as well.

Since skulls are usually white/off-white, I find they also make fantastic and dramatic watercolor subjects.
This watercolor was done on Arches cold press using many granular pigments such as cerulean which adds to the exposed, weathered feel.

Novel Idea

This week I started a creative novel writing workshop at Lighthouse which reminded to post one of my personal favorite figure paintings.

This figure was painted "alla prima" in oils. The model arrived wearing an unusual vintage lilac "Mad Men"- style frock and hair style, so I tried to enhance that mood with a lower key palette.

"Novel Idea" 12 x12 oil on linen, artist's collection.

Kokopelli Dreams

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to Arizona, I'm posting one of my favorite Southwestern inspired abstracted landscapes in oil.

More specifically, I was thinking about the enigmatic prehistoric canyon rock art found in the region.

This 20 x 24 oil painting was SOLD, but I'm planning to do another in this style (much larger) in the upcoming weeks. I added the gold foil stamping at the end (when the oil was dry) to add even more texture and sparkle to the jewel tones.

Our Orange Friend

Tomorrow, August 8, is known at our house as "Chester Cheetah" day. It' s the birthday of our beloved, handsome orange tabby, Chester Cheetah, who passed away last summer after a full feline life of 18 years with us.

A few years ago, I woke up one morning and thought today I'm going to paint a large portrait of him. For some reason, it can be challenging to paint your own pet, but I'm so glad I did. I smile every time I see that bright pink nose and golden green eyes.

We miss and love you Chester--Happy Birthday!

Rabbit Redux

Over the years, many friends and family have been kind to say that this large rabbit oil painting (inspired by a classic etching) is one of their favorites. I think it's the graphic simplicity.

My goal was to create a painting with few colors and the energy of a quick study sketch using the richness of oils.

Being rather superstitious (and born in the Year of the Rabbit), I've always kept the painting as one my "lucky charms" in the studio. Affordable prints of this piece are available on Fine Art America.

This Week: People's Choice

This week I thought it would be interesting to post some of my "Greatest Hits."

In other words, some of my most popular paintings (based on online web views, customer comments. etc. ) from my website, Fine Art America, etc.

Honestly, a few I'm kind of surprised by. This is one of those. It's a layered acrylic stamped with actual leaves, etc. I created this for a non-profit auction that had a "butterfly" theme and am honored that many viewers seem to enjoy it.

Splash Down

Sometimes, I think the most interesting abstract paintings celebrate the inherent properties of a particular color. When I work on that kind of color study abstract, I prefer to use a variety of painting knives to help keep the pigment pure.

This abstract painting is loosely based on an ocean wave front and diving sea birds, but the overall goal was to create a successful color study that explored color blue (and its orange complement) in a balanced, but high energy way.