Prepared

I caught this little boy in downtown Santa Cruz, Calif. He was the cutest guy on the sidewalk, all prepared for some heavy rain.

It's good to be prepared, I just ordered more canvas for my upcoming shows. Larger sizes for my booth shows. I have been going back and forth painting very tiny and up to large (large for me is 16 " x 20") I need these next few months to paint away and have my inventory for this Spring and Summer. I love my job : )

Happy Spring!!

Spring wasn't ever really my favorite season, my favorite is Fall. Since I have become a daily painter though, I look at everyday differently. I see what each season has to offer and it's all so great. Spring has a soft, beautiful palette, the colors I am seeing are little chick yellows, party dress pinks, robin egg blues, day-glo greens, cotton ball whites, and everything feels new. Not such a bad season, not bad at all : )

Seeing Different

One of the greatest joys of being an artist to me is, I see a painting pretty much everywhere I look. Putting groceries away, ten little still life scenes pop up. Washing dishes, I see the lively, bright colors of the cups and plates and the fun composition they create in the dish rack. As I drive my daughter to school I see an old barn and house, the soft greens, yellow ochres and misty clouds make it look so serene. It also makes me grateful it's still there. At 7am we are seeing some pretty amazing sunrises too, the clouds, the colors, the drama! If you stop and really see what is surrounding us, it's all pretty amazing.

My New Path

I was approached recently by the Gilroy Patch, which is an online newspaper that covers my city, Gilroy, Ca. to be their Art Blogger. I had to take a few days to think about if I wanted to add this to my plate which is already pretty full. I thought about it and decided that it was too good an opportunity to let go by. I want to write about how it is to be my own art representative. I am in charge of everything about my art business. Keeping up with the financials, scheduling the shows for the year, applying to them, writing newsletters getting the word out, keeping up on my inventory of supplies and most of all painting the art that I sell. I also am a part of the dailypaintworks online gallery and I am a daily painter, posting each day. On top of this I have a family. Sometimes when I am grumbling about doing tasks that are not art but are important to my business, I have to remind myself that the bottom line reason I do all of this is so I can paint daily. I have to admit I am addicted to the pleasure of painting, it's my drug of choice. This is another path for me to take and I think it will be a great way for me to keep focused on why I do what I do. I would also like to shine a light on the many talented people who are doing their art in my town, hopefully it will be an inspiration.

All You Need is Love

Happy Valentine's Day! I like this holiday. I like the colors, the flowers, the cute cards, the champagne, the candy, the champagne...yup, this is a good holiday. Love should be celebrated : )

Construction Site

These boys are so busy! I think I know how they feel, enjoying your work but having lots of it to do. I am down to my last two commissions..for, I won't say forever, but it would have to be special. I have been painting for hire about twenty years now and have many commissions under my belt. I really feel it's time to paint the subjects that excite me. I have enjoyed painting for others, the people, pets, places, cars, trains and boats but there is always the pressure of... is this what they really want? I have never had a bad experience thankfully, and so I feel it's a good time to stop. I do have some major commitments to paint, two traffic boxes for the city and another project for the Gilroy Garlic Festival again, but they are giving me the freedom to paint my own designs, so it seems like that's a win-win. After these projects, I am looking forward to painting for my DPW site, my galleries and shows, can't wait!!!!

Vintage Mod

Thank you David Marine for doing such an excellent job, making dailypaintworks a great site to be on. Love the new gadget! I enjoy each morning going through the site and viewing all the beautiful art then being able to comment on the ones that catch my eye, really fun. I also am loving the challenge of painting daily and being a part of this awesome site.