A Hot Pinkie!!

I'm dreaming and painting bikes as the snow continues to fall outside.  It's just a bit of a case of " cycling on the brain".  Here's my most recent painting that I call "A Hot Pinkie!"  Enjoy!...

"A Hot Pinkie!"; Watercolor on 14" x 17" on Paper.

I used a bit of poured watercolor on the background of this painting.  Then, I used some puddle painting for the bicycle. I will admit that this picture doesn't quite do the original enough justice.  One of these days I need to take a photography class.  I would love to hear any feedback you may have!  Thanks for stopping by.

A Bicycle & Bollywood...

I've recently kind of settled down enough to find the time and space to do a bit of painting.  I sat down the other day with a bit of Spring fever and hopes of getting out on a bicycle soon.  So needless to say I had a bit of bicycle on the brain when thinking of painting this painting.  I also had thoughts of the Little Red Riding Hood theme on the brain too.  So here is the result of having bicycling and Bollywood on the brain...




"Red Bollywood Bicycle"; Watercolor on 8.5" x 11" paper.

I would love to hear any feedback that you may have and thanks for visiting!

A Doorway & a Dog...

(***Editor's Note- I held off on putting this write up due to problems with Google blog and MS Internet Explorer not playing well together.  But I guess that problems have been resolved.)

It's been awhile since I have updated and added any paintings.  I'm sure some of you have been wondering.  Currently, I'm taking a bit of a break from traveling.  I had hoped to have more time to do some painting while I was traveling but that has not been the case.  But I have been lining up quite a few photos that I would LOVE to translate into a painting.  So here I am catching up on posting of some paintings that I have managed to fit in here and there while on my road trip. 

This doorway is based on a photo that I took while I was in Taos, New Mexico.  I love the adobe colors and there always seems to be these bunches of peppers hanging around.  I started with a flat wash and then used puddle style of watercolor.  So here is my translation of a Taos Doorway...


Photo- "Taos Doorway"; watercolor on 9" x 11"paper

Next, here is a painting that I did of a friend's dog.  I have been holding on a copy of this picture for sometime and one night in a hotel I decided it might be fun to give it a try.  I did it in a puddle style of watercoloring; mixing the colors together in small "puddles" of water right on the paper.  Here's the result and she did indeed think it looked like here cute little pooch.

Photo: "Sad Puppy Eyes"; watercolor on 8" x 10" Paper.

Another Painting Break...

I took a day of on my BIG Adventure at my Aunt Lindy's house and did a bit of painting while doing some laundry too; talk about doing some multi-tasking!  I did a couple of more scenes based on photos I took while in Washington State.  One of these is based on a photo I took at my girlfriend Jean's wedding of her guest on the beach and the other is from photos that I took at Port Townsend, WA.  Both of these are on 9" x 12" paper and are a bit of puddle painting.  Enjoy!

"Mother and Son on Beach"; watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper.

"Tickled Pink Shoppe"; Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper.

I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for visiting!  Please feel free to read more about my BIG Adventure traveling at my other blog....click here.

A Painting Break on Whigby Island...

I've been on the road on my BIG Adventure for 11 days now and I've really been keeping busy with other things.  I have not managed to find as much time as I thought for painting.  So when I woke up one morning while visiting Whigby Island and it was cloudy and cold; I decided it was a good enough excuse to take the day off from sightseeing and stay in to do a bit of watercolor painting.  Here's  what I did during my day off from sightseeing...

"Honesty Flower Stand"; Watercolor on 9" x 12" paper.

All over Whigby Island there are stands that are not tended by people they just put the flowers or sweet corn or other vegetable/fruit out with a box to leave the money in.  It just boggles my mind because coming from a large city where something like would never fly.  It is almost like it hails from another time.

"Libbey Beach"; Watercolor on 10" x 15" Paper.

This is based on a photo I took on Libbey Beach which is on the west side of Whigby Island.  It's the first watercolor I've done of a beach scene and painting the rocky beach was a bit of a challenge to figure out.  But it's always good to have room to grow and learn.

A Dream Begins...

Soon I’ll be starting the first leg of I’ve come to refer to as a “US Tour”.  It’s been a dream that’s been at the back of mind for years.  When I explain what I’m doing, I’ve had all kinds of reactions from surprise, to being an inspiration, to “you’re crazy”, and “you’ve got some balls, girl!”(My boss)  I’ve even had it referred to as a “female mid-life crisis”. (Thank you Popette)

Photo- "Blue Moon Garden"; Oil painting on 16" x 20" wrapped canvas. SOLD!

So what is it that I’m exactly doing you might ask.  I’m about to enter into a new exploration of the USA’s lower states – just my car, my bike, & myself.  Basically, I’m quitting my job and entering into a nomadic lifestyle.  The plan is to do this for 2 years and to travel at random.  There’s no set time though I am thinking of starting in the Pacific Northwest and heading south along the coast to start with.  Yeah, maybe I am crazy.  I’ve been saving for 4 years and am downsizing to a car.  I’m really doing what is the opposite of people when they reach their 40’s.

But I want to travel the US and see sites, landmarks, National Parks, and etc. while I’m still young enough and physically able to enjoy it.  I had originally planned on being 42 years old when I started this voyage.  But I got side tracked with bicycle accidents and other things.  I wasn’t able to saving as much as I thought I could and now three years later things have kind of aligned and fallen into place.

You'll be able to follow my progress of this adventure on my other blog... The Allgood Life; just click here.  I still will be posting my works of art that I will be creating while on my adventure here.  Thanks for visiting! 

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!

On My Way Back ...

Tonight, I'm writing this as I sit in my hotel room in Cheyenne, WY.  I'm on my way back to Utah and have had a week of ups and downs.  I first left for my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; last Thursday evening.  The plan was to do a bit of visiting with family and then do RAGBRAI. 

Well, even the best laid plans seem to change.  I did some visiting and started RAGBRAI.  I managed the first three days of RAGBRAI.  The worst three days as far as heat and humidity that RAGBRAI has ever seen in its 40 years (go figure!).  All three days were 99 or above with one day climbing up to 104 degrees with 80% humidity.  Oh and did I mention there were winds that were up to 20 mph too?  These were some tough days and I really found that the humidity was getting to me. 

But I will say that those three days of RAGBRAI were amazing!  It was a sea of bicycles as far as the eye could see along the wonderful hilly landscape of Iowa's corn and soybean fields.  There were people all along the Iowa roads that were cheering you on; some were selling water, cookies, or almost everything.  Some were not selling but giving water out for free, or offering to douse you with their hose, or even others were handing out frozen pops.  Main streets in small Iowa towns were closed down just to bicycle traffic and filled up with vendors offer to sell food or wares to the cyclists that came through the town.  It was just AMAZING!  I don't know how else to describe it.

Photo: Boys-N-Cars watercolor I did of my nephews for a Father's Day present. 
The youngest one here is the one with dark hair.

My second day was the worst.  I had received a phone call from my little brother the night before that my youngest nephew had passed away due to complications after a surgery.  He was only 13 years old.  I was rather a bit of a basket case that day and only managed to ride 47 miles of the 85 miles that I should have rode.  My head and heart just were not in it.  I found I could not keep food down and when you are riding that is NEVER a good sign to have.  I ended up getting SAG'd in that day.  I did manage the next day's ride but then had to call for help when I was brain dead trying to find the host house.  The combo of riding 84 miles with 104 degree humid heat just left me STUPID.

Wednesday night I managed to get a ride back to my mom's.  I had opted not to ride on Thursday to give my body a bit of a break but I also needed to be back for a viewing(Friday) and funeral(Saturday).  That basically meant that RAGBRAI was over for me.  But I needed to be else where.



 

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!

Fun with Water...

I'm still working on catching up with some commissions.  I thought I would have more time with the 4th of July Holiday this last week, but it didn't seem to turn out that way.  But in the meantime, I thought I would post this fun watercolor that I finished up last week.  It features a cycling buddy's daughter and she looks like she's having fun.  I call it "Water Hose Play".  Here is it...

"Water Hose Play"; Watercolor on 10" x 14" Paper.

I was trying to think of cooling thoughts last week with the high temperatures.  I thought this was the perfect subject to be working on.  Enjoy!  I would love to hear your feedback and thanks for visiting!