Mission and Fair Oaks

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"Mission and Fair Oaks"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

$550.00 with display easel.

Click here to buy a print of this painting.

It is always fun to paint scenes around town and I really like painting the Fair Oaks Pharmacy. I have always painted it from the front so I thought a side view might be a nice change.  I am still cleaning out behind the Carriage House and I am really close to finishing this wonderful (not!) project! Next week, when Dreama and I host our workshop students for dinner, they had better all notice how nice it looks in our back yard! Kidding ... maybe Dreama will notice ...

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

South Pasadena Icon - SOLD

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"South Pasadena Icon"

Oil, 12" x 12" on canvas panel.

$550.00 unframed, $700.00 framed.

Sold.

Click here to buy a print of this painting.

Fair Oaks Pharmacy is a famous icon in South Pasadena. It's located at the corner of the most popular spot in town and it's a fun place to go for ice cream. In fact, my oldest son had his first solid food here ... ice cream. Yes, I am a bad mother and at the age of 20 my oldest son's favorite solid food is still ... ice cream!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops.

Free Birthday Giveaway - Day Two

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"Arroyo Seco Parkway"

Oil, 11" x 14"

$850.00 framed.

Sorry that I don't have any new paintings to post right now but I re-injured my right shoulder and can barely lift my arm. Hence, I can't paint. Or do the dishes ... or cook dinner ... or basically raise my arm above my head. It's a bummer because I have determined you need to be able to use your right arm. Especially if you are right-handed.
The Day One winner of the Free Birthday Giveaway which is a set of my favorite palette knives is the person who has an ID of "Magrit" on my blog. I am just waiting for them to respond so I have their full name and address!

The prize for the Day Two giveaway is a Free Marketing Consultation in which we will review your Blog! Today's Artists Helping Artists radio show was all about ways to improve your blog. Dreama and I looked at five blogs submitted by our listeners and it was so much fun that I would like to do one more! To be eligible for this prize all you have to do is ... you guessed it ... click the LIKE BUTTON on this post to share my blog! Please leave me a comment that you shared this blog post so I don't miss you (if you are not my FB friend your name will not appear ...). Thanks so much and good luck!

Mission and Meridian - SOLD

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"Mission and Meridian"

Oil, 6" x 8" on canvas panel.

Sold.

There is an adorable coffee and ice cream shop in town called "Busters" ... and the building really symbolizes the small town charm of South Pasadena. I painted this yesterday (yeah ... no summer reruns!) for a new friend who is moving out of town ... I hope she likes it. The colors in the building really are this yummy!
Although South Pasadena has 25,000 residents it really does have a sense of Mayberry RFD. What an incredible town to raise a family! I am blessed!

Hope Street - SOLD

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"Hope Street"

Oil, 8" x 16" framed.

Sold.

There's something about this intersection that sums up our wonderful little town ... the beautiful trees, picket fence and of course, "Hope Street". In our wonderful little city, hidden, yet situated in the middle of Los Angeles, you'll see kids riding their bikes and families walking their dogs every day. There are block parties, concerts in the park and volleyball games at the park. Just yesterday I saw a lemonade stand on the street corner.

I am blessed to live in South Pasadena and to have been able to raise my children in such a wonderful town.

Back In Time - SOLD

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"Old Chevy"

Oil, 16" x 8" on canvas panel.

Sold.

This is another one of my paintings in my Headlines Show. It's an old chevy and the painting is based on a wonderful photo taken by Laurie Alle. Laurie has a great blog titled Glimpses of South Pasadena and many of her photos were inspirations for my South Pasadena Headlines Show. . And ... if you are near South Pasadena today, I am doing a palette knife demo from 2:00 - 4:00 at the SoPas Gallery at 1121 Mission Street. I will be painting an 8" x 16" painting and one of the lucky attendees will win the demo painting. Hope to see you there!

Arroyo Seco Parkway

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"Arroyo Seco Parkway"

Oil, 11" x 14" framed.

$950.00 at SoPas Gallery

Don't forget to join me for my demo this Saturday at SoPas Gallery from 2:00 - 4:00 pm. I will be giving away the painting at the end of the demo so you don't want to miss it!
Now that the "pressure" is off, I need to start pressuring myself again to start painting! I have had such a nice week but it really is time to get back in my studio! Let's hope I spend some serious time at my easel today.
And don;t forget to join Dreama and me on our Blog Talk Radio show. It's live at 9:00 am this morning and call in information is located to the right on my blog page!

The Best Job in the World

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"Tickets on Sale at Rialto Theatre"

Oil, 14" x 11" framed.

$950.00 at SoPas Gallery

I do have the best job in the world. Being a mother (or "mom" as my boys call me) is the best. I can't imagine any other reason why I was put on this earth, other than to be a great wife and wonderful mother. Don't get me wrong, I love being an artist, but the best job in the world, hands down, is being a mom to my boys. Love you guys!

"Headlines Show" Opening Soon!

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Although it seems like I have been working on my upcoming "Headlines" show for months, the opening date is right around the corner!  This show is truly a labor of love as I have featured paintings from my favorite place in the world ... South Pasadena.
The show will feature 20 paintings which were all inspired by headlines from past issues of the South Pasadena Review newspaper from the 1930's, 40's and 50's.  Each painting will feature a present day scene from South Pasadena that depicts each headline. The artists reception will be held on Saturday, May 8th from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. I will also be at the Gallery on May 1st for the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk from 6:00 until 9:00 p.m.  Also, be sure to join me for an artists demo on Saturday, May 23rd from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. The public is welcome to attend all events.
The painting featured above is from the headline "Evening Shopping Favored By Citizens" which was featured in an article on August 12, 1948. The story explains that many South Pasadena residents wanted  stores to be open one night a week. They opted to open the stores on Thursday nights for all of those "late shoppers". So ... why did it take them until 1948 to realize that this was a good idea?
I have also published a book titled "Headlines" featuring all of the paintings, headlines and corresponding newspaper articles from the upcoming show. Copies of the book will be available at the opening on May 8th.
SoPas Gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 10:00am - 5:00pm. The gallery is located at 1121 Mission Street, South Pasadena, CA 91030. For more information contact Leslie Saeta at 626-799-8507.

Crossing Meridian

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"Crossing Meridian"

Oil, 14" x 11", Oil on canvas panel.

$500.00 framed.

Today was one of those days that started out busy and then it all came to a grinding halt! I had two exhibitions that I needed to enter and I decided to get them emailed off early, which is unusual for me. Usually I paint in the morning and then I tend to the "busy work" in the afternoon. I also had to ship off a painting to Ironstone Vineyards for their exhibition. I finished that too. Unfortunately when I got home from the post office I realized that rain had caused another power outage in our neighborhood. Since this one lasted from 2:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. I couldn't find enough light to paint. The dark clouds outside just made my studio very dark! So, no time to paint today!

I am posting a painting that will be featured tomorrow at the South Pasadena "Meet the Mayor" Reception. The painting was selected for the cover of the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Connections Annual Catalog.

Orange Reflections

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"Orange Reflections"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 unframed.

My husband and I spent the weekend up at Stanford watching our son swim in his first Pac-10 meet. It was so much fun and I still can't believe he is swimming in college!

I will be busy for the next six weeks finishing paintings for my upcoming gallery show titled "Headlines". The show opens on April 28th and will be held at the South Pas Gallery. The show will feature 25 paintings which will were all inspired by headlines from past issues of the South Pasadena Review, our wonderful small town newspaper. The displayed paintings will include copies of the newspaper headlines and articles that inspired each painting. I promise to post the paintings on my blog and website as soon as the show opens!

Library in Bloom

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"Library in Bloom"

12" x 12", Oil on canvas panel

Sold.

I just finished this painting for the California Art Club "South Pasadena - City of Trees" competition and show. It is not often that I get to show off my hometown and the beautiful trees that are found everywhere in South Pasadena. There is a full weekend of art events scheduled this weekend in South Pasadena so click here for more information.
Don't forget I will be participating at the ARTWalk in Pasadena next Saturday, October 10th. Click here for a great article about the event!

I do need to thank Laurie Allee for the inspiration for this painting. She has a wonderful blog titled Glimpses of South Pasadena. Be sure to check out her amazing photos!

Good News

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"Castle Green"

12" x 12" on canvas panel.

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I recently found out that I was awarded second place for my painting "Castle Green" in the Pasadena Playhouse District ARTWalk competition. The ARTWalk is next Saturday, October 10th from 11:00am - 5:00pm. I will be in booth #29 and will have 25 works on display. The ARTWalk will be located on El Molino just south of Colorado Blvd. If you are in town, please stop by!
The ARTWalk will always be special to me. Last year I entered and won Honorable Mention for my painting titled "Any Day But New Years". That show was my first art show! I remember how nervous I was and shocked that I had won a prize. I think that show gave me the confidence to keep painting ... and to sell my artwork!

Downtown South Pas

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"Downtown South Pas

Oil on canvas.

We had another amazing day at the lake today. All 14 of the grand kids (three of which are my kids) went out on the speed boat and had a blast inner tubing. Tonight we had a photographer come to the house and take family photos - I can't wait to see the one of the 25 of us - my parents, my four siblings, their spouses and the 14 grand kids.
We all have a family but I am not quite sure why I got so lucky with mine. My brothers and sisters are like best friends and the 14 cousins run around like brothers and sisters. (Actually they get along better than brothers and sisters.) Anyway, we are having a wonderful time and I really hope we schedule this again next year.
Tomorrow I will get back to painting. I have my "mini pie cutters" ready and my two students will be up early to join me for painting!