Sunday, September 22, 2019

Tulsa Artist Fellowship sketching group w live model

I have been fortunate to be able to attend several sketching opportunities in Tulsa provided by the generosity of Tulsa Artist Fellowship and specifically, Cynthia Brown, one of the fellows.  I wish they would do a longer pose than 15 or 20 minutes but I guess it is good practice and I actually especially liked the results of the seated nude that I painted on a canvas that had been painted over w a greyish green/blue color.  I liked how it showed up through the flesh.  If I had had more time I might have ruined that part and tried to make it "perfect."  Either one can be purchased for $125.


Friday, August 16, 2019

SOLD! Revisit an older painting

I think it is important to revisit paintings that haven't sold, or that you are not real excited about.  We all have them.  I do a lot of plein aire studies and then just put them away if I don't have time to take a second look in the week in which I painted them.

On my way home one day, driving through my neighborhood, I spied this relic of times gone by.  Many years ago in the 1920s, there was a huge race massacre in what is now, my neighborhood.  Houses from that time sat empty for many years as much of the neighborhood was burned to the ground in the riot by an angry white mob.  Fast forward to when we first moved into our home.  This area is several blocks away and held the remnants of once loved homes which now housed occasional vagrants.  The city decided to raze the remaining homes and make way for a university ( which never got built on the land) So now stands only the stairs and an occasional tree or flower.

This redbud caught my eye that day and I decided to paint there in the field.

I revisited it today ( about 5 years later )  Below are the before and after photos.  The painting can be purchased directly from me for $200.  9x11 oil on linen, on board.


Friday, August 02, 2019

Father Jack Powers


These are all out of order but you can see the progression below.  When I get a moment I will try to order them correctly.












Colorado Stream


If interested in purchasing, $148  contact through this website.  This was a little demo sketch that I did for our adult painting class.

Saturday, July 06, 2019

Crop an oil painting? SOLD!

Well cropping usually belongs to the watercolor painters but I think I am going to use it on this painting.  This was originally a 16x20 painting of one of my 3rd cousins who was waiting to see her grandpa's boat come into the harbor in Alaska.  I loved the photo and worked from that but when I finished the painting seemed to be less and less about the little girl and that wasn't my intention so.... I cut it out of the stretchers and will crop the painting on photo shop a time or two to see what best serves the intent of the painting and then stretch it anew.  I liked her whole outfit as to me it really says " I live in Alaska."  But I may loose the little boots to cropping.  Haven't decided yet.


Tuesday, July 02, 2019

Brook at Chickasaw National Park Oklahoma

This is a plein aire painting that I painted at the Chickasaw National Park in Oklahoma.  Crystal clear, spring fed brook.  So pretty.  It is 8x10 and can be purchased for $200

Wild Fork Show

I always jump at any chance to hang work at Wild Fork in Utica Square.  I will have a show running from mid July through Mid September.  I am working to get everything framed right now and should have everything hung for the 15th opening.  The food is always great, the atmosphere is wonderful, as is the service. 

Monday, July 01, 2019

Moonlight Rodeo 16x20 $800

I live near the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa where they house a lot of the famous old paintings of the west.  Some of my favorites have been the night paintings.  I love how they painted a white horse, green or blue and that is exactly what a white horse looks like in the dark!  Anyways I found a rodeo that was going on near our house and decided to snap a few photos and try my hand at a night painting of my own.  I really liked the way it turned out.  You can see this painting on my ebay site ( where you can bid or purchase this or many other paintings. http://www.ebay.com/itm/173945412621
or better yet make a direct purchase here.  It is $800 on ebay.


Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Class Still Life

I have this on auction this week on my ebay site starting at $99.  If anyone wishes to purchase it directly from me ( and there are no bids ) I would be happy to sell it at that price.  It is a class demo that I did a couple weeks ago in my adult class.  I think the size is 11x14.  If interested please drop me a line and I will send a request through paypal for pmnt.  
It will be on ebay till tomorrow http://www.ebay.com/itm/173929037389
You can click to visit and see the other items I have on auction this week.

Wednesday, April 03, 2019

This week's Project Big Sky

Our assignment for the last couple weeks was to paint a painting whose main feature is a dramatic sky.  This is my take on the subject.  It is on my ebay auction this week.  If you want to visit my ebay gallery, click here.  If you wish to purchase anything you see there, consider contacting me through blogger and I can lower the price slightly as I won't have to pay ebay fees and would be happy to share the savings with you.

Tuesday, April 02, 2019

Persimmons against a blue sky

This painting won entry into a recent Plein Aire Exhibition here in Tulsa.  I really enjoyed painting outside on this cool fall day and was glad that there were a few spots of color left.  One had to look up to see it though.
This is listed at $395 on my ebay galler but those wishing to purchase directly from me may do so for $350.  To see other paintings on my ebay site, you may click here.  Feel free to contact me through blogpot if you wish to make a purchase outside of ebay as I can lower the price slightly here as there are no fees that I incur on blogspot.

Sunday, March 03, 2019

And now for something completely different.... Disaster Averted


                It takes a lot to get me into that chair.  The promise of laughing gas has helped throughout my adult years.  Childhood dental trauma has me stressed and worried weeks before my appointment for a simple checkup and cleaning
This day I arrive early, as is my nature.  After all who wants to piss of their dentist?  My hands already clammy, and my body tingly,  I check in, and find a spot in the tiny waiting room.  I know the office is designed to create an atmosphere of calm, complete with ambient instrumental music, low lighting, comfortable furniture, a mini waterfall, and an essential oil diffuser that releases calming scents into the air, yet still I am anxious.   
                There are three others quietly looking at magazines and cell phones.  No one else appears to be the least bit nervous.  This is how adults are supposed to be, I think. 
I reach for the magazines and pull one from the pile.  What is Killing These Girl Scouts?’ the headline reads.  I am drawn into the mystery.  As I read the tales of the now grown up Girl Scouts, who all have cancer, it sparks a distant memory of my own experience at summer camp with the Girl Scouts when I was a child. 
I remember that we used lake water, sand, and pebbles to scrub our pots, pans, and plates.  We boiled lake water to rinse them and hung them to dry in our individual mesh bags.  Later, each sporting their own home made ‘sit-upon,’ we gathered to sing songs, eat s’mores, and tell stories around the camp fire.  But the most memorable thing about our weekend at camp was seeing strange fish and ducks.  I remember telling my mother that there was a fish with two tails, one with a bent back, and a duck with a foot growing out if its back.  This was to be my first, and my last Girl Scout camp out as our family’s’ three year stint in that town had ended, and we moved on. 
                The article relayed story after chilling story of women experiencing cancers of the reproductive organs, and went on to say that there was an alarming rate of men who were dying of brain cancers. The author described the idyllic little town, and the nearby lake that housed the Girl Scout camp.  The lake, she said, had been built next to reclaimed land that had once been a toxic waste dump belonging to a now defunct chemical company.  The men and women of the town, who ironically were all around my age, had been fighting to find answers to the questions of whose negligence was responsible for their pain, and who would help them as they fought their own personal battles with cancer, and their desire to protect future townspeople from the still present menace. 
                I was reminded of the strange and awful smell whenever the wind shifted our way.  Not knowing its source I remember my parents joking that there must be a city sewer nearby. 
                The name of the town was shared at the end of the article, and as I was beginning to suspect, it was the town where my family lived for three years of my childhood. 
The stories left me frustrated, and sad for all those sweet little girls,  their husbands, and children, but grateful that I had never had cancer. 
                Disaster averted……
                I had a moment in the quiet of the waiting room to take it all in when the door opened, and the hygienist, clip board in hand, called my name.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Art of Healing at Hillcrest


As Hillcrest celebrates 100 years in Tulsa, I am revisiting some of my own work there.  This was one of my favorite patients.  We really got to know each other as she was with me for many weeks.  For someone confined to a bed for weeks on end, she always surprised me with her upbeat attitude and willingness to find a positive focus for each day.  There was a happy ending to her story.  :-)  You may always make a donation to the future of this program through ahha with a memo that funds should be applied to the Art of Healing program.



Monday, January 21, 2019

16x20 and 20x24 paintings for sale

I am keeping less paintings on my ebay gallery these days and moving some to etsy and some to my blog here.  You may always contact me here if you are interested in purchasing a painting from me or having one commissioned.  Here is just a small sample of the 16x20 and 20x24 paintings available for sale at the moment.


Saturday, January 12, 2019

Flowering Hemp SOLD!



Flowering Yellow Hemp original 8x10 oil painting.  This painting was a 2nd place winner in a regional Plein Aire Painting Competition last fall.  It was raining the day I painted this and decided that since it was raining, I would find something close to home to paint and ended up in the little Montessori school around the block where  neighbors had built an amazing permaculture garden for students.  This is a very tall, ( over my head nearly) flowering hemp which was to be tilled into the soil to build nutrients into the earth.  Meanwhile we got to enjoy the beauty.
To bid, Click Here or contact me for purchase.  Bidding starts at $175 with no reserve, or purchase directly w/o competition for $250

Sunday, January 06, 2019

Commission portrait, Father Steve Mckee from Trinity Episcopal Tulsa

I thought I would share the process of this painting that I was asked to do.  Many long term priests have had their portraits made and hung in the great hall upon their retirement.  I was honored to be asked to do one of my favorite bridge partners, and retiring priest, Steve McKee.  He supplied a photo from which to work ( after asking him to retake the first one which, although I loved the idea, it was very blurry)  I also took my own photo of a window that was installed on his watch, and a candle burning, which actually I used the real candle to get a better rendition of one.  This is nearly finished but not quite.  I must say that it was really fun to capture that unusual lighting and working with breaking a couple of painting rules... with more than one light source but I liked how this portrait is so different from the stiff, seated portraits of the other priests.  I really liked Steve's artistic suggestion and I liked that it tells a little story with the obvious darkness and light metaphor and I decided to include a suggestion of the stained glass window behind him that was created after an entire family from our church perished in a plane accident.




  

 











Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Art of Healing Mosaic at Hillcrest Hospital Tulsa, OK

Now for something completely different.....This took over a year for our group to complete.  I designed the mosaic for the Art of Healing group at Hillcrest where I have been artist in residence for over 14 years.  Usually my job intails working with patients and their families so I guess this wasn't much of a stretch from there as the project was completed by hospital staff, nurses, doctors, volunteers, patients, guests.  If you look closely you will see all sorts of unusual hospital supplies.  Its main ingredient is the bottle tops of all kinds of medications.  The design was changed slightly to accomodate the different colors that we were able to gleen from departments all over the hospital.  The supplies were collected all year, organized by patients, volunteers and Art of Healing artists by color, and the project moved to the cafeteria where it was all glued down.  It is so much prettier in person than these very pretty photos show.  This was made possible by donations from the greater community of Tulsa, ahha, and OVAC, and of course, the artists of Hillcrest's Art of Healing Program.