Sweaty Palms

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Palette Knife Painting by Leslie Saeta

"Sweaty Palms"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200.00 with display easel.

I have spent the last three days doing what I love most and enjoy the best ... watching my kids play sports! This time I have been at a volleyball tournament watching my youngest son compete as well as watching my husband's team play. It's been a blast. And we are heading out today for the last day ...

This little painting was fun to paint. I enjoyed mixing the blues and greens for the water. It worked well to create some depth. You can really see the edges created with the palette knife in this photo.

We have been in Balboa all weekend for the tournament and we took a long boat ride with some friends on a glorious Saturday afternoon. I took 480 photos which were mostly boats. So I am set for paintings ... for a long while!

Moving Forward - SOLD

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"Moving Forward"

Oil study, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

Sold.

There are moments in our lives when we will always remember where we were when the news hit ... whether it was a national event or something far more personal. It was just barely two weeks ago when I was sitting at my desk and the phone rang with the shocking news about my mother-in-law. At the time I never imagined the end result would be her untimely death but life has its way of presenting us with twists and turns. It's been a very emotional two weeks and definitely the time to spend with family. I have been away from my studio, away from painting (and posting on my blog and facebook) but grateful for the kind and comforting messages from so many of you. We hosted a beautiful memorial service here at our home yesterday. It was tearful but a wonderful celebration of a wonderful woman, wife, friend and grandma.

So, as the saying goes "life goes on". And this morning I knew it was time to start painting again. It felt good to head up to my studio and squirt out lots of new paint on my palette and get back in to my "routine" of painting. I had indicated to Dreama that I would "probably paint a boat painting" when I returned to my studio today. But a funny thing happened when I got ready to paint. I had an incredibly strong feeling of contentment and a very strong desire to paint something different. I felt I needed to do something different. I just felt different. So I changed everything ... my approach, how I start a painting, my perspective, everything ...  and I just painted. I felt more at peace painting today than I have in months.  And I am happy to be back doing what I love so much.

I should also mention this week is the one year anniversary of the "Artists Helping Artists" blogtalk radio show. So ... if you like to win free stuff ... such as original oil paintings, a workshop with Dreama and me, a free marketing consultation ... then you might want to call in live to this Thursday's show at 9:00 am PST, 12 noon EST. Because we will be awarding our live callers with lots of really cool stuff! So don't miss the show. We promise it will be a good one as we move on forward as well ...

Waiting For ...

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"Waiting For ..."

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel

$200.00 with display easel.

That's right ... what have I been waiting for? It's been so long since I have actually painted in my studio that I was afraid maybe I had forgotten how to paint. I know these "stages" happen, and I had a lot of valid reasons why I haven't been painting ... but ... it was time to get back to what I love most ... painting!
I think I was inspired by our AHA radio show with Carol and David Marine yesterday.  If you think about it ... Carol is almost a month ahead with her paintings ... yes ... that means she has an entire wall full of paintings that are drying and just waiting to be posted on her blog. I still don't have any "waiting" to be posted, but at least I have one to post today!
I think I underestimated the response I would have to my private marketing consultations so I have been very busy working with artists to sell more art through their blogs, websites, newsletters and facebook. It's been fun but has kept me out of my studio for too long. Dreama even "threatened" me yesterday. She said if I didn't find something to paint today she was going to pick the subject matter ... and I believe the word "Eddie" was part of the conversation.
One final thought ... one of the good things about being so busy is that I just didn't have time to take advantage of the fact that today is April Fool's Day. Over the years I have been pretty creative and have pulled off some pretty funny pranks ... my favorite was when I put my girlfriends house up for sale. I know this sounds harsh but if you knew the pranks she had pulled on me this was actually pretty tame. Although I advertised a price that was less than half market value so she did get a lot of calls ... for months ...
So to my dear best friend Dreama ... you are safe for yet another year ...

Nothin To Do

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"Nothin To Do"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 with display easel.

Nothing to do ... hmmm ... what is that like? We just finished a whirlwind week of sporting events ... prelims and finals every day at the Pac10 Swim Championships,  CIF finals and win for FSHA in soccer, CIF finals and win for Poly girl's basketball ... not to mention volleyball and baseball games for my other two boys. Now here is where it gets tricky ...
When your three children all have sporting events (oh wait ... we need to factor in the game of my middle son's girlfriend here too ) ... at exactly the same time ... how do you choose which one to attend? As a parent, we try to be fair ... trade off between kids when you can ... try to catch the first half of one and the second half of the other. But, this is where I draw the line ... when one of your kids (or their girlfriend who you really like) is playing a really big game (like a championship or something really important like that) then that event trumps all other others. Make sense? You would think ...
But no ... I am still under extreme scrutiny in my house for selecting the events that I attended this past weekend ... not to mention that I let down my workout group for missing MY big event (but that's another story).
In a nutshell,  a girl (or in this case ... a mom ...) has gotta do what she can. And yes, I chose to attend two championship games in which I did not have a blood relative competing in the event. And I chose the swimming CHAMPIONSHIPS over baseball scrimmages and volleyball pre-season tournaments. I know I am in the dog house. But what can I do?
I would go on ... and on ... but I can't. I have to go watch a baseball game ....

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"Laguna Coast"

Oil, 11" x 14" on canvas panel

$700.00 framed.

I am posting an older painting (sorry) because I just couldn't get in to my studio today. But I have four days this weekend to paint ... with no interruptions so you will see lots of new paintings, I promise!

Please join me and other artists for our first "Artists Helping Other Artists" conference call this Thursday at 9:00 a.m. PST. All of the call-in information is listed at the top right side of my blog. We will just share ideas and experiences. The topic is "newsletters" but we can really talk about anything you want!

One Cat on the Beach

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"One Cat on the Beach"

Oil, 6" x 6" on canvas panel.

$200 unframed.

If I survive this week it will be a miracle. Our party is on Saturday night and as I mentioned before I am cooking for 150 people. Today I was hanging a garland in our house and somehow I managed to fall off the ladder and fall and chip my tooth. So tomorrow I will need to spend a few hours at the dentist getting it repaired ... which is time that should be spent cooking! At least I don't have a fat lip or any other major injuries. So I guess that is good news.

I did manage to paint two little ones today. I have five commissions that will all be done next week. Then I will have to think about starting my holiday shopping! Yikes!

Reflections

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Reflections, Oil, 8" x 10"

This painting is for sale.

I just finished this painting about 15 minutes ago, in fact I see that I still have paint on my fingers! I started it last night, but ended up scraping the paint off the entire canvas. Sometimes when I work with the palette knife, I end up working the painting too much and it turns out muddy. That is where I was last night when I did the "big scrape". I am happier with it today but I think I will try to paint it again sometime in the future. I left out so much of the detail in the water - there were waves everywhere - but it was just too busy.

More Boats

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Favorite Boats Oil, 8" x 10"

This painting is for sale.

Another crazy day at the house. We hosted the Stanford Men's volleyball team for lunch (they played USC tonight). You can only imagine how much eighteen 6'8" young men can eat!

I love this painting. Very loose but really fun to paint. I have plans to do a lot of painting this weekend plus tomorrow is the Artist Reception at White's Gallery in Montrose. If you are free, I will be there from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. See you there!

Gotta love the tropics!

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I have been in Mexico for three days with clients so no painting yoday ... loved the warm weather! I posted three posts on Monday to make up whilte I was gone so I think I am still on schedule updating my blog ...