Portrait of Sheila Tajima

6 x 6 oil on canvas, not for sale
I saw the artist Sheila Tajima's black and white baby photo awhile back, with her tiny kimono and her luminous expression. I thought it should surely be a painting. I almost added color but opted to paint it as I saw it. So this is my offering to Sheila for The Flying Moleskins project. I hope she enjoys it. I have changed it slightly since last night (still don't have her as beautiful as she was!) and I accidentally deleted the entire post with five wonderful comments (which were greatly appreciated). I have successfully switched out photos before but I guess I managed to forget exactly how I did it. sigh.

Sun on the Pit

8 x 8 oil on canvas

Change of plans since it warmed up this morning. I walked outside and saw the sun hitting the wood under the barbeque pit with all the beautiful highlights and shadows and knew I had to try and capture the scene. Our wonderful brother in law had this pit custom made for us out of oil field pipe and surprised us with it. It weighs about three tons. Looking at it puts me in the mood to get some coals going in there for some barbeque...

Drink

5 x 7 oil on canvas

I'm doing value studies as I try to get back in the saddle. Recently I'm fascinated with what I've learned about hydration. The theory I heard is that all pain and disease are directly caused by chronic dehydration, and all are reversible without drugs (and with proper supporting diet and exercise). Supposedly after a certain age we don't realize we are thirsty until too late, and cells and related systems close down in order to manage the body's remaining water supply. So I think that after this value study I'll paint a water glass in color. This is our crystal pattern, Kildare by Waterford.