Box, Cube, Square

"Hallways, Always"

20 x 20 x 1.5 inches, Oil on Canvas

While a too descriptive title might detract from a painting, I think a title of some sort is necessary to give a little kernel of information. Gets one thinking, why did the artist name this painting such. I think abstracts are really hard to title. Well I think a lot of my painting are...I mean, I've got "pink flowers", "pink flowers in vase", "pink flowers in blue vase", "blue vase"...we can see that - it doesn't make for a conversational topic...And sometimes the title is too descriptive that it takes away the imagination and shrinks the audience. Place names do that for me. I had a seascape on exhibit once and was amazed at how many people guessed the wrong beach. The title did not say "blankety blank beach" so it was really up to the imagination of the viewer.

Sometimes I get an idea for a painting after I've come up with a neat title, or sometimes the painting just has that particular feeling for a title - like my last painting - I really was going to call it "Deep Funk"!

This title, "Hallways, Always" has been rattling in my thoughts for a couple of weeks now when I first started to paint the cubes. It doesn't make much sense, I know. So sometimes the title is just so weird it's as though an artist has titled their work of art, "Untitled"...

Please let me know it you like "Untitled" for a title of a painting in my comments section.

Quietly, It Rains

"Quietly, It Rains"

22 x 24 x 3/4 inches, Oil on Canvas

I was not feeling very happy when I painted this painting...a little melancholia, a little sadness, a little blue and maybe a little angry. I wanted to paint my mood in this very abstract landscape. I really did plan to title this piece "Deep Funk", but decided against it.

$550.00 - includes S/H

Love, Cubed

"Love, Cubed"

20 x 20 x 1.5 inches

Oil on Canvas

Simple is nice...so is this post...I'll keep it short... : )

Unprotected

"Unprotected"

24 x 18 x 3/4 inches

Oil on Canvas

Saturday night painting with my painting friends sharing pizza and wine. What fun!! And what should I name this....well "Unprotected" was chosen. I think the title works on many levels.

Love, Squared

"Box Within a Box"

24' x 20" x 3/4 inches

Oil on Canvas

Thank you to all who wrote to say that they were going to step out of their comfort zone boxes and try something different - and also said they were going to try painting with the palette knife.

Well - here's to you: A Box...

Palette Knives, GSP and Art for Animals

Carrie Jacobson, an artist and blogger "The Accidental Artist" (I love the name of your blog, Carrie) wrote me yesterday to ask about my palette knives - whether I use one or several when I paint.

After reading her email, I grabbed up most of my knives and took them outside to photograph!!

A couple of my knives are really old (well, 28 years old - that's fairly old isn't it? And I have a price tag on one of them still LOL). But, I actually use one knife for most of my paintings start to finish - on my smaller pieces I might grab a smaller palette knife for the itty bitty details. Lately my painting style has gotten even more loose so I am now reconsidering whether I would do all that itty bitty detail stuff.... I'll just wait till the inspiration hits before making fast rules about it.

My everyday favorite, use-all-the-time knife is the Loew Cornell J-5. I have a Langnickel P-2 that is similar in size but the tip is a little more rounded. Both are flexible and have a good feel when plastering the paint onto the canvas. Oh! I do love the looseness and thickness of painting with the palette knife.

Carrie has another blog called Art for the Animals in which artists can post animal paintings for the benefit of shelter animals. It's a wonderful project! Check it out.

So this is the segway to the recent foster German Shorthair Pointers at my house.

From Left to Right - Marco, Brooke, my Stella and my Tina (aka pointer sisters) sharing the old sleeper sofa I can't seem to get rid of because the dogs love it too much.

This one shows Marco, Stella, Hattie, Brooke and Tina. Marco, Hattie and Brooke are all available for adoption through the German Shorthair Rescue Society of North Texas. All are housebroken, gets along well with other dogs, as you can see and need a forever home.

Painting of Aspen Trees

This is not a new painting; it's been hanging in my dining room for over a year now. I never got around to taking a photo of it nor have I named it. I guess I never did these things, photographing it, naming it, adding it to my inventory because I don't think I'll part with it. I like the painting. It's on a 15 x 30 inch canvas - long and tall. I showed it to Tony Saladino a month ago at one of his critique classes and he and the class were OK with it. I tend to like painting on square canvases but I think I will try different shapes and see where that takes me.

Here's a thought:

"Surely things shall get better," she said. I wanted to know just one thing. Who the hell was "Shirley," and why should I believe her?"

- Jane Curtin, Comedian

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you, Squirrel Girl for the One Lovely Blog Award.

The award says to list 15 other lovely artist blogs but I can't choose so if you're reading this - look to the right side of this blog and see my artist links and check them out - as well as my followers widget and check out the bloggers listed there. The list is not complete - there are too many wonderful and talented bloggers!!

Have a lovely day and thank you once again Squirrel Girl.

Lavender Flowers

"Lavender"

12 x 12 x 3/4 inches

Oil on Canvas

Another in my flower series.

I was reading the latest post on Jack Spreight's blog, "Knuckleball". I loved several of the quotes he mentions on his latest post, but this one I wanted to share:

"Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end."

White Flowers - an Oil Painting of Daisies

"White Flowers"

12 x 12 x 3/4 inches,

Oil on Canvas

Available - email me for price.

White Daisies. In the movie "You've got Mail", Meg Ryan's character Kathleen likes Daisies.

There's a line in the movie - I had to look it up at imdb.com - in which she says: "Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void."

So here it is again, doing something that scares you...be valuable, be brave.
It's the cosmic question.
Happy Saturday to all and by the way - I love mail - let me know if you've been doing something different - it doesn't have to be scary.