Cow Lady

Available here: Cow Lady 18 x 18 Original Oil on Canvas

This pretty young Holstein was standing in a muddy field when I came across her and decided to paint her portrait. She expressed a gentle sweetness that I found captivating. She seems to be peeking shyly from behind her dark coloring. My grandson Garrett gave this painting it's name, and so it is. My first offering for 2009. Happy New Year!

Washed

Just finished: "Washed" 12" x 6" oil on canvas: Sold



This is the second Granny Smith Apple painting finished. It's of three apples that have been washed and are sitting on a kitchen towel waiting for the next part of their journey to pie.



The paintings have been slow going as I've been doing custom work in between. It's a nice project to return to when I have an hour to spare.



There is something homey about kitchen towels for me. I suppose we each have a memory or a place in our home that feels comforting. For me it's the kitchen. When I want to unwind I do some project in the kitchen no matter how mundane. Fixing dinner can be very relaxing to me.

These will all be nice individually or as several small groupings, or even as a large grouping. Green is a calming color.

Sunset Sundae

Just completed and ready for sale...

"Sunset Sundae"
6" x 12" Oil on Canvas: Available

A beautiful bubble goblet (bubbles in the glass) holds ice cold fudge and cherry laced ice cream. Ribbons of whipped cream take in the bright sunset and provide a shady cover for the juicy cherry.


This is a fun painting to have in the kitchen, dining area or any place you want to just admire how pretty food can be!!

Two Scoops Please

Just finished: "Two Scoops" 6" x 6" Oil on Canvas:

Sold

Simple pleasures are the best aren't they? With all the exotic flavors of ice cream on the market today this painting shows off a simpler variety. Strawberry and Chocolate topped off of course with whipped cream and beautiful cherries.

Oh and the delectable chocolate sauce and peeking up from the bottom is a banana. I didn't do sprinkles this time. I got hungry.


The ice cream paintings continue.... :) yummmmmmmmm

Just A Bite

Just finished: "Just A Bite" 4" x 4" Oil on Canvas:

Sold

Just a bite of cold Cake Batter ice cream with fudge, topped off with ribbons of whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. All this on a little silver sugar spoon. It's just a bite... so no big deal, but oooo so tasty!! Though small in size, this little 4" painting shows the little bite in oversize! Off centered shadows add a little drama and punch. What's ice cream without a little drama. What's punch without a little ice cream.

This is the first of three ice cream themed paintings to be offered in the next few days.

Feeding Time.

10" x 10" oil on canvas: Sold

Just finished.... Three baby birds looking up toward their mommy for a feeding.

After The Rain

"After The Rain" Sold

This painting was inspired by a fallen nest I talked about earlier this month in a blog entitled "Week of Babies".

Catnap

"Catnap" 12" x 12" Original Oil on Canvas: Available Here.

Just finished (and still wet) a cute kitty taking a nap. This is a 12" x 12" oil on canvas original of a friends cat. She has all the cute stories I just paint em.

I'll Show You Mine......

8" x 8" oil on canvas "Show and Tell" available on Etsy.

A few months ago I was commissioned to paint several Cockatiels and when the client couldn't get a photo of how he wanted his bird to look I asked for the co-operation of my two. I pointed the camera at them and half jokingly asked them to cock their heads and they did. In every single frame. Now when I go take their photo they always pose. This particular day they decided to play a game of showing each other their tongues. They only did it while I was taking photos and I've never seen them do it since.

Bzzzzy Beeez

8" x 24" Oil on Canvas: Sold

Sometimes the end result to an inspired conception can be anything but what you pictured. Such is the case with this painting. I'd pictured two paintings, each featuring 7 canaries. The first was the "Canary and Butterfly" (shown at the bottom of this post) It worked out just as I'd imagined it.

The second painting was to be 7 canaries with striped shadows running across them. They would be like the bees in a subtle way. When the painting was almost finished my husband came to look at it and didn't understand what it was. I realized I hadn't made it work. I'd struggled with it for weeks, stopping and starting. It was his viewing of it that made me realize what I already knew deep down. It worked in my mind but not in the outer. So I had to reinvent this idea into something else, which I'm pleased to say was a good thing.

In making changes to this painting I ended up using much more vibrant color and texture. I think it makes for a nice contrast to the first painting.

These little guys are actually quite a bit larger than life size. It's hard to express that in photos and ads.

Challenge: Not a Dirty Word

"Canary & Butterfly" Oil on Canvas available on my website. http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.

I used to work with merchandisers for a large national retailer, and one of our jobs was to allocate the number of individual products to each store for the year. "you get 12 lawnmowers", etc. and it was decided by how many the store sold the year before. I can tell you I got an ear full from store managers when they got the news that they wouldn't get the opportunity to sell even one more than the year before. Their best hope was to do only as well.

A public school art teacher drilled into our class not to paint anything we didn't know. If you live in a corn field, paint that. Don't try to paint the sea if you don't know the sea. While that sounds like common sense and maybe even a good recipe for better than average art it leaves out a lot of things. Fantasy for instance or experimentation, inspirations. It's limiting, just like the limited allocations.


In each case challenge was outlawed. There was no opportunity to move forward, go higher, do better. It's safe. Safe is ..... safe, boring, it's living the same day over and over again. What's the point unless your goal is to just see how long you can survive and stay sane in sameness. But sameness is also a sort of insanity.

Snowball

"Sasha" 12" x 12" Oil on canvas. $75.00
Available on my website: http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.

We had company this week and somehow the topic came back to cats quite often, even though we don't have any cats in the house at present. The news today was cat topical too. So with cats on the mind it's only natural I'd showcase kitties today.

"Spider" 12" x 12" Oil on canvas. $75.00
Available on my website. http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.


It's dusk and it's snowing. It's a very pretty snow, and one I know will have little effect in that it will be melted tomorrow for sure. Spring snows make for pretty pictures. It's nature reminding you what you'll miss on those hot July days.

Cupcakes and Bunnies

Spring is here! Don't mind the snow and ice still on the ground or the fact that it's 17 degrees at night. Spring has announced it's ready! The lilacs are budding, the daffodils are peaking out of the ground and birds are arriving in large numbers. Swans, geese and herons have started showing up along with many smaller birds. They're hitting the feeders hard and singing like it's 70 out. Now that is positive thinking!!!



So what does that have to do with cupcakes and bunnies? Well Easter is just a few days away. Another sign of spring. Somehow cupcakes fill the bill well at Easter along with all the other little treats.



Here is my latest offering available for sale. It's an 8" x 8" oil painting available on my website http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.

March 2, 2008

It's hard to believe that in a few weeks we might actually see the lake again.
But then again it's always possible it will still be frozen over with a foot of
snow on top. Anything is possible here. I look forward to planting flowers
this spring and to seeing color outdoors again. It's rainy today and tomorrow it
will change over to snow. But spring is near!! I miss the orchard with it's
fresh offering of fruit and vegetables. Soon, very soon.

I'm keeping my mind and eyes open for painting inspiration. I have 5 paintings
started and 4 more in the planning stages. One of my latest:

November 7, 2007

Lunch today looked like any other lunch in the beginning. A ham sandwich at the
table with Ron, looking out over our little bay leading to the lake. This time
though most of the boats are off the lake for the winter and it's a cold gray
day. I'd noticed as I sat down that birds outdoors were having lunch too.
Usually by this time they've emptied the neighborhood feeders. Today though
Nuthatches, Purple Finches, Woodpeckers and various others were crowding to get
what was left of breakfast. Then I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Just
feet from the shoreline stood a huge Blue Heron. He was facing our direction and
well into the neighbors yard. I'd seen this before, but usually at sunset and
not nearly as large a bird as this. He turned around and began his cute walk.
That walk they do that looks like they're sneaking up on something even if
they're not. I didn't run for my camera this time. I was glued to the sight of
him. We watched closely as his right foot lifted up and ever so slowly down back
into the water. He was stalking fish. The water is crystal clear now that it's
cooled off, but finding fish has been pretty tricky for the human fisherman the
past few weeks. Looking into the water we've seen a lot of empty lake bottom.
All the sudden the Heron turned around with a long narrow Pike in his mouth. It
had to be a least a foot long. The fish was wiggling back and forth, but the
Heron had a good hold and patiently waited for the fish to give up. The
Heron walked back well onto shore and stood with the fish in his mouth and then
tilted his head back and swallowed bit by bit. It was quite a sight!! Well I
thought that should be dinner for today at least, so I was pretty surprised that
just moments later he went right back to fishing. I don't know if he caught
anything more. He slowly walked the shoreline beyond the trees where we lost
sight of him. I can't say I've ever witnessed that before at my lunch table.

The Heron have been migrating, so every evening dozens of them come flying over
the lake just before sunset. I counted 30 one evening all in one group. They
look prehistoric in flight. They fly in large circles before landing for the
night in a clearing on the other side of the lake. It's quite a sight!