Friday 19th December 2008 - Devil Kitty

Devil Kitty - 10 x 8" - oil on canvas panel - $395

Thursday 18th December 2008 - Ray Vinella's Class

I was shopping in Wal-Mart last week (oh the glamour!) and as I came out there was this fabulous sunset over Taos Mountain, just wonderful. I make a point of carrying my camera with me for just this kind of thing and painted this picture from the photo yesterday in Ray's class. The adobe building on the right hand side (for those who know Taos) is Applebee's restaurant (more glamour!)

Sunset Over Taos Mountain - 10 x 20" - oil on canvas - $795



I brought this little painting of Ed Sandoval's horses to the group - I had started it the previous Thursday and worked on it some more on duty at the gallery on Friday but it was still not right. Ray gave me a couple of suggestions and it all came together in the end. Funny how some paintings spontaneously work and others take several attempts and may never get there.

Horses in the Snow - 8 x 10" - oil on canvas panel - $395

Tuesday 16th December 2008 - Tug on the Heartstrings

I painted this one while on duty at the gallery.

A Tug on the Heartstrings - oil on canvas panel - 10 x 8" - $395

Saturday 13th December 2008 - Portrait of Marty

I asked Marty to sit for the group this week, I've always found his face very interesting. He arrived wearing a woolly hat - which is how I usually see him and got a big surprise when he took it off and a big bush of hair came springing out.

Marty - oil on canvas panel - 16 x 12" - $750

Thursday 11th December 2008 - Ray's

It's strange for me to not be painting, I'm so used to painting most days, but this bug knocked me out for a week. I went to the Saturday painting group but I'm not posting what I did that day, definitely one for the "paint over" pile.

Then on Thursday I went to Ray's group and painted this street scene from my California trip. Heidi and I were heading north out of San Francisco towards the Golden Gate Bridge and the morning sun was hitting the cars parked along the side of the road and I thought that that would make a great painting and took a photo.

I like paintings of city streets but I'd never attempted one before, maybe it's because I'm a city girl, all that time living in London, it's all this open countryside that is new for me. I feel quite inspired that the next time I'm back in London I'll be taking photographs with doing paintings in mind.

San Francisco Street - 8 x 10" - oil on canvas panel - $450

Thursday 4th December 2008 - Ray's Class

A bit of an off day for me, maybe I'm coming down with something, feeling tired and sneezing a lot. Ray said getting me through this painting was like pulling teeth. I did enjoy the colours, though.

Near Mendocino, California - oil on canvas panel - 12 x 16" - $750

Wednesday 3rd December 2008 Melissa's Group

Another Wednesday group with Melissa Moe and this week the model is Monica who is a yoga instructor. She is very graceful and has very long limbs and a swan neck. I painted her once before a few months ago.

It was good to get back to painting after all the lovely Thanksgiving distractions.

Monica - 20 x 16" - oil on canvas - sold