Rescued

Rescued  16 x 20  $150.00 plus shipping

Rescued  16 x 20   oils on panel

I had the urge to paint a few paintings of fire fighters. This is the only one that I have completed so far.  I was distracted by needing to make western themed paintings for the local 4H fundraiser.

I'll get back to making paintings these heroic people.  Firefighters amaze me.  They frequently and willingly put themselves in harms way to save a living being (people and animals) from a burning building.

Looking For Strays

Looking For Strays  16 x 20  $150.00 plus shipping

Looking For Strays  16 x 20  oils on panel

One more cowboy or western themed painting for you enjoyment.  (I hope!)

I made this painting from three reference photos. The rider is one, the horse is from the second and the background is (sort of) from the third photo.  I'm not too pleased with the background, but it is what it is.

The title suggests that this wrangler is looking for "lost" cattle that wandered away from the  larger herd.  Anyhow, it was the best I could come up with at the time.

Hummingbird No 1

Hummingbird No 1   9 x 12  $$75.00 plus shipping

Hummingbird No 1  9 x 12   Oils on panel

This is from one of a gazillion photos taken from our dining room window of a humming bird at one of our feeders.

The title suggests that there will be a "number two". I don' know about that but it made sense to me at the time!  :-)

I chose not to paint the feeder, instead I make it look like the humming bird was in a flower in a garden.

Two of our humming bird feeders have perches that the birds can sit and drink nectar. Two feeders have no perch.  I doesn't seem to matter to them.

We make our own "nectar" from sugar and water. We also put a drop or two of red food dye in the nectar so that we can seen when the feeders are empty or nearly empty.  The birds don't care.

Mule Deer

Mule Deer  9 x 12  $75.00 plus shipping

Mule Deer  9 x 12  oils on panel

Taking a break from paintings of birds I made this small painting of a doe and her fawn.

I guess that I could have spent a little more time in rendering the deer, but I kept doing things that didn't improve anything.  I think the official technical term is "making it worse".

Talk about an obvious title for a painting!  EscuuuUUuuse meeeee!

Sheik of Araby

Sheik of Araby  15 x 20  $150.00 plus shipping

Sheik of Araby  16 x 20   Oils on panel

First of all, I mean no disrespect to any sheiks or people from the regions of the world where a sheik might live or might have lived.  The title of the painting is from the song "Sheik of Araby".  Two versions of the song on YouTube can be seen and heard here and here.  Please, don't hurt me!

I used Winsor & Newton's Galeria brand Acrylic Modelling Past to build the texture of the blocks in the wall behind the sheik.   I was carried away (ya think?) in the sheik's left (viewer's right) side.  I could take out the lumps but . . .  I'm lazy?

Wolf In The Trees

wolf in the trees  18 x 24  $175.00 plus shipping

Wolf In The Trees  18 x 24  Oils on panel

This glowering wolf seems a bit scary in my painting from a U.S. Government photo.  Maybe I thought that I was interrupting it's meal which is out of sight in the foreground grass.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I suppose that the name that I gave this painting isn't very pertinent.  The wolf is in a clearing in the woods. I find it very difficult  to make up a name for a painting.  I usually use what I think is the obvious. Sometimes it's meaningful other times . . . . . . ?

I did another wolf painting then decided that if you've seen one or two paintings of a wolf, you've seen enough!  :-)

These wolf paintings were my tests to see if I could reasonably represent animal fur.  I studied other artists' painting of "furry critters" then made my paintings.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow breasted woodpecker  9 x 12  $75.00 plus shipping

Yellow-headed Blackbird  9 x 12  oils on panel

Another painting for the birds!  :-) This bird photo is suggested from a photo on a U.S. Government website.

I like the vibrant colors of this bird.  It is becoming apparent to me that yellow is a color of the feathers of many birds.

We have bird feeders in our backyard and see many birds with yellow or orange.  I'm working on 2 Blue Jay paintings now and plan on a painting (or two or three) of Baltimore Oriole(s) which have a brilliant orange breast.

We also have one humming bird feeder near our dining room window.  Last year there were dozens of bumming birds, this year we've seen very few.  BUT!  The Baltimore Orioles liked the nectar as well as Downy Woodpeckers.  (We think that they are Downy Woodpeckers.)

Flamenco Dancer In Green

Flamenco Dancer In Green  14 x 18 $100.00 plus shipping

Flamenco Dancer In Green  14 x 18  oils on panel

This was inspired by Jilly Bennet's blog Menton Daily Photo.

Jilly has been so kind to me to allow me to use her photos as material for my paintings.

I have forgotten this dancer's name and can not find my references for the painting. Getting sloppy and trying to do too much?  :-)  I think that I recall that this lady was leading a class of persons interested in learning how to dance Flamenco.

Western Kingbird

Western Kingbird  9 x 12  $75.00 plus shipping

Western Kingbird  9 x 12   oils on panel

This is my latest subject of interest - birds!  I didn't know if I could represent feathers so, I made a painting.  I was pleased and have made more and there are more on the "drawing board".

So far I have made relatively small (for me) 9 x 12 inch bird paintings.  I'm working on two paintings of Blue Jays that are 16 x 20 inches.

I've been getting ideas for these bird paintings from U.S. Government websites.

Watching the herd

Watching the herd   16 x 20  $150.00 plus shipping

Watching the herd   16 x 20  oils on panel

This is one of several "cowboy" or "western" paintings that I did to contribute to a local 4H club fundraiser.  I made 5 or 6 paintings and donated two for the fundraiser silent auction.  This wasn't one that I donated. (DUH)

As usual, the colors are not represented well in the photograph but I do very much like the composition and colors.

Three Flamenco Dancers

Three Flamenco Dancers 11 x 14 $75.00 plus shipping

Three Flamenco Dancers   11 x 14  Oil on panel

This painting was completed last year but I could not make a reasonably clear photograph of it.  The brush strokes were/are too shiny.  Even this photo is the "best" of MANY attempts.

I don't know why, but I like this one very much.  Maybe is the expression of the dancer in the middle?