Oil Painting - "Radiance"

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6" x 12"  Oil on canvas.   Available here.

It's February, and that means time for my Valentine's Day painting give away!  Here is the first painting!  All of the flower paintings that I will post are for sale and can be purchased at anytime.  On February 14 I will use Random.org to pick a winner from all who are signed up to receive my painting blog.  If you are receiving these emails to your email inbox then you do not need to do anything.  If you are not receiving my emails automatically then you simply need to enter your email address into the sign up box on the top right of my blog.  It is important to follow the directions after you enter it because you have two more steps to do.... fill out the spam word and then.... you will be sent an email asking you if you want to receive painting notices and if so you must click on the link in that email to accept!  Once you have accepted the request then you will be eligible to win a painting!  Please feel free to share this with others!     Thank you for following my ART!

Portrait in Oil - Katy

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11" x 14" Oil on canvas.  Purchase info here.

This painting was a true challenge for me!  It began with a 3 hour sitting but I struggled with it at the time.  I worked on it quite a bit after Katy left my studio.  Capturing the right skin tone was a big part of the difficulty.  But I finally got it to where I was quite happy with it.  Katy is a talented cello player.  She is a member of a local band called Blackwater Railroad Co. that is very popular here.  If you would like to see a music video they made please follow this link.  We enjoy their music very much!

Ok, that is the end of the portraits I have to share.  Next blog will be my annual roses/flowers for Valentine's Day!  Once again I will be giving away a painting!  I will provide more details for the drawing in my next blog post.

Oil Painting - Doug Capra

16" x 20"  Oil on panel.

This is another head study painted in early December.   Our good friend, Doug Capra, was kind enough to come sit for me one afternoon.  Doug is an historian and author.  He and his wife Cindy were two of the first friends we made after moving to Seward and they have been very good supporters of my art career.  He has a new book that was published in November, 2014 called The Spaces Between: Stories form the Kenai Mountains to the Kenai Fjords.    It is a collection of stories of early pioneers in Seward and you can find it on Amazon.  

Oil Painting - Lowell Point Shoreline

8" x 10"  Oil on panel. Available here.

At the end of the road, two miles south of Seward, is Lowell Point.   This painting is of a scene along it's shoreline.  Our days have been dark and rainy this past week.  The sun finally came out today and it was so refreshing and breathtaking to finally see the sparkle of light.    Thank you for viewing my paintings.

Oil Painting - "Rainy Afternoon"

6" x 8" Oil on canvas.  Available here.

We are having such a strange winter in Alaska this year.  I have lived in this state since 1969 and I have never seen a winter with this warm of temperatures!  This piece is a plein air painting that I managed to paint in my car back in November.   Before I was done I had to turn on the windshield wipers as it had begun to rain.  I'm very happy with the color harmony in this painting.

Thank you for viewing my art!

Oil Painting - "Orange Bowl"

9" x 9" Oil on panel.  

I am still away on my holiday trip so I'm posting a still life painting that I painted last winter.  I am really wishing I had brought my paints with me on this trip because it feels way too long to not be painting. I have had some time to reflect and I feel rested so when I get back in my studio I should be ready to work.   I hope everyone is having a good start to this new year! 

Oil Painting - "Moody Blue"

36" x 48"  Oil on canvas.  SOLD.

Merry Christmas dear friends!  I'm down in  Laguna Hills, CA visiting family for the holidays.  This is one of the large paintings I created in my home studio during the month of October.  This is the kind of scene I see when I travel to our rental cabins which we operate during the summer months.  

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays.  Thank you for viewing my blog.  

Salty Man of the Sea!

9" x 12"  Oil on panel.  

This was painted about two weeks ago of my husband!  I didn't really name it "Salty Man of the Sea" but it does seem fitting.  He is a boat captain and he does look a little salty in this painting!  He kindly sat for me in our home for about 2.5 or 3 hours (20 minutes with short breaks)  so I could paint him.  I'm pretty happy with it though the bright spot light was in his eyes a little too much and I did not realize he was squinting! 

Portrait in Oil - "Hana"

16" x 20"  Oil on panel.  Available here.

I painted this portrait yesterday form a live model.  This lovely young woman came to my studio and sat for me.  It took 3 hours for the initial sitting.  Then about an other hour today to make a few small adjustments.  I feel pretty happy with it.  I did add the nose ring that she was wearing.  I thought, why not, just put it in there.  She was a wonderful model, I would like to paint her again.  

Oil Painting - "Clearing Skies"

36" x 48"  Oil on canvas.  Available here.

I don't think my last two postings went out to the in boxes like they were suppose to.  I'm not sure why that happens but when it does I can't seem to fix it.   This is one of the large paintings I was working on in my studio last month.  This scene is form the very end of downtown looking south out to the bay.  The rain had come and gone and the skies were beginning to clear up.  Sunshine was on the distant islands and blue was breaking through the clouds.  It is a challenge to paint large like this. To keep the paint thick enough and the paint strokes fresh.  

Oil Painting - "Resurrection Bay"

24" x 48"  Oil on canvas.  Available here.

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.  I know I am grateful to have this beautiful landscape to paint.

Oil Painting - "Sandspit Point"

11" x 14"  Oil on canvas.  Available here. 

If you have ever been on one of the boat tours that go out to the Kenai Fjord National Park you most likely went by this scene.  This painting is of a point of land on the east side of Fox Island and is a very interesting landmark in Resurrection bay.  This is a closeup view of the very end of the long sand bar that is referred to as the Fox Island Spit.    By the way..... thank you for viewing my blog.. :)  

Oil Painting - "Reflecting"

12" x 12" Oil on panel.  Available here. 

I don't believe my last blog post went out to all the emails.  I'm not sure why that happens but every now and then they just don't get delivered.  This is a painting of one of my sons that I painted this fall.   I took the photo in February while down in Mexico.   He was in an underground cave with water and the cave was lighted so there was a nice glow and sparkle in the water.   I'm really pleased with this painting.  Doing more paintings with people in them is high on my list.  

Oil Painting in Plein Air - "Street View"

8" x10"  Oil on canvas.  Available here.

Here is a small plein air painting I did about three or four weeks ago.  The fall colors were strong and the after noon sun was still pretty high.  Things are much more winter like now and the fall colors have past.   I am pretty happy with how these mountains turned out in this painting.    This week I have been busy painting in doors in my studio.  I have finished one large painting and started another.  

Oil Painting Portrait - "Pink Robe"

11" x 14"  Oil on linen panel.  

 This is the final portrait I painted in the workshop I took at the Scottsdale Artists' School last week.  The instructor was New York artist Max Ginsburg.   We all had a great week and I feel like I learned so much.  I am looking forward to more portraits.  This photo does not really do the justice.  There is glare due to wet paint and I used my iPhone 4 so the image quality is rather weak. Maybe I will post a better one sometime.

Oil Painting - "End of Season"

6" x 8" Oil on canvas.   Available here.

This is a little plein air painting that I am happy with.  I think it came together quite well.  I painted it just a few weeks ago on a sunny fall afternoon.  These leaves are all gone now and the snow is well down the mountain.  The little sailboat in the distance happens to belong to a friend of mine who was out sailing that day.  

Right now I am on a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona to take a portraiture class at Scottsdale Artists School.  I am really looking forward to it.  It starts this Monday!  I will let you know how it goes! 

Oil Painting - "Front Row View"

6" x 12" Oil on canvas.  Available here.

We are having beautiful fall weather right now and I have been doing some plein air paintings whenever possible.  I have also been working on larger paintings in my studio.  This painting is a plein air piece that I did in August of this year.  The coastline of our small town is called  "Waterfront Park" and it is set up for campers to come and park here along the water's edge.  A coastal trail runs along in front of these campers for people to walk or ride bikes.  The view is phenomenal with mountains and glaciers right across the way.  Boats come and go and wildlife is frequently scene swimming by.  

Oil Painting - "Vacation View"

8" x 10"  Oil on canvas.  Available here.

This oil painting was painted in plein air during the later part of September.  Campers from all over the United States come to camp along the water front in the sea port town of Seward, Alaska, where I live.  Mt. Alice is the majestic mountain in the background and the body of water is called Resurrection Bay.   By late September most of the campers have headed home.  It was a beautiful fall afternoon when I painted this.  

At the Helm

             11" x 14" Oil on canvas. 

Some of you may not know that I have 3 grown sons.  This painting is of my oldest son as he was captaining a 115 foot sightseeing vessel named the Star of the Northwest.  There are many boat tours that leave form our seaport town to view glaciers and to go whale watching in the Kenai Fjords National Park.    I am really happy with how this painting turned out.  I have never tried anything like this but knew I wanted to paint him in this way.  I took several photos of him and then used information from all of them to create this.  

Rocky Shoreline

9" x 12"  Oil on panel.  Available here.

My busy summer has prevented me from posting but now that the season is over I plan on posting regularly once again.  The time off was much longer than I expected it would be but I do have some new paintings ready to share.  This first one I painted plein air the first week of September.  I was on one of our decks out at our cabins.  Fall was in the air and it was a lovely bright day.  I hope those of your who enjoy these posts will give me some feed back now and then.  It is such a help to know you are there.  I am painting every day now (most everyday) so I am eager to share what I'm working on.  When the weather is good I am trying to paint outside.  I am also working in my home studio on larger or more complicated pieces.   Thank you for viewing my art!