Pugster!

Pugster! 

Oil on canvas, 12x12

Please contact me for price and delivery options

How can you not love a pug? Those eyes, those ears, that snorting... We have a pug granddaughter, along with the regular human grandchildren, and while this is not her, it has some of her expression, for sure.

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Turns out that my recent painting of the turtle is not sold - long story - so if anyone is interested in him, please let me know. In the meantime, I have another frog to paint, and oh yes, there are landscapes, too.

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Those of you who receive my blog by email... would you please go to the real site - click here to reach it - The Accidental Artist -  and let me know: 

• a. if you can see the whole flipcard thing and
• b. what you think of it? 

Thanks! 

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This week between Christmas and New Year's has been relaxed and easy and fun for me. I have read, I have cooked, I have shopped - all pursuits that have been pretty much nonexistent in my life these past 16 months or so.

 I didn't realize how much I had missed them.

Frog

Frog

Oil on canvas, 30x40

Please contact me for price and shipping/delivery info

I went out today, my first venture into the commercial world since a few days before Christmas. As I drove up to Stop & Shop, I thought, "Yay, there'll be no irritating Salvation Army person there, asking for money, no crowds of shoppers, no annoying Christmas music and pointless decorations, whew."

And then, as I walked up to the store, I realized that I really missed all that stuff. I missed the cheery Salvation Army bells, and the energetic woman who dances wildly at the Groton Stop & Shop. I missed putting my dollar in the pot and feeling helpful. I missed the sappy Christmas songs that I hum along with, or whistle to, or even sing aloud. I missed the bright Christmas decorations, and the people with their stuffed carts and their happy plans and their hopes of joy and peace.

For a crazy moment, I thought - Maybe we should have Christmas all year round, or at least all winter.

Nah. It's better to miss it. Just a little.

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So... what do you think of the frog?

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

Oil on canvas, 16x20

Please contact me for price and shipping information

As I guess you can see, I spent some time Christmas morning fooling around with the blog. What do you think?

What I like is that you can see so many paintings at one time, and flip through them so easily - I have it set on the "flipcard" option. I think you can set your own view on a variety of different options, is that right?

At any rate, I'd love any feedback. At first, I really wasn't sure about the change, but it is growing on me.

In the meantime, I do love this painting. It feels like Christmas to me, the kind of Christmas I hold in my heart. No Christmas is really like this for me, not since my mother died, but this kind of Christmas, the kind in the painting, lives in all these other Christmases, and in all my family members, and in all my memories and all my hopes.

Merry Christmas to You!

Rufus

Oil on canvas, 12x12, commission

Christmas morning, and the house is quiet. Peter's asleep, with two dogs by his side. Sam, the big Samoyed, is sleeping by my feet and Eunice the cat is curled up in the warmth of my desk lamp.

It's not quite 6 a.m., and it is dark still. But I trust and I believe that soon, the edge of the sky will lighten and the sun will come up on another day, this Christmas Day, a day to celebrate love and peace and family and the birth of Jesus.

Hope and fear, courage and frustration, optimism and exhaustion, these have been my companions this year. I've reached highs I never imagined I'd see, and felt lost in ways I've never felt before.

In the end, this has been more than anything a year of faith - in myself, in the path I'm walking, in the guidance of a higher power, in a future that holds great change and great promise.

Thank you, all of you, for your constant support of me, of my paintings, of my toddling steps forward. Thank you for your comments, your words, your purchases, your inspiration.

Art has shown me more clearly than anything how connected we all are, and how our words, our gestures, our decisions touch the people around us.

Merry Christmas, friends! I hope that you find joy and peace today, safe in the heart of your families, and that the feelings of this day stay with you always.

Turtle

Turtle

Oil on canvas, 18x24

Please contact me for price and delivery

Yes, my first turtle! And yes, it is sold. Sold before it was finished. Sold when it was barely begun. Of course, the would-be buyer hasn't seen it yet, so there's always a chance it will slowly turtle its way back to me, but far as I am concerned, it's sold. (Note: the would-be buyer has changed his mind, and bought a different painting, so this one is still for sale!)

I am pretty excited about this painting, as it is a step in a new direction for me. I'm going to try some water-related animal paintings, a different turtle, maybe a frog, some fish. The colors interest me, and the creatures are a new challenge. And I love a new challenge.

Now that I am recovered from the flu, I'm heading back to my 100x100 project, speaking of challenges.  Some of the paintings sold for Christmas presents, and that makes me happy!

And speaking of happy, I have my first 2012 commission! It is of a scene to be painted in August, so it's not imminent, but I am pretty darn pleased to have a commission before the year even begins.

Ho ho ho indeed.

Sunset on the Salt Marsh

Sunset on the Salt Marsh

Oil on canvas, 30x30

sold

I have been flat on my back with the flu for pretty much the entire week, and I can tell you, it stinks.

It's not great to be away from work, no matter how much I complain about my work.

It's not great to have a break from painting, no matter how fixated I am.

It's not great to watch TV all day, even though on some of the brain-busting 19-hour days I have, I think, "How nice it would be just to watch TV all day."

And it is not great to have an excuse not to finish my Christmas shopping/making.

Boo hoo, poor me.

People around me seem convinced that I will live, and I am trying to believe them. If I don't, those of you who have paintings of mine will find yourselves in the money, soon, I am sure.

I'm kidding, of course. I am going to live. I'm just going to draw everyone else into my misery until I feel better.

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On an entirely different note, whether I expire or survive (I am assuming), I will be featured soon in Plein Air magazine!

Editor Steve Doherty is doing a piece on extreme plein-air painters, and launched it in his newsletter. I saw it, and wrote to tell him about my clamp system. He's into it, so I sent him some photos and explained it, and if all goes well, there will be a short piece about me! With some of my paintings!

Jojo

Jojo

Oil on canvas, 12x12

Really, Jojo is the funniest dog in the world. She is my dog, or I am her person, or some combination of all that.

I saw her picture in the paper, in the Shelter Tails feature that showcased animals who needed to be adopted, and I just fell for her. "Crystal" was the name they'd given her, and believe me, this is no "Crystal."

By our best guesses, she is border collie, pit bull, and who knows what else - and she is just as funny and as loving as a dog can be. The expression that I got in this painting, that worried and yet direct expression, that's her to a T.

Jojo crashes down onto my side every night, and sleeps pressed hard against me. She is within reach of me every moment she can possibly be. She is a comfort, an amusement, a source of joy, and an annoyance, all rolled up into one.

I don't know how I'd get through these days without her - and I venture that if she could talk, she'd say the same about me.

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On another note entirely, I got a great boost last week when a lovely woman, Joanna Stenning, mentioned me in her blog - and not only that, said that my palette knife work inspired her to try the same. 

She and her parents bought paintings from me at a Paradise City show - and I was just delighted to be mentioned. 

Her work is lovely, her blog is really fun - so stop by and check her out! 

Fog on the Reservoir

Fog on the Reservoir

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100

This interestingly warm November has made for some spectacular mornings! Cool air meets warm water, and fog is the result.

I've been busy with work, with house stuff, with yard stuff, with family stuff, and my painting schedule has taken a little beating. But when I have the chance, it feels like a gift, and so I am going with the flow, and not upbraiding myself for my lower production.

Yesterday, I painted with the remarkably talented and very fun Ronet Noe, outside Center Framing & Art. Ronet brought reindeer antler headbands for us both, and silvery garland. She wore a belt of jingle bells, and I brought an ipod full of Christmas carols, and we talked and laughed and painted and had a great time!

It does not look like winter, it does not feel like Christmas, we do not have a tree (we do have our palm tree and flamingo, which is our regular Christmas tree, but we haven't put it up yet) - but I am feeling more like Christmas than I have in years. And it feels good.

When you're thinking of presents, please think of giving a painting - one of mine, one of someone else's - if you can give a gift of local art, how fabulous would that be?

If you'd like to check out my 10x10s, each of which is $100 plus shipping, click here!