Your Favorite Color - Children's Book

I have always felt the desire to publish a children’s book. Even when I was a child I would write short stories and then create drawings with crayons to go along with the stories. But life goes on as it does and I never seemed to have the time to think about it or concentrate time on it. And then came Covid 19. During my time of isolation I gave myself permission to just play with art. Instead of meeting deadlines, teaching students and creating intricate still life realism paintings, I just played with color and with other mediums. And during this time my grand daughter and I came up with a concept that would translate into a children’s book, so we wrote out the story and I illustrated simple drawings to fill the pages. Our children’s book is titled Your Favorite Color and it is a simple, bright book about color. It features two young girls conversing about colors. It is a concept that can be understood by children of all ages, without being overly wordy or complicated. Our book is available in my Etsy shop.

Coffee at Panera

I was sitting in Panera having coffee with two friends and kept glancing back at the bagels. There was such a great variety (the vanilla cherry are just delicious) and with their bumps and toppings I couldn’t resist. Once the time to leave came, I went to the counter and ordered a half dozen to take home. I know its odd but everything is about painting for me. I bought the bagels not because I wanted to eat them but because I wanted to paint them. I can’t come home from a store or a flea market or a restaurant without something that I want to use in a painting. It’s amazing how being an artist makes me so aware of everything in a different way. Although, honestly, eating my still life subjects is a bonus of buying food for painting. So before I ate them, I arranged the bagels in a basket with a dish towel and this was the result.

Contemplating Christmas - Realism Painting

It’s amazing how lovely common things become if one only knows how to look at them. Louisa May Alcott

I love this quote, it speaks specifically to why I paint what I paint. I really like things and find beauty in them; the way light bounces off of glass, the glow of a candle flame or the draping of fabric becomes intriguing to me. If fact, just today i looked out the window and some wet wood caught my eye. It was wet from an earlier rain storm making the grain lines rich and pronounced. I ran outside and took a photo for future reference. A little observation reveals that common things often have uncommon appeal. :)

New Illustration for a New Baby

I recently went to a baby shower and wanted to bring a handmade gift along with my purchased one. I didn’t have time to bang out a painting so I sat down and worked up an illustration from a teddy bear that I had. I matted it and put it in a frame and it looked perfect. The baby was to be named Teddy, but here is my teddy…

Christmas in July

Vintage ornaments are perfect specimens for my kind of still life. They have shine, reflection, texture and color! So once again I created a grouping of these beautiful bobbles. Since I painted this in the middle of summer it had to be Christmas in July.

This painting is 9 x 12 acrylic on panel.

Fireworks - Ready for the 4th

This painting is a cross between mixed media and realism. I used texture paste to create the background on the canvas. There is a lot of texture there. Then Layered paint by dragging the colors over the texture. I ended with metallic copper and gold on the top. After I painted the flag I used the metallic copper to help highlight the red stripes of the flag and to create the bursts of fireworks. Ready for the 4th of July!

Childhood

I’m a Still Life Artist for the most part. But now and then I enjoy stepping outside the box of my comfort and playing around with something different. It had been a while since I worked on a figurative or portrait subject and because I have access to the cutest models ever, I decided it was time.

This is one of my grand daughter’s. I loved the way her mother tied her hair in triple hair ties.

This painting is part of my collection called “Childhood”.

Belle Belle 12 x 12 Acrylic on Panel

Pink Gerbera Realism Painting

This painting took me a while to finish. I had started it before I left for vacation and then when I finally got back into the studio I worked on it for almost a week. Every time I thought it was done, I could see more and more to work on. It was one of those that I could probably work on forever. Don’t you love the way glass looks against black backgrounds? and especially the way it reflects on a black surface.

Turquoise Sheer Scarf

I love this scarf because it was my mothers. She passed away six years ago and this was one of the things that I kept from her closet. Apparently I got my love for turquoise from her.

She was a great supporter of my art. She provided me with everything that I needed as I grew through all my stages of art supplies. She took me to craft classes and was the one that encouraged me to go to Art College. She was so happy when I brought art back into my life after taking some time away.

In honor of my Mom :) Tracy

“Sheer Stripes” 11 x 14 Acrylic on Panel

NAA Winter Juried Show

Two of my paintings are on display at the Newburyport Art Association Winter Juried Show from February 8 - March 2.

Quart Bottle and Fragrance of Peony

This is an old fashioned milk bottle that i picked up at a yard sale in Pennsylvania. I liked the way the light caused a high shine that blurred out some of the lettering embossed in the glass.

I painted this from peonies that i picked at a friend’s house and brought home and put in a vase. For me, painting the glass vase was much more interesting than the flowers, haha.