Dr. Ray does the Happy Dance

 My client Dr. Ray is doing the Happy Dance with his portrait.  Which is a huge sigh of relief for me. You work so very hard on portraits and you want your customers to be happy. Dr. Ray had a very specific wish list for his portrait.

 He didn't want an ordinary soft lines portrait.

 He wanted:

• a chunky and kind-of-fractured style
• his stoner eyes and his laugh lines to show,
•  his sunglasses on (how are you supposed to see his laugh lines?)
•  a smirk-y smile, even though I told him teeth in a portrait can look cheesy
• his hair to look unkempt

 

We spent a lot of time together to make sure we got it right. He loved it and best of all his wife had tears of joy, which is good, cause it was a surprise gift to her from him.

Dr. Ray
acrylic on canvas
16x20"
©Maggie Ruley 2015

P.S. I think I repainted the mouth about 15 times.

Honor your talent

Fleming St in Bloom
oil on canvas
©Maggie Ruley 2015

 I had some customers in the studio the other day who expressed great surprise that I wouldn't be in the studio on Wednesday because I would be in a painting class.  Why would I chose to take a class when I have a certain skill level and a great place to use those skills?  Good question. The answer is because one way I can honor my talent, honor my customers and fans, and honor my students (Yeah, that's right, I teach classes now-more on that another time) is to be always in a state of learning.  Most often I learn from my mistakes, but it's really great to learn from other artists. So, in the month of April, I have been taking a plein air oil painting class from Mike Rooney.  Mike is from North Carolina, spends winters painting in Key West and part of the summer painting in Cape Cod and Maine.

 It's lovely this time of year in Key West and the Bougainvillea in morning sunlight was right in my own Fleming St. neighborhood was irresistible.

Using oil paints is not my greatest skill set, that makes this class a challenge. We don't get to be better painters doing the things we are good at over and over. Mike does a great job of giving us instruction and I'm enjoying the class. Here is his painting set up, simple and functional, along with his system of finding correct values in sun and shadow.

On a final note I want to thank everyone who stuck by me when my blog was hacked and those of you who have patiently waited for me to decide it was safe to post again.  You are the best! And I want to thank this blog that helped me solve the problem.

Morning ritual

Here in Key West, our daily paper, the Key West Citizen, is a morning paper.  Our coffee of choice is Cafe Bustelo. I had sunflowers leftover from my painting class and thought they'd look pretty in the can. Plus I needed some still life practice.  

Here is the progression of the painting:
The initial block in is on a blue violet ground.

The major shapes are blocked in, but there are still corrections to make.

The finished painting.

Morning Ritual
acrylic 14" x 11'
©Maggie Ruley 2015

The set up.

 

Happy Holidays

Hello Dear Friends

Inside "blog land" I am happy to report that everything is warm and fuzzy.  I made some security updates to my blog and for the last month it has been free of "icky content".  So today I am declaring my blog back up and running. And you will be hearing from me again.

Outside in the "real world" there is a whole lot of "icky" going on.  So from the bottom of my heart I am wishing you all a wonderful holiday season.

And my wish for the world is PEACE and Joy today and all days.

Crazy eyed

The fact that my blog has been hacked it making me crazy.  Anybody have any ideas how to stop this?  Google isn't being very helpful.

Bright island days



Bright Island Day
20" x 24"
SOLD
©Maggie Ruley 2014
giclee prints available
giclee prices

 

This cute little side-by-side painting was in progress when a friend asked if it could have a cat element added to it.  She sent me photos of her cats and here they are added  to the scene.  Can you find Rocky and Puck?

 

This is what my first house in Key West was like.  The front door went straight through to the back door.  The kitchen was in the back hall area. It was cute, but no AC.  It was on Whitehead St.

 

 

 

Small Print.  I have a spammer putting inappropriate content on my blog.  I am taking steps to get rid of them. So far I have not had much success.  Regrets and apologies to all.

oldie but goodie

 

 

Giclee prints available

25 Words or less

Key West in 25 words or less

• Sunny Skies
• Ocean Views
• Palm Trees and Flowers
• Cute Cottages
• Bike to Anywhere
• And a fondness for critters



Pearl Street Morning
24 x 20 acrylic on canvas
SOLD giclee prints available
©Maggie Ruley 2014
giclee prices



A very nice couple came into the studio while I was working on this piece and bought it before it was finished.  They had one request. After it was finished and photographed would I add the name of a special dog on the gate, "Rosie".  So after it had been all set up for reproductions the way you see it here, I added "Rosie" in small letters at the bottom of the gate. Here is the lovely note I received from them.

hi Maggie, got your painting Friday absolutely wonderful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you added Rosie and it looked perfect!! thank you so much you are such a pleasure to work with

  thanks again !!

 

That note made my day.  I hope you all have a wonderful day today.

 

Maggie

 



Up at dawn

Or we could title this ..........What I Learned yesterday.

Sign out of your blog account when you are not using it. There are greedy people out there and your friends are worth the extra effort.

And don't let your email sender do it automatically. Just in case some one put crud on your blog.

Anyway,  this is the only kind of male fowl you will ever get information about from me.  And it seems appropriate to call him..............Mister Big

Some days bring you trouble but all you can do is carry on and be grateful for your understanding friends.

Thank you,

Maggie

Regrets

My account sent you spam this morning.  Huge regrets. Passwords have been changed.  Interesting to note I got that same info as an email from someone else this morning

Again, BIG apologies,

Here is a pretty picture to look at.

Maggie