Watercolor, pastel, pen

I have run out of title for my flower forests. I have also run out of reasons to fight it. Believe it or not this began with the same whimsical thought (hope) of simplicity and elegance as all the rest. It’s become clear to me that a mild flu of the wild has caught hold and I’m powerless.

Next step? Go big. And go all out in series mode.

By the way, do you see the girl in the gold, pink dress? The pear that looks like a fish … and the dog that looks like it just did something wrong? Do you see the elephant in the flower that seems to think she is a bee? And the reptile looking monster above the ant eater? Did you notice I refrained from bunnies for the first time in weeks? Are you proud of me?

Final Garden Painting – Acrylic on Gesso Board

I seem to be onto something : : c h a o s : :

I really thought it would be different this time. But there it is … complexity at its finest. Ha!

I do like the girl and snail and blobby character with the skirt. They decided to pay a visit and make me giggle.

Have a great week!

Blown Flowers. Acrylic on Paper with a straw and good lungs …

From Painting Gardens: blowing paint around with my fancy black straw and spackling with a toothbrush. It’s been wonderful painting daily again. The sense of excitement is the same (even more so). The challenge to make it a priority activity in the midst of work and life demands is the same but easier since the 365 marathon.

By the way, The Art of Daily Cultivation: A Celebration of 365 Story Paintings hardback book arrives Friday June 13th (unless the UPS guy swerves to avoid a squirrel and dumps them into a river or something – but hey I’m not superstitious)!

I will send out the newsletter this weekend. There are new story cards as well and other exciting news. It’s been an awesome June!

Chicken Feet. Acrylic on Gray Gessoed Pine Board 12 x 7.5′

Nice to be producing a painting a day again. This is from an exercise in “Painting Gardens” on masking. See the lines and squiggles? Oh, and the big footed chicken was in the beginning a flying girl with a shovel. After many masking mistakes the form took me by surprise. Birds are creeping into all my paintings these days.

Hope you are having a fabulous summer.

Jungle Chickens

For some reason I am enjoying complexity when it comes to painting gardens vs. simplicity. More is more in Niya-land right now.

Enjoy your gardens and summer!

Bird, Bunny, Owl Garden. Acrylic on Gessoed Board

Learning new stuff! These are paintings created over used palettes for other paintings. Cool technique. Kind of rough and textured for an oil painter. But it’s growing on me. I learned this in an online class through Carla Sonheim, taught by Diane Culhane. We are a week into it. So I will post more next week too.

Bunny and Bike Garden. Acrylic on Gessoed Paper