Thirty Days of Paintings

Here is my "collage" of the 30 paintings I completed in September. I created it with an on-line program called picmonkey. Just go to PicMonkey and select "create a collage". You can use one of their designs or you can design your own. To make a collage with 30 photos you will need to design your own. Then you can drag your uploaded photos in to the collage until you are done. (When you drag them, you can see where to place the photos as you move them around.)

It's a fun tool to use. You can change the width and color of the grid lines between the photos and then save the completed collage as a jpeg on your computer. Post your collages here! And it doesn't matter how many paintings you completed. Create a collage to show off the paintings you created this month.

I won't be able to paint for rest of the week because we are moving in to the beach house. It's almost done ... it's getting there ... and I have my fingers crossed it will be "close enough to done" for my eight girlfriends to enjoy this weekend! I will post the photos of the completed house on Friday or Saturday so be sure to check back for the updates!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Thirty!!!

"Fall Waters"

Oil, 8" x 8" on canvas panel.

$350.00 with display easel.

Day 30. Holy smokes. We did it. 

There were many times this month when I thought this day would never come. And now it's here and I am sad. I am going to miss the pressure of finishing my painting every day. 

I have thought long and hard about what was my favorite part of this month's challenge. Aside from painting every day, it has to be all of the awesome notes and emails I have received from all of you! It is funny how so many of you think I had something to do with the fact that you have painted so much this month! All I did was create the forum. That's it! You are the ones who painted everyday. I don't get the credit. YOU DO!!

Technically the challenge is over for now. But we all know, of course it's really just the beginning. 

This is the time for all of us to build upon what we have accomplished this month. Whether you painted five or thirty paintings, it doesn't matter. We have all learned something from painting more often, from blogging everyday and sharing our art on Facebook. The results have snowballed and have been amazing. Many of you told me that you have already blogged more times this month than the entire  year. Most of you have found a way to leave "the stuff" behind so when you enter your studio it's all about painting. A lot of you are painting faster and having little trouble finding inspiration to paint. It's been a great 30 days and I thank you all for joining and inspiring me to paint every day this month.

Tomorrow we will head back in to our studios and paint some more. We will continue to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and take some risks. We don't need to feel rushed and we don't need to ignore our families anymore (haha). Just paint what you want, but take a little more time to build on the momentum you have created these past few weeks. 

I promise we will do another 30 in 30 Challenge in January 2014. In the meantime I will be busy painting and teaching and enjoying the beach house (our "moving in" day is this Thursday!)

Tomorrow I will post a collage of all of my 30 paintings. I will also post instructions as to how you can create one too. So be sure to check back tomorrow.  So, you are not finished with me yet!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-nine

"The Pavilion"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

Sold.

There is only one more day left in the Challenge and I have no idea what to paint for my last painting! I am pretty sure it will be a boat painting as I haven't painted a lot of boats this month and I miss them!

I hope you all have enjoyed the Challenge and I would like to thank you all for joining me, for keeping me motivated and for your wonderful emails, messages and comments throughout the month.
Even if you haven't been able to paint everyday, try to join in and paint (and post!) a painting for Day #30!

I spent most of today at my sewing machine. Most of my time was spent putting in 11 zippers. Can you guess what I am making??? Tomorrow morning I am driving a small truckload of furniture to the beach house. It's our "first delivery" of lots of stuff that will be heading up there this week. I will have another small truck load on Thursday with a full car load every day this week too! I cannot believe we are getting so close!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-eight

"All Blown Up"

Oil, 6" x 6" 

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase. 

I got a text from one of my boys yesterday that said. "So what's up with the abstracts?". I think this could be translated as "Mom, are you crazy? Get back to painting regular stuff!".

So I am back to the "regular stuff". I do need to say that I really enjoyed my short "abstract painting stage" and I believe painting outside of your comfort zone and trying new things is a very important step in an artist's development. So I had fun and am thrilled I have some paintings for the beach house that I really like!

There are two more days left in the 30 in 30 Challenge. How happy are we? Yippee!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-seven

"Fall at the Beach"

Acrylic, 24" x 24"

NFS.

We are getting so close to the end of the 30 in 30 Challenge! I am still having fun with abstract painting. This one is a work in progress, but I love the large size and palette knife strokes! I hope you are enjoying painting as much as I am!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-six

"Yellow Reflections"

Oil, 8" x 16" on canvas panel.

Sold (commission).

It was fun to get back to painting boats after a few days of abstracts. One of my kids posted on my Facebook page yesterday stating "I think I could paint that". I laughed at the comment because I am guilty of thinking the same thing about some of the abstract paintings I have seen over time. Of course, now that I have made an attempt at painting abstracts I realize how ridiculous my son's comment (and mine) actually was.

I am still contemplating adding all of the words to yesterday's painting and I think it will be a go! As my sister in law so pointedly stated, "you can always paint over it". So if it doesn't work, then I will just paint over it.

I hope you all are enjoying the 30 Day Challenge as much as I am. It's been fun and we are almost done! I have the radio show today and then I am back to making pillows for the beach house. We move in a week from today (yeah!!!) and I still have a lot to do!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-five

A Day at the Beach

36" x 48"

Acrylic on stretched canvas.

NFS.

We are really nearing the end of the 30 Day Challenge. I have mixed emotions as the month has been both amazing and challenging. (That's a good thing, right?) I fully intend to continue painting close to this pace next month. But there is something nice about not having the PRESSURE to paint every day. I also think I will be able to sleep more. And that's a good thing.

Today's painting is another one for the beach house. It's big, as in 48" x 36". I am contemplating taking this painting one step further. I would like to hand stamp words on the painting that have to do with our family (such as names of streets we have lived on, colleges, sports, etc.). I already have a list of all of the words, I am just not sure how it would look. It would be a fun surprise for my boys so I will probably do it. If I decide to try it, it will be a project for Friday.

Tonight I framed all of the Beach Boys album covers I bought on ebay and at antique stores. They look great and will be fun art for the walls in the beach house. I am not exactly sure where they will hang but I will find a place.

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-four

"Along the Coast"

Acrylic, 24" x 26"

NFS.

It's sure wonderful to be home. I think I will be happier in two weeks when technically my "other house" remodel will be done. I say "technically" because of course it won't really be completely done. But we will be close! At least we will be moved in which means all of the stuff for the "other house" will no longer be in every room of our house!

Yesterday I made the decision to delay the stain and sanding of the floors until after my girl's weekend. They are behind and if we tried to get the floors completely done in the next 13 days then there is no way the rest of the house would be done. Tomorrow is a big day as counter tops, appliances, mantle, bathrooms and tons of other stuff will be finished. At least I really hope it's finished. Furniture and "a household worth of stuff" is confirmed for delivery a week from Thursday. I can't wait.

I started painting some abstract paintings for the Beach House. I thought it would be fun to mix it up a bit. So this one. titled "Along the Coast" is going to Ventura Beach!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-three

"Docked and Waiting"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel

$550.00 with display easel.

On hold.

It's nice to be back on the west coast. I started my day in Ventura as I was dying to check out the progress with the beach house. It looks amazing and you can see the new pictures on my blog. I had a million errands to do to get ready for my meeting tomorrow with my contractor which just about put me in the nut house. Never, ever, ever spend a Sunday afternoon shopping at Best Buy, Home Depot, Costco, Home Goods and Ikea. It was brutal ...

The good news is I am ready for tomorrow and I will be well equipped with TV mounts, more kitchen cabinet moulding, a microwave, garbage disposal, wireless router and lots more!

Somehow I managed to find time to paint amongst all of shopping (and did I forget to mention that I HATE to shop?) so here is "Docked and Waiting". Tomorrow I start painting some abstracts!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-two

"Little Island at the Pier"

Oi, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

$550.00 with display easel.

Click here for more information. 

It's time to say goodbye to Sandbridge and head west to the "other coast". I had an incredible time here and the artists that chose to come "paint and stay" with me were wonderful! The week was fun, we learned a lot and the paintings that were created here are fantastic! I think everyone had fun with the palette knife and it appears I do have some "converts". I hope to come back next year!

I am posting this in advance on my blog so I can get an early start to Ventura tomorrow. Happy painting and we are certainly on the home stretch! Congrats to all of you for making a commitment to paint so often this month. Even if you missed a few, I can only imagine that you have still learned a lot. We only have one week left!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty-one

"Canoes of Sandbridge"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

$550.00

Sold.

I am finally posting a painting from Sandbridge! Virginia Beach is a wonderful town and these canoes are so incredible and were just waiting to be painted! I passed them about five times on the main highway before I pulled over and confirmed that I would not leave Sandbridge until they were painted. Fortunately they will be staying at a lovely home here on the beach!

I am heading back to California today for a busy two weeks of wrapping up the remodel of our Ventura House. Apparently the new wide planked floors have been installed, marble tile is done, fireplace is in and the painters are "almost done". I have made at least ten lists of everything that I have to do in the next two weeks and it's insane. It's funny how easy it is to forget the most basic things a house needs. For example, today I ordered trash cans, TV hanging brackets and drapery rods. Pretty basic but very necessary. Unfortunately none of these items were even on my list!

I hope you are enjoying painting as much as I am this month. Even though I have a busy few weeks ahead, I will be in my studio finishing paintings for our house. Time to paint big. And you will see a few abstracts next week too!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twenty

"My Favorite Tools"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 with display easel

Click here to purchase.

Two thirds. 2/3. 63% done.

Day twenty means we are two thirds done. We only have 1/3 left. There is only 33% left of the September 30 in 30 Challenge! Ok, so I am a bit anxious to finish the Challenge. Things are pretty hectic right now with four workshops in six weeks and a house remodel. But don't get me wrong, I love this Challenge. I love painting and I am so happy to be painting everyday. It's just hard when life and other stuff gets in the way. The good news is I should have four paintings finished tomorrow Two from my Virginia Beach workshop that need some slight tweaking and two more I am going to paint in the next day and a half. That means I don't need to panic on Saturday when I am stuck on an airplane all day!

Now is a great time to think about what happens on October 1st. Of course you are going to take a few days off. But think about what you have learned this month and plan to take that with you to move forward with your art. Paint more. And continue to enjoy it. We are so lucky that we have this chance to paint every day.  I am going to continue with this challenge after September. Sure, I'll ease up a bit, but I will be in my studio. And painting a lot!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Nineteen

"One A Day"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for more information.

Today was an absolutely glorious day. After staying up late last night sharing art tips, ideas and mostly laughing hysterically, today we spent the day at Little Island Pier painting plein air. I was thrilled to find the location as it offered so many different views and everyone was thrilled with the options. The wind had died down and the sun was out so it truly was a glorious day.

Tomorrow we are heading over to a local farm stand as I think it will be another great plein air painting spot. Plus, we won't go hungry as the apples, fruit and veggies look fabulous!

Today's painting was painted yesterday, the first day of the workshop. I started off the workshop with a palette knife painting exercise and we painted apples.

Here are photos from today!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Eighteen

"The Patch"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase.

I had no idea how much fun a "paint and stay together" workshop would be. To be honest I was nervous. I worried if the artists would like the house, how well everyone would get along and if they would all be sick of me at the end of the day! But truthfully ... it's been amazing.

Sitting around the house (after a long day of painting) while enjoying a beautiful ocean view and talking about art is wonderful. Artists are unique individuals. They are caring, creative and awesome. I love this. It's fun, invigorating and something we should all do more often.

I painted a few paintings when I first arrived in Virginia Beach for the Challenge, so I could stop feeling pressured (ha!) and focus on the workshop and my students. This painting is based on a photo I took of a huge pumpkin patch located right down the street from our beach house in Ventura. I know where I will be buying my pumpkins next month!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Seventeen

"Yummy"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase.

I am so excited for this week! There are nine artists (including me) all moved in to the beach house here in Virginia Beach and everyone is amazing! Most of the artists arrived by 6:00 pm and quickly we got to know each other (with wine and cheese) and shared lots of stories about families, art and other workshops. Three of the local artists who are also attending the workshop also came by to meet everyone. I cooked dinner and we laughed and ate. Tomorrow we will be a very happy group of 13 palette knife painting artists!

After dinner it was time for me to head downstairs to paint. I know we will be painting the next few days but I really needed to finish my painting for tomorrow morning - Day Seventeen. Hopefully my east coast jet lag will ease up as some of us are going to go for an early morning beach walk (with coffee!) before we start the workshop at 9:00. The weather should be great!

Today's painting is only my second cupcake painting. I have had this photo for years and have always wanted to paint it. I hope you like it as much as I do!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Sixteen

"The Coast"

Oil, 8" x 10" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I am in Sandbridge, Va and it is absolutely beautiful! My workshop starts Wednesday morning but since most of the students are staying here, we will be together tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. We are staying at my sister's beach house in Sandbridge and I am so excited for my first "paint together and stay together" workshop. 

We had a wonderful time driving around Virginia Beach today looking for painting locations. I found so many incredible locations including the pier, beaches, tons of beach scenes with the awesome fences and seagrass, surfboards, umbrellas, lily ponds, farm stands and lots more. I need to stay here for an extra week!

Hope you are all enjoyig the challenge. We are on the downhill slump. Day 16!!!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Fifteen

"At the Beach"

Oil, 12" x 12"

Sold.

Finally! We are half way through the 30 in 30 September Painting Challenge. Yippee.Yes! Awesome! Except I think that means I (we) still have 15 more paintings to complete. And I also have a beach house remodel I need to complete, which includes moving in an entire house of furniture and decorating and artwork (that needs to be painted). Yikes!

Maybe I should focus on today's painting. Ok, I know what you are thinking. Umbrellas again?

But you need to know that out of hundreds and hundreds of Italy photos, the artists in my workshop picked this one. Honestly, it wasn't me! Of course it was fun to paint.

And I am happy it sold and is going to a nice home.

I am getting ready for my workshop in Sandbridge, Va this week. The weather looks great and we should have lots of fun painting around town and at the beach!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Fourteen

"Not Open Yet"

Oil, 12" x 12" with display easel.

$550.00

Click here for information.

I am heading to the airport shortly to catch a plane to Virginia Beach. How lucky am I? I spent the day at Ventura Beach yesterday and tonight I will be in Virginia Beach. Gotta love the life of an artist! Not to mention I will be meeting 14 new artists on Tuesday and we will get to paint together next week!

This painting is one of two I completed on the third day of this week's "Painting in Italy" workshop. I took this photo in one of the Cinque Terra cities, Vernazza. You might guess I was drawn to the umbrellas ... not to mention that this city was the one we reached after a two and a half hour climb ... uphill ...


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Thirteen

"For Hire"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

$550.00 with display easel.

Click here for information.

I leave tomorrow for Virginia Beach for a very fun painting workshop. I cannot wait to meet all of the artists who are kind enough to come "paint and stay" with me! The weather forecast is terrific so we should have three wonderful days to paint in the beautiful town of Sandbridge.

Today is my anniversary so my husband and I will be celebrating tonight. Twenty-seven glorious years! I will spend the day in Ventura as there is a lot of activity happening ... cable, phone and internet installation; Westin Heavenly Beds delivery and appliances delivery. We are three weeks away from completing the remodel and I cannot wait!

Today's painting was complete in my workshop this week. The boats were in Portofino and were definitely "for hire".

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Twelve

"Looking"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for more information.

What a glorious three days of painting with friends! I just finished my workshop and I am now ahead three paintings. Yahoo.

The artists in the class were "repeat offenders" and also brand new to painting. One of my students had never painted a painting before! Three days of bliss and I am thrilled to have eight wonderful artists I can call my friends.

I did another demo of "painting figures" and decided to make it a "crowd" and finish the painting. Very fun!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Eleven

"Together"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00

Click here for information.

I am very fortunate to be able to teach a wonderful group of artists this week in my Carriage House. We had a very fun dinner tonight (authentic Italian ... salmon cannelloni with lemongrass, ginger and lime sauce; pasta with lemon pesto sauce, salad, asparagus and of course ... salty caramel gelato!) Of course my husband was kind enough to bring up some Italian wine from the wine cellar.

This morning I did a demo on "painting figures". After I finished, we all decided the two figures might make a great painting! So I am posting "Together" as my Day 11 painting and I am now one ahead as the "boat painting" from today is also finished! Yippee!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Ten

"A Walk in Florence"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

Click here for information.

OK, so we are one third of the way through with this challenge. Pat yourself on the back!

I am so lucky to be able to paint and teach workshops. I spent yesterday with eight wonderful artists and we painted a beautiful street scene in Florence, Italy. While it was a complex composition (and I think there were a few references to this!) I think it is important to challenge my students. Today we will ease it up a bit as we paint a boat scene from Cinque Terra. This will be a subject my students are very familiar with!

I took this photo while strolling through the streets of Florence with my boys. If I look back at all of my photos from our Italy trip, there are hundreds of street scenes. I love painting them!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Nine

"Pear Study"

Oil, 8" x 4" on canvas panel.

NFS.

It's been a crazy few days gearing up for two workshops, two weeks in a row. This week I am teaching my "Painting in Italy" workshop and next week I will be in Virginia Beach painting the seashore. Oh darn ...

I have been catching up on a few commissions this week and today I just did a study for my painting  #9. It's one of my favorite things to paint with a palette knife ... pears ... and I really should paint more of these! I hope you are still enjoying the Challenge!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Eight

"Resting"

Oil, 8" x 8" on canvas panel.

Sold.

I am heading to the Rose Bowl Swap meet this morning. If you are not familiar with it, it is a monthly antique flea market here in Pasadena. It's a fabulous place to find wonderful treasures ... especially if you are remodeling a beach house! (You will find photos from my shopping day on my Facebook page later this morning!)

Today's painting is titled "Resting" and features my favorite subject, boats! It's also sold.

Tomorrow I start a three day "Painting in Italy" workshop so a few paintings next week will feature the  "Italian Countryside". We are going to have so much fun!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Seven

"Vintage Ornaments"

Oil. 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase. 

As you can see I am still working on paintings for my 2014 Calendar. It seems a bit odd to be painting Christmas ornaments in 97 degree weather but I played a few of my favorite Kenny G holiday songs in my studio and that helped. Of course my husband walked in my studio and thought I had completely gone bonkers!


Good news! We survived the first week of the Challenge! It's Day Seven! Congratulations to you all. I can promise you that it actually gets easier from here on. We are developing new "habits" (which are good) and you have obviously made painting a priority. Any plans for next week? Any new ideas for paintings? I am teaching two workshops in the next two weeks so I know I will be painting in the day and at night. I just still need to get ahead!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I have workshops scheduled in the next twelve months in South Pasadena, Ventura Beach, Newport Beach, Carmel, Indiana, Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, Ga. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Six

"Double Chocolate"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase.

One of my goals for the 30 in 30 Challenge is to paint 12 paintings for my 2014 Calendar. I already have a few that I painted earlier in the year that I want to include, but I need about 9 new paintings to make it complete.

I painted this painting for the month of "February". Duh ... you probably figured that out. The painting is titled "Double Chocolate". Earlier this year I found out I am allergic to chocolate ... so sad!

If you haven't printed a calendar before you should give it some thought. They are really inexpensive and make great gifts.
Plus what could be better than having some one look at one of your paintings everyday of the year when they check their calendar!

The Challenge is going strong. You guys are awesome. Congratulations as we have almost made it through the first week!


Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! There is one spot open in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 9 – 11, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Five

"Laying Around"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel

$200.00 with display easel

Click here for information. 

I hope the fact that I have not been able to "paint ahead" and that I had to wake up before 6:00 am this morning to finish my painting is an inspiration to all of you who are in the same place as me! It's funny how, if I have a goal, I will get it done. I think when this Challenge is over I am going to paint "every other day". And I am not kidding. I have finally learned how important goals are, especially when it comes to painting.

I spent yesterday up at Ventura Beach (hence, the need for my early morning to paint ...) and the house is looking amazing! We passed the inspection and the door and window mouldings are being added. What a difference. They also hung my new front door. I cannot believe how amazing it looks. The beach house will be a wonderful place to stay for my workshops and I can't wait to host my students! I started embroidering the robes that will be placed in each room and bought all of the bath towels at the Restoration Hardware outlet. Now I just need to make ten more pillows! I will take a lot of pictures this weekend and add a new post to my blog with all of the recent progress.

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I just have one spot open in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 9 – 11, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Four

"Gone For a Swim"

Oil, 12" x 12" 

$550.00 with display easel.

Click here for more information. 

I am really enjoying being back in my studio. Of course part of the reason is that I am getting to enjoy my new AIR CONDITIONING! I had heat and air installed in the Carriage House in June and that must be why I don't ever remember enjoying painting in my studio this much! It's actually a bit too cold so I need to figure out the best temperature. Oh darn ... All I know it is is a lot cooler than the 94 degrees outside. I know my workshop students next week will also like the new cool air.

Speaking of my workshop, I had two artists cancel for my Italy workshop next week and I would love to help them out and fill their spots. If you think you might be able to attend then please email me. 

There are a lot of people looking at my blog and YOUR paintings. Yesterday I had over 5000 hits on my blog post and I kind of doubt that it was all of you posting your paintings. I hope the exposure for your art and paintings is going well! Let's hope we see lots of sales!

It's been wonderful to see all of the posts on facebook about the challenge. And I really appreciate all of your comments and if you have any questions please post them on this blog. And please ... feel free to help me answer them! I am getting about 150 emails daily with questions about the Challenge and I would love your help! We have had a lot of artists joining us every day as they are finding out about the challenge daily. In fact, we now have over 400 artists participating! You can join anytime so if you are new to the Challenge and want to join in then just start posting your daily paintings.

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I just had two spots open up in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 9 – 11, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Three

"Palm Reflections on the Beach"

Oil, 12" x 12"

$550.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase.

I think I am finally getting back in to a "painting groove". It feels so great to be back in the studio. Every time I go through a dry spell of "not painting" I ask myself, "Where have I been?" and "What was so important to keep me out of my studio?". I guess I have just been pulled in two many different directions, such as in Italy and Ventura Beach. But never again!

For the first three days of our challenge I have spent the day at the beach (in the shade, of course!) then raced home and painted. Today was a lot less stressful as I was in my studio by 4:00 pm and out before 7:00 pm. Today I am going to head in to my studio this morning and paint all day. I really hope I can get ahead and paint a few extra paintings to alleviate some of the pressure. I suggest you all try this!

I hope you have had a chance to visit my blog to see all of the paintings that have been posted in the first few days. The paintings are fabulous! And to think this all started over a holiday weekend. It's a miracle so many paintings have been completed!

Today's painting is titled "Palm Reflection on the Beach". I painted a 6" x 6" similar to this a few years ago but have always wanted to paint a larger version. This one is 12" x 12". This month I hope to also complete some very large paintings (about 4' x 4'). But I doubt if I can complete them in one day!

Thanks again for all of your wonderful comments on my "gift" painting from yesterday. I really appreciate it.

Happy painting!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I just had two spots open up in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 9 – 11, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day Two

"Can I Open it Now?"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here to purchase. 

You are all simply amazing! I just checked and there are already 216 paintings posted on my blog for Day One of the Challenge. And it's a holiday weekend! (What was I thinking? Oh wait, the last challenge started on New Year's Day and I had 32 Stanford swimmers staying at my house ... Oh well, I guess I never learn.)

I should probably "come clean" and mention that I have been at the beach most of the weekend watching my husband and son play in a beach volleyball tournament. So those grand plans I had to get my studio organized, paint ahead and sketch out the first ten paintings DID NOT HAPPEN. I painted my Day One painting at 5:00 am on the morning of September 1st. And I painted my Day Two painting from 9:00 pm until 11:00 pm the night of September 1st. The good news is I had fun, I really enjoyed the tournament and most importantly, I was able to spend time with my family this weekend which is what life is all about! Plus I finished my paintings!

As I was painting in my studio late in to the night I smiled to think how many other artists out there had the same goal as me ... to finish a painting today! Many artists paint everyday but it felt different in my studio today (oops, I mean tonight). I knew I had a painting to finish and no matter what happened I was going to finish that painting. And it's done!

This challenge started back in January as a very personal goal to get in my studio and paint. That's why I decided to paint 30 paintings in 30 days in January. The experience was so incredible and I learned so much that I knew I wanted to do it again this year. Hence, here we are in September painting 30 paintings in 30 days. So even though I have opened this challenge up to all of you and there are over 200 paintings posted on my blog, this is still a very personal challenge for me. Just like it should be for each one of you. 

Now, for a few brief technical explanations. I forgot to mention that you have 48 hours to post your painting. For example, September 1st wasDay One of the Challenge. I know many of you painted a painting yesterday but didn't get a chance to photograph and post your painting. No worries, as you can still go back and post your painting to the Day One blog. You have two days to do it.

Secondly, you do not have to paint your painting exactly on the day it is posted. I will not be able to paint in my studio on some days this month so I am going to have to paint multiple paintings in advance to stay on track. This is not considered cheating!

Finally, my painting today is titled "Can I Open it Now?". It's a 6" x 6" painting and is available. I do love painting pink!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I just had two spots open up in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 10 – 12, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!

30 in 30, Day One

"The Gift of Love"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for more information.

Welcome to the 30 in 30 Challenge. Day one is here!

There are over 325 artists signed up to join the "September Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge" ! I think it is incredible there are so many artists who want to do this together. We will have fun and remember, its wonderful if you can complete all 30 paintings this month but it's also ok if you miss a few. Life gets in the way sometimes and if that happens, please don't sweat it. I really want us all to have fun! Please share your comments here on my blog and let's all support each other. 

There have been a lot of question about posting your daily paintings on my blog. The process is pretty simple as every day by 9:30 am PST I will add a blog post here for the day of that challenge. Today is "Day 1". There will be a place at the end of my post for you to click where you need to upload a photo of your completed painting. You can upload your painting at anytime that day. All you need is a photo of your painting. Be sure to add a link to the page on your blog or website where the painting is listed for sale. Please note, you do not need a blog or website to upload your photo. If you don't have a blog or website then just leave the field blank that asks for a link to the web address of your blog. That's it. It's simple! Also, after you upload your photo a "red X" will appear. This allows you to delete your post if you want to re-do it. Please note, no one else will see this red x.

If you are having a problem uploading your photo, here is a link that shows you how to upload a photo on inlinkz.  By uploading a photo of your painting and adding a link there is a very good chance a lot of people will see your art! I also encourage you to post your painting to your own blog and to Facebook. People will get excited about an artist painting 30 paintings for 30 days in a row. So don't be shy to let everyone know that you are doing this Challenge!

My painting today is called "The Gift of Love". I think this would make an awesome baby gift and I do love painting presents! Enjoy!

Check out my new remodel blog for our new beach house in Ventura, Ca. Beginning this fall I will be teaching workshops at the beach. Come stay and paint with me! I just had two spots open up in my three day “Painting in Italy” workshop scheduled September 10 – 12, 2013. The workshop will be held at my Carriage House in South Pasadena. Click here for more information!