Golden Doodle

I was recently commissioned to paint this Golden Doodle. 24" x 18", commission.

Sweets!

These are only a few of the sweets that one can enjoy at Demel bakery in Vienna, Austria. Oil on canvas 12"h x 24"w. SOLD.

Yellow Room at the Albertina

My favorite room, the yellow room, at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria. There is something luxurious about being in a chandelier-lit room on a bright, sunny day. SOLD.

View from the Castle

This is a view from the castle hill in Prague. On the day we were there, it was windy and cold, which I think added to the atmosphere. I loved how the copper roof of the dome contrasted with the gray horizon. Oil on Canvas, 15"h x 30"w. SOLD.

View from the Charles Bridge

This is a view from the Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic. Oil on canvas, 12" h x 24"w x 3/4"d. It was very cold, foggy and rainy while we were there, and I hoped to capture that in this painting. SOLD.

Farm Landscape

This is a triptych that I was recently commissioned to paint, and is my largest oil painting thus far! Each canvas panel is 72"h x 36"w.

Eating Ice Cream

16" x 12", oil on canvas

My uncle eating ice cream at Bub's house. She always has ice cream.

Bubba

20" h x 16" w, oil on canvas, interior.

That's my Bubba! She loves to cook, and usually wears something interesting while doing so.

Thinking About Dessert

24"h x 30"w, oil on canvas, portraiture

This is part of my series of paintings, inspired by Van Gogh's "Potato Eaters" painting. This is an uncle of mine at my Bub's house, thinking about dessert. This painting won "Best of Show" and the "People's Choice Award" at the Indiana Art Association's fall 2011 show!

Meat Hooks

20" x 16", Oil on Canvas, Portraiture

This is my Bub, cutting some ham. She is a tough woman, especially her hardworking hands, so I've always referred to her hands as meat hooks.

Paris Boulevard

14" X 11" Oil on canvas, Cityscape

This is one of the many boulevards in Paris, though I don't know which one it actually is. I think it was somewhere near the Musee d'Orsay. SOLD.

IRISH PUB

20" X 16", Oil on Canvas, Interior

This is an Irish Pub in Greenwich Village, New York, that my husband and I enjoy when visiting the city. Their Bangers and Mash has inspired past paintings. SOLD.

Dinner in Venice

20" x 18", oil on canvas, cityscape

This is a bustling night cafe in Venice Italy. It is almost dark, and the sky is a blueish green. SOLD.

Almost Set

20" X 18", Oil on Canvas, Interior

I captured this table just before the waitstaff completed their work. The table is almost set, but the glasses are not yet in the correct places. SOLD.

A Nice Old Couple

7"hx5"w, oil on canvas, interior
This old couple was in the bathroom of the bed & breakfast we visited in Ocean City New Jersey. I often think the older fixtures had more style than the new ones. SOLD.

Onion

5"x7" Oil on Canvas.
This onion was straight from the garden... dirt and all.

Pont Neuf

8"x10" Oil Painting on Canvas. Cityscape of Paris, Pont Neuf Bridge. SOLD.

Left Painting Study

This is the left-most painting. I just patched in some yellow where the sunflowers will be, and will go back to take pictures once they grow in late August. Commission.

Middle Painting Study

This is the painting in the middle with the pond in at the bottom. I also used the trees that are in the actual pond area. Commission.

Farm Right Study

This is the painting to the far right. The grass in the foreground is just implied, as I'm not sure what it will look like in real life. Commission.

MONTMARTRE II

This is a painting of Sacre Coeur in Paris, with the carousel in front. The painting is 30"h x 40"w. Commission.

Venice Landscape

Something about June makes me want to paint Italy scenes. Probably because when I went to Italy in June of 2007 the weather was similar to what we have had recently - hot and sunny. This painting is 18" w x 24"h.SOLD.

Lucca Landscape

This painting of a Lucca Italy landscape is 18" w x 24"h. SOLD.

Cafe Florian

I painted this oil painting of Cafe Florian in Venice, Italy from a photo. It was one of those photos that I almost didn't take, but was glad I did. When we were walking past, nobody wanted to stop because it was hot and we were in a hurry and irritated with each other because we all wanted to do different things. It was worth it to temporarily aggravate my fellow travelers. The painting is 30"w x 40"h.

Amsterdam Canal

This is the last of my series of Amsterdam paintings. This is 30"h x 40" w x 1 1/2"d. SOLD.

BUB

I decided to try a study of my grandmother, who we all know as Bub. I am going to do a series of paintings of family members sharing meals, inspired by the Potato Eaters. I saw at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, that he did studies of some of the models before painting the scene. This painting is 10"h x 8"w on canvas panel.

Spring

Once we started getting a little bit of spring-like weather, I started painting walls instead of pictures. I have a couple pf paintings that I have finished recently and am currently working on three more. I will be posting them very soon. Hopefully the weather will stay cold and rainy so I can complete the latter three... because when spring returns, it is gardening time!

AMSTERDAM CANAL

I ran out of titles for all these Amsterdam Canal paintings, so I just gave them all the same name. This painting is on 20"h x 16"w x 3/4"d stretched canvas.

FIVE BOATS

This painting is of five boats in Amsterdam. There are small studies of some of the boats below. This painting is on 15"h x 30"w x 3/4"d stretched canvas. No longer available.

AMSTERDAM CANAL

This is another Amsterdam canal, which is what I have been focusing on lately. Boats are fun to paint as long as they are not those big, see-through tour boats (I have painted them out of my pictures, but am guilty of riding on them.) This painting is on 20"h x 16" w x 1"d stretched canvas.

TWO BOATS

This is a study of two boats in an Amsterdam canal. The oil painting is on 5" x 4" stretched canvas. It is for sale on Etsy. SOLD.

ONE BOAT

This is a small study of a boat in an Amsterdam canal. The oil painting is on 5" x 7" stretched canvas and is for sale on Etsy. SOLD.

Bruges Canal

This is a study of a canal in Bruges. I plan to paint a larger version of it. It is 16"h x 12"w x 3/4"d. SOLD.

AMSTERDAM CANAL II

Another overcast day in Amsterdam. 20"h x 24"w x 1 1/2"d. SOLD.

AMSTERDAM CANAL I

An overcast day in Amsterdam. 20"h x 16" w x 3/4"d. For sale at Emphasis Interiors in Pittsburgh, PA

New Work

Ten new paintings of Amsterdam are on the way. I am working on all of them simultaneously in bits and pieces. Some may be finished before others, so stay tuned.

DUSK IN MANHATTAN

This is a rainy evening in New York City.The sky is still bright, but the streets are dark and the neon lights reflect in the puddles of water. This oil painting is on 30"h x 24"w x 1 1/2" thick canvas. SOLD.

NIGHT CAFE

This is my first painting of 2011, and the first completed in my series of city night scenes. The cafe pictured above was in Paris. The cities that I will highlight are New York, Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam. It is views like this that first made Paris intriguing to me. The first time I went was with some fellow classmates during my internship in London a long, long time ago. We all had conflicts of interest, so I ended up roaming the Paris streets...alone...at night. I looked angry enough (because I was annoyed that nobody would hang out with me) that people left me alone. I went back to the area of St. Germain with my husband during our trip last April. He was a little easier to get along with than my old classmates though. This painting is on 20"h x 16"w stretched canvas. SOLD.

VIEW FROM THE UMBRELLA STAND

This may be the last painting of the year for me. This is the view from an umbrella stand near Grand Central Station in New York City. I know this because I snapped the reference photo while my mother purchased an umbrella. They were actually very reasonably priced. This oil painting is on 40"h x 30"w x 1 1/2"canvas. It is painted raw umber around the edges, so you have the option to leave it unframed.

CHRISTMAS COMMISSIONS

I think the coast is clear. It is safe for me to post the recent commissions I did for Christmas. The three paintings of dogs below were painted during the months of November and December.

HIGGINS

This is a painting of Higgins the dog. It is oil on 16"h x 12"w canvas.

CUMBY

This is a painting of Cumby the dog. It is oil on 18"h x 24"w x1 1/2" canvas.

TULA

This is a painting of Tula the dog. The oil painting was on 24" x 30" x 1 1/2" canvas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

It feels like I just posted this exact same message, but no, that was a full year ago. This is the newest addition to our collection of ornaments... he's purrrrrfect! Have a great Christmas everyone!!!

PENGUIN COOKIE

THIS IS WHY I AVOID THE BAKERY SECTION OF GROCERY STORES! Because there are always cute desserts. I usually can just keep walking, but today the scent emanating from the bakery was more difficult for me to resist than siren's song would be for sailors. Almost as disastrous as crashing into seaside cliffs, I purchased a cookie with a mountain of icing in the shape of a penguin on top. I had to paint this quickly because the smell of butter-cream was too much to endure. What you can't see from this painting is that there is a huge bite taken out of the back of the cookie :) I'll save the rest for my husband who has a faster metabolism than I have.

Not only is this painting Christmas/winter related, but also sports-related; the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be in the Winter Classic on New Year's Day. No longer available.

GETTING CLOSE

One painting almost done, one halfway done. I fell ill last week, so I did not deliver on my promise for new work last week. By the end of this week, there will be at least one new painting on this blog!

DON'T GIVE UP!

Seriously, I promise new artwork is on the way. I've been working on Christmas commissions lately (and I can't post them because it will ruin some surprises) but I have started a new series of paintings, and will be adding some of them to this blog later this week. Also, please check www.artquiver.com on December 21st, as my new work will be available for purchase then. AQ is planning to start accepting commissions soon, so feel free to inquire about those. The picture above is a preview of some of my new work, which consists of cityscapes and dinner table scenes. And no, this is not a picture of me (but is is of a girl who looks as mad as everyone always says I look.)

This was the last picture my camera took before it was killed in Paris. I was stupid enough to set it on a slick granite seat next to a fountain at the Louvre to take an automatic picture (rather than asking someone to do it.) I didn't think it was possible that someone may try to sit on it. After the picture snapped, I saw a girl walking toward the camera and I sprinted toward it, because I can't speak French and she didn't respond when I yelled for her to watch out. I knocked the camera into the fountain myself when I tried to grab it. Fortunately we were able to fish it out and save the memory stick, and I had two back-up cameras. But my poor camera died. It served me well. And yes, I learned something that day.

This is what I learned:

1. Don't set your camera on a slippery surface next to a body of water, especially when there are unpredictable people who don't speak your language milling about.
2. Sometimes when you have an abundance of something, you are less careful with it. This goes for everything (except maybe if you have a lot of kids; you probably wouldn't sit one of them unattended next to a fountain.) I had three cameras with me on that trip (one was a loaner from my mom, I'm just glad it wasn't hers that I took chances with) so maybe something in my mind felt safe, like, "well if this camera falls into the water, it's okay, I still have two more." Maybe that's why God only gave us two eyes, two ears, and so forth... we don't have three of anything important. We have ten total fingers and toes, but in each category, there are really five totally different varieties that have different jobs, and we only have two of each variety (two index fingers, two thumbs, etc.)
   
3. Sometimes when you try too hard to save something (or someone) that is in danger, you end up doing more harm than if you play it cool. If I would have just let the girl sit on the camera, maybe she wouldn't have done any damage. Also, I wouldn't have had to worry all week if the memory stick was damaged (we couldn't find a place to print pictures from a memory stick and I didn't want to place a wet memory stick into one of my working cameras and risk damaging them with water. I think of it as the Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader effect in the last movie when he essentially killed that princess girl (my husband will be so impressed that I included this analogy.)
   
4. Always be aware of your surroundings. Why didn't the girl look where she was sitting? What if there would have been bird poop on the bench where the girl was about to sit instead of my camera? I was aware of my surroundings because I sprung into action as soon as I saw her going in the direction of my camera. Unfortunately I overcompensated for her lack of attention by moving more quickly than I could think. So if you pay attention to your surroundings at least a little, you can give the conscientious people a break.
   

BRIE

This painting of a Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) shaped wheel of Brie is 8"h x 10"w.

SITTING ROOM II

I rarely actually get to use the hotel sitting rooms when I visit. I just walk around and take pictures of them. This oil painting is 10"h x 8"w. SOLD.

SOMEWHERE IN BRUGES

This is a painting of a building along one of the canals in Bruges. It is 10"h x 8" w.

MINI BAR

That's what I call a mini bar! Not some little fridge filled with little beers in an isolated hotel room, but an antique tabletop full of liquors in a cool sitting room. I'm actually more of a wine drinker because the health benefits, but I like the look of a whole bunch of liquor bottles sitting in an unconventional place. It sure looks better than a box of wine on the kitchen counter (I'm a middle class artist, so boxed wine is more economical. No I don't have a problem. And the quality of certain brands of boxed wine is quite good.) SOLD.

FOYER

This was the foyer of the hotel we stayed at in Bruges. The painting is 10"h x 8"w and will be for sale at this Friday's "Evening in the Stacks" event at our local library, which needs some serious funding to stay open. Sounds like something from "Back to the Future" ("save the clock tower".) Long live the library! I should actually start using the library, especially since they have free coffee, at least they used to. I've been trying to finish "For Whom the Bell Tolls" for about a year though. If I had borrowed that from the library I would have gotten some serious late fees. I could have saved the library myself. SOLD.