December First Friday at Pink Raven Studio

Abstract 

12"x 12", oil on canvas

December First Friday is tomorrow night at Pink Raven Studio!

From 5pm until 7pm, there will be refreshments and fresh art by myself and artist

Stephanie Zuck!  Come visit us, we would love to see you!

Downtown  Anchorage, Alaska

135 Christensen Dr., suite 1B

on the corner at 2nd Ave

Pink Raven Studio Facebook page...

Pink Raven Studio

New Floral Painting

Floral

20" x 20", oil on canvas

Thank you for looking!

Flowers...

This is a detail of a larger floral painting I just finished.

I'm painting flowers for an upcoming show!

It feels great focusing my eyes and mind on color, warmth and nature waking up from 

a long winter of sleep. 

Spring is right around the corner....but in my studio, its already here!! :)

Thank you for looking....and reading!  :)

Flower #12

"Flower  #12"

24" x 24", oil on canvas

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"Flower #12", 24" x 24" oil on canvas…. okay, I've done this bouquet about 4 times, time to move on to another.

Thank you for looking!

Flowers #11

"Flowers  #11"

12" x 12", oil on canvas

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Flower #10

"Flower #10"

5" x 7", oil on canvas

Quick little guy….. time flew by yesterday!

I found myself eager to paint this one at 11pm last night, not wanting 

my flower streak to get interrupted  :)

I skipped running… something had to be sacrificed.

Thank you for checking in one me and reading!!

  

Flowers…#9

"Flowers,  #9"

8" x 10", oil on canvas

I'm not sure what I think about this one…

Painting at night in my studio, I turned off a lot of lights and put a spotlight on this little still life.

I even turned off some lights close to my canvas.

I guess I'd say I was painting in the dark.  The painting kinda turned out dark.  I'm surprised, because I thought maybe it would lead to a lighter painting.  

It was an experiment… which is the cool thing about 

 painting everyday, I'm 

feeling more casual about these little paintings, less pressure…more playful.

I like that.  :)  

Okay…thank you for checking in on me!

I appreciate it!  :)

Roses in Red

"Roses in Red"

12" x 12", oil on canvas

Flower # 8….. vibrant.  

Painting at night, with it dark outside, and dimly lit inside, except for the roses :)  I've been soaking up the saturated color, like a little bit of sunshine before bed.  

My son thinks I'm crazy…."why would you want to paint flowers everyday?"  with a confused look on his beautiful face.

"I love flowers!  It feels like sunshine in the dark winter"

Nodding in agreement, he walks off to his computer.

"Go paint flowers Mom!  Good job!"

I'm so lucky….

I love my family.  :)

Thank you for looking and reading!!  :)

Flower # 7

"Flower #7"

5" x 7", oil on canvas

Sweet, little baby painting!  The size alone makes this one adorable to me!

Little, cutie pie….

okay, that's enough...  

Now, I need to look up how to make candied grapefruit peels…half dipped in dark chocolate! 

Just because it sounds delicious and I watched Jacques Pepin make them on PBS…

It's at the end of this video below if you're interested too!

Actually, everything he makes in this episode looks scrumptious…

I'm hungry :)

Jacques Pepin cooking show

Thank you for looking!!  :)

Flower # 6

"Flower #6"

11" x 14", oil on canvas

Not a very clever title, but this is an oil version of the still life I set up yesterday.

Painting flowers and putting up twinkle lights outside :)

I hope your holidays are magical!

Thank you for looking in on my painting efforts! :)

A Yellow Rose

"A Yellow Rose"

12" x 16", acrylic on canvas

My fifth floral day!! :)  This is an acrylic painting.  I normally paint with oils, but I've been teaching someone who wants to paint with acrylics, so I've been painting with acrylics also.  It's easier to show someone how I did something when we're both working with the same medium.  We both use the "Stay Wet" palette …and that's a life saver!!  The paints stay open and wet on the palette, even though they dry fast on the canvas.  I bought some Golden Open acrylics to experiment with, they stay wet longer on the canvas.

This painting was with those paints.  I'm trying to get the acrylics to act like oils.  It was fun, but acrylics just aren't soft and buttery like oil paints, still fun to paint with though!

Thank you for looking and reading!  :)

Single Rose

"Single Rose"

8" x 10", oil on canvas

Oh man!!  This is floral painting #4!!  I'm officially on a flower roll :)

Which means…. I've painted a floral still life 4 days in a row.  

I'm kinda proud of myself.  I'll keep at it, see how far I get!

Thank you for looking!

Flowers….three days in a row!

"Flowers 3"

16" x 20" , oil on canvas

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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! :)

Little pink vase..

"Little Pink Vase" 

8" x 10", oil on canvas

More Flowers!  Yay!!

Wild Roses

"Wild Roses"

24"x 24"  

oil on stretched canvas

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I have to say…with my paintings….. 

I'm just going where the wind takes me lately, 

and I'm really enjoying the flowers this summer!

So here's a new close up of wild roses, sitka roses is the variety 

I know them by.  I have a few 5 foot bushes at my house, 

and they smell amazing right now!!!

At the beginning of August, I'll be having a show at an 

awesome chocolate shop in Anchorage, AK…called

Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge.

So I'm putting together group of paintings that 

mean "Summer" to me…this is one if them.  

Thank you for looking!

Geranium

11" x 14" oil on canvas

My husband and I go for walks in the evenings, on one of these walks I saw a small, empty 

rum bottle…...nice label…...thick green glass.  I imagined some flowers in it, looking cute on the kitchen table.  My husband is very sweet…he watches me pick up junk and try to get it in my pockets, sometimes he'll carry things home for me....no questions asked.  He knows I have a plan...I love that about him.  I got home, gently cleaned up my new bottle.  I went out on my deck and cut a stem with blossoms off my geranium …voila!!  

Operation Cuteness ...Accomplished!  

I placed the bottle proudly on the kitchen table...…hmmm ….but then this thought occurred to me,

 I have teenage boys.  Will they now feel a positive, fun attitude towards rum bottles….

Are they going to think…..mom loves rum bottles…. 

"lets go get us some rum bottles!"

You know that sound that tires make when they come to a screeching halt?  

I heard that sound in my mind.

So guess what?  It became a great still life subject!

I cut a piece of canvas and pinned it to a cork board ….just a quick painting…no commitment….fosters the "just playing around" attitude while I paint. (which is a great trick for ensuring a painting you'll end up really liking….and wishing you used a stretched canvas, lol)

Moral of the story…..

The less pressure I put on myself…and the more fun I have,

 the more I'll enjoy the finished painting.

I create my best when I'm having fun!

Thank you for looking and reading!  

I hope you have a creative day!

"Free Spirit" .... as a painting progresses.....

"Free Spirit" 

 oil,  8"x 16"..not sure, but close

I want to paint a larger painting of this one.  

This is a small study...colors I want to use....layout, that kind of thing.

I took pictures along the way.  Not usually something I do, but did it this time.  

I love the look of the painting progressing...so I thought I'd show you.

I love these skull paintings.  Looks modern to me but I love the symbolism and ideas

 of spirituality that can be hinted at.  

Thanks for looking!

Arizona Tea

"Arizona Tea"

Wow....it's been awhile since I posted a new, finished painting.

I've been stuck....

I'm exploring and learning to paint plein air (outside, on site)

And that's been fun, it's been a bunch of good "starts", but

no finishes.  This is my first finished painting in a while.

Feels good!  I should do this more often! 

 Some studio paintings to go along with 

my learning paintings.

Okay....so.....these Arizona Tea cans, aren't they beautiful?

I love the colors....the cherry blossom branches, and it made a perfect

vase for a bright geranium blossom.  Lots of favorites of mine in this little 

setting....colors....metal....flowers......sweet tea :)

Thank you for looking!

Protected

"Protected"

24" x 36"  oil

Wild rose

"Wild One"

12" x 12"  oil