Vacation Photos

My son Guy on Father's Day, it's all about the gifts.
Jake and me, early morning Hilton Head

Whitney and Jake, "cute shoes"

Guy multi-tasking, when they eat every 2 and a half hours, you have to.

Father and son

Jake with his bodyguard, Randy, aka BD

Beth with girls Kathryn and Caroline "Mom to the rescue"

The Guy Ruleys, Guy, Jake and Whitney

Caroline and Donna, Mother of the Groom

The Ben Ruleys, Beth, Caroline, Kathryn and Ben

"Watch your cocktail"

Rehearsal dinner, Guy, me, Ben, Randy with Jake, Whitney

With the Ben Ruleys, you know our names by now

The three "goombas" Frank, father of the groom, Randy and Guy

Uncle Ben

The Mark Ruleys, Mark and Andrea

The Dinnerware

A friend's new web site

My friend, Janet Burner, in Tucson, AZ is a wonderful potter, sculptor and pastel artist. Her studio and gallery are in this delightful old adobe house. Above are some photos of her gallery and work. She has a new web site and I invite you to take a look at it.

Her studio is Sabino Pottery Her web site also hosts her blog.

Now, today, my vacation is officially over and I am back in the studio. There won't be any finished work for a little bit but I'll get some wedding photos together to post.

Everyone have a great day.

A Single Mango

Well, I am home from vacation and I am still getting reorganized and I am not back in the studio "groove" yet. Here is a painting that recently went into the gallery. We love our mangoes in Key West and always look forward to mango season, which is just ending. This single mango and its reflection is a good example of the dry brushing technique, which often frustrates me, but this time it worked.

Mango Reflection 11x14" framed (gold) $325.

Sunflowers and dragonflies

I make a lot of these two piece entertainment sets. The most popular of the motifs I use on these sets is the pineapple, but I am always experimenting with new ones. These sunflowers have the same bright colors as the pineapples, so maybe some customers will find them appealing. They went into the gallery this week.

Dragonfly and Sunflower set $74.00

Key West Sunset paintings

Key West Sunset #4

Key West Sunset #3

Key West Sunset #2

Key West Sunset #1

I had a great time visiting my family and grandson. I was sorry to leave them, but I am going to be seeing them all again at a family wedding next weekend. I will post a few family pictures then. In the two weeks I have been home it has been mostly "same old - same old" getting things together to go into the gallery. But I did sneak in a couple of new direction sessions. I am still working on the sunset set theme but with these I used a palette knife. These palette knife paintings got a little work each day until I was happy with them. We take our sunsets very seriously in Key West and I do plan to give them proper titles. Sometimes I know a painting's title almost at once and sometimes I have to live with it for awhile.

You are seeing these paintings framed because the canvas size is 6" x 8" , which is not a standard frame size. So these paintings come framed. They are acrylic on canvas, $125.00 each.

A Happy 4th of July to all.

Off to the low country

I have had a wonderful time in North Carolina visiting my parents and seeing my brother and his family. I took some wonderful beach walks that were full of visual inspiration. Now I am headed to Hilton Head SC to see my grandson Jake. It is always hard to pay attention to the road while I'm driving through this area because it is so lovely. Everyone have a great day.

Waiting patiently

While I am away on vacation this dinnerware set is waiting for me at home. I come home from this vacation and then I leave again shortly to go to a wedding in KY. The couple are very special, Mark Ruley and his sweet girl friend, Andrea. Their gift is going to be this dinnerware set. So it needs to be dry and ready to decorate and fire when I get home. I think I am going to do the sea life pattern on it. They are going to live in California, so I think that will be appropriate. I will show pics when it is finished. I am enjoying myself on vacation and maybe I will be able to post some pics along the road.

Dragonflies and roses

I am leaving for vacation on Tuesday. I am headed to North Carolina to see my parents and then to Hilton Head Island to see my son and his wife and my new grand baby, Jacob. I am very excited. So the above photos are of the last load out of the kiln before I go. They are going into the gallery tomorrow. They are a swarm of dragonflies to celebrate the summer. I will try to do some posting while I am gone.

Today is my friend David Scott Meier's birthday. He is such a nice man HE brought ME roses on HIS birthday. He says that the little yellow one is going to smell wonderful. Thank you David for the roses. David is a wonderful friend, and he is an amazing artist. His mixed media work is truly artistic and his design sense is impeccable. Please take a minute to check out his blog.

3 Sunset studies

"Sunset Study #1" Exaggerated color for excitement.

"Sunset Study #2" Dry brush technique for hazy atmosphere.


"Sunset Study #3" Wet into wet for painterly clouds.

These paintings are basically the same composition painted in 3 different styles. In all three I kept my palette colors and my point of view the same, low horizon, late afternoon, back lit mangrove islands.

Sunset study #1,2 and 3

8 x 10" each

acrylic on canvas on board

in a 3" plein air gold frame

$195 each

Smells like "paint by numbers"

"Island Beach Path" SOLD 8 x 10" oil on canvas
"Beach Path" and "Island Beach Path" hanging in 7Artists Key West
$275 each
p.s. "Sanibel Beach Path" sold

My computer is behaving like the bride of Frankenstein so I have been avoiding going on line, which has given me lots of time to paint. I have been going back and forth between oils and acrylics. This painting is oil. When the oil paintings are finished I bring them upstairs into the house to dry. Randy (my honey) came into the house and said, "Smells like paint by numbers!" I remember them fondly, the little skinny brushes and the tiny pots of paint and staying in the blue lines. But even then the thrill was more about the process of painting more than the finished painting.