Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun
8"x16" original oil on archival panel
Click for a Closer Look

Some artist have one muse,
and some have more then one.
I happen to be lucky enough to
have at least 3 muses.
The one within me.
Muse number 2, aka my husband.
And, muse number 3, a good friend who I met 20
years ago while living in TX.
 A year ago when I started painting Rooster's, 
muse #3 put a little bug in my ear
about possibly of painting the
mythical bird, the Phoenix.
Apparently, these things take a while to
marinate with muse #1.
The marinating however, has definitely taken hold,
as there are many more of these to come.
This first one is for you Jason.
Thank you for your insightful input.
I appreciate your support and encouragement.

As always, thank you for letting me share my art with you. Cheers! 

30 Days of Painting

Collage of Sept 2013 Paintings
Click for a Closer Look at each one

As some of you know, 

there was a painting challenge out there

to paint 30 paintings in 30 days of Sept. 

Since the goal was to get you to paint on a daily basis,

due to my slow painting style, 

My goal was 30 days of painting instead. 

I will admit it here and now,

I painted 25 of the 30 days. 

For me, that is a pretty darn successful month.  

I did manage to complete 4 paintings in that time.

It was almost 5!

If I had painted those 5 missed days it would have been. 

For me, the best part about looking at this collage

is that all the paintings came out of 

intuitive painting.

Meaning when I started each one I really

had no clue what I was going to paint.

I just set out my favorite colors and started painting.

Which I consider a FABulous thing.

It means my creative mojo has returned. 

WoooHooo!

Please feel free to click on the picture for a closer

look at each painting.

Thanks for letting me share my art with you.

Cheers! 

dRAgon

dRAgon
8"x16" Original Oil on Archival Panel
Click Here for a Closer Look

When I sat in front of this blank canvas

 I honestly had no idea what I was going to paint,
except for two things. I knew I wanted an "eye" and 

these colors.
Which are completely out of my normal palatte,
but I LOVE these colors and have been

wanted to use them in a painting.

Once I got the Eye painted,
I just let my inner muse take over.
I didn't think,
I just doodled.
Not long into the painting
my second muse, aka my husband said to me,
that reminds me of RA.
My response was, what is RA?
I had no clue about this symbol 
but apparently muse #2 did.
I didn't look up the symbol till after I was 
finished painting.

I definitely see where he was coming from.
It also feels like a dragon o me.
Hence the name dRAgon.

I found the description of RA 
in wikipedia to be quite interesting.  

identified primarily with the midday sun. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it is thought that if not a word for 'sun' it may be a variant of or linked to words meaning 'creative power' 

Those of you who know me and follow my art,

know that I have an innate connection with the sun

and that I feel it gives me creative power. 

So I see it as only natural that my muse 
would have me paint 
a symbol that has a connection to the sun.

Thanks for letting me share my art with you.

Cheers!

Vortex

Vortex
6"x6" Oil on Canvas
Click Here for a Larger View

Here's another of what I call one of

my little "Doodles"

Again I had absolutely no clue as to what

I was going to paint?

I set out some of my favorite colors

on the palatte, knew that I wanted an eye

and from there I just let my muse direct my

palatte knife to wherever she fancied for it to go.

Apparently she wanted to go in circles.

Maybe she's trying to tell me something???

As always, thanks for letting me share my art with you.

Cheers!

30 Days of Painting Continues

Mandela
6"x6" Oil on Canvas
Click for a Closer Look

For those of you following my
30 days of painting in September may be wondering
how I am doing or where I've been.
To start with, I have been almost just about
been painting daily.
But, shhhhh.....don't tell that I might have missed
one or two days.
However, just because you haven't seen a
posting lately only means my camera
and I have been having a hard time capturing
acceptable photos.

This little piece came about because I felt like
painting a little sunflower and lots of tendrils.
As I painted a Mandela also appeared.
I must say, I do enjoy painting sunflowers.
Always so bright, sunny and cheery.
Enjoy!

30 days of painting, here we go again.

30 paintings in 30 days you say?  

Yes, I am kind of sort of doing another 30 paintings in 30 days.  Or more like I am committing to painting every day for the next 30 days.  

First off, I paint way to slow to do a painting a day. 

Second, I am not really in the mood to do 30 little paintings.  I've been waiting to go bigger and I think my mojo has finally caught up with this desire. 

Third, the point of painting 30 paintings in 30 days is to get you painting every day.  So that is what I'll be doing.  This should in turn mean you'll be receiving an email a bit more frequently this month with some new painting insights.  I will say, if all continues to go well, the painting I am working on right now will be a good one.  

We shall see? :-)

In the meantime. please enjoy one of my most 

favorite paintings. 

Cheers!

The Space Between
16"s16" Original Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas
Click for a Closer Look

Getting my Mojo back.....slowly

Undertow

Undertow
6"x6" Original Oil on Archival Panel
Click for a Closer Look

Some of you may have noticed that it's been
a while since my last post.
Apparently, summer in Vegas sucks the creative
mojo life right out of me!
One day a few weeks back, I was
talking with my teacher, mentor and
a very dear and wise friend.
In her no nonsense words, she said:
"Karen, I don't care if the only thing that
you can paint is fucking circles,
just get to your painting
table and PAINT!"
So I did what I was told to do (for once)
I put out my favorite colors on my palette.
I started with a beloved swirl.
Stopped thinking and just let myself play with color.
It took me 3 days to paint what you see here.
I am a very slow painter. :-)
But I am happy with the results.

Since that kick in the butt 3 weeks ago
(thank you Jeanne),
I have painted at least a little bit,
almost daily.
This is a very good thing!
As always, thanks for letting me share
my art with you and spending a few moments of your time with me.