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Painted from the model today at Coppini


Donna B. invited me to return to the portrait group's session at the Coppini today- something I hadn't done in over a year. I had a blast. I'd mixed up my times and was supposed to be there for an earlier session where they had a dancer for the model. I did get to take some photos of her for reference at the end of her session, but in our session we had a woman who'd never modelled before. She was absolutely still and comfortable-looking the entire time, though. The session was three hours long, but I packed it in after two and a quarter hours. This painting is still soppy wet, so it has some shine on it from the overhead light, but I thought I'd post a photo anyway.
Diane M. joined me there, so I got to see her twice this week. She jokes about me "listening to Mother" (referring to herself), but I've discovered that if I follow her direction things go well. She's been responsible for me entering a couple of competitions where I won awards and she's passed on a few painting basics she learned from studying with Dick Turner that I use now.
I'll be flying off to Idaho Saturday morning with my sister to help my folks drive down to Arizona where they're selling a house. I'll be back late Thursday. Not sure I'll be able to post anything while I'm gone, but I'll appreciate any comments you leave.

Well, at least all the white canvas is covered!


It's late, so I'm not going to square up the image to post the painting's progress. It's starting to take shape now. So much to do, but I can almost imagine what it might look like at the end.
Nighty night, All.

Progress on the Wedding Party painting













I got to paint yesterday with Diane Manousos at her home studio and made some progress with this painting. Came home and painted another two or three hours here, too. Today I teach the painting class (now pastel AND oil!) at the Coppini Academy, so I need to make this a short post. Life is sweet when I'm painting. Oh, heck, life is sweet anyway.

Some non-art newsy stuff

Next Saturday Patty and I fly out to Idaho and help Mom and Dad drive their two vans back to Arizona so they can ready their home in Sun City West for sale.
I'm going to try to get a lot of painting done before I go. I have a commissioned oil of a dad and his two grown daughters to do by September 30th, and I'd like to have a good start on it by next Saturday. If you're reading this, I'd love it if you left a comment so I know someone's out there!

Commissioned shepard



This was a commissioned pastel for a very nice woman for her husband's birthday. I hadn't painted a pet in a while and enjoyed it very much. 20"x16"

Alamo painting, "Remember"

I was asked by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas to donate a painting to be used for their Gala this October. It will be on their invitations, the cover of the program, made into posters and notecards and the original will be auctioned during the Gala. The painting was my attempt to represent the Alamo dramatically, and to honor two of the women who were instrumental in acquiring the Alamo for the DRT- Clara Driscoll and Adina DeZavala. I found photos of them on the DRT website and then not only put them together but painted them from behind, gazing on the Alamo. There's an anonymous cowboy and his horse painted unobtrusively in the lower (viewer's) left corner in order to acknowledge the men who've aided them, as well.

The portrait is a pastel sketch of Amanda, a wonderful girl my wonderful nephew Jake has the good fortune to call his girlfriend. Amanda spent her summer in San Antonio and attended my portrait workshop in July at the Coppini and also came to my pastel class on Tuesdays a few times.

Oils in progress



Yesterday I posted some starts in pastel. These are two starts in oil I've got going. I know the dog looks a bit like a zombie dog at this stage. It's 20"x16". The one of the figures is 36"x24". I'm hoping to maybe have it done for the Coppini Fall exhibition.... Maybe? The little still life is 11"x14" and isn't very true-to-color in this photo. The surface is more yellow and the pots less blue.

I'm back! No, really. Honest.

I think we've survived the move and have whittled the resulting tower of boxes down to what fits in the guest room. Ok, so the hallway is lined with frames and canvases, too. But the point is that I'm painting again. I've only managed to complete a couple of commissions in what seems like a very long time.
My friends Donna Good and Mary Shepard came to paint all day with me in the new studio Wednesday. I got to work on a large figural painting and it felt wonderful. I have one commission painting to do this month so far, but am holding my breath to hear about another I'd love to get.
Mary Shepard came back yesterday and we went through the process of listing her first painting on eBay. A lot has changed in the year and a half since I was selling paintings on eBay, so I learned as much as I taught. I'd like to start listing paintings, myself, within a week or so.
I'm still teaching the Tuesday classes at Coppini Academy, but am also considering adding a Wednesday night class here in the home studio. A very small class, of course. Three students. Four if they're super friendly.
I'll post some photos of starts I've made since my last post. The pastel starts are ones I did in class as demos and which I'll finish up sometime. If you're reading this, please post a comment so I know someone's out there, ok?