Simply Marvelous

 This is Marvelous Marvin.  He is just a load of fun.  He is an adaptation of a photo sent to me by my dear friend, Wren Pearson (Sign of the Wren on www.bigphilrecords.com). 

Marvin is 12 x 12 on a 3/4 inch gallery wrapped canvas.  His background color - that luscious pink - is actually thio violet.  Transparent orange adds some pop to the colors. 

I recently had some coffee mugs made with some of my paintings.  I did a wrap with three of my paintings and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

Mobile laughter

 You may think that you recognize this frog from a previous painting, but this is actually a new one.  This is "Upwardly Mobile" and he is so new that he is still wet.  I painted his brother (who now resides in his purchaser's home) horizontally, but got so many comments about him being vertical that I painted a new one.  "Upwardly Mobile" is all about climbing.  He is 36 " high and 12 " wide.

I also just finished "Fat Albert".  Albert is 24x24 and is also still drying.  I  just love his big, fat leaves and the way he seems to be falling out of the canvas, full of warmth and laughter. 

These photographs were taken by Bob Cook of Wimberley.  Bob offers a photo service and for those of you out there who are artists, I can highly recommend him.  You can find him at http://www.bobcookart.com/

I am on the recovery from some little virus that seems to be making it's way around our area.  I'm up and about in time for our studio tour on Saturday.  If you are in Dripping Springs, please stop by and visit my studio, Dragonfly Studio.

New work

 A few new things for you.  This is Baby Froggie.  He is 7X5.  He is a miniature of "Froggie", a 24x20 that I painted for a dear friend.  I just liked him so much that I did a smaller version.

 This one is fresh off my easel.  This is "Lauren".  She is 16x20.  The green in the center made for a challenge with background color and texture, but I am pleased with how she turned out and I learned some new things about backgrounds.  As long as each new painting teaches me something, I am happy.

Taking the background lessons that I learned from Lauren, I reworked Theodore, a lovely little Costa Rican frog.  I had never been completely satisfied with his overall look.  (What artist is ever completely satisfied with a painting?).   I am much happier with Theordore.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I am looking forward to more work in the garden....and there is that closet that I've torn apart (new paint, shelving, etc).

Thomas

A big hello to everyone.  I am happy to report that Mr P's eye is doing much better and he is back at work.  He still cannot fly or drive his race car but, hopefully, he will get all restrictions lifted in a few weeks when we see the doc for his followup.  Then we can rebook our trip to Ireland.

In the meantime, this is what is coming out of my studio.  Continuing with the frog theme, I'd like you to meet Thomas.  He was a lot of fun to paint.  I am also working on a new succulent that I hope to show you soon.

If you live locally, I will be showing in the Wimberley ArtsFest  on April 28.  I hope you can stop by and say hello.

Audrey

Well, not much studio time this week. Most of the week has been devoted to my husband's eye surgery.  The surgery went well, but he has to stay facedown for a week.  He is dealing with the recovery with more grace than I could manage.  I wish I could make him better right away, but all I can do is hover and try not to be annoying.

I have managed to get some painting done.  This is Audrey.  I just finished her today.  She is 20" x 20" with a 2" thick gallery wrap canvas.  I was quite intrigued by the combination of greens and violets in the plant.  And I love the pinks.  Very Eastery (if that's a word).

Precarious

I call this new painting  "Precarious".  It is a wonderful succulent perched on the edge of a rockface.  The succulent is actually a South African native.  My friend, Cis, gave me photos from her trip to South Africa and I fell in love with this one. 

The succulent actually rests on a stalk of it's own dead leaves.  However, that didn't translate very well compositionally, so I added the rockface instead.

Precarious is 36 inches tall and 24 inches wide.

Winter travel in Italy

 I just returned from a winter trip to Italy, which is why you haven't seen any new paintings in Feb.   My friend Julie and I flew into Florence and out of Venice.  We had a wonderful time and saw some things that most travelers to Italy will never get to see.

David.....with no one around him.  That is actually my finger and a bit of my coat in the photo.  Cameras are not allowed, so I had to be surreptitious.

 This is Siena, in Tuscany, in the snow.  We were lucky that we missed the actual snow storm.  We met a couple that had gotten trapped in Rome by their first snowfall in 36 years.

Carnival in Venice.  A much more genteel affair than raucous Mardi Gras. Again, we luckily missed the icing over of the Venetian canals.












Sales signs in Italian shops.  I am guessing that summer travelers never see 70% off sales in Tuscany.








It was a wonderful trip.  I was happy to go and happy to return home.  I am looking forward to productive time in my studio and will have a new painting to show you soon.