The best Christmas present!

My daughter-in-law and son, Shane, who earns his living as an illustrator,  surprised me with illustrated storyline portraits of my three grandchildren, inspired by one of the their favorite books, "A Series of Unfortunate Events".    The two eldest grandkids are on their way to rescue grandbaby #3.  What a wonderful gift!  Sure beats the ordinary grandkid portraits!

To see more of Shane's work go to www.blot.com

Wishing you the best of the season....

Painting a day

This week, my sister is taking a five-day workshop from artist  Carol Marine.  Carol is a master of composition, color and edges and is still very young.   Carol does a 6" x 6" painting a day, in addition to her gallery work.    I'm not sure how long she has been doing 'a painting a day' but her blog goes back to October, 2006.   Even then she was really good at what she does.  Check out her work!

Good news from Gilcrease Museum

                                                                             SOLD


My little cow oil (4" x 4") at The Gilcrease Museum's American Art in Miniature 2009 exhibition, sold for double the asking price.  Many thanks to the collectors who bid on my painting.  

Two more paintings for The Waterfowl Festival

These small oils will be part of my exhibit at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, November 13, 14, 15.

SOLD       "Golden Pond"  6" x 6" oil

"Waiting Game"  7" x 7"  oil

I've lifted the following from the Waterfowl Festival's website, which offers a good description of the show.

A Wildlife Arts & Sportsman's Expo

The ultimate weekend for the sophisticated sportsman or art lover. Twelve venues throughout Easton feature world-class wildlife paintings, sculpture, carvings and photos. Collectible decoys, sporting gear and adventures to delight every outdoorsman. Also scheduled are World Championship Calling Contests, decoy auctions, retriever, fly-fishing and stunt dog demonstrations, kid's activities, and evening concerts. A festive atmosphere topped by great food and music make this event a must each November. Free parking and shuttle service.

A Small Town Celebration

Paying homage to the annual migrating Canada geese flying overhead, Easton closes colonial streets, decorates historic buildings with natural greens, and recruits 1,500 volunteers to greet 13,000 visitors and 300 of the nation's finest wildlife artists, craftsmen and vendors with a ready smile and a helping hand. Excitement radiates throughout the town and neighboring St. Michaels, Oxford and Tilghman Island. Enjoy the 39th annual Festival, the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, fine restaurants, and quaint shops lining historic streets.

A Commitment to Conservation

"Waterfowl Festival, Inc. is dedicated to wildlife conservation, the promotion of wildlife art, and the celebration of life on Maryland''s Eastern Shore." In its 39 years, the Festival has become a leader in the conservation of waterfowl and wildlife habitat. More than $5 million has been raised and donated to projects throughout the Atlantic Flyway, and in particular the Chesapeake Bay.

American Art in Miniature - Gilcrease Museum

My painting, How Now, has sold at the annual Gilcrease Museum's annual exhibition American Art in Miniature, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.    It may well have been the smallest and the least expensive but it sold, which is what this is all about anyway.  

If you'd like to see the show,  go to http://gilcrease.utulsa.edu/  then click on American Art in Miniature 2009.  There are some fabulous pieces - it's worth taking a few minutes to check it out online.

Speaking of Tulsa - I am represented by the Pierson Gallery in Tulsa.  It's a great gallery - and they do well for me.

The Waterfowl Festival - right around the corner!

This will be the twenty-third year that I've exhibited at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland.  I can hardly wait  for the mad dash from BWI to the Washington Street Pub in Easton (with artist friends Melanie Fain and Joe Garcia) where we eat too much steam & peel shrimp.  I'll be painting right up until the time I leave so I'll be ready for a little R & R.

These are some of the smaller oils I'll be showing at the Waterfowl Festival.   I'll be at the Elks Gallery again this year.  I'm looking forward to seeing my friends there!

SOLD    "Socked In"  6" x 6" oil

SOLD    "Chesapeake Stroll"  6" x 6" oil

"Trio"  6" x 6" oil

"Storm Across the Valley"

This is the last piece I painted during the week of the Sedona Plein Air Festival.   I was in Jerome - freezing cold - so I sat in the car and painted the view across the Verde Valley to Sedona.   I would like to paint this piece really large.  Of the six paintings I did this past week - this is my favorite.

SOLD

"Storm Across the Valley"  8" x 8",  oil

Sedona Plein Air Festival week

Phew...it's been a long week.  It started with glorious weather but by Wednesday we were painting in a snow storm.  Well...snow flurries, perhaps - but snow nevertheless.

This morning, the artists gather at L'Auberge - here in Sedona - for a 'quick-draw'.  Last year I painted the a couple eating breakfast at the outdoor creek side restaurant.  This year, I doubt anyone will be eating outside!  Still too chilly.

These are three of the six pieces I have done this week.

8" x 8"  "Local Color"

8" x 8"  "Quince - Warm Refuge on a Cold Day"

(Jerome, Arizona)

                                       SOLD

9" x 12"  "Sedona's Best"

Oak Creek Market and 'Sedona's Best' ice-cream parlor in uptown Sedona

Sedona Plein Air Festival

SThe Sedona Plein Air Festival starts tomorrow with a paint-out in uptown Sedona, with 32 artists from all over the U.S., including me.   I have a few spots picked out for tomorrow's painting session,  but will probably be painting at the intersection of Jordan Road and Hwy 89A from 2:30 - 5 pm.      On Sunday, October 25th, I'll be painting in front of Windrush Gallery from noon - 2 pm.

One of the festival artists, Latvian artist Larisa Aukon, www.aukonlarisa.com,  will be staying at my house for the week - and artist Joe Garcia, www.joegarcia.com,  and his wife, Anne, will also be here for the festival.  Artist Susan Faust www.susanfaust.com,  will also be painting with us!  So it will be a busy week - painting all day then washing down the bugs and dust with a glass or two of wine in the evenings while discussing the joy and challenges of our day's work.

I painted this piece last year in uptown Sedona and was honored to receive the Curt Walter's Award.

Yellow Umbrellas - Uptown Sedona

SOLD

Painting plein air is so much more fun when you share it with good friends.

Three new pieces for Legacy Gallery

These are 12" x 12" oils on Ampersand cradleboard.  Similar to 'gallery wrap', the painting surface sits is on strips of 2" deep birch....a more contemporary feel and no frame needed

"Lines and Spines"   SOLD

"Hooks and Crooks" SOLD

"Pins and Needles"  SOLD

Sonoran Moonrise

I recently did a small painting titled, 'Red Sky at Night'.  If you scroll down a few posts, you'll see it.  I really liked the feel of it - so I used the same colors for this 8" x 8" oil, 'Sonoran Moonrise'.

'Sonoran Moonrise' will be in Legacy Gallery's Holiday Small Works Show.  www.legacygallery.com
The show opens on Thursday, December 3, 2009 with an artist reception from 7 - 9 PM. 

Tip for cleaning brushes....

This morning, I was cruising (or is it surfing?) around the internet, checking the blogs of some of my favorite artists. Among them is Carol Marine. www.carolmarine.blogspot.com

Check out her 'painting a day' oils. Clean, vibrant color and great compositions.

Anyway, she has a great brush cleaning tip that I'd like to share:

Murphy's Oil Soap! It leaves brushes nice and soft, AND you can put old, dry, caked up brushes in a jar of it for 24 hours, wash them like normal, and every last bit of paint comes off.

Hope Carol doesn't mind that I lifted this off her blog and partially quoted her. I did leave out the bit that 'it smells good' as I cannot stand the smell of the stuff. In spite of the awful smell, I'm running out today to buy a large bottle. Finally I can save some brushes that I forgot to clean.

Birds in Art

The Wall Street Journal has a great article on the Birds in Art exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574417023686769120.html

My painting, 'Cold Embrace' is in the 2009 exhibit. 'In the Wind' was in last year's exhibit and is still traveling with the year-long national tour.

For more information on the annual Birds in Art exhibition, go to: www.lywam.org

"Red Sky at Night"

SOLD

"Red Sky at Night" 8" x 8" image, oil.

"Attitude" & More

SOLD
"Local Color" 6" x 6" oil




SOLD
"Attitude" Original oil 6" X 6"




SOLD
"The Independent" 6" x 6" oil




I've just completed these oils for Art for the Sangres in Westcliffe, Colorado on September 26th.

Getting ready for the next show...

"Summer Bounty" 20 x 24 oil.


No rest for the weary. I've just returned home from a gallery show in southern California, now I'm back in the studio painting for Art for the Sangres, a very fancy one-evening show (Sept. 26) in Westcliffe, Colorado. The show benefits The San Isabel land trust, saving land for future generations.

http://www.sanisabel.org/art_for_the_sangres.asp

It's my fourth year for this wonderful show in a beautiful location at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (meaning blood-of-Christ). Last year I sold 14 of 18 originals during the four hour show. Almost a sell-out....

Great opening!

SOLD "The Road Less Traveled"



I just returned from the opening for 'Places I Remember', my one-person landscape show at the Santa Ysabel Gallery, Santa Ysabel, California. It's a wide-spot in the road 7 miles west of Julian in San Diego County. The owner, Annie Rowley had a vision of a plein-air/landscape gallery with local artists. I don't live in San Diego County, but I did for many years, so Annie generously made an exception. The gallery has become a mecca for collectors and I'm proud to be part of it.

Many pieces sold at the opening so perhaps the economy is on the mend. The show will remain hanging until October 11th.

More new landscapes...

These oil landscapes are available at the Santa Ysabel Art Gallery, Santa Ysabel, California.




"The Low Road" is a view of Santa Ysabel, California from a hill above the valley. 8 x 10.






"Softly Comes the Night" 6 x 8 oil.

New work for landscape show at Santa Ysabel Gallery

I will have ten or eleven small oils at the show (6" x 6" and under). This 6" x 6" is titled,
"Cottonwoods at San Felipe"




This is a 8" x 6" oil, titled, 'Moonrise Over Santa Ysabel".




This oil of the Santa Ysabel Valley is 12 x 16, titled Edge of Day.





This painting is 8 x 10, titled "Late Light - Santa Ysabel".

Poor Mrs. Pringles....

She had a final meal of blueberry & grasshopper and died a few hours later.

Mrs. Pringles....again

Another photo of Mrs. Pringles in her Pringles can. She has blueberry stuck to her beak.

Meet Mrs. Pringles

I've raised many songbirds - often fledglings that well-meaning but misguided people have rescued, thinking they've fallen from the nest. In recent years, I've turned them over to the bird-lady, an older woman in Sedona who cares for injured or orphaned birds. (In Arizona - one may legally care for a songbird for up to 90 days).

A few days ago, my neighbor called. Would I come and get a bird what didn't seem quite right - perhaps it hit a window? The bird-lady is retiring, so I have agreed to take care of the bird.

I think Mrs. Pringles is a female summer tanager. She shows no sign of injury but is unable to keep her balance. Her condition declined dramatically during the first 24 hours...perhaps a slow cranial bleed? But she has not gotten any worse since then - so I'm hoping that in time she'll recover. She needs a bird-sized wheel-chair but in the meantime, Mrs. Pringles spends her days in a 6" Pringles container that I have cut in half lengthwise. This arrangement holds her more-or-less upright. However she sometimes wiggles out of this and I find her standing on her head in the corner of her cage.

I've decided that Mrs. Pringles is incapacitated because of injury rather than illness. If she were sick - she wouldn't have such a voracious appetite. Tanagers eat insects and fruit. She eats as many grasshoppers as I can catch and loves blueberries. Fortunately, my friends, Joe & Anne Garcia, are here - so Joe goes out on grasshopper hunts several times a day.

Mrs. Pringles knows I am the hand that feeds her - and opens her mouth in anticipation of a fat grasshopper when she sees me. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

"Soft Rain Falling"

Every now and then a painting will click from the first brushstroke to the last. This is one of them. It's a 24" x 36" oil on Ampersand board. This particular landscape is one of my favorite places to paint - an area called Mataguay in north San Diego County. I prefer it in the spring or fall when inclement weather softens edges and pushes colors towards the misty blues and soft greens.

I've done this piece for my one-person landscape show, 'The Road Less Traveled" at the Santa Ysabel Gallery, 30352 Hwy 78, Santa Ysabel, San Diego County, California. The show opens on September 5th with a reception from 4 - 8 PM, and will continue to hang until October 11.


I like this piece - hope you do too.

La Senita

SOLD
This 30" x 40" oil is done on 2" deep Ampersand cradle board. It gives the painting a more contemporary look and does not require framing. The subject is senita cactus, common in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. It's also known as 'old man cactus' for the whiskers that grow at the top of mature branches. This painting will be shown at the group show "Legacy of the Southwest" at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale. The opening is Thursday, July 9th, 7 - 9 pm. I'll see you there!

"Summer Aspen"

I just returned from a two week painting trip in Colorado...and also exhibited my work at 'Meet the Artist' in Breckenridge.

The weather cooperated with cool days, spectacular clouds and enough rain showers to rehydrate this parched Arizonan.

I painted this little piece plein air in front of my sister's house in Silverthorne. Unfortunately, the bark beetle has killed the majority of the lodge pole pines in the area - but the aspen are growing quickly to fill in the gaps. I love painting aspen - and could have spent the two weeks painting nothing but.

This painting is a 6" x 6" oil on Ampersand board.

"Light Through Trees"

For the past several years, I've been hung up on painting light through trees. I think this might be #7. They're all small and all a little different. This piece is 7" x 4".

"The Road Less Travelled"

I'm having a one-person landscape show at The Santa Ysabel Gallery in California - opening September 5th. The title of the show is Places I Remember so I wanted the piece that would be used to promote the show to reflect the theme.

This 10" x 8" oil, The Road Less Travelled, really is a place I remember as it is done from memory. I used some photographs to remind me of color and mood - but there is no photograph of this particular place. Does it even exist? Yes, somewhere in north San Diego County - but I don't think I could find the spot again.

Chow Down

This 6" x 8" oil only took a few hours. It's hard to paint a cute subject without ending up with a cute painting so I concentrated on my warm & cool colors - and used the long shadows to make a strong composition.

I've done this little oil for an upcoming show in Breckenridge, Colorado. My sister and I will be showing our work together at Meet the Artist, June 27 & 28th at the Riverwalk Plaza in downtown Breckenridge.

"Blue River Valley"

I'm happy with this little oil. It's an 8 x 10 painted on a gessoed board. The pre-gessoed board was a little too slick so I gave it a rough coat of gesso and let it dry for 24 hours. It's not easy to paint detail on a rough surface - so it forces me to paint loosely. I like the piece as it has a 'sense of place' - something I am always striving for.

I'm painting for a show in Breckenridge, Colorado at the end of June. "Meet the Artist" is an outdoor show that I did for the first time last year with my sister, Joanne Hanson. www.JoanneHansonArt.com. Several years ago she finally listened to me and gave painting a try. She has yet to put the brush down and her work is already selling well.

MEET THE ARTIST is June 27, 28, 2009 on the lawn at Riverwalk Plaza in Breckenridge. If you have trouble finding me, call me on my cellphone at 928 300-9118. I will be showing Colorado landscapes (including this piece) and my wildlife paintings.

"Midas Touch"

Have I used this title before? It sounds vaguely familiar. This is a 30" x 30" oil done on Ampersand gesso board, mounted on 2" deep birch sides. This gives my work a more contemporary look and does not need a frame.

This painting will be in the article, 'Legacy of the Southwest' in the July issue of Western Art Collector magazine - www.westernartcollector.com The article is about an upcoming group show at Legacy Gallery - www.legacygallery.com - Happily, Midas Touch was one of the pieces chosen for the article. The show opens Thursday, July 9th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.



Check out my new website! My father taught himself html in order to design and maintain my website for me. He's done the work on it for years - but recently I decided to give him a break and have gone with Fine Art Studio. (www.fineartstudioonline.com)

I love it! It's just about as easy as blogging.

Check it out.....www.AdeleEarnshaw.com

A week of painting in California

"Promise of a Hot Day"




"Poppies Galore"




"Cows & Mustard"






"Olives & Nuts"



Following the show in Fallbrook last weekend, I spent a week with Joe & Anne Garcia in Julian, California. Joe and I painted on location, all day/every day. It was a long, hot week but I am happy with the results, which will be shown at the Santa Ysabel Gallery, June 6 - July 26th for the fourteenth annual plein air exhibition, 'Pochade'.

"Nopales"

This oil (30" x 30") is painted on Ampersand cradleboard, which is a gessoed panel mounted on 2" deep birch ply. It gives my work a contemporary look and does not require framing. This painting will be at Legacy Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona - along with four other new southwest pieces.

"Aspen Glade"

SOLD


This 7" x 7" oil is hanging at Windrush Gallery - and will be exhibited with another 40 of my original oils until April 15th. The majority of the work is smaller than 8" x 10"

"Groceries"

I painted this 8" x 10" oil yesterday of the Indian Gardens market in Oak Creek Canyon, just north of Sedona, Arizona.

This Saturday (March 28) is the opening reception for "Small Talk", my one-person show at Windrush Gallery in Sedona. Most of the thirty paintings in the show are small - 8" x 10" and smaller.

The show postcard featured a painting of the Indian Gardens store, titled "Cold Beer" and wouldn't you know it, it sold a few days ago before the show even opened. "Groceries" is another painting of the same store - different time of year and different angle.

If you're in Sedona, this weekend, please come to my opening!

"Small Talk" March 28 - April 15, Reception 2 - 6 PM, March 28. Windrush Gallery, 411 State Route 179, Sedona. 928 282-7676, 800 323-0115

"Remains of the Day"

SOLD



I love painting pieces that give the feeling of time of day. When I'm painting on location, my favorite time is the last few minutes before the sun goes down. The light and color change so quickly that I can't paint....I just put down my brush and watch, trying to remember the values and color.