After painting a study of Maud Earl’s American Pointer, I felt confident to tiptoe in the world of pet portraits.  I suppose I had to because my mom told me that Sebastian was feeling a little jealous that I was painting other dogs.  Then, of course, the kitties also felt a little miffed that I was painting dogs and not their beautiful fluffy faces.  I had no idea painting would get me in such hot water. In all seriousness, I’ve wanted to paint our animals for a while and I have taken so many pictures of them that I thought would make good paintings.  But there are so many elements of pet portraits that I find intimidating.  First of all, there is all of the fur, hair, and whiskers.  The coloring can be a challenge to capture as well since there can be so many colors mixed together, as in

I was going to post more large pieces for sale in my blog post today, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  Today, I have something to share that I am super excited about!  Earlier this year, I created and filmed another online art course for Jeanne Oliver’s website and this project was definitely on my list of favorites.  I loved thinking through the content and creating it.  I’m proud to announce Alla Prima, an online art course focusing on still life painting in oils, is now open for early registration. Here is a video preview of Alla Prima to show the projects and skills we work on in the class… When I was creating this class, I knew I wanted to focus on painting still life.  It is a painting practice that can sound a little boring and academic, but it’s an important part of growing as an

After over a decade of creating as a profession, I’ve learned that I have creative seasons and that suits my generalist approach to business and creativity.  I like to dabble, explore, learn, and “have my fingers in a lot of different pies” as my friend Shaunna puts it.  And those seasons are shared here on the blog – a virtual space that has always been more about my story and less about one specific topic.  Sometimes I’m hip-deep in working on my house, other times I’m stripping down and upholstering a parade of French chairs, or getting crafty for the holidays.  Recently, I have been spending more time in my studio at the easel painting, which feels good after largely avoiding my brushes since late last summer.  And I have gotten back to the basics, working on a series of still life paintings in an impressionist style.  I have been