Sunset Red

The sprawling valley sunset theme continues on into another one of my works.
I was feeling spooktacular and thinking of fall prematurely since I did this one last April.

I love the look of bare trees just as much as they are when they are full.

The red ball ablaze in the orage liquid sky hanging over the cool hills. A day's last hour before nightfall.

Sunset Red is one of my husband's favorite pieces and tells me all the time that I can't sell it. Halloween lovers I think will particularly like this image. (We are huge fans of the holiday.) So the original may appear for sale eventually.

Mountain Bird

I have been fortunate enough in my life to see mountains in a desert. I can appreciate every color and find peace in the feeling of stillness and joy in a flutter of feathered wings.

Inspiration and motivations are close cousins.

Those moments tend to smack me in the face while I'm driving. I was driving to my parents house last spring down Randal road the sun was at that right angle that it throws rays through the windows across your face. The sunlight catches every blade of grass and hides just as quickly behind the tree line. The tall grass that lines the ditch sways in the breeze and I'm taking my sweet time soaking it in because we only get so many of these moments. We had an unusal warm spring.

I see an oriole flitter from the power line to the grass and BAM! Jessie needs to draw...


So I go home and get the oil pastels out and play with my memories and the drive home and came up with my mountain bird.

I loved playing with the black of the feathers, teal and purples with the orange red tips of the wings...
I let the rough texture take over for this piece.
Its not even fair to look at this on a computer screen. The original artwork is very vibrant! One of my favorite art moments, unsuspected and wonderful.

The bird seems to pause bending its perch like I paused in my daydream on the way home that day.

So I can say I don't mind being hit by inspiration and motivation once the daydream is over. Those moments can keep coming.

Abstract Oils

There are moments when I think I can see a still frame from the movie inside my head, just a glimpse of an image. In that split second I find an abstract view. The details don't always come to focus until I start working on an abstract piece. This was the case for the fish and the lady bug.

In a Blink of Blue
I saw this fish during yoga! There I am trying not to fall over and all I can picture is this fish swimming by so fast it pushes the green weeds only I saw them in slow motion. Like a crazy action scene in a movie. Fast and slow at the same time. When I got around to drawing him I didn't put his full form in the frame, I had him glance timidly to where we are, the scuba people. A reason I truly enjoy working with my fingers only for oil is that I can create a texture with just the right about of pressure-his scales.

Lady of the Leaf

Lady bugs are cute. I like the spots! What started me on this piece is that I wanted to play with blue tones on leaves. I saw a lady bug on a window sill and she was not a true red. She had an undertone of orange like the sun made her tye dye. She flew off to the bush and left me thinking of dew drops and leaf shadows. 

This piece has a special moment attached to it. When I was with my friend and photographer Carolyn McAfee, her daughter took a liking to this piece. She even drew with colored pencils a mini version of it! For an artist to inspire someone else to create is so amazing, especially a child. I find great joy in memory whenever I see this The Lady of the Leaf. 

If you think having inspiration hit when your bent funny and half upside down is tricky try always getting hit with it while driving. A quirk to my creativity that inspired my next post.