Skull Candy

"Skull Candy"

5" x 7" 

oil painting on masonite board

I was playing with my skull again.

He looked pretty cute with these hot pink

"Skull Candy" headphones on!

I just loaded up my Etsy shop with some of my smaller paintings.

I'm cleaning out and making room!

Marianne's Etsy Shop

Thank you for looking!

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  :)

My outdoor palette

Okay, look at this sweet idea!  A portable palette for my oil paints :)

It's an aluminum hard case for laptops, but I fitted it with a glass 

palette in the bottom.  Love it!!

This is an idea from Elio Camacho.

And the best part....I feel like a secret agent carrying it.

love that...

Inlet view

Alaskan Inlet

In the summer this view is creek, grasslands and ocean with the mountains in the background.

Throughout the winter it turns to creek and silt-covered ice chunks....and mountains.

I was so fortunate to have this beautiful scenery in my backyard growing up.....my 

parents house.  I love being near the ocean.  

The sounds, the smells....the wonderful wind and the sight of it feels like home.

  My ongoing plein air experiment..... my parent's deck made for a great spot to try 

it out!  I can't wait till it's alive with color.  I'll try again when the ground comes to life.

Thank you for looking!

"Lunch Date"

"Lunch Date"

20" x 16"  oil

Got your back

Saturday drawing session at UAA.  

Figure drawing is such a challenge for me. 

I love when others do it well, so I keep practicing.     

I've said it before, but UAA has a wonderful figure drawing session on Saturdays.

Great models, great lighting...great opportunity!

Open to the community as well as UAA students. 

more drawings....

Just some quick one minute studies. 

 I love the quick poses, they always have so

 much more expression to me.

So even though there is not a lot of detail, I feel like 

I can capture more mood with less rendering.

Turnagain Arm

This is my favorite road in the world.  I've never seen anything that has 

captured my heart as much as the Seward Highway, heading down Turnagain Arm.

Mountains and ocean together, and the road hugs the edge of where the mountains meet the water. 

It's a beautiful drive.

I'm not sure if anyone else can make out what I was painting, but I loved being out there

and this is what I saw when I painted along the roadside. 

Aggregate towers

On my way to work, I drive by this structure. 

 It always catches my eye, maybe because there is so much snow and this thing 

stands out with all it's bright orange, shooting into the sky.

We had a beautiful sunny day and it was just sitting there glowing.

So I grabbed my "stuff" and painted it from the parking lot across the street.

I like it.  I could see doing it again, but bigger.  Maybe when the snow melts.

  

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!

Plein air....kinda....

Plein air?  okay....does it count if I sat in my car?

I was comfy parked in the parking lot with my set-up in my lap, and supplies in the 

passenger seat :)

I'm still getting used to hauling my stuff around, but it was fun not painting in my

studio.  Kinda like a pic-nic.... food tastes better when you're outside.

I bet this painting on location thing is going to be a new favorite.  

And if you would have told me this a year ago, 

I would not have believed it!  

Funny how things change when you least expect it.

More drawings.......

I think I'm doing more drawing than painting lately.  These Saturday sessions at UAA have been a great opportunity to work on my drawing skills.  I find the week slips by and I'm at the drawing session again.  

When it comes to painting, I seem to just fit it in whenever I can.

I think I should make a few times during the week that I have a painting sessions in my studio.

No excuses!  Just do it!  Be there or be square.....uh oh.... that was corny.

"Waiting for Enlightenment"

"Waiting for Enlightenment"

oil on canvas

I have a cool skull that I love to play dress-up with.  Some days I put a small toy in his eye socket......some days he wears funky hats and wigs.  I have a selection of goggles and vintage eye glasses he models for me.  

The burnt-out light bulb reminds me of times when I haven't got a clue.  Lately I find myself searching for more meaning in my world.  Why.......why do I do what I do?  Why do others do what they do?  Why are some days blissful and other days not.  Do I have some control over any of this?

Who's in charge?

This was a good way to focus myself and just think about color, shapes and light.

Easier than thinking about the other stuff.

Waiting for Spring

I'm waiting for spring.

I cropped this picture when I photographed it, I'm not sure why.  There are flowering branches above my head in the painting.  This is the time of year that I absolutely crave some color.  Alaska is all snow right now, and has been for the past 5 months.

I can't wait for green.  I have been daydreaming of plein air painting for a couple months now.

I'm planning a few trips out of Alaska this spring to do some landscape painting. 

Planning can be half the fun.

Things are starting to look promising here too.  Today was sunny and in the 30's....snow is melting.

 I like it!

Being outside feels so good....so painting and being outside sounds like heaven right now.

I'll have to give it a try.  I've never tried painting outside when it's winter :)

Saturday life drawing sessions

At UAA here in Anchorage, art students meet for a life drawing session

Saturdays from 12noon to 3pm.  It's open to the community also.

The lighting is wonderful, models....wonderful....it's a great opportunity to draw the figure.

Cost is $5 for a session or $15 for the semester....held at the Fine Arts building, room 101.

Okay....just thought I'd let you know.  The Tuesday night sessions have come to a close, so this would be a great option!

Thanks for looking! 

Warm sun......

Okay.....it felt great to focus on this painting today.

Have I told you I'm waiting for spring? 

Have I told you I live in Alaska?... it snowed again today! 

I'm wishing I was in the painting right now.

 I can smell the coconut oil.......and I feel the warm sand  

between my toes......

Out of breath, I'm laying on my grass mat...sun beating down on me.

My bathing suit is still wet from the body surfing I just got done with,

 and my skin is already warming up enough to jump back in.

................ahhhhhhhh............

Okay....that felt good......a mini vacation.

Thanks for looking!

California Oak

"California Oak"

I painted this one a while back. 

 My old computer has been dying a slow death....I bought a new Mac Laptop Pro......*LOVE*........sigh...... So that's where I play lately.

All my older painting images are on my other computer.....so this past weekend I was bored and rooting around in my old computer files....look what I found!  I had forgotten all about this painting.

It was painted about 3 years ago, around the same time I wrote a ghost story called "The Orchard".

When I printed out my novel and put it in a binder....this painting seemed perfect for the cover!

I found the novel on the computer too....February just got a whole lot more interesting.

I always find myself daydreaming of tropical paradise in February.  Winter is long up here in Alaska...these last few months drive me crazy.  I just need to make it to the middle of March and I'm good to go again!   I need something to occupy my mind.

Now I have a story to edit!  I still need to go out to my studio and paint something sunny and warm, 

but I have some new ideas floating around in my head of other projects to take on!

I like the sound of that..."take on" ....kinda like....

"Bring it!"  love that one too :) 

Okay, that's my post for today.....

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