Hibiscus Blossom for Sale

Here's another small 5x5 gallery-wrapped oil painting that I'm posting to my auction site on Daily Paintworks.  $25  minimum bid, plus $10 S&H in the US.  If you would like to bid on this painting, click here:

Daily Paintworks

Or you can:

Pecan Street Festival for Sale

Please bear with me as I try to get my auction stuff to work. The business of art is HARD, and I am not very computer-saavy!!!

This is another painting I'm reposting as I am putting it up for auction on my Daily Paintworks site. I saw this person at the Pecan Street Festival in Austin a few years ago, very intent on the art displayed on the outside of a tent. The painting was fun to do and came together rather quickly.

It's a 10x8-inch oil on canvas board. Minimum bid is $80, plus $10 S&H in the US.

If you'd like to bid, please go to: Daily Paintworks.

Or you can:

Cactus Blossom For Sale

Cactus Blossom, image size 5x5, oil on 1.5-inch gallery wrapped canvas, painted on sides

$25 minimum bid, plus $10 S&H within United States

Click here to bid

Or click here to buy now:

I am attempting to set up an auction site for my work on Daily Paintworks, and this is the first sale item. I apologize if something does not work yet, but will keep at it.

The Chicken? Or The Egg?

Pastel, image 6x6

Pastel, image 12x12

I'm still playing in my studio; it's just to hot to be serious! I'll leave it to you to decide which one I painted first, and to decide how they should be hung together: the chicken first, or the egg? They'll be framed in gold plein air frames, made to be companion paintings. I think they'll go in a show I'll be in next January at Stinger Studio in Georgetown, with A Group of Five. If you don't know about our new group, check out the link here on my blog.

Stay cool, Y'all!

Listen To The Night Birds

I was a bit tired of trying to paint seriously, of second-guessing whether my work was good enough to enter into shows or put on my blog, of listening to my friends' suggestions on how to "fix" my confidence or improve my art, what to paint, where to show. I finally decided that I needed to listen less to all the other voices around me, no matter how much they cared about me, and more to my own voice. And if I wanted to play and waste time and pastel and paper, then I would.

This painting resulted from such a play session, laying down broad swaths of my favorite colors, doodling swirls and wiggles and blocking in shapes. First I began to see one bird, and then others flocked to join it, and then it was just a matter of letting my imagination go and adding all the fun details to see their personalities emerge. From this jumping-off point, I've started painting other silly creatures. For the FUN of it.

The upshot? I'm enjoying my studio again, even if it is hotter than... a Texas heatwave, and even if I'm not painting award-winning work. Hooray for art! Hooray for fun! Hooray for me!

Pastel on Gatorboard, image 18x24

Looky Looky, Here's My Studio

Another painting project that isn't exactly IN my studio, but pretty close to it... My studio used to be a walk-up attic off our kitchen, but right after we moved in, my sweet hubbie converted it to studio space for me. When friends come over, they always ask where the studio is, since our house is basically a single-story and they don't think it could be upstairs.

So one day, during lunch as I sat looking at the blank white door, another painting project came over me. The letters are painted in my favorite colors: turquoise, periwinkle, orange, lime green, and school-bus yellow, and decorated all over with mini-designs. My little child is really coming out again!

I HAVE Been Painting, Honest!

OK, so I haven't been posting to my blog in I don't know how long... I'll blame it on the hideous heat we've been having here in Texas for the last two months, and not wanting to trudge up to my attic studio which is HOT no matter how high I crank up the AC. But it's partly that I, like my garden outdoors, am burned out. Tired of struggling so seriously with my art. So I've been doing some other painting around the house.

The antique dresser has gorgeous burled walnut front panels but had awful elm side and top panels, so I painted it glossy black on the top and glossy stripes on the sides. Quite natty, now, I think. The drop-leaf antique desk was boring dark dark DARK mahogany, and it's now glossy yellow-green, just the color of the inside of a ripe avocado- yum! Our house feels more relaxed, too.

Do these painting projects count? Maybe not, but they were liberating and fun to do, and now I'm back in my studio, but painting silly things. More to come later!

Peony Blues

This is the second painting I completed at a recent workshop in Cypress Mill with Vie Dunn-Harr, in which you used an abstract painting as your underpainting, and then overlaid a subject based on complementing colors. I attended the workshop with my dear friend Janine, and we had a great time painting together and gabbing on the 45-minute trips each way for the three days of the workshop. Thanks, Janine, for suggesting we take Vie's workshop again, it was wonderful!

Oil, 30x24

A Prickly Subject

I took another workshop a couple of weeks ago with Vie Dunn-Harr, a San Antonio artist who does amazing floral abstracts and teaches her unusual techniques in a 3-day workshop at Dena Wenmohs Bunkhouse. The last time I took this workshop, I painted a floral (A Sensitive Bromeliad) and a parrot painting (Jungle Siesta), proving that, as Vie says, the technique will work with any subject. This painting has some of Vie's touches; she loves to show rather than tell you how to fix problems. I was frustrated as usual, since I rarely do well in workshops, but in the end liked both paintings I came home with. I'll post the other as soon as I photograph it.

Oil, 12x12

Moody River I and II

Moody River II (on Uart) above, Moody River I (on black Canson) below.
These two paintings were done in a recent APS workshop with Liz Haywood-Sullivan, a beautiful pastel artist and talented, giving teacher. The challenge was to paint the first painting, immediately above, on black Canson paper, which was much harder than it seemed since the black made every color look very high-key and hence you had to keep lowering the color value. The second image was painted on a cream-colored Uart sanded ground with a tonal underpainting. The difficulty for me in this second painting, located above the first, was in getting my darks to read correctly, as my reference photo was a very dark, moody river scene with overhanging trees. I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop, despite my struggles with the darks and also with trying to duplicate the two scenes (not something I am good at). You can see that the second painting is much brighter than the first. Which do you prefer?

Pastel, images 23x19

Our Home Show a Success!

Above: A few paintings in Sue's studio; below: John's and Chris' matted and framed photography takes over the dining room

If you were on our emailing list, you know that my husband, John; our son, Chris Hedge; and I recently held a show and sale of our art and photography in John's and my home. I sold four paintings, including two fairly large ones, plus several packets of notecards, and our son Chris sold quite a few of his photographs, framed and matted, and notecards. John sold a bit less, as he did not have nearly as much photography inventory as our son, but was happy with his sales. All told, we did about $1,600 in sales, not bad for a weekend's work (plus preparation).

We thank all our friends and neighbors who were able to make the show, and especially those of you who bought our work: you give us the inspiration and validation we need to go on! For those of you who had other plans or who lived too far away to attend, we missed you, but we'll keep you on our email list for the next time.

Pansies

Spring in Texas! Just a few short weeks ago (five?), we had freezing temps and had to bundle up to venture outside! Now, though it isn't summer by any means, and technically not even spring, the sun is shining, the temps are MUCH warmer, and flowers are blooming in unexpected places everywhere. I just had to capture some of this spring feeling, and what better way than with dear little pansy faces turned up to the sun! I hope you enjoy them, and that spring is on its way to you, even if only in your heart for now!

Pastel, image 10.5x13.5