"Speak Up"

"Speak Up"

11"x 14" oil on canvas

I just love old things.....and I absolutely love shiny metal/ chrome old things.

So, needless to say...gazing at this old microphone was just hypnotizing

 for me.  It makes me think of old theaters, velvet seats, popcorn and my date's hand on my leg

in the dark (public... but somehow private)  space.

When I'm in my own world, painting..... it's transporting.

Good stuff.....mini vacation. 

Thank you for looking and reading.  :)  

Hello Kitty

11"x 14", oil on canvas

Just a still life ....with fun stuff I happened to have around.

I've loved Hello Kitty since I was old enough to collect stickers, about 8yrs old.

She was the coolest sticker in my collection.....a puffy sticker, plastic...shaped like a vanilla wafer cookie (another passion of mine)  

Stickers and cookies, sometimes I feel like I've never grown up.  I'd still love to sort through an album or shoe box of stickers ...while munching on vanilla wafers.  

Maybe I'll start my collection of stickers again .....hmmm.

Hope your weekend is awesome!  Make time for fun!

Charming

"Charming"

12"x 12", oil on canvas

I love a good skull painting now and then!

This guy's still working it....some men don't know when to stop ;)

Enjoy your day out there!!

Thank you for looking!

Mike

"Mike"  16" x 20", oil on canvas

A Sunday painting of my husband. 

I'd love to do a series of paintings of him... maybe once a week.

I feel a bit rusty at painting people, but I'm happy with how it turned out  :) 

Thank you for looking!

Warm winter day

Oil on canvas …size 16" x 20"

The temperatures have been so mild lately, the snow has melted and old dry grass is everywhere.

This time of year, that yellow, dry grass looks like gold to me.  Its so dark and grey at times in the winter, that my sensitivity to colors gets intensified…what I need to see comes to life.

I'm not sure if the day was quite this brilliant when I went out to paint, but to me it was…

that's what painting is all about…painting what we see, filtered through our eyes, heart and mind.

I used a new plein air painting box, well, its an old one, but new to me.  It's quick to set up and I can paint bigger now, outside.  Its called a yarka, and so far…I'm loving it!

Too fun!!  Thank you for looking!!

With Sprinkles Please

"With Sprinkles Please"

12" x 12", oil on canvas

Such a cheerful subject.   

I painted this about a month ago.  It was a fun little still life that I set up for a student, so I painted too  :)

Thank you for looking! 

Flowers….three days in a row!

"Flowers 3"

16" x 20" , oil on canvas

Sold

Okay…somehow I've managed to paint flowers three days in a row.  I was walking my dog this morning and was thinking ….what if I challenged myself to paint flowers everyday for a month?

Of course, just saying that is almost a jinx for me.  I'm really great at convincing myself of things I should do daily….then conveniently forgetting all about it by day three or four….7 tops!  

But maybe….painting flowers each day would be cool.  I love looking at them.  I'd love to experiment with painting them different ways.  I'd love to get better at painting them.  They make me feel great in the dead of winter during Alaska's darkest months….  

hmmm…… maybe I'll paint flowers everyday ...until who knows when.  :)

Thank you for looking and reading!!

I talk to myself a lot….it's nice thinking I'm talking to someone else on these blog posts! :)

Flowers...

"Flowers" 18"x 24", oil on canvas 

sold

There was a time when I thought that I never wanted to be a "flower painter".  For some unknown reason in my mind, it just seemed like a cliche that I didn't want any part of.   Be careful of the things you pronounce with strong emotion.  Because it means you have strong feelings about them….which means... they mean something to you, deep down.  Kinda like the kid on the playground that is accused of liking someone….and they protest loudly how much they DON'T like that other person!  

Well, there you go.   

So now I daydream about florals…heavy clumps of luscious petals,  dripping with color…alive with beauty.  I know I'm excited about something when I want to paint it on the biggest canvas I can find! 

I just went thrift store hunting for different vases, cups and containers for beautiful flowers to nestle into…. for me to enjoy looking at for hours, while I paint.  It seems like the best of both worlds…. having flowers to enjoy and exploring how to paint them in a way that brings a painting to life in front of me.   

Thank you for looking!  ….and thank you for reading!!

Sunset Downtown

"Sunset Downtown" 

24" x 24"  oil

No Parking

"No Parking"

24" x 24" oil

I'm painting a few new paintings for an upcoming show at a neat place in 

Anchorage called Modern Dweller's.....it's a chocolate lounge!

Yuuummmmy.

I'm enjoying painting some city stuff!

Thank you for looking!

Neon sign paintings

"Tavern"  

16" x 20" oil

"Club 25"  

48" x 24"  oil

"Bar and Lounge"

40" x 30"  oil

Neon signs

"One Hour Cleaning"

30"x40"  oil 

This is a neon sign here in Anchorage, Alaska.

Gotta love neon.  It always inspires me!  

There's a bowling alley sign that's been calling to me lately.

  But now we have so much daylight, I don't get to see

it glowing in the dark.  I'll need to wait until September.

Protected

"Protected"

24" x 36"  oil

Race to the Finish

"Race to the Finish"

12" x 16"  oil

I'm posting some paintings from last year.  

This one seems appropriate as I watch the school year come to a close.

I have two sons finishing a school year right now.

Tests.....papers......assignments...

The whole house seems to be focused on a finish line. 

There's not a lot of play going on these days....

I'll be happy for summer to come.

Apple in warm light

Not much to say today.....

just showing you a painting 

I did last year.

Inlet sunset

Inlet Sunset

I painted this a few nights ago....on my parents deck. 

 They have an amazing view 

and we've been having beautiful clear skies.

The sunset was great!

I gotta say....I'm really loving this painting outside thing!

I've been painting in my studio for years,

funny how I didn't think of this earlier  :)

Night painting

Again..... I was sitting in the parking lot, at the gas station, 

painting this one a few nights ago.

Lighting my pallet and painting at night was my challenge.

More abstract looking.....loose.  I like it.  

Maybe a bright head lamp would do the trick next time.

Thank you for looking!

A Pear...

"Pear" 

12" x 12"  oil

I like how loose and colorful this one turned out.  

I absolutely love the color red.  I almost have to try to avoid using it as often as I would like.  Every time I set up a still  life....the urge to use red as my back ground is always there.   That 50's aqua color speaks to me too.  I'll have to dream up a painting with those two colors dominating the canvas and

I'll be in my own special heaven....

Thank you for looking!

Tavern

"Tavern"

16" x 20"  oil

I think it would be fun to drive across America, looking for old signs, abandoned

gas stations, roadside attractions, diners.....and paint along the way.  

I love old signs...neon the most!  Every town has a few great Motel signs.

Along the California coast......Highway 1, there's so much along that road to paint,  it would be a fun start.  The colors....that 50's aqua color is everywhere.  Old motels, sun-bleached signs and flowers crawling up everything!  The history in small towns is fun too...buildings...cars...the occasional vintage city bus... too cool.  I always enjoy looking at city paintings done by artists that live in San Francisco.  

Trolley cars, hills and ocean....I'm on vacation just day dreaming about it.

The sign in this painting is in Langley, Washington....I think......or was it Coupeville, Washington....hmmmm.  A trip to the area for a painting workshop about 3 years ago, that's when I feel like my paintings really started to take a new direction.  That first workshop, what a big step outside my comfort zone that was.  Painting with other people around...painting faster than I normally paint......painting people.......all very uncomfortable.  But... I'm so glad I had faith in myself and the courage to try something new.  I'm so happy with the progress I've made over the past 3 years.....my daydream from the past has become my life now.  It's powerful to allow yourself to dream....to mentally visualize the future you wish for.  I believe what we think about and daydream about will come true some day.

Think of things you love.....imagine yourself in your perfect world...then start

 walking in that direction, it will happen. 

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step"

 Martin Luther King Jr

New Website!

I'm excited....I have a new website!

Take a look .......... tell me what you think ...

or just take a look.

www.MarianneElson.com