Mural at Riverside Drive Charter School

I was asked to create a mural to cover some existing wall art at Riverside Drive Charter School.

 This is a photo of the wall and my first sketch planning my floral design.

On another part of the wall, there was a cute painting of a panda bear with a balloon. I was asked to change the panda into the school mascot, Rocky the Raccoon. To make the animal fit with the rest of the floral wall, I also changed the balloon into a large red flower.

Gallery Show - Mark Ryden

The Gay 90s West… was a lovely vision in pink. I absolutely loved the Mark Ryden show at Kohn Gallery. When I arrived at the gallery Mark's daughter gave me some daisies!

Catching up with Mark's brother, artist KRK Ryden.

Mark signed my show book. Love his pale pink suit!

Art Lesson - Owls in Charcoal

Today the children in my class worked on owls using chalk pastels and charcoal. We started with the huge eyes and then added the feathers, trying to use a variety of strokes to create the soft texture. We used fingers and cotton swabs to blend the colors together. Whooooo is ready for art?

Art Lesson - Sea Turtle Watercolor

Inspired by the lovely painting "Go For a Swim" by Jennifer Mercede.

Today I spoke with my class about the parts of a sea turtle and how the front flippers are different from the back. We looked at photos of turtles and noticed the different sizes of circles that make up the segments on the body (large for the shell, medium for legs, small for head). 

We used purple-toned oil pastels to outline the body and shell segments, then colored in scribbles of yellow, orange, and pink tones inside the circles. We also used yellow oil pastels to make a "wiggly grid" in the ocean water to give the water movement. I spoke about the sunlight filtering through the water makes colorful reflections on the turtle.

We used green and teal watercolors for the turtle's body and blue for the ocean water. 

I just love how colorful they are!

Art Lesson - Bird on a Wire

I spoke to the class today about warm and cool colors to create our colorful "Bird on a Wire" paintings.

First, we divided colors into warm (red, orange, yellow) and cool (green, blue, purple). Then, I told the children we were going to move the GREEN to the warm side.

We took one piece of water color paper and painted it with our warm colors + green. Abstract shapes filled the paper to the edges. I told the children to try not to overlap colors, but to cover all of the white on the paper. Using thick watercolor is important because I wanted the paper to dry quickly.

We set aside the warm colored pages to dry. Then, we used a second page of water color paper and painted it with blues and purples in horizontal areas. When this was finished, we used black to create some "wires" across the page. We put this page aside to dry.

Taking the warm paper again which was now dry, we flipped it over to draw on the back. I showed the class how to create simple bird shapes. Circle head, pear-shaped body (with heavy bottom), triangles for beach and tail. They drew the birds with sharpie markers on the back of the warm colored papers and then cut them out.

When the background was dry, I showed the class how to place the birds so that they looked like they are sitting on the wire. We used glue sticks to stick the birds down, making sure the bottom of the pear sits on a wire.

Sweet tweets!

Prints on Wood - Jardinero

I'm thrilled to announce that prints of my painting "Jardinero" are now available for purchase at Prints on Wood. This is exciting because the original artwork was painted on wood and this is the first time I have been able to offer high quality prints in the same medium.

They are beautifully finished and ready to hang right out of the box.
Prints start at just $29. New prints to follow soon at PRINTS ON WOOD.

Eden Original - Narwhal and The Moon

"Narwhal and The Moon"

16 x 20 inches

Acrylic on canvas 

This painting was originally featured on the inside sleeve of a CD for children by Ronna Dragon.  Only the moon was completed for the CD to allow room for liner notes.  I finished the artwork by adding the sweet narwhal because I wanted a whimsical creature playing in the waves. 

Eden Original - Pearls of Wisdom

"Pearls of Wisdom"
7x7 inches
acrylic on wood

This new small work is painted on a wood panel and does not require any framing. Pretty little mermaid found a lovely pearl to add to your collection.

Eden Original - In the Greens, Calavera Painting

"In the Greens"

7 x 7 inches

Acrylic on wood panel

Inspired by nature and SPRING approaching.

Eden Original - Slice of Life, Meat Painting

"Slice of life"

8 x 8 inches

Acrylic on canvas

Abstract meat painting on gallery wrapped canvas. Image surrounds the sides and makes this steak look completely 3D. This is the real raw art.

Eden Original - Meat Me Painting

Brand new painting… is this abstract or realism? Or a little of both.

"Meat Me"
8 x 8 inches
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas (with sides painted)

WIP - Chihuahua Painting

I found a fortune in a cookie recently that inspired this painting. It said...

"It's not the size of dog in the fight, it's the size of fight in the dog"
Mixed media on plywood
24 x 24 inches

My dog, Lulu, was a stray. We found her in a woodpile… skinny, scared, and sick.

I wanted this painting to show her fighting spirit. I'm working from a photo of her (dressed up for Halloween). I used old cereal boxes (trash) and glued them onto the plywood background. I wanted to use trash because someone had thrown her away when we found her.

The lemons in the border come from the phrase, "make lemons out of lemonade". When we found Lulu, my daughter used to call her "blueberry" because she would curl up tightly into a round blue-black ball to sleep on our laps.

I put some steaks in the painting because Lulu loves them AND of course, raw steak can also be used to calm bruising after a fight.

These are some pics in progress… more to come.

WIP - Oh, My Deer

I started a new painting today, I was thinking about a lot of serious subjects in the news. How children are hunted at schools… And it made me start thinking about hunting animals. I am not a vegetarian, but I started to wonder if we would feel comfortable shooting animals if they wore pretty dresses like children in the 1960s. A little deer girl popped into my head. Here are some progress pics...

"Oh, my deer" Acrylic on canvas.  12 x 24 inches.