Some of my art in Picasa

I played with Picasa today and made some photo albums of some of my paintings. You can see them at http://picasaweb.google.com/Avocaken - I hope!

Please let me know by leaving a comment (below) if you have problems seeing the three (3) albums!

My art guild (Rogers Art Guild) is in the initial phase of building our website and i'm hoping that the individual artist's galleries will hopefully be made more simple using Picasa.  We'll see!

Uncle Jemal

Uncle Jemal   12x16  Oils on canvas panel

"Uncle Jenal's" name is Jemal Kasradze a gifted photographer living in Tbilisi, Georgia, a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Mr Jemal;s blog is one where I can spend hours looking at his photographs. Beautiful.

The photo for my painting is taken from his blog ID photo. His niece, Irina, is one of my good blogger frineds.

As usual lately, I need to put this painting down and get back to it later.

An Award! (times two!)

My good friend Irina Rekhviashvili awarded me this "Sunshine Award". Irina created and posts to several blogs with truly amazing content. Take a look at her "profile page" and her "My Blogs" list.

I learned (DUH) that another good blogger friend Liz Pearson (Art With Liz) had presented me the Sunshine Award as well! I feel really dumb to have not acknowledged her kindness.  But, maybe, that's because of my male gender! :-)

This is my first (and second) blogers award! Part of the honor and duties is to "pass it forward" to 12 other bloggers.  A probliem is, I don't know if I know 12 bloggers that haven't already received this Sunshine Award!  :-)

Check back once in a while as I add names to the list of blogger recipients!

An Artist In Venice Italy

An Artist In Venice Italy   16x20   Oil on canvas panel

I have a good start, I believe. This much was done in about four or five hours. I need to let the paint set up a bit then work on the arttist, building details and especially the water.

This is from a photo but for the life of me I don't know where it came from - aside from the internet.

 February 27th - Ready to call this "done". I'll put this painting aside then look at it in a few days. the figure to the far left bothers me.

Anuka - A Work In Progress

Anuka    16x20   Canvas panel

A Work In Progress.  I started this painting around 10 AM this morning I got this far by 2 PM.this afternoon.  Then I had to stop for the day. 

I have the foundation done pretty well (I think), now I need to make my darks darker (DUH?)  and just get the painting DONE!  The photo of my painting shows the painting a little lighter than the painting and there is some glare on the right side. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!  :-)

I saw the photo of Anuka in a blog with gorgeous photographs taken in Georgia "Between Caucasus and the Black Sea". The photographer,Jemal Kasradze, is the uncle of Irina one of my "blogger" friends. Irina also makes some of the photographs in "Uncle Jemal's" blog.  :-)  You should take a look at both blogs ,they're really good.

I worked on this piece today (Feb 25th)  but I still have more work to do. Obviously!  I was able to darken her hair and I'm relatively "happy" with that. BUT, her face looks like one of the characters from The Munsters TV program!  Make it DARK DARK DARK There, I've said it and I know it!  But, dang, why are darks so hard for me? :-) 

Fiddly dee, tomorrow's another day!

 February 27th - worked on this painting some more. I'm beginning to like her eyes more. The photo doesn't represent her hair well - it's much darker in the painting.

Young Artist - Finished

Young Artist   18x24   Oil on canvas board

I'm trying to have the figure back lighted (back lit?) and it's proving difficult for me.  The photo picks up brush strokes more than I'd like, but . . . 

I still have some work to do - obviously. I thought that I would post this "work in progress" since I hadn't posted anything in quite a while.

After some adjustments. :-)  Feb 20, 2010

Her eye and arm need some work.  duh

After some adjustments. :-)  Feb 24, 2010

I'm calling this one DONE!

My @#$%^ digital camera is repaired!

I sent my @#$%^ digital camera to Georgia for repairs and it came back as good as new! AND the camera has agreed to focus for me! (I think that it missed me)

The company is:

V-Photo of Atlanta, Inc

4300 Red Rock Point

Suwanee, GA 30024

Their email is vps6950@bellsouth.com and the website is http://vphotoatlanta.com

They had the camera back to me way before their "ten day" turnaround. And I can't tell by looking at the case that they worked on it. But the LCD viewfinder works and the pictures are in focus (when I don't wiggle).

I recommend this company to anybody that needs their camera repaired. They're good people who gave me a written estimate before I sent the camera to them.

SHUROK - a friend's friend

Shurok  9x12  Oil on Masonite

This kitty named Shurok was the friend of one of my "blog friends". Shurok died not long ago and it has saddened me that my "blog friend" is so sad.

I made this painting without permission and I hope that my friend will not be offended.

I always make a painting when somebody or a pet in my family died. It has helped me help myself grieve and remember.

Maybe this little painting might bring back some happy memories.

Taking A Break - a work in progress

Taking A Break  18x24  Oil on Masonite

A WORK IN (not much) PROGRESS!

I started this a week or two ago then did a "manly thing" and hurt my leg so I couldn't get around for a while.  I'm making this from a photo I took at the Bentonville, AR Public Library Cafe. The lady in the photo is Melissa (my wife) and I'm the chunky blob on the right side.  I'm not EVEN TRYING to make a likeness, just  a reasonable-looking couple relaxing with an espressso.

I've putzed around with this for a couple of days now and it's beginning to shape up, but . . . .

If I were a carpenter I'd use a bigger hammer. Maybe I should use a bigger brush!   :-)  

At The Flea Market

At The Flea Market  18x24  Oil on Masonite

I did a smaller version a few months ago but I wasn't very happy with it.  The jury is still out whether I entirely like this version.  

The "backpack" lady's hand needs some work, I see and those guys on the right aren't quite right.

Gripe gripe gripe!

House of China - Eureka Springs, AR

House of China 16.5x24  Oil on panel

From several photos taken last summer in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Beautiful little town with many, many turn of the century homes and buildings.  A real fun tourist stop!

The House of China sells asian things. I'm not a shopper, so I don't know what to call the things in the store. But my daughter and my wife sure did enjoy buying a few things!

No news is good news.

We had another January 2 day snowfall last week that dumped 4-5 (or more) inches of snow at our house. How deep depends on where you measure. In our flat front yard the snow is about 4 inches deep. The snow is around 12 inches where the wind has blown the snow into drifts - around trees, shrubs & the corners of buildings.  We're getting "warm" temps (mid 30sF) in the day time so the snow melts but then the temps droop into low 20sF during the nighttime and the melted stuff freezes.  Traveling on our country roads is risky business!  We haven't been driving for almost a week.

I hurt my leg two weeks ago by trying to move a 50 gal barrel full of frozen rain water into a sunny spot. The barrel had other ideas and the barrel clipped my right leg.  I had to go to the emergency room to have it looked at. Nothing broken - just a HUGE bruise & swelling on my right thigh.  I'm able to exercises now to "rehab" my legs.  I think that my @#$%^ camera told the barrel to "get" me.

I have no photos of the paintings I've done or am working on. My @#$%^ camera is in Georgia at a camera hospital having the LCD viewfinder Iand I, hope, it's focus attitude) repaired. I dropped my camera just right so that the viewfinder was broken. The camera thinks that I did it on purpose. Maybe YES, mayber NO. I'll never tell. I'm not sure when I'll get the @#$%^ camera back.  I was surprised that it was less expensive to fix it than to buy another camera.

Enough blah blah blah.