Three and a Dog in January

Three and a Dog in January
oil on board 5 x 5 inch
available here

I like the number 3.  Always have for some reason.  It goes way back to those School House Rock jingles that aired on Saturdays during morning cartoons.  Anyone remember those?  My favorite was "3 is a Magic Number" and I just found it on YouTube.  You can find anything on YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, last night I was exploring some new music to add to my iPhone.  I always have music playing whether I am in the studio or cooking or doing housework, and of course while driving.  I try to listen to podcasts from time to time, but my mind drifts too much while I am busy doing other things. Anyways, last night I stumbled onto this really great video with Martin Sexton and these other amazing musicians.  I once saw him in concert in Wichita and he was really good.  Here they are performing John Prine's Angel from Montgomery.

Until next time!

♥ Lisa

Winter Sisters and Their Cat

Winter Sisters and Their Cat
oil on cradled board 5 x 5 inch
available here

I actually started this painting last year and then set it aside and forgot about it until I was picking up my studio recently.  I used an old photo dated 1925 of two little girls unknown to me and I've been calling this series "Past People" portraits.  I love painting them because it feels a little like honoring their memory. I find myself wishing I could somehow look through a window and see the real moment these photos were taken, to understand a little more of who they are and where they lived.  

Now that most photos are digital, don't you wonder what will happen to the memory of us once time marches on?  Fewer of our photos will end of up in a box at some antique store, and what about our blogs?  Our facebooks?  Our own computers where all our photos are stored?  The other day I uploaded 3,000 photos!  What will happen to those in 100 years?  It would be interesting to know, wouldn't it?

Until next time!

♥ Lisa

Night Beach: The Last of the Cape Cod Series

Night Beach
oil on canvas 16 x 20 inch
sold

This is the sixth and last painting in my Cape Cod series.  As I wrote before, I painted the first painting last year which was sold.  All the others were painted this Fall.  I could probably keep going with this, but I think I am ready to paint other ideas.  Maybe I will come back to it.  Maybe not.  I change my mind often, so who knows what will happen.  I've learned not to promise anything because that way the ideas flow more freely.

I can't believe Thursday is Thanksgiving.  We will be traveling back to Kansas to visit our family and friends.  I am really looking forward to it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all who live here in USA!

Until next time!

♥ Lisa

Kite by the Sea

Kite by the Sea
oil on canvas
12 x 16 inch

Another work in my Cape Cod series.  I will have one more to share and then on to something else.  I have many ideas bouncing around in my mind right now.  With the approaching Season and the beauty of Colorado, it's not hard to find inspiration.  As the weather cools my walks grow more peaceful and thoughts deepen.  Cozy nights listening to classical music or watching a good movie add to my growing list of ideas.  

Until next time,

♥ Lisa

Kitchen With Ocean View

Kitchen With Ocean View
oil on canvas 11 x 14 inch

This is the third in my series inspired by Cape Cod.  It was my first time painting lobster and crab as my son pointed out.  :)

I have two more I will post soon and then I think I will be finished with this series.  For now anyways. 

Until then...

♥ Lisa

Bedroom With Harbor View

Bedroom With Harbor View
oil on cradled board 9 x 12 inch

This is the third painting in my Cape Cod inspired series and there are three others in progress.  Colorado is gorgeous right now, so I am a bit distracted by the outdoors.

The week before last, I got to spend some time in New Mexico.  I had a wonderful time looking at some really beautiful art in Santa Fe.  I also had the pleasure of meeting an artist who's work I have admired for several years now...Gigi Mills.  Meeting her and seeing her art in person for the first time was absolutely delightful!  Her art is so soulful to me.  I just love it.  She is best known as a painter, but her sculptures are very special too - take a look at the link to see some of her work at GF Contemporary. 

I also got to see my dear friend in Las Cruces, Julie Ford Oliver.  Julie and I first met through our blogs, then met in person in 2014 shortly after my mother's passing.  Julie has a heart of gold and reached out by inviting me to her home so that I could attend a workshop she was teaching at her studio.  It was medicine for my hurting heart.  Then the following year she came to teach at the gallery I was in at the time Tessera Fine Art Gallery  in Wichita, Kansas.  Julie's art is extremely beautiful, always sells out, and her skill as a painter is very evident when you look at her work. 

Until next time,
♥ Lisa

New England Clam Chowder

New England Clam Chowder
oil on canvas 18 x 24 inch

Last year in the month of August my husand and I took a wonderful trip to Cape Cod.  It was a getaway trip so that we could recharge ourselves and discuss what is now our reality...living in Colorado.  I felt so inspired everywhere we went on the Cape...the beach...the pier walks...the walks in town...and of course the sand dunes.  It is truly a wonderful place of rest and peace.  I felt especially connected to it because my parents lived there in the first year of their marriage in 1954 and I remember stories of Old Cape Cod told over and over by my mother.  She loved it there.  The entire trip I found myself imagining my young parents just starting their lives together...my mother a Kansas girl who had never been away from home really, and my father a handsome young man in the Air Force.  What a time it must have been for them.  And then there we were, Vic and I, middled aged, empty nest, talking about beginning our own new adventure.  

I took a multitude of photographs while there and started a painting last year with the intention of painting a series inspired by our time on the Cape.  I did finish the painting below last October, just before packing for our move. I do not paint beach scenes often, so it was a challenge to paint the ocean.  The sunsets were a sight on the Cape...so pastel and a soft light you could almost touch.

What They Do At Nauset
oil on canvas 16 x 20 inch
sold

If you are not on Instagram or Facebook I posted a short studio clip video of New England Clam Chowder in the making that you can watch below.  

  

I am continuing to work on this series of Cape Cod-inspired stories and it feels so good to be settled and focused again.  

And here's a little video in honor of my parents and especially my late mother who loved this song so much.

Until next time!

♥ Lisa