My Fab Brothers Strange Request...

to do a painting for him made me laugh! He emailed me one day and said he wanted me to do one for his fabulous new apartment in California. He said he wanted a piece as a tribute to Syd Barrett...I said "who?" - he laughed and said it's the guy from Pink Floyd! Obviously while I was listening to disco in the 70's, he wasn't...I said to him that I can't paint people...he then sent me a photo of an album cover and wanted the floor that was depicted as a painting. I looked up the link and laughed....it's an old wood floor that has been painted and varnished. I have to say, it was cool! My brother has always been the cool one, even though I do like funky, modern design. I did the piece for him and am sticking it in the mail! It's a 30x30 and will hopefully look good. I pray it matches something!!! I am including the album cover photo so you can see who Syd Barrett is too (for those of you that don't know!?!) Hope he likes it in person...

From Unfinished to Sold...

I had some friends pop by the house the other day...they were having a party in their newly redecorated and fabulous, I might add home and needed some artwork...they saw this particular piece that wasn't quite finished and loved it. I had one day to finish it and get it over there so they could hang it in time. Too cool...I rushed around, went and bought some more varnish as I knew I didn't have enough for a 48x60 painting...got home, realized I had bought gloss medium...what a dummy! Needless to say, the paint store was closed and I had to wait to go back first thing the next morning. All's well that ends well...I got it done, they got it hung and it looks beautiful in their living room. I never know how a piece is going to turn out - I just keep going til it's done...this one started as a beachy painting inspired by my girls only trip - didn't like it so I just painted right over it. I've added a couple of photos so you can see what I'm talking about. The ugly "rainbow" is gone and in it's place is a beautiful earthy blue green abstract. There's also a beach photo that reminds me of the painting...I hope you like it...

Artwork Revisited...

After looking at my art wall and taking stock of what has sold and what hasn't, I grabbed these three paintings off the wall and decided to do something else with them....the ones on the top are the original and on the bottom are the "newer versions". Claude Monet once said "I say that whoever claims to have finished a canvas is terribly arrogant." I can tell you one thing I'm not, and that's arrogant! I see no reason not to go back and do something different when you end up not being satisfied. Why do we settle for complacency when there is no reason for it after all? I think they are much deeper in color and have alot better texture. Of course I'm not sure what to think about the pieces I have done that everyone loves, but haven't sold, such as Inferno, Mystic River and Half a Mind!!! You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please everyone all the time - or something like that!!!

Handmade Cards...

While I was in Florida with my girlfriends on our trip, I was walking along the beach one morning by myself. I was appreciating the fact they invited me to join them and had an idea. I would write their names in the sand and do something with the photos when I got home. I ended up making them "personalized" thank you cards, writing a nice note inside and including several group photos for each of them. A much better and more thoughtful choice than using storebought cards. We sure need to challenge ourselves to send more handwritten cards...some things are just to good for texting and email.....