Standing Nude

I really enjoy group painting and on occasion have a chance to paint the human figure in a local group of painters.  This is a painting from one of those sessions.  To bid Click Here  This link actually takes you to this painting but also has links within the ebay auction site, to my other art auctions.

Spring Creek in Oklahoma

A hundred degree day in Oklahoma sent us to the creek to play.  While there, between floating and foraging, I got a chance to just sit beside the peaceful, pristine waters and paint these two paintings.  They both started out as sketches and then were completed back home in the studio.  I still didn't want to lose the sketchy immediate, feel of the original response so I stopped here.

To purchase either one you may send me an email.  $200 each, or take your chances on ebay where they are both on auction beginning at $145 with no reserve.  Click here to bid and visit the rest of my painting auctions.

bougainvillea in a vase with tea cup 8x10 oil on canvas

Over the winter I was asked to do a mini workshop at the Botanical Gardens in Tulsa.  I got to go to the greenhouse and gather plants for a still life and came back with bougainvillea ( gee I hope I am spelling that correctly)  Anyways I really liked the sweet little painting I came up with.  It is on ebay right now and you may click this link to visit it in my auction or contact me directly for sale.  It is 8x10 on canvas  The auction starts at $99 and if there are no bids and you want it, feel free to contact me directly.  If you do visit it in my ebay site you can also view other paintings on auction and at retail.

bougainvillea in a vase with tea cup 

Deep Thoughts, by Margee Aycock ;-)

I was out gathering curly dock seeds for future use and it occurred to me how artists and craftsmen and women are the reason our species has risen to the top of the heap. I was thinking, " if I were a cave woman, or a pioneer or one of the Native peoples, how would I make sure I could survive the winter? I would have to have some sort of vessel to store my gatherings. Bring on the potters! Then I wondered, If I were nomadic or was forced by weather or some other thing, to take to the road or the water, how then might I survive... Bring on the seamstresses who could work with leather to create warmer clothing, leather pouches or other skins to hold water and for that matter, those who work with wood to create a boat to travel to more fertile land. Where would the world be without those who create, who hone their craft, who work with their hands? And then there are those of us who are visual artists, dancers, story tellerys who just make all that living worth while. ;-)

Red roses transformed into a tornado.

This is what happens when you leave a painting with the artist for a long time.  This week I was clearing out the studio and ran across a few paintings that needed to be improved upon.  this painting was a boquet of red roses against a light background that never quite worked for me.  First I tried to darken the back ground and when that didn't suit me I thought I would just paint over it and decided to clean my pallet onto the canvas.  What started to appear was a tornado so I decided to go with it.   Black is so hard for me to photograph properly but the finished painting is very dark on the tornado part and the sky below is a medium yellowish color... kind of a combo of both of the last two pics.  

SOLD Harjo oil portrait

This is a painting that I did several years ago with a live model.  When cleaning the studio this week I revisited several paintings, this being one.  I made a few minor adjustments and added it to my ebay auction this week.  It is a 16x20 oil painting of one of the Harjo clan.  Once upon a time I could remember her name but I have forgotten.  It may be 'Joy' but I wouldn't swear to it ;-)  She is wearing her traditional ceremonial costume that might be worn to a pow wow.  She is holding a feather fan that is also used in blessing ceremonies.  If you would like to purchase this directly from me ( $200)  you may contact me through this website or visit it in my ebay auction where the start price is lower w no reserve.  Click here for Ebay

SOLD Sirens of Snake Creek

This is another painting that I revisited this year.  It is a montage of a couple photos and a little imagination.  The problem of using multiple photos in one painting is getting the perspective right.  If you aren't taking the photos with the intention of painting them in the future, this is a common problem.  I started with several photos of my friends at the creek and had a painting I was pretty pleased with.  Upon getting it back from a gallery I looked at it anew.  It bothered me that the furthest left figure just didn't seem right.  I think her head was too large for where she was in the painting, and in particular, where she was in comparison to the two other figures ( who were taken from the same photo)  I changed the size of her head and hat and now it seems better to me.  I also lengthened and widened the arm of the figure on the right.  I also decided there were too many girls in sunglasses and took them off of the far right figure.  There is one other change that I made.  Can you find it?
Contact me for purchase, or visit the painting on my ebay auction

original

final ( I think)

Your phone's camera.... the most useful tool in your arsenal

I pulled this old painting out of the studio the other day.  It was painted several years ago using a live model  With a live model you really can't go back and take another look because they are now home, cooking dinner or something ;-)  But, you can look at your own work and re evaluate and try to make it a better painting.  I have found that stepping away is by far the most useful tool ; I stepped away from this painting for a couple of years, but that is not really what I am talking about, although that too, really frees you up to make necessary changes.  I mean, stepping back to the other end of the room, go outside and come back in w your painting facing the door so you are surprised and looking at it freshly.  Since having access to an i phone and to always use it to post photos of paintings to my online auction on ebay, I noticed how many times I took a photo of a painting, thinking it was ready for sale, and only realizing mistakes after looking at the mini photo.  I started noticing how great a tool it was for 'stepping back.'  Here is a series of changes that I am making after viewing this painting from a photo.  Notice how the head shape changes, the eyes, hair, shadows in background, drape across legs, carving into the flesh around her tummy, lips...
This painting is on ebay right now and you can bid on it Here  or contact me for purchase

I started with this:

and ended with this:

You an see below subtil 

small changes... not in any correct order... seen below

Another Floral .... this year's version

 A work in progress... nearly finished.