Still Thinking of Summer

  I'm getting ready for the Saratoga Rotary Art Show in May, ordering frames and matting prints, and finishing some paintings I've started. I just finished this one, of a cat basking in the sun on terracotta steps. Working on this painting, I was thinking  of summer and wanting to do some basking myself.

Thinking of Summer

Summer Sunflowers was painted, appropriately enough, last summer. I had this colorful piece of Provencal fabric and I laid the flowers on it in full sunlight. Very french, n'est-ce pas?

This painting is currently on display at an exhibit at the County Government building in Santa Cruz.

About two weeks ago I attended a workshop in Ukiah sponsored by Art Center Ukiah. The instructor was Jeannie Vodden, a very talented artist, who uses a technique she calls "rainbow glazing." Her paintings are amazing; colors mix and mingle in a seemingly random way until an image appears, created by the depth and value of multiple glazes. You can see Jeannie's work here. Jeannie is also a wonderful teacher; she did several demonstrations and helped each person with individual paintings.

I'm excited about this new technique, although I'm still clumsy with it. The first photo is my painting in progress from the workshop, and in the second I've started adding background. It's still a work in progress.

Strawberries and Glass

This painting, Strawberries in a Glass Bowl, was included in the Statewide Watercolor Exhibit at Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA, December 2008 through February, 2009. This was my first attempt at painting glass, and I'm intrigued with it. I love the reflections, refractions and distortions, and the challenge of painting them.