Golden Pears workshop today

These are my ladies with their almost complete paintings from today's workshop at Rancho Casa Blanca. They all did such a great job. It was a fun day.

Magazine article about my NWS watercolor national tour

The Desert Valley Star Weekly ran a nice article about my watercolor "Organized Chaos" on national tour throughout 2010 with the National Watercolor Society. See page 16
http://www.mygazines.com/issue/6398/16

eBay Experiment

Just listed 12 mini oils on eBay for $1 each. If you see anything you
like, they're practically free. Ebay selling tutorials say to start the
bidding at $1 to get people interested. This is an experiment. Let's see how it goes.
Items can be found here
All 12 sold. Experiment was a success!

Allusions of Grandeur

"Allusions of Grandeur" oil 6"x 8"
My niece and nephew commissioned this acorn painting for my sister for Christmas. It is a companion piece to the "Pine with Cone" I did for her earlier.

Karin Jurick Challenge...Portrait Exchange

At the end of each year Karin Jurick has a portrait exchange for her blog followers. 180 people are participating this year. Very fun to see what everyone paints. This is the portrait I created from the photo reference at the right. You can see the others on Karin's blog

Watercolor Show at Palm Desert Visitor Center

The Coachella Valley Watercolor Society show at the Palm Desert Visitor Center had a great opening reception December 7th despite torrential rains. The show features 10 top award-winning CVWS members. The City of Palm Desert, CA heavily promotes their juried Community Gallery and provided lovely refreshments. The Visitor Center is such a beautiful location for a show and is very well-staffed. Show runs until Jan 24, 2010.
Visit the Community Gallery site to see all the artists' work
http://www.palm-desert.org/arts-culture/public-art/community-gallery

Karin Jurick Challenge...Sounds of Silence

Here is this month's Karin Jurick challenge. Her photo was of travelers at an airport. The pattern of the floor reminded me so much of my piano that I had to move them to the keyboard. Since they seemed to be so separate and uncommunicative I named this "Sounds of Silence" 9" x 12" watercolor on 300# arches

Raindrops on Roses

Another great find on one of my evening sunset walks. I see a painting in the near future.

Starbucks PSP officially open

The new Starbucks at the Palm Springs International Airport opened today with a ribbon cutting by the Chamber of Commerce, Palm Springs Mayor and City Council and the Airport Commission. My three watercolor giclees help "perk" up the walls. By the way....that black wall is made of coffee beans, and smells fantastic.

Facebook Autumn Painting Competition

This is my submission for the Facebook Autumn Painting Challenge. "Autumn Delights" 11" x 14" watercolor on 300# Arches cold press. The painting had to be finished in October. Since most entries were Fall related I decided to go back to my old apple theme.You can see more entries here

Starbucks is getting ready for take-off at PSP.

Employees were busily setting up for the November grand opening of the new Starbucks at the Palm Springs International Airport. I stopped by to sign my three giclees which will "perk" up the walls.

Palm Springs students use art to learn.

F is for Fly. Thanks to the inventive mind of Louisa Castrodale, Visual & Performing Arts Specialist for the Palm Springs Unified School District, students will be learning the alphabet artistically. Louisa enlisted twenty six artists to create a work of art for the letters of the alphabet. 16,000 students will get to see this fun
2009/10 ArtShare Project

Funds raised for Boys and Girls Club

IncredibleArtist.Com and Acura of the Desert presented
a check for $2,500 to the Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City on Friday,Sept 25th at a special party at the Acura showroom. The money was raised through the Incredible Acura Art Event held at Acura of Desert during June and July. The event featured art sales at the Acura showroom, a very successful silent auction, and a donation from Acura of the Desert for each car sold during June and July.
My watercolor "Highway to Heaven" was created specifically for the event, and the children of the Boys & Girls Club used the image to create their own artworks which are now on display at Acura of the Desert. The donation will be used by the Boys & Girls Club for their popular arts programs.

Finalist in "Show us your America" contest

“Heaven is a ‘57” is a Finalist in Aaron Bros “Show us your America” contest. It is one of 10 art finalists selected out of 2000 entries. The winner is selected by vote of the public. To vote go to www.showusyouramerica.com/votes/new Click on the dot next to the painting. Then scroll down and enter you email. Then click VOTE.
I humbly ask for your vote and the vote of every person you’ve ever met. You can vote for one piece in each category, art and photography. Only one vote per person. Thank you for your support.

Sweet Temptation Jurick's Different Strokes challenge

Karin Jurick's latest challenge was cupcakes. Right up my alley. I left off the sprinkles.

Organized Chaos wins award and selected for NWS traveling show

"Organized Chaos" was accepted in the 89th Annual National Watercolor Society Exhibition Oct 10- Dec 20, 2009 at the City of Brea Art Gallery (California.) Only 100 paintings were chosen for this national exhibition. The Juror, Jim Morphesis chose “Organized Chaos” for the "Watercolor West" Award, a $500 cash prize. It was also one of only 30 chosen for the Traveling Exhibition going all over the U.S during 2010. Woohoo!

International Artist magazine selects "I Love Bees" as Finalist

International Artist magazine has selected my I Love Bees 24” x 30” oil as a Finalist in the Still Life and Florals competition. They will devote a full page to my work in the Oct/Nov 2009 issue. Pinch me!

California Senate selects "Bird in Paradise" for high honor

State Senator John J. Benoit, R-Bermuda Dunes selected my “Bird in Paradise” watercolor for inclusion in the Senate’s Ninth Annual California Contemporary Art Collection exhibit. This high state honor will allow my artwork to be showcased in the Maddy Lounge in the state Capitol through September 2010. "Bird in Paradise" was the poster art for the 2009 Indian Wells Arts Festival. To say the least, I am thrilled and honored.

National Watercolor Society accepts my Organized Chaos watercolor

What a thrill to have a watercolor accepted in the NWS show. Something I've dreamed of for a long time. 100 entries out of over 1000 were selected. I'm honored and ecstatic, to say the least. The 89th Annual Exhibition is held at the City of Brea Art Gallery (California) October 10- December 20, 2009

Sunday on the Lake

This is the latest Karin Jurick challenge .....a gal rowing on Lake Michigan. 12" x 20" on Arches 300# cold press paper. Couldn't help but be reminded of all the wonderful Winslow Homer paintings of water.....I love looking at them. The one at the right is Homer's "Glouchester Harbor," oil, 1873.
All of the Jurick rowboat submissions look so similar. I usually try to do something different. If I had time to do this over I would just put a giant rubber ducky on the lake.

July Challenge: I Love Shoes

The challenge this month for my artist group, Artcolony.blogspot.com was to paint unusual shoes. If I were ever able to wear a 4” heel, or think of spending $900 for a pair of shoes it would probably be for Christian Louboutin. (That was before I knew about Mark Schwartz :-} Hi Mark! Since I love shoes, I did a little take off on one of Louboutin’s classics and added some heart shapes. The toe was supposed to be a heart, but seem like it looks a little like a mouth and tongue.

More artwork for Starbucks

Starbucks has ordered large giclees of three of my watercolors to hang in their new location at the Palm Springs International Airport scheduled to open September 2009. All are gallery-wrap giclees on canvas. The Desert Dinos will be 30" x 42". The other two will be 24" x 30". I can't wait to see them on display. What a thrill!

More Organized Chaos

I don't ordinarily paint the same subject twice, but Organized Chaos got so many comments, and sold so quickly that I decided to paint a larger version to enter in a competition. The first one was 8" x 10." This one is 12" x 19" Minimum size for the competition is 9" x 12"

Fly by Nightshade

This is the latest Karin Jurick challenge......a plate of summer vegetables.
Since I've been focusing on bees and bugs lately, I decided to add a little pest.

ET with Wings

Dragonflies are amazing little creatures. They just sit there and stare right back at you.....no fear

Morning Glorious....Zinnia

It's normally 105 degrees this time of year here. This past week or so has only been in the 80's. It's just been too beautiful to be indoors, so no studio time. While enjoying the unexpected coolness, I've been getting hundreds of reference photos for future paintings.

Now Appearing at Starbucks

"Sunny Flowers" is at the El Paseo Starbucks (the Rodeo Drive of Palm Desert, CA)

"Heaven is a '57" is at the Sunrise/Ramon Starbucks in Palm Springs

Watch for an exciting new location coming in September!

Yes, Virginia...Bees Do Have Tongues

Bees have tongues. Hummingbirds have tongues. Who knew?

Red Hollyhock Bee

I couldn't resist shooting more bees. I've got to get back to painting!

Highway to Heaven....new 2010 Acura TSX

Acura of the Desert and IncredibleArtist.com have joined forces for an Incredible Acura Art Event to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Cathedral City. Transforming the beautiful Acura showroom into an art gallery, Acura will host an art reception Saturday, June 27 from 4-9 pm to unveil the new 2010 Acura TSX. In honor of the event I was asked to create a watercolor of the new Acura which I call Highway to Heaven. The painting will also be unveiled at the reception. Open to the public, there will be free refreshments and entertainment, and a silent auction. A portion of art sale proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club, as will a portion of car sales and leases during June and July. For more information go to acura.incredibleartist.com