Igelsia de Suchitoto 2

Oil on board, 18 x 24

This is a larger, all oil, remake of the first Iglesia de Suchitoto. I repainted it because the first one was so popular and my dad asked me to. I think he wants it to hang on his wall in El Salvador.

Spring Flowers: Apple Blossoms, Poppies and Bees.

Poppies

10 x 10

Oil on board

Apple Blossoms

5 x 6

Watercolor and Oil on Board

My parents have these amazing giant poppies in their yard that illuminate so brilliantly when backlit by the sun. Not painting them was not an option. The apple blossoms are from an old photo taken in my backyard in Rexburg. It was just a quickie while I was figuring out what else to paint.

Kelsey

For Father's Day, my dad requested that I paint him a portrait of his favorite (and only) granddaughter. It's now hanging in his apartment in El Salvador. 11 x 14 oil on board.

Angel

This is a painting I did before the "Tiffany Collection" that I neglected to post. It's of a statue I found at a restaurant garden in El Salvador. It's very common to see basins filled with water and floating flower petals. More often than not, the basin is a simple bowl carved out of a stone. In this case, it's an intricate statue. To me, the red rose petals symbolize the atoning blood of Christ. The painting is hanging in my dad's office in El Salvador. 18 x 24, watercolor and oil on board.

The "Tiffany" Collection

Winter's Deep

Evening's Water

I've nicknamed these paintings "The Tiffany Collection" because that's the name of the lovely lady who modeled for these paintings. My husband said it once, and it stuck. For these paintings, I wanted to have a Mike Malm/Richard Schmid-esque theme. I still painted them on board, but kept it straight oil this time. My goal, however, was to keep the darks as thin and liquid as possible, treating them a lot like watercolors. I entered both these paintings in Southwest Art Magazine's 21 under 31 show. They display work from 21 artists under the age of 31. It's an excellent way to receive publicity. I'll know by September whether they selected my work for display in their magazine.

Mini Art Exhibit

Here are three paintings I've just completed for a "Mini" art exhibit in Scottsdale, AZ. The exhibit isn't mini but the art itself is. All entries must be 6"x6". I took the opportunity to get a start on what I've been wanting to do most. Paint women in my watercolor and oil mix style.

Plein Air in Watercolor

Here are three plein air paintings I did last week while the weather was so amazing.

The Mike Malm workshop inspired me to do some more painting from life. There seems to be so much that you lose in a photograph, even a really good one. But the real benefit of painting from life is that you tend to paint quickly. This causes you to focus less on the details and just see the big picture, or, in other words, the composition and value shapes. Details are just icing on the cake. Even really good icing can't fix a nasty cake.