Portrait of me by Susan Carlin

Painted by Susan Carlin

I was so blessed to have swapped portraits with the well known portrait artist, Susan Carlin. At the time I painted her portrait (seen in previous post) I didn't know who I was painting and if I had, I'd have been quite intimidated. Didn't she do a marvelous job! As she softened my facial lines a bit I love that I look in my 40's again! I'm so thrilled with it that I had to share it with you all who don't visit Karin's blog, Different Strokes From Different Folks, where this portrait swap originated.

If you'd like to take the time to follow Susan in painting this portrait, click here for the two sessions on USTREAM of her live demos. I think the total time for the two or maybe three videos is about 2 1/2 hours in length. Be sure to begin on the Dec 23 video if you want to start at the beginning.

I haven't been painting much in December, wonder why? lol And it looks like I'm going to have to delay getting back to it for a week or two. I just HAVE to clean my space!! If I lay one thing down for a second it takes me 15 minutes to find it again. Actually my entire house is like this. Today I spent time cleaning out kitchen cabinets and rearranging the contents to make life a bit easier. I need that everywhere. In my studio and office, I'm experiencing stress from all the clutter and disorganization around me. I just can't paint without creating a more relaxing environment. It's ironic that my husband and I run and operate a house cleaning business and do this all week for others but don't take the time to do ANYTHING at our house. Ugh! what a mess! So the next few days/weeks are for me to find peace in my home. I can't wait to get back to painting and in a clean studio.

I hope your New Year Celebrations are safe, fun and usher in a prosperous and blessed new year. Happy 2010!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

May God's love bring you much peace and many blessings this Christmas.
And Happy Holidays to you all!

13"x 10" oil pastel on illustration board. Illlustration for Moody Monthly Magazine. (mid 1980's)

DSFDF 2009 Portrait Swap

8"x 10" Oil on linen panel.

This painting has been submitted to the 2009 portrait swap challenge on Karin Jurick's blog. After a year of biweekly challenges Karin gives each participating artist a "mystery" artist to paint for the month of December. That artist is painting our own portrait and at the end of the month we swap our portraits. It is something we all look forward to and I can't wait to see who this lovely artist is. Check out Karin's blog, "Different Strokes for Different Strokes" to see the different portraits posted all month.

I worked on this painting over two days, keeping the painting wet in the freezer overnight to continue to work wet into wet. The total time was about 12 hours. I hope she loves it and it is somewhat of a likeness. The funny thing is that I see myself in this portrait. That scares me a bit. hehe.

The Bridge of Sighs, Venice - SOLD

"The Bridge of Sighs"

6"x 8" Oil on gessoed board.

The painting is based on a photo from my trip to Italy and Greece in 2006. I was so blessed to have been given this trip by my parents. Mom and I went on a Collette Vacations combination cruise and bus trip, taking us to Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Santorini, the Island of Rhodes and Dubrovnik, Croatia, just to name the highlights.
My photos are so precious that I select them to paint from only on rare occasions. I think I'm subconsciously waiting to paint these scenes until I'm a "better" painter, feeling inadequate to communicate what was such a profound experience for me. My time in Venice was a mere half day, just long enough to give me a taste of it's beauty and to fall in love with it forever. This image has been in my "ready to paint" file for three years now and I see this as a study in the future for something larger.

sold