Farm Themed Commissions....

I recently went to the open house for a local Farm Credit Services where two of my artworks were newly framed and hanging.  One near the front lobby area and another at the end of a hallway.  It was rather fun to be in a business where my artwork was on display.  I was commissioned for these two fun farm inspired pieces....

"CR Barn and Silo"; Watercolor and Ink on 22" x 28" Paper.
Commissioned Piece

Photo of framed CR Barn and Silo.

"Old McDonald's Pig"; Watercolor and Ink on 20" x 20" Paper
Commissioned Piece

Photo of Framed Old McDonald's Pig

Joe's Auto....

Here's the latest of my commissioned pieces and it was a FUN painting to do!  I always wanted to put a gas station behind one of these cars that I have been painting.  Joe was excited at the possibility and was please with how it turned out.  This is his 1970's blue Chevelle in front of an older Standard station.

Photo:"Joe's Station"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" cold press paper.
Commissioned Piece

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any feedback you may have.

Catching Up....

I've been working on several different paintings in the last month; a couple of them have been commissions and a couple have been bit by bit between the commissions.  Here they are....

"1950 Dodge Pickup with MOPAR Christmas Tree"; 9" x 13"  Watercolor and Ink on paper
Commissioned Artwork

"Love and a Lab"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 15" paper
SOLD!

"Black Cherry and Pistachio Motorcycles"; Watercolor and Ink on 16" x 17" paper
Commissioned Piece 

Dogs in Ink...

I've recently been doing a bit of playing with ink drawings of dogs.  I did one of my black lab, Jazz, and afterwards had a friend request that I do a drawing of her dog.  Here's the fun results....

" I'm Waiting..."; black ink with a touch of watercolor.
Available for purchase.

That's my Jazz with a fun quote.  She's quite the lover...lol

"Trek in Ink"; Black ink with a touch of watercolor.
Commissioned Piece

Here's Trek done in black ink with a touch of brown watercolor for the eyes.  It's been rather fun experimenting with ink and a bit of water coloring.  Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comment you may have.

To the Dogs....

Here's a couple more of the commissions that I did for Christmas.  I can finally share them with you now that they've been given.  Both of these paintings were to be a memorial to dogs that are now enjoying "doggie" heaven.  The first one here is called "Tucker" which is an adorable Cocker Spaniel that I was given a picture of....

"Tucker"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" Paper.

The other dog painting is called "Skippy"  who was a Pomerania who loved to snuggle in blankets, or so I assume from the picture I was given....

"Skippy"; Watercolor on 11" x 14" Paper.

 I welcome any feed back and thanks for stopping by! 

Juliet, The Cat. ..

Another commissioned piece and the first time I had ever painted a cat in watercolor. Here's what I call,"Juliet,  The Cat"...

"Juliet, The Cat"; 8"x10" watercolor on paper.

I welcome any comments and thank you for stopping by.

Happy Holidays!!

I wanted to wish all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  All of the Christmas orders have been taken and filled... I put the finishing touches on the last one this last Thursday night.  I had quite a few this year and here's some that I know have already been given out before Christmas that I can share with you....

"CCR Customized Motorcycle"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

"Blue Fairlane, His Baby", Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

"His 56 ", Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

The two above were for the same person and were commissioned by his family at his request.  I designed them so that they can hang side by side.  I've seen both of these cars at local car cruises and they are amazing.  There's more commissions that I can't show here yet because I don't want to ruin the Christmas surprises.  There's dogs, a cat, and a house.  I'm hoping to post them after Christmas here.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Memorial to Triton....

It's been awhile since I've posted here.  I've been training a dog and had my hands a bit full; still do but not quite as bad.  Back at the beginning of the year, I had my friends ask me to do a commissioned piece for their dog Triton.  The sad tale is of a dog's life shortened quickly and too soon by a tumor in the brain.  Here's the finished Memorial painting....

Photo: "Memorial to Triton"; 11" x 14" watercolor on paper.

They were very happy with the painting.  In fact, there were tears in their eyes as they looked at the painting.  I hope it brings them good memories for years to come.  Here's a close up of the painting that I took...

And here's the photo that I used to do this painting...

I welcome any comment you may have and thanks for stopping by!

Chevy Breeds Racing #1 and #2

Another commission finished just in time for a Christmas gift.  These 2 paintings are based on a father and son's cars and was commissioned by a daughter/sister for the pair.  She wanted both the paintings to look as much a like as possible and have the cars racing.  The loaded question was whose car should be out in front.  She said her brother's which is a 1968/1969 Chevelle SS.  Her father's car is a 2012 Camaro. Here's the final paintings...

"Chevy Breeds Racing #1"; Watercolor on 8" x 10"

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2"; Watercolor on 8" x 10" paper

I started out with this as an original photo to work with...

Original Photo worked from

 From there I worked out 3 options and this was the one that was decided upon...

Option #3- drawing that was chosen.

It was decided that there would be a "grill focus" in the upper corner of each painting to make it special gift for each receiver.  Here's one of the paintings in process...

"Chevy Breed Racing #1" Watercolor painting in process.

Then I took what I thought were the finished paintings to show to the Sister/Daughter and there were a couple of things that needed to be fixed....

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2- What I thought was done?

It turns out that the father's car had a black stripe for part of the hood.  That was an easy fix.  The other error that was discovered is that the brother's car now had a 496 engine instead of the 396 engine that was showing in some of the other photos that I was given.  Oooopss!  That was a bit more of a challenge.  Because it's not so easy to erase or paint over with watercolor.  I ended up doing a bit of improvising and this what was the result...

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2"; final Watercolor on 8" x 10" paper

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any feedback you may have!

Happy Holidays!!

Wishing you and yours the Best of this Holiday Season!
These are most of the paintings that I've painted in the last year.  It's always amazing to look back on a year and see what has happened over the year.

Blue Country Cyclist

This was a commissioned piece that I just finished yesterday.  I'm currently working on another couple of pieces trying to get done before Christmas.  Oh, the stress of painting deadlines. This painting had 5 preliminary drawings that it went through before it became this finished piece.  I'm glad to say that Tim was very pleased with the finished painting.  He wanted something to remind him of cycling on RAGBRAI but in blues/grays with less riders.  LOL!

Photo:"Blue Country Cyclist"; watercolor on 12" x 16" paper
Commissioned Piece

You may notice in the sky of the finished piece a subtle cloud face.  That was added in the final painting and was an idea that we (Tim & myself) and thrown back and forth.  It's loosely based on Tim's face.

The last Prelim drawing for this piece.

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comment you may have!

Dot Perfectly...

I thought I might let everyone know the progression of the horse painting.  My Wonderful friend gave "Dot, The Horse" painting to her friend.  The gal was very pleased with the painting.  She even said that she loved the painting!  It's always wonderful to hear that from someone who receives a commissioned painting for a gift.

Here's a picture of my wonderful friend (Jen in the pink), the painting, and the recipient of the painting(Traci).

In fact, Traci went on to say.... " Words can't begin to explain what this means to me. I love the painting & how it reflects Dot perfectly...absolutely amazing. I remember this day in working with some figure eight training, cantering, & then letting her go running across Monte's field. Before heading back, I let her graze as I watched the sunset. I remember looking down at her while she grazed, laughing with the amount of grass she had & had to take a picture of her...there are many days I wish I could get her back."

What wonderful feedback and such an amazing gift that Jen thought of!  It sounds like it'll be a wonderful memory that has been preserved for Traci.  Enjoy it Traci and next I think I'll work something easier like a bicycle painting.  LOL!  I'm also planning on having a booth of my painting at the Fairfax USA Days at the end of June.  So if any of you happen to be in the area, come say "Hi" to me!  Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear any comments you may have!

Dot, The Horse...

This was a commission painting that I was asked to do by a friend for a friend who had to give up a horse.  The friend ended up moving into town and had to give up her horse because there wasn’t the room in town.  I imagine that was very hard.  My wonderful friend thought that it would be nice to have a painting to remember the beloved horse. 

I must admit that I had never painted a horse before and was a bit uncomfortable with painting a horse that actually looked like a horse.  I know that may sound silly but these things can sometimes be a challenge.  Also, the other part of the challenge was that I only had one photo to go off of.  The photo of the horse was mostly in shadow and rather dark.

The Photo of Dot that I worked from.

I started out doing a great deal of searching on line for photos and paintings of horses to figure out how to best approach the subject matter.  I then did a fair amount of sketching and drawing as a prelim to get a better feel for how to approach the actual painting.  I will tell you that some of the drawings looked like oversized ant eaters!  LOL! 

After doing a fair amount of drawing and sketching, I did some prelim sketches of various sizes.  My friend wasn’t sure which size painting would be best.  So, in an attempt to give her a feel of the different sizes, I sketched 5 different sized drawing.  She decided that she liked the 12” x 12” size best.

Another struggle for me was which way to go on the browns of the horse.  I played around for a week on scratch sheets of watercolor paper blending different browns—from golden shades to rusty shades to gray versions.  Ok, I’ll admit I may have been over analyzing but I wanted to get it to where I felt right about the right colors.  I ended up using quite a few of the browns that I had “experimented” with.

Then, my wonderful friend waited patiently while I slowly painted the actual painting.  Another 3 weeks later and I was FINALLY done with it. My friend came over and I had her take a look at it.  She smiled and said she liked it but as I looked at it with her I saw some fixes I needed to do.  They always say an artist is their own worst critic and I find that it’s very true for me. 

Another week later, and I made those changes and then I signed it.  I’ve made this rule with myself that once I’ve signed it I step away from the painting.  It’s done and I really do hope that my friend’s friend enjoys the thoughtful gift.  Here’s the finished piece that I call “Dot, The Horse”….

"Dot, The Horse"; Watercolor on 13.5" x 13.5" Paper.

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments you may have!

A Commissioned Piece: "Football 39 Hero"

Just before Christmas, I was approached by a friend who wanted to have a special painting done for his son as a present.  His son had been working towards his Eagle Scout for sometime and an award ceremony would be coming up to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment in February.  His son also happens to play football and plays well too.  Just an amazing kid that is respectful, hard working, and accomplished.  I think it says a lot about his parents and they should be deservedly proud.

At the time, when I talked with my friend I was working on Christmas paintings of the "Dogs Resting" (for friend's) and the "Meen Green Machine" (for my boyfriend, Mr. Motorhead).  I told him we could talk about it at the beginning of the New Year.  I must admit that I still have not gotten use to the idea of doing commissioned paintings.  I rather find it stressful in that what I may picture in my head will be something completely different than a client.  But ever since I met this friend, we've always been on the same kind of "wave length" when it came to communicating so I felt a bit easier doing this commissioned artwork.

My friend emailed me with a couple of photos and we talked about some ideas over the phone.  I sketched a few options of layouts.  He decided on the one layout that I would have chosen and was my first choice.  We also talked about colors, and etc... and this is what came of it.  I call the watercolor painting "Football 39 Hero"....

"Football 39 Hero"; Watercolor on 11" x 15" paper.

And here's one of the original photos that I was given to work with....

And here's some of the process from the sketch that was approved to the final....

The Approved Sketch...

First, I started with the sky....

Then, I worked a little further on the detail of the front football player...

Then, I worked out from there....

Then, I was almost there....

Then, I finished and emailed a picture to my friend to get his okay that I was in fact really done....which is the final of this painting.

The finished painting!

Ollie Oxen Free!

I've been in the process of preparing to move and have had my hands mostly full with packing since getting back from RAGBRAI but I did manage to get a watercolor done of a friend's dog.  This is Ollie and he is a Jack Russell Terrier.  He is a real cutie and he knows it too!  He also HATES to wear sweaters but his Mom seems to love to put him in sweaters during our snowshoeing excursions.  I feel like he's saying,"Mom, this sweater? ... Please take it off before ALL the other dogs see me!  They are going to think I'm a sissy.  PLE-ASSSSE!"  This is my first attempt at doing a dog in watercolor and I think it turned out rather well.  My friend was pleasantly pleased with it too.  Here he is... Ollie Oxen Free!....

"Ollie Oxen Free"; Watercolor on 10" x 13" Paper.

Here's Ollie in a candid shot just before Halloween this last year.  Diana Ross- Eat your heart out!

Photo- Ollie putting Diana Ross to shame!

Thanks for visiting and I would LOVE to hear any feedback you may have!

Porch No. 101

This porch belongs to my good cycling buddies; Bee & Peter.  They asked me about a little over a year ago to do a painting of their house/porch.  I really thought I had managed a bit of a coup when I had them pose on their porch with their dog Astra for No. 100 of the Salt Lake City Porches Project.  I thought it was the perfect way to finish the project and also did a painting of their porch too.  I figured it was all done in one full swoop. 

Then after the January showing of the 100 SLC Porches, they approached me and asked to do a painting of their porch with no people from the front.  I will admit that I dragged my heels.  I was rather burned out on porches by that point.  So, more recently I was approached by another cycling bud to do their porch, I thought that I had better take care of Bee & Peter's porch first.  So here it is....

"Porch No. 101"; Poured Watercolor on 10" x 14" Paper.

When I asked how they wanted me to paint it; they said they wanted me to choose.  They did admit to liking my poured watercolors.  Here's one of the photos that I worked off of for their porch.

As you can see, I did a very loose form and played with colors to represent their porch.  I studied the different times of day with the directions of light play.  I also had several different times of year that the photos were taken from.  I will admit I'm partial to the Fall and liked playing with the bare branches of the tree.  Thus, I ended up with the top poured watercolor.  They seemed pleased with adding it to their painting collection. 

I'm currently having a sale on the available 100 Salt Lake City Porches of 25% off.  I'm calling it the RED HOT Summer Sale.  It makes sense when the temps are as high as they've been lately.  You can scroll through the page to look at those available by clicking here.  I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for visiting.  Now on to the next porch for me!

A Basketted Purple Bike...

I am currently working on a couple of commissioned porch pieces.  Yes, I'm doing a bit of catching up and while I'm doing that I thought I would share a piece that I put on my bike art page but I never did a little write up here about it.  Part of the reason was that I barely finished it before Little Red and then it sold quickly.  Here it is...

"Basketted Purple Bike"; Watercolor on 6" x 8" Paper.

It was one of those quick little paintings I did in the evening while watching TV.  A fellow bicycle club member bought the painting and asked that I frame it in a black frame with matting.  That's what I did and here it is framed and ready for their wall...

"Basketted Purple Bike" framed.

They were very pleased.  I thought that the mint green really brought out some of the green undertones and made the bike pop.  I hope to have some porch commissions to reveal here soon.

A Commission for Mom...

My mom recently decided to remove a shelf in the kitchen-dining room area.  She asked for me to do an oil painting of flowers that was large enough to cover the place where the shelf had been.  She gave the measurements and requested a wrapped canvas.  She didn't want to worry about framing and I think she liked the idea of a more modern unframed painting to update the area.  From there, she gave me ideas on what she would like but always mentioned that she was sure that whatever I came up with she would be happy with.  Thanks mom!  No pressure what-so-ever.

First she sent me a few magazine pages of ideas... A Van Gogh of flowers which she explained, she didn't like the actual flowers.  She considered them too child-like but she did like the green wispy strokes in it.  Then, there was a photo of yellow tulips taken in her dining room.  She wanted tulips.  Then, she included a couple of other pages with flowers that she would like to have in the painting. 

Then, she included a diagram of a certain degree...

She wanted to keep to yellows, greens, and purples with a bit of pinks in there too.  She kept an emphasis on keeping it nice light and airy.  Now, I will put a disclaimer here.  I'm not really a flower type of painting gal.  Buildings and bicycles are more my type of thing that I like to paint.  Flowers are a different territory altogether.  I will say I struggled with this for awhile.  I took a bit more time than usual on the under painting.  I did several layers with an iridescent gold and two different yellows.  Then before I started to lay in the actual flowers of the painting.  I painted in the green wispy things.  Here's what I had...

Next, I did some sketches of flowers on paper and played with arranging them on the canvas.

There was a selection of different flowers that I threw in that I thought might look nice with the other flowers she requested; irises, primrose and lavender.  I layed out the drawings on the canvas to get a feel for what looked good together and what would fit and still be light and airy too.  Then I sketched the general format onto the canvas with the same green paint as the wispy things.

I talked with Mom this last Sunday morning on the phone and explained the general format that I had come up with.  She thought it sounded pretty good.  So I proceeded to paint on Sunday evening and Monday night and this is the finished painting that was produced...

AND I hope that Mom is happy enough to hang it on her wall when I bring it home to her in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in July while I'm there for RAGBRAI.