The 100th!

Today marks my 100th daily painting! This is a little shop that I've wanted to paint for a while. It's a little surf shop/clothing store on Linden Ave in Carpinteria. They usually have brightly colored surf boards out front, and a minty green exterior which just cries out to me to be painted.

The Surf Shop - Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5x5 inches

SOLD

Clean - Lemon Still Life Oil Painting - 5x5

It's going to be a busy and long weekend, I'm very excited! Zach named this little painting, because it "made him feel clean".

Oil on ampersand gessobord, 5x5 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

The Baby Avocado - Still Life Oil Painting - 5x7

This was the tiniest avocado I have ever seen, it was so cute I just had to paint it. And I love the background color, teal blue and that particular shade of green is one of my favorite color combinations.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 5x7 inches

SOLD

Kauai Stormy Day - Original Hawaiian Landscape Painting - 6x12

I had a lot of fun painting this one, I especially liked the way the clouds turned out. Which is good, I'm sure I'll be painting many more cloudy scenes now that June gloom is upon us.

Oil on cradled panel, 6x12 inches

SOLD

Amsterdam Sunset - Landscape Oil Painting - 6x6

I love how this one turned out, it's just made me happy all day! Definitely one of my favorites.

Oil on Ampersand panel, 6x6 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

The Storm Passing Over - Amsterdam Oil Painting - 6x6

It was nice to take a break from all the beachy scenes I've been painting. Not that I don't enjoy them, but it's nice to stretch out a little. This piece is painted from a photo I took while I was in Amsterdam, the heavy clouds that day made the bits of light shining through very dramatic.

Oil on Ampersand panel, 6x6 inches

To purchase this painting click here

Something's In The Air - California Landscape Oil Painting - 6x6

I painted this one rather quickly, and that's usually a recipe for disaster, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I think I'm liking all my paintings of sunset better than the ones at dawn, they just feel warmer...which is usually something my color palette lacks, since I favor green and blue so much.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

By the Sea II - Carpinteria Landscape Oil Painting - 12x12

Sometimes I like to think of my little 6x6 paintings as oil sketches, they let me test out a composition without a huge commitment. And if I do a little sketch that I think turned out well then I would be a little foolish to not make something more out of it right? I'm a little torn on the subject.

But here is a larger version of one of my smaller paintings from a few weeks ago. I'm trying to get a few more large pieces done for a show next weekend. Of course "large" is only 12x12 since that's all I can really fit in our tiny temp apartment. Hopefully when we move I'll convince myself to work on much larger paintings, that would of course take a lot longer than one day.

Oil on hardboard panel, 12x12 inches

SOLD

Sunrise in the Park - Carpinteria Landscape Oil Painting - 10x10

I think this is my third or fourth painting of the park across the street from us. It is by far my favorite one. I really like how the tree trunks turned out, and I was hesitant about adding that building (actually it's the Island Brewing Company) but I think it's ok. Overall I'm pleased :)

Anyway, off to the post office to ship some paintings, my husband and I got bicycles last weekend, now errands are fun.

Oil on hardboard panel, 10x10 inches

SOLD

The Seuss Tree II - California Landscape Painting - 6x6

Another painting of the Seuss trees, I found even more on my run this morning. Their points and angles made them really fun to paint.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

The Seuss Tree I - California Landscape Painting - 6x6

Doesn't this tree look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book? I saw it by the beach one day and I just had to paint it. There were others around it too, they'll be making up tomorrow's painting.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

Carpinteria Campgrounds II - Landscape Oil Painting - 12x12

This is the larger version of yesterday's painting. I'm not completely satisfied with it, and I even did a few touch ups on it a few hours after I finished (something I never do). I think I only made things worse. The actual painting looks a lot better than this photo, it's cloudy today and for some reason I can't get a good shot of anything. I'm trying to paint a few more 12x12 pieces (the biggest size I have at the moment) so I'll actually have something to show at the end of May.

Oil on gessoed panel, 12x12 inches

SOLD

Carpinteria Campgrounds - Landscape Oil Painting - 6x6

I was walking by the campgrounds one morning and I couldn't believe how bright and beautiful the colors were! I usually like to exaggerate my colors, but this time I didn't even have to. I plan on doing a larger version of this tomorrow.

Oil on gessobord panel, 6x6 inches

SOLD

This morning I was worried that my paintings were too different (a thought I never expected, because landscapes and still life's aren't shocking). But maybe they're too bright, too small, too brushy, I don't know. But I like the work I'm doing right now, and I guess I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than 100 people's ninth favorite thing.

8th Street at Dawn - Carpinteria Oil Painting - 10x10

I liked how the sun was shining on all these little yellow houses, making them even brighter than they are already. And I couldn't wait to paint those big dark trees above, which just a few of their branches catching the morning sunlight.

Oil on gessoed panel, 10x10 inches

SOLD

The Three Pears - Still life oil painting - 8x8

I sold three paintings in town today, hooray! I always translate my earnings into how many weeks of groceries I could buy. Today I earned a months worth! So we won't be going hungry any time soon :)

Oil on canvas panel, 8x8 inches

SOLD

Palms on the Beach - Santa Barbara Landscape - 6x6

I really liked the shadows around these palm trees around sunset last night. Trying to get more motivated to paint on my larger surfaces again. Sometimes I feel like it's big commitment, and I should just see how it turns out on a smaller size first.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches.

SOLD

By the Sea - Carpinteria Oil Painting - 6x6

I don't know whose idea it was to paint these condos by the beach this weird peach color, I feel like the whole painting has a 1980's feel because of it. But I kind of like it :)

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

Tall and Slender, Dusk - Carpinteria Palm Trees - 6x12

This is another version of a painting I did a few weeks ago. But at sunset instead of early morning. I really liked the first one, but I think I like this one even more. I didn't know if I would be able to portray the time of day accurately, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Oil on panel, 6x12 inches

SOLD

3rd Street - Carpinteria Landscape - 6x6

I loved how bright this grass was in the sun this morning. I also liked the bright blue of the boat cover next to it...but I couldn't get it as bright as it actually was, even though I have probably 7 different blues to work with.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

Yellow on Blue - Lemon Still Life Oil Painting - 6x6

Another little still life for today, using the same technique as yesterday. I love how the brushstrokes on the plate turned out, they are exactly what I wanted. I don't usually use these panels for still lifes, I feel like they're a little to smooth for such open shapes, but I really enjoyed working on them for these last two paintings.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

Plate for Two - Still life oil painting - 6x6

A very happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there :)

A little still life for today. I was trying out a slightly different process while I painted this one. I usually lay down a sort of brownish ground and then pencil in my composition on top, well I ran out of lead in my pencil, and since we're still in temp housing there were no other pencils around. So this one was marked in with paint...that always made me nervous before, like I would ruin the painting before I even started. This time it worked very well, I don't think I'll ever go back.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

May Sunset II - California Landscape - 6x6

First Friday was last night, and it went better than I hoped! I had so much fun, and even sold three paintings. And Carpinteria is the cutest little town, I just love hanging out here. Thank you to Leigh Sparks for letting me join her in her shop :)

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

May Sunset - Landscape Oil Painting - 6x6

The same little scene I have painted before, but at sunset instead of dawn. It's interesting how different the colors became. This one is a lot warmer than the others.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches -SOLD

To view this item in my shop click here

Lemon Love - Still life oil painting - 12x12

I wanted to give up on this painting so many times. But I fought through it, and five hours later I had this.

And tomorrow I get to participate in my first "First Friday Artwalk", here in Carpinteria. I'm very excited, and hoping more of my paintings dry by then so I can show them!

Oil on stretched canvas, 12x12 inches

SOLD

May - Carpinteria Landscape Oil Painting - 12x12

I really liked the smaller version I did of this scene (posted here). So I decided it would be worth it to paint a larger one. I think I actually like this one better than the first...and I might just be tempted to keep it for myself :)

Oil on panel, 12x12 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

Somehow Familiar - Landscape Oil Painting - 6x6

There's a certain part of my new neighborhood that really reminds me of the Dharma houses in Lost...I thinks it's because they're all painted in pastel colors or bright yellow. I feel like I should look out for polar bears when I walk through it.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches -SOLD

To purchase this painting click here

The last few days of painting have been terribly frustrating. I was on a good streak for awhile, for five days in a row I loved everything I made. Now, nothing, everything looks horrible to me. Luckily I've learned that these things go in cycles, I just have to keep at it.

and the winner is...

#55 Julia!

Congratulations! Thank you so much to everyone who entered. It was so nice reading everyone's comments, thanks for all your kind words! And I hope some of you new followers stick around because I'll definitely be doing other giveaways soon!

Coastal Park - Oil Landscape Painting - 6x12

This is the view from our window in the morning, I love how the morning sun casts long shadows on the field... makes me want to do cartwheels.

Oil on panel, 6x12 inches

SOLD

The Duck - Original Oil Painting - 6x6

I don't usually paint animals, but there was something about this duck and his shadow that needed to be painted. And I just love ducks. Especially white ones, we used to have a duck that looked just like this one...he was best friends with our dog, and would sleep on top of him. Also, a little bit of trivia, you can tell that this is a boy duck by the little curl on his tail :)

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches

SOLD

And tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway!

Carpinteria Salt Marsh at Dawn - Landscape oil painting - 6x6

This is one of my favorite places in Carpinteria, especially in the morning. And there are some of the craziest looking birds in this marsh (anyone who knows me knows how excited I get about birds). One looked like it had the body of a penguin, but with really long legs, best. bird. ever.

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6x6 inches - SOLD

To purchase this painting click here