Year End 2014 and a Salute to Some Favorite Artists

It's been six months since I last posted. I've painted nothing in that time - my mind has been focused on the next novel I'm publishing in 2015. But that doesn't mean I haven't been following art. The wealth of talent on Etsy, just one venue, is staggering.

So to close out the year, I'm featuring my favorite artists for the past twelve months. They are available for sale, of course, either originals or in print versions. I hope you enjoy them. (Click on the titles to link to each piece at Etsy)

"Queen Anne's Lace"

"Natalie"

"Miss Moon Was a Dog Governess..."

"Miss Mink Breakfasts in Bed"

"Floral Bluff"

by Michelle Morin

"Washington Square Park, NY"

by Susan Sumner
(Sorry, guys, I bought this one...)

"Ladies Night Out"

by Susan Sumner

"Fashionably Wrapped Up"

by Anne Meyers, KindredAnnes

"Milky Way"

by Angie Vandenbogaard

Monoprint "No.3"

by Angie Vandenbogaard

"Apartment for Rent"

by Wade Lincoln

"The Waverly Diner"

by Wade Lincoln

"Toward Tomorrow"

by Wade Lincoln

"Snowy Lunch Break"

by Mike Jones



"Osco Drug Store"
by Mike Jones



Textile Art
by Sue Forey



"Hare and Moon" 
Fiber Art by Sue Forey



"Cat Square Road"
by Arie Reinhardt Taylor



"Amish Country"
by Arie Reinhardt Taylor



"Seahorse and Ladies..."
by Judy Porter



"Nautical Fantasy Lady..."
by Judy Porter



"Day at the Dog Park"
by Erin Wagner



"Oaks Park"
by Erin Wagner



"Peg Mermaid"
by Juliette at Darling Romeo



"Nancy Mermaid"
by Juliette at Darling Romeo




"The Good Life"
by Juliette at Darling Romeo

I thought Juliette's froggie here makes a nice statement to end the year. 

Happy New Year, everyone. I'll try to post more often in 2015!

"The Farmers' Market" First painting in months...

I've been so absorbed in other things.  Even obsessed writers and painters have to involve themselves in the day-to-day stuff occasionally. (There's been rather a lot of that lately.)  So the country painting below would not have been painted unless it had been commissioned, putting me back into my painting chair. I was a bit grumpy at first...four months since I'd last sat there...but then I realized how much I'd missed it.

I had no trouble imagining this season, because it's winter here, and an Australian winter looks and feels surprisingly like a Canadian fall.

So why is the guy in the Hawaiian shirt if it's fall? Call it artistic licence.

Until next time...

Catch-Up - Recent Paintings

I've been so involved in publishing a couple of my novels, that I've shamefully neglected my art blog.

I apologize. I am still around, but a little obsessed with the writing part of my life. But I have found time for the occasional painting, especially when it's a custom order. Never turn those down.

To catch up, here are some recent paintings -- not all of them, because some were similar images -- commissions -- but the first two are new antique store paintings for sale, because I enjoy painting them so much.

If you click on each image, it will enlarge the picture.

Until next time. No orders at present, and deep into yet another book publishing project, so I'm not sure when the next painting will be.

I do appreciate your support. You hang in there with me, regardless of my absence from time to time.

My thanks to all of you.

"Village Antiques" Naive Quirky Figures in Folk Art

In the mood for some antique-hunting, but without spare mad money, I won't be doing it this weekend.

So here is my tribute to the perfect venue. I can almost smell the mustiness inside...



"Village Antiques"
20 x 16 acrylic on stretched canvas


Ah, well, it's not as if I really need anything, after all. I just want something...

"The Gathering" Figurative Painting 16 x 12 Acylic on Canvas Panel

I've been distracted lately, so I haven't done much painting. Sales are definitely off, too, and although I don't paint just to sell, it certainly makes my work more meaningful. My daydream is that one day I will own a small gallery, and invite other struggling artists to exhibit with me. It would be a co-op, of course, and everyone would benefit. No one will get rich, but our lives would be.

I came across a blog comment that made me uncomfortable. Although I am a self-taught artist, I paint to the very highest standard I'm capable of and I am learning all the time, even at my considerable age. But this blogger pointed out that it seems buyers, on the whole, are looking for purely decorative paintings, and hardly interested in detail, or finesse. They want impact, not work that demands close scrutiny or analyses.

The paintings that most dominate the market do seem more targeted to decor, rather than for the discriminating eye, but I'm never going to paint rapidly and casually to produce great canvases of flowers and abstract shapes. So I scrunch over my work, peering with strained eyes, trying to get the light just so, the shadows credible, the tiny faces of my figures filled with some sort of character and expression. I think the results are decorative, of course - who wants ugly on the wall? - but the pictures are more than that. They represent my love of the work, my need to convey a story. And that's all I can do.

Anyway, this is my latest offering.

"The Gathering"

Unless I suddenly decide to go back to my writing - and it's calling me - I'll talk to you soon.

To All My Lovely Artists - I'm sorry.

For some strange reason, probably because I was messing about with Google+, I lost ALL the images from ALL of my blogs posted since 2008. This is a very serious thing. An art blog without art is no blog at all.

I am painstakingly rescuing each image, but so far only got to the end of 2012. Prior to that, the site was more or less dedicated to other artists, because I was deeply involved in my writing. And those are the guys whose work is now missing from my posts.

Bear with me folks. The links to the artists still work, but the images will be slow to return. I can only manage a few a day. And I'm not getting any painting done.

Along with Hotmail going to Outlook, and Google adding that scary plus sign, I've had my hands full for a while, trying to recover or understand things.

Perhaps you know what I'm talking about. I hardly do.

Mother's Day Tribute - Latest Acrylic Naive Folk Painting

Something a little different today, after weeks of painting busy crowds, Colonial people and ships. I was thinking of all the mums out there...and how their skills are so taken for granted.

Now that my kids are grown, I only experience scenes like this when I visit grandchildren. It always amazes me how much a mum can accomplish in a short amount of time. And this from a woman who had twin boys and a daughter! I had to work fulltime, and now only vaguely recall how frenzied it got at times. It's all - thankfully - a blurry memory.

But we manage it all. We are superbly capable, yet it's the one area of expertise that we do without formal instruction (other than suggestions from our own mothers, or mothers-in-law, who were, let's face it, also self-taught).

"After Breakfast"
16 x 12



So Bravo mums! You are a wonder. I am a wonder. We are all wonders.

Until next time. 



"The Clipper" 19th Century Sailing Ship - Naive Seascape Folk Art

I know - who really cares about 19th Century painting reproductions? I do. I would paint them all the time, but it's a tiny market. In fact, I willed this one not to sell because I take that as a sign that I should keep it. I know just where I'll hang it.




 

24 x 18
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

If any of you have ever tried to paint a tall ship, you know how difficult it was getting the rigging right (or as 'right' as I could manage). There must have been miles of rope on those vessels. I was almost cross-eyed by the end.