White Butterfly #2

"White Butterfly #2" ACEO Mini Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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Edge of the Earth Sunrise

"Edge of the Earth Sunrise" ACEO Art Card Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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Bashful

"Bashful" Parakeet ACEO Art Card Mini Painting. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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White Butterfly

"White Butterfly" ACEO Art Card Mini Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
SOLD within six hours of posting.

Carousel Horse in Red

"Carousel Horse in Red" ACEO Art Card Mini Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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Mouse

"Mouse" ACEO Art Card Mini Painting 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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Andy Goose

"Andy Goose" Goose ACEO Art Card 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper.
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Her Maze

"Her Maze" Deer Original Painting. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper, double mat. Will fit a 5 X 7 inch frame.
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Just across the little country road from my home, there are some wild plum bushes. Inside the brush are little paths, twists and turns in a fascinating maze built by nature. This morning I watched as one of the little deer entered one of the openings in the brush. She paused and looked back at me. Although tempted to follow her, I left her to her secrets.

Pansy

"Pansy" ACEO Art Card Mini Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper....
SOLD...........

Blue Giraffe

"Blue Giraffe" ACEO Art Card Original Mini Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 Inches.
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Just Like Flying

"Just Like Flying" Penguin on a swing painting. Acrylic on Canson paper, framed under glass. Painting size = 4.5 X 6.5 inches. Frame size = 6.25 X 8.25 inches.
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Waiting At The Garden Gate

"Waiting At The Garden Gate" Penguin Framed Painting. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson Paper. Framed under glass.
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I'm not sure who he is waiting for, but he stands quietly in front of the Clematis. I'm convinced penguins like flowers.

In The Outfield

"In The Outfield" Penguin and Baseball Original Painting. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper. Framed under glass.
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This little penguin has confused a baseball for an egg. Or perhaps he is just a great outfielder?

I'm not sure where I get my ideas for Penguin paintings. They haunt me, I see a landscape, and I visualize a penguin standing there. Not sure why.

In 1998 I started painting penguins. For the next several years, that is about all I painted. But they were not the usual penguins in a stark, barren South Pole landscape. My penguins liked to travel, they could be found on a foggy London street, visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or just hanging out in front of the TV.

I received several commission pieces in 2001, and was shocked when the buyers didn't want a penguin standing next to their favorite pet/landscape/portrait-of-granny. So I drifted away from the penguins. I abandoned them. I feel so ashamed.

And now, 2006 they have returned to my easel. I am again seeing them everywhere I look. Sitting on a bench at a bus-stop, taking a stroll down a country lane, waiting in queue at the 7-11.

Welcome back, penguins.

Bumblebee

Bumblebee ACEO Art Card Painting Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson Paper 2.5 X 3.5 Inches
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I'm not really ready for summer to be over. Memories of Summer flowers and the hum of the bumblebees still linger with me this morning.

Yucca Snow

"Yucca Snow" Acrylic on 140 lb Canson paper, ACEO Art Card Painting. 2.5 X 3.5 Inches.
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I have always like the thought of cactus-type plants in snow. Seems like such a nice contrast, and an interesting testament to the adaptability of cacti. We got our first true snowfall, almost a foot of this stuff. The starkness of this little ACEO seems to fit my mood today.

The Art Critic

"The Art Critic" Marty, Eclectus Parrot ACEO Art Card Painting 2.5 X 3.5 Inches
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Marty owns my art studio. It is his world, and I am lucky that he allows me to work there. Thankfully, he and I have the same taste in music, and he graciously shares my lunch with me. And for better or worse, he is an art critic.

He picks up on my moods, or perhaps it is the other way around? When the day's painting is going well, he bobs his head approvingly, and says "Pretty!!!" When the paint won't work right for me, he sadly says.... "oh, man...." and then usually interjects a laugh to lighten the mood. His running commentary, is sometimes appreciated. Sometimes not.

"What ya' doin'?" he asks.

"I'm painting, what does it look like I'm doing???" I reply.

He bursts out in laughter, and I growl "Oh what do you know, you are a big green bird with a huge orange nose!"

He tries to end the conversation with "Ooooooh, pretty bird!!! Pretty Marty!!! Pretty Pretty Pretty!!!"

I say "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, pretty bird. But what do you think of this painting?"

He blows me a raspberry.

Art critics are seldom kind.

The Replacement

The Replacement Light Bulb ACEO Acrylic Painting on Canson Paper. 2.5 X 3.5 Inches.
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Ok, so today's daily painting has a story. It is probably only interesting to me, but I am going to talk about it anyway.

This Daily Painting concept has really helped me get past yet another of my motivation blocks, forcing me to paint every day. I find, though, that I spend more time thinking about WHAT to paint, than the actual painting process.

I rearrange my art table, I clean the studio, I organize the paint tubes. And today, I had to replace the burned out light bulb on my little table lamp. I sat staring blankly at the spent light bulb laying on the art table, and was intrigued by the shape and simplicity of it. I wondered if I could paint this little object, not in a realistic style, but a more loose impressionistic technique, and actually make it look like a light bulb.

It wasn't until I was quite a ways into the actual painting, that I realize that the white highlight on the surface of the bulb, was actually a reflection of the lamp and the replacement bulb.

That poor spent bulb. To be immortalized in a painting, but the focus of that painting, is your replacement. Life is like that sometimes.

Shy Horse

Horse Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper, double matted. Will fit a 5 X 7 inch frame. $35.00
-SOLD-

Today's Daily Painting is from a photo that I took yesterday of the little yearling filly, Rose. Horses are one of my favorite subjects to paint.

Two Rocks

Two Rocks 9 X 12 inch painting. Acrylic on canvas board. $50.00
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Along a mountain road in the Black Hills, are two huge rocks. They have split off from the cliff base and stand leaning against each other. On the slope of the hill itself, one wonders how long they will continue the fight against gravity.

Yesterday, I took a special trip to them, to capture a photo for work on today's daily painting. The time of day did not give the best lighting, and when I returned to download the photo, I was discouraged to find the photo blurry and dreary. My original thought of a realistic/detailed painting of these two rocks would not be helped by this photo.

I studied the photo for a long time, trying to decide if I should pack up and head back for another photo, when I realized that this might not have been an accident in my pathetic try at photography. The more impressionistic style that would come from my use of this photo mistake, might give me the loose darkness that the two rocks needed.

Blue Jay #1

Blue Jay #1 ACEO 2.5 X 3.5 inch mini painting. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper. $12.00
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Every morning, a woodpecker visits the young cottonwood outside my window. I decided to try to photo him to use as my focus for today. As luck would have it, he didn't show. Obvious stage fright. Instead, this burly blue jay came. Haughty and bold, he sat for a long time, glaring at me while I wrestled with an unruly camera. He sat so still, for so long, I could have forgotten the camera and simply painted him plein air.

Plein Air Rooster #1

Plein Air Rooster #1 Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson paper. 2.5 X 3.5 inch mini painting. $12.00
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Nice weather today, so I packed up a few paints and headed to the barnyard for some plein air studies. Got only as far as my front steps and found one of the little roosters soaking up some sun. He would be my focus today.

Sunset Over Bear Butte

"Sunset Over Bear Butte" 9 X 12 Inches. Acrylic on 140 lb. Canson art paper. Not matted nor framed. Price = $100.00 Click Here To Purchase

Bear Butte ("Mato Paha" or "Bear Mountain") is a spiritually significant site for the Lakota and Cheyenne people. Located near Sturgis, South Dakota it rises up from the prairie. A herd of buffalo still grazes at it's base. How lucky am I to have been born and raised so close to such a magnificent place?

This is the beginning of my "Painting A Day" commitment.