Zip

This is my friend Abby’s dog Zip, her husband commissioned it for her birthday. Happy birthday Abby!

Zip - acrylic on 12x12 in. gessobord 

H I

Here’s a couple more I’ve done for the #artdare challenge on Instagram, for the letters H and I.

H is for Hay - acrylic on 5x7 inch paper

I is for Irises - acrylic on 5x7 inch paper

Christmas in July

I’ve had this reference photo marked to paint for quite a while. There’s something charmingly “bad hair day” about this cactus. The painting had a pretty bad ugly middle phase but I kept going and made it through to the other side. Whew!

Christmas Bling - acrylic on 6x8 inch gessobord panel

F G

Here’s a couple more paintings done for the #artdare weekly painting challenge I’m participating in on Instagram, every week it’s a new letter of the alphabet. These will be donated to Art4Shelter for their 2021 sale.

F is for Flamingo - acrylic on 5x7 inch paper

G is for Geraniums in Greece - acrylic on 5x7 inch paper

Dandelion Parfait

Dandelion season is over but through paintings they can live on!

Dandelion Parfait - acrylic on 8x10 in. canvas

Available for purchase here!

(A) B C D E

I’m doing a Paint-along on Instagram hosted by some artists I follow, using the letters of the alphabet as prompts each week. I joined in a little late so I missed “A”, but here are my paintings for “B” - “E”. I’m planning to try to do all the paintings in 5x7 inch format so at the end I’ll have 26 paintings to donate for Art4Shelter’s 2021 sale. Or 25, if I don’t go back and do “A” ;)

B is for Bermuda

C is for Cornfield

D is for Duck

E is for Eucalyptus (from reference photo by Wanda Comrie)

Anniversary Flowers

These flowers were not for MY anniversary, but that’s what the reference photo was titled and I liked the sound of it. Originally the grapes were purple but they looked too turd-like in my painting so I changed them to green. ;)

Anniversary Flowers- acrylic on 12x16 in. canvas

California Poppies

I love the vibrant orange of California poppies! This is another painting inspired by the style of Angus Wilson.

Poppies and Pomegranates - acrylic on 16x16 inch canvas 

Loosening up - week 1

I'm taking an online painting class from Patti Mollica called "Loosening up", all about - you guessed it - loosening up your painting style. For our 1st week homework assignment we had to paint with a HUGE brush - these were all painted with a 2-inch brush. (I usually paint with about a 1/2-inch brush, for reference.) It was hard to relinquish control to the massive brush, but I can't believe how "painterly" these turned out!

Loose apple - acrylic on 6x6 in. paper

Loose rose - acrylic on 8x8 in. paper

Loose tulips - acrylic on 6x6 in. paper

Planter and Apples

The latest still life...

Planter and Apples - acrylic on 12x12 in. canvas

Sunflowers and Clementines

I love the shape that raggedy sunflower heads make, they’re so charming!

Sunflowers and Clementines- acrylic on canvas

Lilacs and Lemons

The lilacs always bloom in May here in Minnesota, and today seemed like a good day to try painting some. I don’t have any in my yard but thankfully there are nice reference photos available on my beloved Paint My Photo.com. 

Lilacs and Lemons - acrylic on 9x12 canvas

Eucalyptus

I think there’s something really charming and cute about eucalyptus. I tried growing some a few years back with the idea of painting lots of still lifes with it, but the plant never really took off. This is painted from a reference photo on Paint my Photo.com

Eucalyptus in Red Vase - acrylic on 8x10 in. canvas

Tulips and Oranges

I guess I’m still not finished trying out more still lifes in the Angus Wilson style. I find reference photos on Paint My Photo.com, and then tweak them. Here is my reference photo for this one.

Tulips and Oranges - acrylic on 9x12 inch canvas

Wine and Cheese

I had this one all sketched out from my Angus Wilson phase, so I painted it up yesterday. It’s fun to mix so many vibrant colors.

Wine and Cheese - acrylic on 12x12 inch canvas

Citrus

It was fun to experiment with a different painting style, but it felt good to do this one as “me”, in my comfort zone. I painted this from a beautiful reference photo on Paint my Photo.com. I’m not totally happy with how the shadow behind the bowl turned out, I may fiddle with it a bit.

Citrii - acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord panel

Cuteness break

This is my entry for the Tiny Art Show competition that @tinyartshow on Instagram is hosting. It features tiny still life paintings in the style of Angus Wilson, in little cardboard frames. It’s set up on my kitchen counter.

Snow day cheer

It’s snowing!! Working on these dandelions brightened my mood. This is another one in the style of Angus Wilson. I can hardly wait to start the next one, these are so fun.

Dandelions and Plums - acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord panel

Something new

I’ve been really obsessed with the painting of Angus Wilson lately, and have been experimenting in his style a bit. Here’s my first completed painting. Stay tuned for more, this is so fun!

Mirror, Mirror - acrylic on 11x14 inch canvas

Here’s a link to the reference photo I based it on, if you’re curious. I needed some structure to start with to plan it and get it sketched out, then I added some of my own twists.

Spring still comes

Despite all that’s been going on, spring is still arriving on schedule here in Minnesota. It’s been reassuring to see the robins going about their normal lives.

Spring still comes - acrylic on 6x6 inch hardboard

Down Under

I busted out some colors not normally on my palette for this Australian scene.

Down Under - acrylic on 6x8 inch gessobord 

7 in 7 Day 7

It didn’t turn out to be in 7 days, but I finished my goal of 7 paintings to donate to Art4shelter with this dude. I believe it’s a grackle.

Spring Forward- acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 6

It was fun to pull out a few tubes of “fancy” yellows for this one that are not part of my normal palette.

Woods beyond- acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 5

The “in 7 days” part of my plan didn’t work out, but I’m still determined to paint 7 paintings to donate to Art 4 Shelter. Here’s #5. I always find fish fins really tricky- it’s hard to make them look delicate.

Doing my thing- acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 4

The pain of painting the different greens in this one was totally worth it for the joy of painting the flowers. This is another painting for the art4shelter sale.

Christmas in Bloom - acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 3

Uuff today was the first weekday (a.k.a. work day) of my 7 in 7 and I had my doubts if today’s painting was going to happen... but here it is! This is a donation for art4shelter.

Shazam - acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 2

Here’s Day 2 of my 7 paintings in 7 days to donate to art4shelter. This is from a reference photo on Paint My Photo.com. Apparently this insect is called a Thick-kneed flower beetle. Not the most flattering name!

Jointy- acrylic on 5x7 in. paper

7 in 7 Day 1

I’m challenging myself to paint 7 paintings in 7 days to donate to Art 4 Shelter fundraiser this year. It’ll be a stretch for me to complete a painting a day 7 days in a row,  but it’ll be good for me to push myself that way! Here’s the first one...

Sideways Glance - 5x7 in. on paper

Scarlet Ibis

I'd had this one sketched out for AGES but was never sure how to handle the abstractish background. So I finally just went for it. It was a good lesson in mixing greens. More birds yet to come, stay tuned!

Scarlet Ibis- acrylic on 6x6 in. masonite panel

Kingfisher 2

A bit of a change of pace, I feel a few bird paintings coming on. Here’s a kingfisher for your Saturday.

Kingfisher 2 - acrylic on 6x6 in. gessobord 

Small and Mighty

Another painting from my great aunt’s slide collection, this one features my mom. I’d been feeling like my paintings were starting to get a little tight, so in an effort to loosen up on this one I switched to a pink under painting and made myself use a bigger brush.

Small and Mighty - 8x10 in. on gessobord panel

Reference photo, collection of Marge Koppi

Visiting Sister Martans’ Classroom

...And another from my great aunt Marge’s 1950s slides. Thanks to her careful labeling, I know this is Marge (left) with her friend Celanne (right), visiting their friend Sister Martans’ classroom at catholic school. I was looking through the slides with my grandma (Marge’s sister) and commented on the interesting habit the nun was wearing, and she said the nuns were from the Dominican order, based out of Holy Rosary church in South Minneapolis.

Visiting Sister Martans’ Classroom - acrylic on 12x12 in. gessobord

Here’s the original reference photo:

Eli

I love it when I can paint two similarly colored animals back-to back, and use one extended palette. This one worked out that way.

Eli- acrylic on 12x12 inch cradled gessobord 

Buster

Here is a recent commission, it’s Buster! I’m getting more and more confident about painting pure black animals.

Buster - acrylic on 8x8 inch gessobord