Underwater Wonderworld

Oil on canvasboard

20x24"

I'm happy to announce that this piece is being purchased by the Community Memorial Hospital for their Maternity and Pediatric Floor.   I have a special place in my heart for art being placed in hospitals to bring some joy to patients and visitors!

Barn Treasures

Barn Treasures

8x10"

Oil on linen on board

Got to paint by this old barn of Las Virgenes last year, through a call to a park ranger on the property.  It's a beautiful old barn and when peaking in we ( my painting friend Lyn and I), found a sign from a restaurant that was once open in Malibu....so many stories to be found!

When it comes to the painting...Shadows are an interesting challenge and I worked on the shadows to make them less severe and cut-out looking, which I think helped:-)

Edge of Afternoon

8x10"

Oil on linen on panel

The Railroad Play House

The Railroad Play House

6x8"

Oil on linen panel

2nd painting of the day Saturday.  Painting up in Naples with my friend Carolyn Counnas and members of the organization SCAPE (whose goals are to have exhibitions to help raise money to protect open spaces, to increase public awareness of environmental and conservation issues, to promote camaraderie and provide education for artists).   

 

Sometimes getting the first painting done opens me up to be more free with the second...especially if I have a limited time:-)

This building, I learned, used to be a playhouse belonging to the girls who lived on this property in Naples on the Gaviota Coast before it burned down.   I don't know if it was right by the railroad back when it was built...would have made me a little nervous Nelly as a mom for sure...

Used to be Thurman's Place

Used to be Thurman's Place

8x10"

oil on linen on panel

sold

I'm catching up and posting some paintings that somehow slipped through the cracks.

 

Life is filled with some wonderful coincidences.   One day this past fall my friend Shannon and I decided to go to Hidden Valley to paint.  It's this jewel of a valley tucked away, from suburbia, with horse stables and old farms - this being one of them...

On this day we precariously parked ourselves on the side of the road to paint the morning light on this barn when I thought I saw the owner in his pajamas on the property, changing something by an electrical box.   I quickly ran over and asked him if he wouldn't mind if we set up to paint inside his fence, and to our delight he said yes!  It was warm and there were a ton of red little bugs crawling around in the very dried out grass, but we were so happy to be a little further from the cars zooming by.

A couple of months later I have my open studio and my sister-in-law is telling us about this property she's looking at in Hidden Valley.   And as she describes the location it's starting to sound very familiar to me.  When I show her the painting and describe Thurman to her, we realize it is indeed the same property she was looking at...?!... The owner she met was always - in his pajamas...

Such a small world:-))))