Life is a Great Big Canvas

This is one of the eagles perched on the Baker Towers, on the corner of Main and Auburn in Baker City, Oregon. This is done in charcoal. This will be on display and for sale for the month of October 2009 at Short Term Gallery on Main St.

My kids named this pen and ink drawing "Shelly", because she is holding a shell up to her ear. This was one I sketched when I first began creating art again. I donated this to the 2009 Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction for Harvest Christian Academy.

I hardly created any art from the beginning of my marriage. Rearing children became my life,and I did not have the energy or any block of time to concentrate on painting or creating fine art. I made crafts...painted rocks, wooden items, made jewelry, did counted cross stitch and silk ribbon embroidery, but no fine art. Then one day, almost out of the blue, it felt like God had released me to begin pursuing fine art again. So I told everyone I wanted oil painting supplies for Christmas. I got them for Christmas, my inlaws found art supplies at yard sales, and before I knew it I had everything I needed to start creating. So this if my first oil painting created as a married adult. It is my daughter, Elizabeth, contemplating whether to get in the pool at her grandparents' house.

Right after high school I went to an Assembly of God Youth Convention in Salem, Oregon, and on the way there, our group stopped at Multnomah Falls, a very beautiful tourist area. Armed with my parents' manual focus 35mm camera (back before the days of digital photography) I set out on the trail up to the top of the falls. This mangled old tree trunk was at the side of the trail and I thought it was so neat looking, the way the roots seemed to writhe and twist around each other, so I photographed it. It is one of the best photographs I have ever taken. This summer I pulled it out of my photo album and decided to try to paint it. I sketched it out on my canvas, then I painted in the lines and values in a sepia tone, then added wash after wash over it until I was almost satisfied with it, then I painted in details and sharpened up some of the edges. This is Roots, in oil, 2009.

This is just a little pen and ink sketch I did of a South African man as photographed by Monte Loyd.

I started and finished this tonight. It is based on a photograph taken by Monte Loyd. It was done in charcoal, 11x14". I never thought I would like working in charcoal. It is so messy and I don't like being messy, but I am really enjoying experimenting with charcoal.

This is another school assignment for week 3 of Analysis of Form.This took about 7 hours of work. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, although I think I might have to darken the core shadow on the teapot just a little. This was done on 18x24 charcoal paper, in charcoal, September 2009.

This was my project for last week in Analysis of Form. I spent eleven hours drawing each shape separately and then finishing up with the "grand finale" of all four shapes together. I am having a great time in my classes. It is challenging, but very fulfilling.

I painted this little oil painting right out of high school. I really like it. It is based on a photo of an Indonesian rainforest. I can remember painting this on a Friday night, and I even remembering my friends calling me wanting me to "cruise the strip" with them, but I was so in the zone with this piece that I just wanted to get it done.

Here is my other nude sketch that I just now finished. I am really happy with the way that these turned out.

Three weeks into my college classes at The Academy of Art University and I am loving every minute of it! Currently I am taking Analysis of Form, and Figure Drawing. This piece is one that I just finished a few minutes ago and I am very happy with the way it turned out. It is on 18x24" newsprint and was done in charcoal.