July 29th-Untitled

This painting began over a month or so ago, before I got word I was in the Tomato Art Fest. I had the background done and the shapes blocked in, but waited a while to work on the detail. I'm learning that what they say in the art books is true-if it doesn't look right before the detail, it's not going to work after all the detailing is done. Sometimes I press on anyway, even when my gut tells me it's not working. I worked on some detail in this painting, and finally decided to jump ship. I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't sit well with me. So, I have 5 days to finish my last tomato painting before I deliver it to the gallery. YIKES!
Title: "Untitled"
Size: 6 x 6 inches
Medium: Acrylic on wood panel

July 22nd-Just Visiting

Here is the another painting I'll be putting in the Tomato Art Fest Show in East Nashville on August 11th. I thought it'd be a good idea to incorporate some birds into these paintings, because as you know I do alot of birds in my everyday artwork.
This guy flew on top of the orange for a short break. I found him to be a very beautiful finch. I just love finches. They are so small and so beautiful, so much detail God gave them.
If you can make it to the Tomato Fest this year, please come. Last year was the first time I'd heard about it and visited. All the artwork is incredible. More info to come.
Title: "Just Visiting"
Size: 4 x 5 inches
Medium: Acrylic on canvas

July 15th-Making New Friends

This is the orange from last week, with a few ladybugs added to it. This now makes three 4x4 paintings of fruits with ladybugs. One of them will be in the Tomato Art Fest in a few weeks, the other two will be for sale at another art show or artisan festival.
Anyways, this one is called "Making New Friends". The green ladybug is wanting to befriend the two red ladybugs. He knows he doesn't look like them, but is hoping they'll accept him anyway. Sometimes it's hard to make new friends, the kind that stick. One of my favorite movies is Can't Buy Me Love. There is a line in the movie where one of the characters (now in highschool) says to another, "We were all friends back then, remember?" (referring to when they were in elementary school). It is so true. When you're young you'll just accept anybody, regardless of how they look, what they have or don't, who their parents are. When does it all change? When do we decide it's better to just stick with people who are only like us?
I had to ask myself this question last week, when I didn't want to accept someone. In all honesty, I struggle with it all the time. Either I don't want to be associated with someone because they aren't like me, or the flip side, where I don't feel accepted because I'm not like someone else.
Title: "Making New Friends"
Size: 4 x 4 inches
Medium: Acrylic on wood

Svend R Svendsen

First off, don't get all excited and think I painted this! This painting is by an artist named Svend R Svendsen. He died in the first half of the 1900's.
I discovered him a few months back, while on the hunt for some winter scenes. As you might already know, I am particularly drawn to snow, and it shows up in more than half of my landscape paintings.
I'm showing you this painting today so you can get a glimpse of what I'm working on. I've heard it said pretty consistently that many artists copy other artists work for learning. Studying what another artist did and working it out until you get there is an arduous task (as I am finding out), but two good things will come of it.
First, I'll have my own copy of this painting (the original is sold I think for somewhere around $1500-although that could be a very low figure), and secondly, I will continue learning what it takes to make great art. Stay tuned in the next month for my version of this painting.

July 8th-Orange

I know, I know, so simple. It needed to be done though. I'm not big on still life painting-my thing is more village scenes and landscapes, or something more loveable like birds or grizzly bears. There's only been one still life painting I've ever liked, and it was by Salvador Dali, so you can imagine what that's like. I can't even describe it so look it up. I promise you'll be amazed.
Anyways, here is an orange. I thought I'd give it a whirl before I attempt another painting I have planned with a finch standing on top of an orange. I'll post that one in a few weeks.

Title: "Orange"
Size: 4 x 4 inch
Medium: Acrylic on wood

July 1st-Ladies Love Me Too!

I thought this would be a really fun idea to try. If you'll recall, a few months back I did a painting just like it, called "Ladies Love Me". It was the same concept, except the tomato was red instead of green. Scroll down through the blog and you can see it. Compare the two. Which one do you like better, and why?

Title: "Ladies Love Me Too"
Size: 4 x 4 inch
Medium: Acrylic on canvas