Sunday, January 31, 2010

"Then, the Sky Turned Red"

And the story begins...

Well, I guess this ends January and is the beginning of February.

What will February bring? Hopefully good for all.

-jM

Saturday, January 30, 2010

"Just Stop"

6"x6" oil on canvas panel
"Just Stop"
It's not yellow
it's Red---
"Just Stop"

-jM

PS:  This is apple #15

Friday, January 29, 2010

"Purple Sky" -Sold

First attempt, first attempt, yes. After this wet piece dries, I may need to add a few more touches... just a few. Oh, and fresh eyes, I think if I look at it again tomorrow, I may see what it is that I need to touch.

"Purple Sky", another version from the "Approaching Storm".

Hey! It's "Fun Friday"! Are you having fun?

-jM

Thursday, January 28, 2010

"Sweet Itty Bitty" -Sold

It's another "Itty Bitty"! This 3x2 is a funny little rendition of a manhattan with a cherry, that... is so slightly taking on the shape of a heart. The stem of the glass doesn't quite match up, but maybe after a couple of these drinks, it may find it's match. Then again, drinking may only make matters worse.

Hearts to you!

-jM

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

"She's Forever!" -Sold

Cute little Gerber. She's lived a long time before I got to see her. The tips of her little petals are starting to change color, but she's still here! And now.... here she is forever!

-jM

Monday, January 25, 2010

"My Sunflower Friend" -Sold

Did a little experimenting tonight and I think I may have hit one of my targets! Yea!
This painting is a whimsical little flower, kind of a funny little sunflower type.
I would definitely call this a painting from my heart. I just put a freeness into it and had a lot of fun with it.
Isn't that what it's all about?

-jM

"Itty Bitty 2 Olive Martini" -Sold


This painting really is "itty bitty". Like 3" by 2", which is smaller than a business card. It was fun to do, I tried to keep it simple and my friend Leigh even stopped in at the right time and told me to "Stop!" She told me to look at it again tomorrow, so I did. Tomorrow, was actually Saturday, I did do just an itty bit more, but she was right. Thanks Leigh!

-jM

Sunday, January 24, 2010

"Out of the Blue"



This little painting was started and almost finished before the Colts game today. I came back to it after the game, added a little more and call it finished.

The hardest part about this blog (and I'm sure I've said it before) is getting the color of the photo, to match the color of the physical painting... and the reds are just... I think this is close.

-jM

Saturday, January 23, 2010

"leigh's three"


This little painting is another version of the watercolor I did earlier this month. I was challenged by leigh to do the same painting using oil. This is the result and it was quite a different experience.
We will see, I may try again.

-jM

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

"Bottle Full of Kryptonite"


It's a good thing Superman isn't here now. I think he would be feeling a little weak!

Today, Robert Genn in his newsletter, talked about "The Power of Paucity",  I think I may have pushed paucity a little too much... maybe not, this may be a little over worked, maybe I better study "paucity" a little more.

-jM

Monday, January 18, 2010

"Teri's Flower"


Yesterday, I found an old box of paintings, drawings and photos from my art school days.
One of the pieces had this funky little flower in the corner. What was going on then? Anyway, I thought, that's not bad looking ....
Today, I thought I would try to reproduce the little flower. Hello, that's not easy, as a result this flower doesn't look anything like the one on the old painting... hmmmm.

Here, I have a new flower. Teri's Flower. It's Teri's flower, because last spring, she bought a little painting from my March 6th day of painting. Teri calls it her "White Sunflower".  Maybe I should do another version of the white sunflower.

Thanks for the inspiration Teri!

-jM

Saturday, January 16, 2010

"Golden Martini" -Sold

Did someone say it is "Abstract Saturday" I mean really abstract? Has anyone ever mixed watercolor and oil on canvas? I did today, but I'm not sure if any of the watercolor is still showing on this painting, but for some reason, I think some of the olive at the top is watercolor.... I'm not sure though, I was just painting along....
This is also my first painting on the gold gesso that I was talking about yesterday. It was different, I hated covering up all that gold. I'll be trying more of this for sure!

Happy Saturday.... Go Colts!!

-jM

Friday, January 15, 2010

"Definitely Three Olives!" -Sold

I love Fridays! I did a little experiment with this painting. I put down a gold acrylic paint base.
I have a friend that has been using gold gesso... yes, gold gesso! Anyway, she let me have some and I've prepared a  canvas, but the image I want to do, I didn't have access to when I was painting today. In came the experiment, the gold acrylic I used is like an iridescent paint, so I thought it may be similar to the gold gesso. Well, I guess I won't know until I actually paint on the gold gesso. I'll let you know one of these days soon.

I do love Fridays, it's "Fun Friday", I had forgotten about that, but while listening to a Jackson Browne and he was singing about love or heart or something and I thought...    yes, you guessed it, "from the heart".  Well, my heart remembered that I had three olives in my martini on New Year's Eve!! Why yes, I remember!!


-jM

Thursday, January 14, 2010

"Amaryllis & Snowman... Related?


Do you know what an amaryllis is? That cool looking flower that blooms in the winter time inside your house....  well, a friend of mine gave one to me today, but I have to plant and care for it. I planted it in the container that was part of the package and I had this little snowman guy hanging around the studio, so I put him in the planter/pot. They look like twins! The amaryllis bud is on the left...


I think this flower will bloom in like 6 to 8 weeks. It will be fun to paint eventually. I couldn't believe I was painting dirt today! Yes, that brown looking snow is supposed to be dirt!


Another painting...  I didn't know what I was going to paint today until it just materialized.... from the heart.


-jM

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

"The Three"


This is a little experiment with water color and ink and a lot of other stuff. I really need to keep playing around with this medium. Believe it or not, I've not worked with watercolor much, so this is a new experience for me.

Sometimes, you just have to keep on keepin' on... I mean you have to keep trying. Well, don't mind me while I keep trying this medium.

I mounted watercolor paper to a panel so that the little paintings all have similar supports. It's doesn't seem right to just have a piece of watercolor paper along side of the oil paintings on panels, so I put the watercolor on a panel.

Sometimes, there is a need to experiment, well, I have that need right now... maybe it's the weather!

-jM

Friday, January 8, 2010

"Moon Flower" -Sold

Some days warrant painting...  just letting the brush and mind paint something without looking at a set up or model. That is today. While I was painting along, I realized "it's Friday! That means it's Fun Friday! I'm right on track!" Away I paint.......

The title is the result of a couple elements in this painting, when one looks up Moon Flower on the web, you get quite a few sites to look at.  Moon flowers are actually white in color, not orange. I love painting from the heart!

-jM

Thursday, January 7, 2010

"Tessa" -Sold


It's been a busy day, and.... guess what! We did get the snow that was predicted... huh, how lucky was that! 50-50 for the weather guys....

This is the painting I did for Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge in December. This is Tessa, an artist that lives in Canada. I'm thinking that this little bit of cold and snow that we have here is nothing  for all those brave artists in Canada. Brrrr.....
About this painting... I debated and debated, do I put the hand in... the hand, that was a challenge... I decided to go ahead a do it,  some of the other artists did not put in hands and I thought, it is a challenge after all, so the competitive me, I put it in.  : )

I've not done any of these challenges before this, well this was good. I learned a lot. A lot about painting from photographs and doing portraits and deadlines and other details...
If you look closely, Tessa has one blue eye and one green eye, that was my subtle artistic bent to this portrait. I'm pretty sure no one notices but me....
Stay warm....

-jM

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

"I Love the Cold!" -Sold

It started yesterday, not the snow, the talk of snow.  Last year about this time, they (the weather forecasters) talked of a lot of snow, it didn't come, so I'm a little skeptical. Regardless, this is the man of the day, Snowman.
This was a fun painting and it was a lot warmer to build this snowman than the one I may or may not be building in the next couple of days!!
Stay warm!

-jM

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

"Be A Chicken... Chickens Can Fly!" -Sold

It's okay to be a chicken once in a while... sometimes, it's the smart move.

Yup, it's a chicken... maybe it's a hen and she's laying an egg... for Easter.

Oh no, not again, my mind... it's, it's... flying!

-jM

Monday, January 4, 2010

"Edgy Apple"


Have you ever had one of those "edgy" days? Seems like nothing goes your way, no one is on your side, you just don't know what will be coming at you next? Uneasy, tense.... that is what is going on with this apple, it's a little edgy today. Maybe it knows that the day is coming when it will have to change form to provide energy for a needy (or do I mean hungry?) human body.

Okay, sorry, that was weird. This funny looking apple, I just haven't quite captured it's mystique.

Like that one painting professor of mine used to say, "Do another...."

-jM

Sunday, January 3, 2010

"Sunflower on Sunday" -Sold


Last night, Randy and I went shopping at the grocery store Kroger, for a few things. I wandered over to the flower department. I couldn't believe it, I found a couple sunflowers, woo hoo!

This is an experimental piece. I really like the technique that Joni T. Johnson used to do her work. I got to see a few pieces in person when I worked at the frame shop. I just fell in love with them. There is something about her work that intrigues me. Her technique, the poems, the images?

I didn't have exactly the right tools, I have been painting in oil and this is my first attempt with watercolor since when? Grade school? This is watercolor, ink, pencil and water-soluble crayons on a watercolor paper block. Did I say salt? I tried salt!

-jM

Saturday, January 2, 2010

"Survived Another Holiday" -Sold


Portrait of a Duck... He is the bust of a duck sculpture of Randy's. He is a Ski Duck. He is sitting in a chair with ski's on his duck feet, reflective sunglasses and a beverage in his gloved duck hand. Hmm... I wonder why he wasn't given a ski hat for his duck head...

Oh yes, as a duck he did survive the holidays! Guess he is celebrating on the slopes. Lucky Duck.

-jM


Friday, January 1, 2010

"New Year Cigar"


Who would have thought that I would do a cigar painting the first day of 2010!

It's for Randy.... from my heart : ) .... and my first attempt...  those big cigars are hard to fit onto a small canvas!!

-jM