Happy Easter!

This was painted last Spring of 2012.  Not wanting to miss out on this year's

early Spring flowers, I've been photographing all the lovely Easter flowers that are around.  Happy Spring and Happy Easter to all of you.

Brass Scissors on Gray Fabric

Brass Scissors on Gray Fabric

6" x 6" Oil on wood

My favorite hand crafted scissors.  I posted a photo of a painting completed last month on a more colorful background but this time the gray background

enhances the brass.  Fun to paint but I really should do a grouping soon.

Side note:  I literally cringed when I posted this title but I figure it would take me forever to come up with something clever so I decided to just get on with it!

Working in a Series

6" x 6" oil on wood

$80

Scissors and Thread

I wanted to call this one "Needle Pulling Thread" but I hadn't painted a needle.  I am tortured by coming up with titles!  I painted a smaller version of this one last year (5" x 5") but wanted to do a series of three that had to do with sewing, so I'm using this one again.  Inspired by my hand made brass scissors, (will post that one later this week), I prepared three panels for this 

theme.  I'll likely do more for this series as one thing leads to another and I have ideas that I'd like to follow through on.

Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring

6" x 6" on wood panel

I think that expression says it all.  I thought painting a tabby with the distinctive marking would be harder than a long hair cat where you can let

the paint flow off the brush.  But this one came together fairly quickly.  I may

still tweak this one a bit more (my insecurity is showing). 

Pink Dahlias

Maybe it's that we changed our time this weekend (losing an hour...sigh) but I am thinking Spring, gardening, flowers, etc. and came across this painting that I did in June of 2011.  I had my fill of painting them then but I'm so ready to
paint anything floral again.  I hear that we're going to have a significant snowfall this coming week so maybe I'll start prepping canvases and go to my happy place : > ).

Revisiting

Generally there are so many photos to be inspired by, that I don't often do repeats but this painting was one of the first few I did when I started these small formats.  I was curious to see how it would compare to the first one done about a year and a half ago.  I didn't strive to make it different from the first.  This is simply how I painted it now within my comfort zone.  And lo and behold, it is significantly different.  I have adopted this more painterly approach after almost 100 small format paintings and am pleased to have evolved.  This was the point after all.

An Artist's Cat

This is Zoe.  She came to us last July through a local rescue organization and although she seemed to adjust quite quickly, I can truly say she is ours now.  We know her well after these eight months and she is quite comfortable being around us.  The photo I used for the painting may not have been the best to use as her eyes (which is what drew me to her in the first place) seem unnaturally wide.  But I know this won't be the only portrait I will ever do of her so I'll just move on.