Pink Paradise

Pink Paradise
16X20

This is one of the commissioned paintings I did before Christmas but since it was intended as a gift I did not want to post it in case the recipient may have looked at this blog.  It will be joining a couple more of my paintings at it's new home.

Now is the time to be applying for 2011 exhibitions so I am busy working on new paintings to meet the  deadlines.  I'll post photos as I complete the paintings and also information on where I will be showing once I get the notification.

Happy New Year to everyone!

A new painting completed!

Virgin of Guadalupe
18X24 unframed
24 X30 in frame

I have been planning this painting in my head for months but I was just too busy with commission work to do it.  I finally had the time to convert my vision to canvas. I thought it was appropriate to have a painting of the virgin done just in time for Christmas.  I was pleased with how the painting came together and am thinking of doing another one in a different color scheme.  I am thinking a royal purple background with a blue robe and keeping the dress red.  I may put red roses in the corners.  I did a lot of research on the Virgin of Guadalupe before I painted her and almost all the paintings other artists have done are very similar the only difference being  in the color scheme.  I decided to keep the tradition.  There is quite an interesting history to the Virgin of Guadalupe.  I suggest you do a Google search and see why she is so honored in Mexico.

I would  like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and blog followers a very Merry Christmas and may God bless you in the New Year.  Also, today is my husband Roger's birthday so Happy Birthday Honey!



Snickerdoodle

Meet Snickerdoodle.

She lives with her owners Tim & Sue in Alden, NY.

They decided they wanted me to do a  whimsical portrait of her.

This is what I did.

I had so much fun doing this painting. 

I tried to catch her personality and her big green eyes.

I love her name so incorporated it into the painting.

This was the last of my commissioned paintings.  I am going to take a break from painting for a few days to clean and decorate the house for Christmas.  Once that is done I will start painting some new ideas that have been dancing around in my head for awhile.  I will also start applying for exhibitions for next year.  If anyone has some ideas of where I can show my paintings email me at: rogpamd@msn.com

Flowers & Shells

This is my latest commissioned painting.  It is for my friend Trina who I met through my art.  She was one of the first people who bought a painting from me when I changed from craft art to fine art.  We became friends and I have lost count of how many paintings she has bought.  This is a painting that can be hung either vertically or horizontally.  I double wire it so she can choose which way she wants to hang it. This is an idea she came up with when she bought a painting I had already done and she decided she liked it better hanging the other direction.  I liked the idea of a double wire and have done other paintings that can be hung in either direction.  It is a fun challenge to design a double directional painting.  I would like some feedback on what you think of this idea.  Feel free to make a comment. 

I completed all my commissioned work except for one which I am looking forward to doing.  The daughter of a friend was visiting from NY and asked me to do a whimsical painting of their calico cat whose name is Snickerdoodle.  She emailed me photos to work from and I can't wait to start.  This is going to be a fun project!

Commissioned Painting

This is one of the commissioned paintings that I completed this week.  It will be off to it's new home in California soon.  I finished some other paintings but am not going to post them yet as I know they are going to be given as gifts and I don't want to show until after Christmas.

I have mentioned before that many of my paintings look similar.  That is because all of my work is original. I do not sell prints.  So.....when someone commissions me to do a painting it is usually another version of one I have done before.  My desert scenes like the one above and my crazy colorful saguaros like the one at the beginning of this blog are two of my more popular paintings and I have done many versions of each of them.

I still have three more paintings I have to complete by the end of the month.  If anyone wants a painting as a Christmas gift the deadline to commission it is December 4.

St. Phillips Art Festival

 It was a beautiful warm sunny weekend for the art festival.  Of course, we live in Tucson so it is always warm and sunny!  Here are a couple of photos of my booth.

I want to give a big THANKS to all who attended and bought paintings and gave me commissions for paintings.  Many asked when and where I will have my next art show.  Since I don't have any more shows booked at this time I decided to set up my display in my spare room at home.  If anyone is interested in coming to see what I have you can do it at your convenience.  Just give me a call to set up a time.

Since I moved all the paintings out of my studio I am going to use the opportunity to do a little remodeling.

I'll post photos of my new "mini gallery" and the new look of the studio as soon as the work is done.

I plan to get busy working on my commissions as soon as the studio work is done which should be later today or tomorrow.

Less than a week to St. Phillip's Art Festival

It has been a busy three weeks for me getting ready for the next art festival.  I have been very productive during that time and created many new paintings.  I have a nice variety of subject matter.  I had some new ideas I worked on this week .  Check out the photos below to see a few of them.  I also will have my classic desert scenes, saguaros, crosses and flowers.  Of course all my paintings will feature DOTS in one form or another.  The Dot Lady strikes again!  Check out the last two posts to see some of the other works I painted.  I have been too busy painting to take individual photos of each framed art piece so what you see is photos of the works in progress.  I will send out a reminder via email in a few days to all of you on my Art List.  I look forward to seeing you all at the festival and I hope you enjoy seeing my new creations.

Art Festival Countdown

Getting Ready for the next Art Festival

These are the paintings I completed last week.  I am applying the polycrylic protective finish on them.  There are 19 days left until the St. Philip's Art Festival.  I get up at 5 AM and head out to the studio to start work almost every day.  I hope to have 3 times as many paintings as you see here for the show.  So... I better get out to the studio and get to work!  Click on the photo below for a closer view of the paintings.

Art & Craft Festival Report

I want to say thank-you to all who made yesterday's art festival a success.  Thanks to all who attended and to those of you who bought my art work.  Thanks to the committee who did such a good job in organizing and advertising the festival. Thanks to my husband for lifting and lugging  all the paintings and boxes and helping with setting up and taking down and for staying by my side all day to help with the selling. Last but not least, THANK-YOU to God who gave me the talent and ideas for creating my art. 

The show was a big success.  This photo was taken just before the doors were open.  When the day was done what was left of the items on this table were 7 paintings and 3 craft items.  I sold so much so fast that I had to have my husband go home and bring more painting so the table did not look empty.  I sold some of those paintings too. I had 31 people sign up for my art mailing list and a few who will call  about commissioning me to do a painting for them.

The photo below is of some of my  larger paintings.  I sold 9 of these paintings plus the little table. That is the good...more like great news.  The bad news is I have another 2 day show at the end of the month so for the rest of the month of October I will be locked in my studio hard at work creating new art.  Good thing I love to paint!  I will post photos as I get projects finished.

Explorer News Article

Check out this link to an article about my art that was published in The Explorer.
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2010/09/29/el_sol/doc4ca2727d2637c919398871.txt

Craft Items

I will have more than just paintings at the Suncity Art Festival. Here are a few of the craft items I will have. If you play Mexican Train Dominos you will know these are the train station. If you do not play the game they make a nice wall hanging or trivet. The price will be $20. The festival is on Saturday, October 4 from 9 to 4 in the social hall of Suncity Vistoso on Rancho Vistoso Blvd.

Vacation is Over

We are back from our cruise. I only had about 500 pictures to choose from for this post. I decided on this one taken on our first stop which was Nassau. We had a great time traveling with our son Mark and his wife Leslie. In fact this was a summer of travel. Ohio in June, several trips to New Mexico in July and August and the cruise in September. I am happy to be home and ready to get back to work. I have two Art Festivals I must get ready for in October.

I have been very busy since my last post. I have completed quite a few small paintings and also some craft items for the art festival the first weekend in October. We also took a weekend trip to NM to help our daughter & family who were moving. We leave tomorrow for a cruise and will be gone for 12 days. We have gone on 5 trips since June! In between the trips I continue to paint. This is a small sample of some of the miniature paintings I have been doing for the up coming art festival. I will have a good selection of small paintings in a variety of subject matter. I will post more photos closer to the time of the festival.

More paintings that sold in the past few weeks.

"Indian Maiden"

This one sold at the Town Hall exhibition.

" Flowers for Jan"

I painted this for a friend who gave it to his wife for their anniversary.

Another sale on Tuesday!

Our friends Doug & Gail brought their daughter and grandson who were visiting from NY to the house to pick out a painting as a gift. They chose this geometric abstract painting. It features vivid colors and my special designs which incorporate lots and lots of dots. The " dot lady" strikes again! It was too big for the suitcase so we will ship it to them.

Back to Work

I am ready to get back to work after a two week break. We had a fun time in Santa Fe. We enjoyed the company of old friends. Santa Fe overflowed with inspiration for future works of art. I have ideas for many new paintings that I will start work on soon. We picked up our three youngest granddaughters who live in La Luz, NM on the way home and had them here for a week. They painted while they were here but I did not. If you check out the following post you will see what they created. I picked up my brush yesterday for the first time in two weeks and completed another small painting for the art festival in October. I will continue to work on the small stuff as they are big sellers at festivals. I will start the larger paintings in the fall for exhibitions next year. I don't have anything booked yet but have some prospects which I can't apply for until later this year. Time to get to work.....Good news....The phone just rang while I was doing this post. I sold this painting which is hanging at Ventana Medical Systems. I had fun painting it as I love paintings folds and ruffles and of course I love bright colors. I am happy it is going to a new home.
(The bad news!  The person who was brokering the sale lost the name of the person who wanted to purchase it at the end of the exhibition.  The good news!  I showed the painting in another exhibition and it sold.) 

Following in Grandma's Footsteps!

When the girls were here they each completed a painting. They are very creative and each produced a very distinctive painting in their individual style.The artists at work.

Janaya age 9
She decided to do an abstract painting in a vibrant color pallet. After completing the background she drizzled and splattered black and red paint over the canvas which makes a bold statement.

She titled her painting "Splatters & Spots".

Samantha age 11

Sam's passion is horses. She lives on a farm and rides and cares for the horses and she loves to draw them. She titled her painting "Saddle Breaking". She did a great job of capturing the action of the bucking horse.

Cheyenna age 13

She chose primary colors which she sponged on the canvas at random. She then painted a geometric flower which she outlined in black. The flower is a subtle touch which complements the background of the painting.

She titled her creation "Random".

Two Small Paintings

Today's post features two 8x10 paintings. I am preparing for two art festivals which are coming up in October. When I do an art festival I have a special sale on smaller paintings. Prices usually range from $15 to $48 depending upon size and the frame. Here is a sample of some desert scenes. They can be sold as a pair of separately.

I am busy, busy, busy getting ready for two trips. One to Santa Fe next week and a cruise in September. In between the trips we have our three youngest grand-daughters (13, 11 & 9)coming for a week's visit. So, in the time between trips and the girls being here I am working on small paintings. I have completed a number of miniature cross paintings and am now working on more southwest paintings. I will post information on the festivals at a later date along with photos of some of the works I will be showing. Saguaro & Yellow Poppies

8x10

Saguaro & Lupine

8x10

Beauty for Bagdad

This is a painting I did in 2008 for the Lighthouse chapel in Iraq. Read the following for the whole story of how this came about:

I decided to feature my husband Roger's art work in this post. He is a stained glass artist. He took it up as a hobby 6 years ago and has completed over 70 stained glass windows or panels in that time. I assist him on some projects with the design element of the work and also color selection. Here is a project we worked on together in 2008. In July of that year our younger son Brian was deployed to Iraq for the second time. After being there a few days he called us and told us about the new chapel on the base. When he had been there before the chapel met in a tent and now they had a building. He said it was very stark and "vanilla". He suggested we build some stained glass panels and that I send some paintings to help decorate the chapel. After much consultation with a chaplain's assistant via email we came up with the subject matter of the panels which consisted of a butterfly, dove & rainbow, a lily and a lighthouse. Thee stories were published about this project,one in the Arizona Daily Star, one in the Suncity Tipster and one in the Oro Valley Magazine. Here is my husband Roger and myself with three of the stained glass panels before they were shipped to Iraq. The fourth one is in the photo below. Each of the above windows were installed in a cabinet the same as the one in the following photo.

This photo was taken at the dedication of the stained glass panels. Notice the beautiful cabinet that was built by a young airman to showcase the panel. Our son Brian is on the right and the Chaplain is on the left. Brian came home just a few days after the dedication. He retired from the Air Force with 26 years of service a year ago.

Another Painting Sold

I broke the ice at the Town Hall Exhibition with the sale of this painting. It has always been one of my favorites. I like the red apple and the red background with the contrast of the yellow sunflowers. Even I like some of my paintings better than others. I have a concept of what I want to do when I start a painting but the finished product is always a surprise to me. Some come out better than my mental picture and some not at all what my original idea was and some are a disappointment. It seems though, that even if I am not happy with what I do I always find someone who likes it!

Oro Valley Town Hall Exhibition

I was honored to be invited to have an exhibition of my art at the Oro Valley Town Hall. I decided to make it an eclectic show featuring paintings from my various styles. This wall is all "Southwest Whimsy". I will attend the July 21 council meeting and be introduced as the artist.

These paintings are from my "Traditional Florals", "Fantasy Flowers", "Tootie Fruti"

and "Cross Collection" If you click on the photos they will enlarge and you can get a better view of the paintings.

Happy 4th of July!

Confetti Explosion

24x30

$150

I enjoy doing an abstract every so often. Here is one I did awhile back. I am posting it today because It sort of looks like fireworks which would be appropriate for the 4th of July.

Two New Projects.

Ocotillo & Saguaro 2

16x20

If this painting looks familiar that is because it is the second version I have done of the same subject matter. I showed the first one at the exhibition at the Tucson Airport and sold it to a woman from Colorado. Another couple saw it and liked it so commissioned me to do a similar one for them. The colors are slightly different. So far I haven't had prints made of any of my paintings but instead do another original of ones that seem to be popular. No two paintings will be exactly the same but will be similar to the original.

This is a tray that I found at a garage sale and painted to take to an art fair in October. It is about 18 inches long. I will be selling it for $35. I always have a special sale price on many items at the art fairs that I do. I will also have a lot of smaller paintings that will be priced to sell. I'll post more information when it is closer to the time of the events I will be doing.

Trina's Paintings

These are my two newest paintings that were commissioned by my friend Trina.

New Painting Exhibit

I now have 7 paintings hanging at a local Tucson beauty salon. It is "A Cut Above" located at
3960 N. Oracle. The phone number is 888-5456. If you need a hair cut and want to see my paintings give them a call!

Cross Collection

I have done many cross paintings in various sizes from very small (3x5) to very large (24x36) and everything in between. When I do an art fair I always have a selection of small cross paintings. I usually sell all that I take. Below are four cross paintings that I donated to Casas Church which is the church we attend.

Here is the above painting hanging in the prayer room of our church.

A New Desert Painting

Yellow Poppy Paradise

16x20

$150

Here is my latest painting. If you scroll through my blog and see some of my other desert scenes and notice a lot of them have a similar look and wonder why, I'll tell you the reason. It is because they are very popular and I sell them. Every so often I will try different colors in the sky and mountains but find that they don't sell as fast as those I do with this color scheme.

Since I have two art festivals coming up in October it is time to get ready for them. I will start working on small paintings soon. Some will be 11x14 but most will be 8x10 and smaller. I always have a special sale on small paintings when I do an art festival. Most of these paintings will be southwest paintings, desert scenes, cactus flowers and my crazy saguaros. I also will have some cross paintings. In a few days I will post paintings of crosses. They too are very popular with my clients.

After saying all of that, before I start the small paintings I plan to do another crazy saguaro. It will probably be a version of my "Surreal Saguaro". I love the fun I have doing that painting! I never know how it will turn out. Since I love to paint so much I would rather do new versions of the same painting then just doing one painting and selling prints of it. This way everyone has an original painting and they are all slightly different from each other.

Just for Fun!

Margarita & Bougainvillea

11x14

$100

This is my latest painting. I did it just for the fun of doing it. I had this vision of hot pink and lime green dancing around in my head and the idea of a margarita for the green and bougainvillea for the pink came to me. It is someting different then my usual southwest paintings.

I think it will be a good picture for a greeting card. Did I mention I make cards? I don't do them to sell but of course if someone wants to buy one I won't say no. I make them to send for my own personal use but also a number of years ago I was asked to be the "sunshine" person for our square-dance club. That is the person who sends cards to those in the club who are sick. I decide to make the cards myself using my paintings and add a personal touch by putting the receiver's name on the front of the card. I have lost count on how many years I have been doing the job. Every time we have a new president come in to office I get a call to see if I will continue being the card person. Since everyone who gets a card seems to love it I say yes.

Time to start another painting. This one will be a desert scene. They are my best sellers and I have very few in back stock. I do not have a new exhibit scheduled but I like to have enough paintings ready in case something comes up. I can apply to the airport in October for another exhibit next year and I have a lead on a possible show in 2012 but can't apply until December. I doubt that I will do show until next year but I do have two art fairs coming up in the fall. If anyone has a lead on a possible venue for an exhibition please contact me. I would appreciate that. I am always looking for a "call for artists" but they are few and far between.

Audio Books and Bowl

What is this all about ? Why a photo of an audio book on an art blog?

I am a great multi-tasker. I listen to books on CDs while I paint.

I just finished this one at the same time I finished my latest painting.

It is not ready to post yet because I still have to apply the polycrylic but you will see it soon.

If you want a preview look at the top left hand corner in the photo below and you will see a tiny portion of it. Click on the photo to make it bigger.

This bowl was on the counter when I took the photo of the CD so I decided to include it in this post. This is the type of painting I used to do before I converted to fine art. I called it functional art. I painted on objects like boxes, trays, bowls and furniture. Since we never stray far from our roots when I find something too good to pass up at a garage sale I will buy it and paint it to take to an arts and craft fair. If you look below you will see what it looked like when I bought it.

I will sell it for $65.

A great garage sale find.
I got this large bowl and a smaller one just like it that I will paint for the art fair I do in the fall.

Garage Sale Adventure

Today was garage sale day. What an adventure. I always feel like I am on Safari looking for big game but the prey I am looking to bag are frames. The hunt was very successful today!

I may have mentioned in a previous post that all the frames I use for my paintings are recycled. I get them at garage or rummage sales and sometimes a friend will give me a frame they want to get rid of.

By using old frames I can keep my paintings at an affordable price. Have you ever taken something to a frame or craft shop to be framed? It might be a print that cost you $20 but the frame and mat will cost $150. That is why I recycle frames and paint boarders.

I don't care how beat up the frame I buy is as long as it is structurally solid. I can refinish it and sometimes I beat it up more to give it a distressed look.

I always do a painting to compliment the frame. I put a blank canvas in the frame then decide what to paint instead of doing a painting and try to find a frame it will match the painting.

The Happy Hunter unloading the van.

Another photo of what I bought today.

Some of the frames are in perfect condition and others need some work.

I paid $2 or less per frame.

Here are a collection of frames waiting for paintings.

I purchased them all at garage or rummage sales.

Below are finished paintings I have done and put in frames with a history.

(a nice way to say recycled)

Some stories I know and some I don't.

If they could talk I bet they would have a lot to tell.

Where did they come from and what paintings or photos were in them and where did they hang?

Wouldn't you love to know? I would.

This is an old frame I bought at a garage sale.

I painted it in the colors I used in the painting

and added dot work to match what I used in the border.

Fruit of the Saguaro

16x20
This frame was another garage sale find. It is rather rustic and beat up.

I liked the look and left it as is for the desert scene I created for it.

Hedgehog in Bloom

11x14

My wedding picture was in this frame which means it is over 50 years old.

Don't worry I did not throw away the photo.

I still display a small version of it along with one taken on our 50th anniversary.

My father was a professional photographer.
He operated a Studio in PA and retired in the early 1970's.

This frame came from his studio.

This bamboo frame was an interesting find.
You can see how I did the painting to compliment the frame.
I think it works well.