6 x 8 in.

Of all of my paintings, none have the title of Creative Thursday, this is the first. If I were to translate through paint what Creative Thursday feels like to me, this is it. (And for something different, in honor of a special painter out there, I painted this with my left hand instead of my right).

(It’s still not too late, if you want to create. I’m on California time and there are still a good 6 hours left of this Thursday.)

Thanks again to everyone who shared their work with me today and if you come up with something in the final hours of this Creative Thursday, let me know!

(click here to buy original)

*Edit* Friday, September 29 ~ I have listed it as a print over at the Etsy Shop. And, I’ll be back later with more Creative Thursday creations to share!

5 x 7 in. acrylic on wood

by the oh so lovely and talented Cathy Nichols, my good friend and co-conspirator in turning Creative Thursday into a national, annual holiday :)

a second Creative Thursday creation

Ok, this owl is gorgeous and so peaceful. I LOVE him!!
Annie is a wonderful illustrator living all the way in Alaska. And needless to say, she already has snow where she lives. :)
Thank you for sharing your snowy owl Annie! You can read more about him right here.

6 x 6 oil on panel by Debbie Miller

Debbie just sent over the first creation for today’s Creative Thursday. It’s beautiful and I absolutely love the sentiment. To read more about it, click here.

I’m very touched that this little creative movement is inspiring you all to create. Thank you so much for sharing your work with me, with us!!

I’m getting excited for Halloween already! I know it’s still September, but October is next week and I can’t resist. In honor of my impatience/excitement of the season I have listed one of my favorite daily paintings from 2006 as a print over at Etsy just for the month of October.
This is a small print, 5.5" x 5.5" for $18. You can find him right here.

I’ll be right back to share with you the first Creative Thursday creation!!

"Sundance" 9 x 12, acrylic on canvas

I hope you’ll join me for a Creative Thursday tomorrow! If you’ve been looking for an excuse to be creative, tomorrow’s the day.

This painting, "Sundance" was my very first piece that I created when I made my "return" to a life as an artist. It is very special to me, a symbol of where I was headed and where I’ve now landed. All I did is lay a tarp out on my bed, (yes, my bed, not some fancy studio, not even a desk) and start painting one day...and it hasn’t stopped since.

So, don’t think about it too much ~ just make something fun, anything, anything that makes you happy and if you feel like sharing it with me, I’d love to see it!

5 x 7 in.

Alrighty then! Lots of exciting things here at Creative Thursday!! And due to a continuing stream of commissions, upcoming projects for the holidays, and another show this time in New York in December, I will be releasing all of the newest daily paintings (after today) in October, as I did for the month of September. And as before, I’ll be sure to give you sneak peeks of some of the paintings before the sale. Until then here’s a polar bear for you to enjoy.
(original is sold)

psst....Don’t forget that this Thursday September 27th is Creative Thursday for everyone to be creative!!!!!!!

4 x 4 in.

And just like that, summer turned to fall. All day yesterday, we anxiously awaited our "Los Angeles" version of a storm (and yes, I know those of you living in much harsher weather climates will laugh at me now). But, when you haven’t seen a drop of rain in what feels like an eternity, (8 months maybe?), a tiny terrential down pour is very EXCITING!!! Late last night the rains came, even a little a bit of lightning and the cool weather followed. So hard to believe that we were just in that crazy heat wave 3 weeks ago. I guess that’s why we call it "seasons changing".

For any number of reasons, probably because I’m mostly loving my life these days ~ I really get into the everything, especially this whole "seasons changing" situation. I used to miss the little day to day things around me, in favor of more "exciting" things, but not anymore. Now you cannot believe how excited I was to have our first fire in the fire place last night (thank you Sean) to make chicken noodle soup, to wear a sweater and jeans, and to be making chili tomorrow. Does this mean I’ve officially become a domestic goddess and/or that I LOVE food. Probably so.

And just like that I traded my flip flops in for my UGGs.

I hope you’re having a nice fall weekend wherever you are.

(click here to buy original)

ps ~ thanks so much for all the comments and emails about "jessica"...I will be doing more in that style.

Pfeiffer Beach, 8 x 6 in. oil on linen panel by Justin Clayton

In keeping with this random theme for this week. Meet one of my favorite "realistic" style artists, Justin Clayton (also introduced in one of my very first podcasts). A fellow daily painter, in fact the very one that inspired me to daily paint (many thanks Justin!!), Justin is recording his 20 day trip with daily paintings as he travels down the coast of California. He is now officially 10 days in and also has a beach paintings blog where you can follow along.

I discovered Justin and the idea of daily painting while thumbing through Domino Magazine last summer. They featured a number of artists in an article about painting a day art bloggers, and Justin’s work just caught my eye. Since he lived in Los Angeles at the time, Sean and I had the pleasure of meeting he and his wife for lunch one day. Such nice, nice people and such a wonderful artist. I’ve been on Justin’s daily painting email list for a year now and am still hoping to own one of his originals. (They all sell out, so you’ve got to move on one when you want it, if you manage to keep up with the other bidders on Ebay!)

Justin is yet another shining example of an artist making a living doing what they love. After being laid off from his job, he too was inspired by the "daily painting" movement, and in January of 2006 made a New Year’s resolution to create a painting a day. Nearly two years later, he’s still at it and each piece he creates is a special one.

6 x 8 in.

All this talk about "realistic" style painting and I thought I would challenge myself, do something TOTALLY different, and paint a person in a more realistic style. It was so fun, and a tiny bit scary, because as I said before, I’m not much of a portrait-type girl. What was interesting with this painting, was finding the balance between "copying" the photograph exactly and letting the style that I’ve developed re-emerge back into the piece, which on some level created a slightly different personality. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’ve decided to post it right after the photograph that inspired it.
click here to buy original.

photo from Spoonfedart, Bumblebee pendant worn by model

Another kindred spirit in the creative world, my good friend Karin, the artist behind Spoonfedart, just updated her website with these beautiful new photographs, and pendant designs. To celebrate, she’s offering free shipping for the month of September! All I can say is that you cannot believe how gorgeous these pendants are in person. You simply cannot take your eye off them.

9 x 12 in.

How about these two little princesses? If you own a King Charles Spaniel or you happen to know one, maybe you’ll agree that these are some of the sweetest little dogs ever. They just have the softest temperaments. This was a surprise gift for someone (a special commission) and I heard that they were thrilled to get it!

And to the answer the question in the comments about the more "realistic" look of the commissions ~ Yes, I do tend to do some of the pet paintings in a more realistic style because I am trying to capture an individual animal. I find that the personality is all in the eyes, so getting the eyes "right" is very important to me. With that said, I’m not really a fan of traditional portrait work, so I try to keep my style in each piece, (which is of course why people come to me anyway).

When I started painting 20 years ago now, I would paint everything from a photograph, or a still life in a super realistic style. I’ve since decided that this is how you learn. Once you know how to represent an image "exactly" you can continue to hone the craft of painting realistically, or you can branch off into your own very unique style. I find that many times people confuse artistic talent, especially in painting or drawing, with the level of realism an artist achieves (also a special talent, but not the only kind). Often the people that paint or draw in a naive style with very simple lines, have chosen to depart from the "still life" style. (I like to think that I am one of these artists. The style I am presently working in is my choice of painting, creating art that resonates with me.) I have always been attracted to other art with a "simpler" style (although the amazing Andrew Wyeth was one of my early favorites), often amazed at what lies behind that simpler style of the artists I admire. I’ll have to show you some very early work sometime, so you can see how it started for me.

Thanks for the well wishes and the updates from those of you who attended the show. I heard it was a great turnout and a lot of fun! And paintings were sold, and that’s always FANTASTIC!!

photo from the Nahcotta blog

There’s my work in the bottom left hand corner getting ready to go up. If you can make it to the opening tonight, you’ll have to let me know how it goes. I’ll be there in spirit and in my art. I seriously thought about attending, but was afraid that I would buy so much art that I wouldn’t be able to afford to come home! They have 343 pieces of art (can you believe it?). It’s going to be a great show!! happy weekend :)

me and Bea, July 2007

So glad the move went well and so great to catch up with you!!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with for Creative Thursday! :) Lots of love to you.

All the newest daily paintings are available for sale right here!

*Edit* later today ~ I’ve released a few new ones as prints over Etsy. Time for newness all around. Happy Creative Thursday!

4 x 4 in.

Just a little reminder, that tomorrow is the first time I’m releasing the daily paintings all at once! Silliness I know, still the same - there’s just a new excitement to sharing all of them, all at the same time. Of course, I couldn’t wait and released several here on the blog and through my emails already! But there are some cuties, I have up my sleeve that will only be seen for the first time tomorrow.
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm about this mini event ~ it means a lot :) And thanks for the well wishes about feeling better. I’m happy to report that the usual energy levels are kicking in again, and then I thought, maybe just maybe, I wasn’t sick, I’m just working too much. That’s the thing with doing work you love this much, the lines get blurred on when to stop working. Yesterday, I had such a surge of creativity that I painted all day. I cherish those days. It’s like the "idea" door swings wide open, and an endless stream of ideas just come flowing in and you can hardly move fast enough to put them all down. I hope you enjoy them tomorrow!
Nighty night.

Artist Claudine Hellmuth’s blog

It’s always so exciting to watch a fellow artist step out into the "big time" and by "big time" I mean national (especially television) exposure! As an artist, I’m always following other artists that inspire me. Claudine Hellmuth is one of them. I don’t know her personally, but she’s a fellow Florida girl (I lived there for 14 years) and she shares the pages of Creatively Self Employed with me, and she feels like a fellow kindred spirit in the creative world. Claudine creates beautiful, fun, spirited collage and illustration work , and when you read her blog you come to know the heart behind it all. That’s why I LOVE when artists have blogs. It’s such a wonderful glimpse into person and their world behind the art. Anyway, today is a very exciting day for Claudine as she will be demonstrating her art along side Martha Stewart. And it’s an exciting day for everyone else, because for those of you who don’t yet know her, today’s your chance to learn about yet another fabulous artist!!
A big congratulations to Claudine!! You can watch her today on NBC, at 2 pm pacific time.

*Edit* later today ~ Claudine was wonderful, so charming, gracious, happy and she looked fabulous! And not to mentinon that she handled Martha’s questions (about the weight of the metal board? of all things?!) with incredible ease!! She’s a natural.

4 x 4 in.
Sending out lots of love today. If you’re a person needing some extra love today, this is for you.

6 x 8 in. Jack the chihuahua and Rita the yorkie
Another commission on its way to its new home. I’m a little under the weather over here and as a result things are a bit foggy today. Hoping to get some rest over the next day couple of days, so I can be ready for the online sale!

"urban bloom" 6 x 6 in.

All the latest daily paintings will be released for sale next Thursday, September 13. As I mentioned before, I’ll let my "daily painting" email subscribers know the minute they are released and then I’ll announce it here on the blog sometime after that. It’s kind of exciting to release them all together. And it’s been hard not to want to share each one with you when they’re finished, so I can’t wait until next Thursday!
(psst ~ and if you like this one, I released it as a print over at Etsy)

and a very happy weekend to ya!

but orgainze them with fun art stuff and such!

The first day of last week’s heat wave was spent in the air conditioning of IKEA purchasing my new Alex drawers. That same night was spent putting the Alex together...3 hours later (you know how those IKEA instructions are...) and 1 week later on a much cooler day, I finally organized the Alex.

And oh, my gosh, is this thing wonderful! For years I’ve been longing for those big metal flat files that so many architects/artists have, but alas I live up 36 stairs in a small house in a canyon, no room for a flat file and certainly not enough strength to carry it up all those stairs. But my dreams have been temporarily answered with the Alex. Thanks to Holly for suggesting these on her blog (You can see hers by the way, in her newly renovated work space here). They’ve been out for over a year and I can’t believe that I missed them. I don’t want you to miss them, so I share them with you now :).

If you’re an artist they’re perfect for paintings, drawings, you name it. I can’t believe how much it holds. As you can see it makes a nice printer stand too. And just the right size for a small work space, and if you have a large work space I’d get three of these babies!! And it’s on wheels... a gem, I tell you!

Cathy painting "Creative Thursday"

Ok, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, but here goes! While on vacation in France my lovely friend Cathy painted an abstract painting that she titled "Creative Thursday". Since she painted it on a Thursday the name seemed fitting.

So, this got me thinking...If you know the story of Creative Thursday, then you know that it all started about 8 years ago. While working the usual 9 - 5 gig, I decided to set aside 1 day a week for more creativity in my life. It’s pretty exciting to realize that it has grown into a full time business that now, happily includes daily creating!

Since I hear from many of you, that you are following this blog for inspiration to pursue your own creative dreams, I thought it might be fun to throw out a "Universal" Creative Thursday. Not to worry, this won’t be a regular commitment, just one day, Thursday, September 27, 2007 (date decided by Cathy during our recent dinner/creative brainstorming) :)

So, if you’ve been looking for a reason to commit to your creativity, here it is. Join me on September 27 in creating something you love whether it be poetry, painting, music, a very short film, a short story, baking a cake, knitting, sewing, sculpting. The only "rule" is that it be completed that day. If you don’t know where to start, you can always use the concept of Creative Thursday as your theme. What does it mean to you?

I will be sharing my work with you and if you feel like sharing your work with me, I’d love to share some here on the blog. You can email me a link to what you create, or a photo of you creating and we’ll go from there.

No pressure to participate of course, just a chance to take the next step if you’ve been wanting to. And if you’re already stepping out, keep on and keeping on and make something new! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!!!!

*Edit* Sept. 7, I also meant to say~ please feel free to pass this on ~ imagine if we get a whole bunch people creating on the same day? There must be even the slightest chance the we could get a little closer to world peace. happy people = peaceful people :)

6 x 6 in.

All the art is officially off to Nahcotta for the Enormous Tiny Art Show ii. Can I just say, that this is going to be an AMAZING show!! Check it out for yourself. You can preview all the pieces online, as they arrive at Nahcotta’s Flickr . (There are 167 images up already!). Here are just a few of my favorites below. The show opens next Friday, September 14 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

my first day of kindergarten ~
thanks for holding my hand mom, I remember being pretty scared on that day (as is evidenced by the half attempt of a smile through the fear for this photo). I also remember being very fond of my new dress, and the little white thing pinned to my dress, is a name tag cut in the shape of a dachsund. Nice!

I woke up this morning to cool air!!! After the heat wave, we’ve had you have no idea how amazing it feels to know that it will only reach 85º today and that I could’ve put on a hoodie this morning. I think we’ve made it! Thanks for asking Kelly. I realize I’ve been whining a bit about this heat, but apparently it’s been record breaking and reported on the news (and that makes it important you know!) We’ve been without television also for the last couple of weeks, so I have no idea what’s going on out there, also probably the reason why I am so very focused on my neighborhood.
Which speaking of, I’ve also woken up to the first day of elementary school across the street. My morning peace and quiet might be gone, but I’ll take the cool weather any day.
And, this reminds, I’m still so THRILLED that I don’t have first days of school anymore. Honestly when I was kid, I used to dream of being adult looking forward to the life of luxury I would live that would no longer include school everyday. Yesterday, a family had their little kindergartner in tow, crying that "he didn’t want to go" (to the kindergarten orientation that is) Obviously, he shares my sentiment.

Elizabeth and I are collaborating again! This time the original painting as well as a limited edition print of 15 are available, exclusively at Twig. And you know Lola, and this is her friend Emery and their friend Frederique (with the scarf)...(more scarves in paintings...I must be longing for fall.)

5 x 7 in.
Oh, little dog in the bear/mouse suit, I love you so!
I often like to go "against the grain" of what everyone else is doing, (I think this may just be the result of life in a big city, you know play when everyone else works and work when everyone else plays?), so I decided to labor on labor day and this is the result...and another sneak peek.

per request...
Who says 6’5" can’t fit in a kiddie pool?
Beer, baseball and pool. This is the LIFE! and pretty much how we spent life this past weekend in this crazy heat...along with a couple of very fun surfing days!!!
All we’re missing is that AMAZING margarita machine, that we heard so much about!

I’m being beckoned to the pool. Yes, that’s right, it’s a kiddie pool ~ and we don’t have any kids. But on 100º days like today, with no air conditioning and rolling black outs (so you can’t even use your fan), let me tell you there’s nothing like having a pool in the backyard, even if it is only the size of small dining table. (Did I mention that it has an iflatable bottom? key, to the comfort of a kiddie pool!)

happy holiday weekend!

pretty, pretty, pretty
Finally, my first ever Etsy Treasury! Just a few of my favs. (people and artists)
I have to say, pretty darn exciting, and pretty darn fun. Now that I finally know how to make one of these lists...I’ll be back to make another one soon.
You can see it right here, only for the next 2 days (psst. all of the art is for sale).

ummm, yes! but it takes her 2 years to finish one sock...
Last weekend, while driving in 4 hours of Southern California Saturday traffic, I finally finished my first knitted sock! Having knitted only scarves before, with just 2 needles - it’s very satisfying to knit a sock, especially knowing that you managed to make it using 4 needles and that you managed to make it without any holes.

I’ll meet you back again here in 2 more years when I finish my second sock. (in case you’re wondering, the yarn (a special "sock" yarn) comes patterned to create all the interest with the different colors, I’m not that fancy a knitter.)