"I can't believe you really bathed me."

"I can't believe you really bathed me."
Oil on canvas
12" x 12"
(A commentary on feline bewilderment with human behavior.)

Oh my! This guy was just so cute and forlorn (as any dripping wet cat has the right to be) that I had to paint him. Plus, I had so much fun painting my Aunt's cat, Muffin, and then another cat for a client...that I just had to keep going.

I really do best love the expressions on some of these put-upon cats. The cat portrait for the client was dignified, but Muffin was also captured post-bath and ALSO not very excited about the fact.




I do not officially endorse soaking a cat just to send me adorable shots of forlorn or pissed-off kitty faces...but I won't turn them down either!

Here seen more close-up...I might do a bunch of these and print a set of greeting cards and this would be a good composition for something along those lines.

My first oil painting

So...I've been wanting to try oils for a while since sometimes acrylic dries too quickly to be able to blend and build like I want (especially that one day painting a wedding scene in full sun).

Unwilling to deal with solvents though, I was given a set of these new water-soluble oils, which use no solvents and will thin and clean up with water.

I've had these paints since Christmas, folks, and only picked them up 2 days ago.

What prompted this? Painter's block. Usually ideas pour forth, but not lately, and when I've forced myself to paint (just get back on the horse, right?) the resulting half-finished works have been...miserable.

But...I thought...since I can't paint I might as well just play around with this new-fangled toy...see how they work.

So there I go, working on another one of my car-taken snapshots, this time coming off the Bay Bridge and gazing at my beloved San Francisco with Sutro tower silhouetted against the fading sky.

I won't say the painting process wasn't hard...it was and I had to push through some rough bits and hating my progress. Not because the paint was difficult to work with but just simply because of the blocked creativity I was going through. I have to say though that being able to continue to blend, correct, adjust, try new things and not have my paint dry on me was probably the only reason I made it through to the other side - with, finally, a newly completed painting.

Coming home...

This is a sight that my Mom is more familiar with, having commuted to the East Bay for many years, but I rarely pass over the San Mateo - Hayward bridge anymore, although I grew up not far from it...

On this day I was driving home from an all day meeting and I was so, so tempted pass on the chance to snap some pictures, give into exhaustion and simply drive home. I'm glad I didn't though as this little acrylic is really starting to grow on me.

I've been spending more time on the road at sunset in the last 6 months and when I started snapping pictures I thought it was all in vain - my phone would never pick up the detail I needed to paint from.

Turns out that removing some detail created an opening for me to be more creative and make the painting be what I wanted and not merely a replica of the photograph.


"Coming home..."
Acrylic on canvas board.
9" x 12"
2011

Kitty-Portrait

Gargoyle

Congratulations! It's a....baby gargoyle?!

Must be Gargoyle breeding season, as I found myself another baby goyl...
Named him GoBee and I think he'll be an excellent addition to the collection. Can't wait to mold and cast him!

Baby Snufflepog Gargoyle

Don't let his cute face fool you! Snufflepogs are valiant and cunning defenders of their homes. The large nose detects the slightest whiff of malintent, and as they gain their adult growth, their knobbly spine becomes a razor sharp menace to any who enter with ill-will.

Gargoyle, first attempt

Salt Ponds VII - just getting started

I think this is the first of the series to have a HORIZON LINE in it.

Carmel Wedding, final cut

Recent Wedding Commission

These here are not quite the final version...I must still have those last pics on my phone...

I started here with a classic underpainting in grey tones only, then layered on the colors.

Henna'd Feet

I absolutely love the art and practice of henna. Since I missed Burning Man this year and we had some hot days here in the Bay Area, I decided to henna my Mom for the first time and then I used up the last of my henna supply on my feet (seen here).

I was very impressed with this henna powder. It stained very well in spite of the paste having been from a couple years ago...granted, I kept it frozen that whole time...but I had thought that a year max was how long it would keep, even frozen. The long storage wasn't intentional - I just turned up a lost cone of the stuff I must have forgotten about ages ago.

From Kitten's Leather Jewelry Collection:

This line of leather jewelry is available at:

TRUNK
544 Haight St
(between Fillmore St & Steiner St)
San Francisco, CA 94117
Neighborhood: Lower Haight

(415) 861-5310

www.trunksf.com

Wedding in Monterey

Just starting her to add color, now that the tonal underpainting is done.

My Jewelry for sale at Trunk (544 Haight St btw Fillmore & Steiner)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/trunk-san-francisco

Handcrafted, recycled, unique...very San Francisco! Chokers can be made/sized to order.

Fun and Sexy Leather Chokers

Earring line - Leather Feathers

Just a few examples of earrings in my new line. Now carried at Trunk in the lower haight, and coming soon for purchase through Etsy.

Photos of "Flowers" in low-light

Pictures of one of my works temporarily hanging in the home of a friend. They had a vase of the same flowers depicted, so I just had to snap some shots.

Desert Wings (still in progess)

These are going to look so amazing on someone at Burning Man...