Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Wedding Apple


So I went to a beautiful November wedding. They had something most weddings seem to have nowadays - a candy bar - seems that's something more suited to a child's party to me, but they did have these beautiful candy apples. I grabbed one knowing I'd paint its portrait.  (Don't feel the photo shows the subjects darker qualities. I recently upgraded to OS El Capitan on my Mac and it has made doing anything in iPhoto or even my blog soooooo difficult!!!! Not happy with that upgrade!)  

My Halloween mask
made a Halloween mask.












out of paper mache







Built a bird feeder. Painted and built a few bird houses.

Now I'm making some Christmas textile art - velvet pumpkins, a clingy mushroom and plans for a strawberry or two (look up Mister Finch on Pinterest to see some really fabulous textile art!)


And I just finished up that class I was taking with Lynn Gertenbach. She's a peach! She's a lovely, lovely person. We even went out plein air painting. Here she is on a beautiful California winter day.
 
Boy, trying to post something on this blog now is like trying to wrestle a bar of soap in the shower! It just keeps slipping out of my hands!!!! I'm stopping now while I can. Cheers to all and happy holidays. God's blessings on you and yours.
Karen 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

El Paso

Phew. What a long hot summer.
We worked so hard cleaning out my mother in laws house, getting it ready to sell. We really busted our chops. And then we finished up a front yard improvement. I'm glad to be done with both of those things.
So in order to reinvigorate myself back to painting, I took out something I had signed as completed back in 2007 and touched up some things that had long bothered me. I do remember I was inspired by the painter Andy Thomas who does really fun western scenes in his paintings. Bucking broncos, saloon fights, dangerous card games, that sort of thing. And when I revisited this, I thought of the Marty Robbins song, El Paso, thus the title.
Also I signed up for a class with Lynn Gertenbach over at LAAFA. She is very sweet and loves her grays. I always have to remind myself to mix up purplish grays, so it will be good for me.
Looking forward to catching up with this end of the world.
Cheers all.
Karen
16x20", oil on canvas, figurative  Available

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Wisdom

Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still

....Or I could have said, "Not birds! Stars!"
Cheers!
Karen
Colored pencil on illustration board, 8x10", portrait
available

Friday, August 14, 2015

Bison in early snow

I guess I'm ready for a bit of cooler weather here.

Painted from a photo taken by Dave Slaughter over on Wetcanvas. http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=81086&size=big&cat=

20x16, oil on canvas, animal, bison, available  
Click to Buy

Cheers all,
Karen

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Avocado 2

Still having fun with the same avocado. Well, not really the same avocado. Cause they turn all brown and squishy.
Cheers all!
Karen
Colored pencil and ink on illustration board, 8x10", still life, available

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Avocado 1

Catchy title, huh?
Yeah....

I believe the entire month of July went by without time to create art, to the point where I was dreaming of sketching.
We had a delayed memorial for my mother in law's passing on a day in July that rained three inches, complete with lightning and thunder. Some people experience that almost everyday in summer, but in Southern California it is almost a sure bet it won't rain.....until next February.

So I just found time to sketch this avocado.
He/she/it was very patient with me - taking its time to slowly turn brown.

Cheers!
Karen

Charcoal and graphite on Strathmore paper, 8x10", still life. Available

Friday, July 10, 2015

Fiona

Well, I worked damn hard on this painting of this sweet, sweet girl.
This is Fiona. My sister in law Lori's granddaughter. She is an adorable little girl and I feel privileged to have "captured" her likeness on canvas. Lori had no idea I was doing this and I got to present it to her, framed and ready to hang.
I enjoyed painting her. 16x20", oil on canvas
Cheers all,

Love the people around you, family or not. They won't always be there.
God's peace,
Karen

Monday, June 15, 2015

Olive oil and a pear

I was told to take the pear and paint its portrait so thank you, Reem http://rgfelnerart.blogspot.com, for the lovely pear. It made a nice compliment to the olive oil and I enjoyed painting this.
Oil on canvas, 8x10", still life
SOLD

Also, I don't know how I missed this but watercolor artist Steve Hanks has passed away. I and so many others have admired his amazing skin tones and skill. His work was sensuous, at times I found some of his paintings a tad lascivious but always, always beautifully done. I grieve that we won't have any more of his stunning art. Pinterest is a good place to see a great deal of his work.


And perhaps some of you can help me: My blog loads so slow on the sidebar. The main page loads rather quickly, but for me at least, it just lags when loading the sidebar. I've reduced the number of posts and also the number of sidebar people I watch but I really enjoy seeing the newest that others post so I don't want to reduce it more than what it is currently. I'm wondering if there might be something I'm missing. Any clues?

Karen

Friday, June 12, 2015

You can't fight the undertow

I painted the fish first and it just screamed out for some kind of drama. So I added the duck. I think I like the duck best, but the fish was fun to paint.
Oil on canvas, 16x20", animal, seascape, available  
Cheers all,
Karen
(the first WIP - I think it's kinda fun to see the steps) 

Friday, June 5, 2015

Under Lock and Key

Hellooo,
Had fun painting this and submitted it to a contest. Now it's a wait and see.
Cheers all!
Karen

Oil on canvas, 8x10", Still life   May become available at some point

Friday, May 22, 2015

I'd tell all my friends, but they'd never believe me

I started this years ago. And got rather irritated with my daughter when she posted it on her Facebook  page before I'd finished it. (Well, it's her image that I used.) So stupidly, I put it away. But now I've pulled it out and finished it and I'm rather happy with it. I hated - hated - hated the spaceship! It fought me at every turn but it's OK now. 
The title is from a Radiohead song that I just love - and is so...fitting.
And in my perfect world, I'd follow that up with Bowie's Starman - but that's just me.
Oil on canvas, 18x14", fantasy, figure, portrait
Available

Cheers all,
Karen

Friday, May 1, 2015

My Hills

Hello,
Painted our hills here. Everything is so, so, so dry and dusty already.
Cheers all.
15x13", landscape, oil on canvas available

Click to Buy

Friday, April 10, 2015

Pepperdine Skyline

My husband took a lovely photo on his cell phone while waiting for the stop light in Malibu near Pepperdine. I enjoyed painting this. Oil on Canvas, 20x13", landscape, available

On a sad note, my 94 year "sound of mind and body" old mother in law passed away. It was all so sudden and tough. She served overseas from the States in WWII as an RN. I love this picture of her. It's my favorite. Hard to imagine she's gone. She was such a fixture in my life.
Love the people who love you. It's easy to be mad at someone you know will forgive you. 
God's peace.
Karen

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The weight of feathers

You know when you've done a set-up and you have it sitting on your desk in a not so good place but you think it will be safe because it's your desk and your husband gets the brainiac idea to use your computer instead of his and he jostles your still life set up as you're hustling into the room saying, "Don't touch my set-up!" but it's too late.....
Don't you just hate that?

Colored pencil, charcoal, Wolff's carbon, graphite and whatever else I could throw at it - on illustration board, 7x8", still life
This was much smaller and didn't take as long as the last.
Cheers all.
Karen

Saturday, February 28, 2015

The World is Not Enough

Hi and hello,
Finally feeling better these days.
Been sitting around tinkering with this.
Colored pencil on illustration board - which I don't think I'll use again for colored pencil.
Any type of layering was burnishing as far as the board was concerned and I couldn't get the smooth darks I was going for even with a bit of solvent.
9 1/2 x 15" 
Available
Cheers,
Karen

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Radish multiplied

Me speaking in a nasally voice: I've been sick. cough. yuck. painted radishes. first one. then two.
I think I liked the single one better.
bye now. must blow nose. yuck.
Watercolor and colored pencil. 11x11"

Friday, January 23, 2015

Datura, Angel Trumpets

Colored pencil on Stonehenge paper 6x8"
Not Available

I was inspired to "somewhat" of "an after" of a painting with the same title by an artist named Wilhelmina (Billie) Greene. She did hers in watercolor with a lot more leaves in the lower half and I just loved her use of the coral color in the background. 
I've been doing a bit of studying about negative space and I wanted to try a bit of blending using solvents with colored pencil so it seemed obvious to drop off Billie's lower leaves.
This C9 bulb was my first attempt at blending with solvents and colored pencil. (My husband is going to really miss these C9s when they completely go away.)

On another random note: I read an inspiring article about the illustrator Elaine Duillo who said she used a lot of negative space in her paintings. In case you don't know her name, she was the artist who did all those romance covers featuring Fabio back when and made him famous. Ooooh Fabio. So fabulous! You can see loads of her work on Pinterest. Dang that Pinterest! It's so addicting!
 Cheers all.
Until we meet again.
Karen

Saturday, January 10, 2015

He loves me not

Well, as threatened, here is the other half of my post yesterday He loves me. This one was done on Stonehenge paper and I have to say I liked the texture of the Stonehenge a lot more than watercolor paper for colored pencil. I did not use solvents on either one of these, but that's not to say I won't be trying colored pencil with solvent SOON! In fact, I can count on it.

He loves me
He loves me not


Available.
Each 7x13"colored pencil on paper. Portrait.

Cheers all,
Karen



Friday, January 9, 2015

He loves me

I've been having fun (with a bit of liberty) tinkering with my youngest daughter's selfies. You know, those silly smooshy, kissy faces all teenage girls were doing when they have unlimited access to a digital camera. Except now it's all on her phone and I don't have access to it. Dang it! I'll have to coerce.

Colored pencil on hot press watercolor paper 7x13" portrait

Posted the second half: He love me not. I'd like to frame them together as a diptych.
Cheers all,
Karen
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