Committee Meeting (Oil, in progress)

Each panel is 3" square and could be displayed as a 6" x 6" set or as a group of four smaller paintings.

I was going to elaborate on why I chose this title, but I think it best to let the viewer draw from it whatever meaning evokes personal memories.
I hope to have it finished by the end of this week.

Contact me; jandale@jandalefineart.com or call 313-581-1342

About Giveaways

If you love to own original artwork..for free.... then this post is for you! We artist types understand that the economy is tight right now, but we have to keep painting toward the day when it will inevitably loosen up. So artists sometimes post giveaway paintings on their blogsites. I'm giving away the painting you see to your right.
But I'm not alone...Read on..

...In fact, I used to not believe that real people really won those. That is..until I began engaging in online dialogue with other artists, most of them by far my superior (by design). That's when I met Judith D'Agostino, an impressionistic landscape artist. She encouraged me to enter her giveaway. So I trusted for once. Imagine my joy when she announced me as the winner of a gorgeous New Mexico oil landscape!
Now, while Judith is possibly one of my favorite landscape artists, Jeff Hayes is one of my top three favorite stillife artists. I love how he creates a glow around the edges of glass objects. And he's giving away a painting this month!!!!!!...and what's even better is that he's quite well known. I've read possibly everything he's posted over the last year and learned a great deal from him. While what I'd REALLY like to win is that painting of a glass oil cruet he posted some time ago, I'm still entering this one because it is a Jeff Hayes work afterall and quite collectable. If you have a blog, you can enter his drawing too. Click on ...Free Jeff Hayes Painting. Let me know if you need help. I'd be happy to support this highly respected artist. Remember to enter mine as well. Who knows? You could end up with your own miniature gallery.

Contact me at jandale@jandalefineart.com or call 313-581-1342

Rescued

This is a little deviation from my usual fare, but I really have been wanting to share this for some time. I found this old rocking chair sitting out on the curb on trash day and rescued it. Then I stripped it down through six different colored layers of paint to the bare wood and gave it a new life. Now it sits proudly in my livingroom-studio and seems to be the first place visitors want to sit. Do you get the idea that I like checked patterns?

Now here's a close-up of the flowers I painted on the seat. I love turning trash into treasure!
P.S. Look to your right and enter this month's Giveaway!

"Family Night" Finished

12 x 12" oil on masonite panel

Donated to Mrs. Simoni's 4th Grade class.

Here it is. Now I need to find some chessmen to go with it. Leave a comment or ask a question. I love dialogue.

"Family Night" almost finished detail

oil on masonite panel 12 x 12"

Here's a closer look at the chess pieces as I am modeling them. I can't wait til it is dry enough to play on; about two weeks. Perhaps I'll find some unwitting soul to play chess with on it. Perhaps I'll sell it. If you think you might be interested in having it when it is finished, let me know. Just leave a comment here at the bottom where it says..well..'comment'. Watch tomorrow. I'll unveil the finished chess board sometime in the afternoon.

"Family Night" 12 x 12" oil in progress

Chess is one of those games that a person either really loves or really doesn't. I love Chess. I love watching other people play it. I love the idea of it even though I'm no good at it. My brother George ruined it forever for me when at the age of 10 he beat the ever-living socks off me six times in rapid succession. When I became a foster mom I thought, 'ahah! now I might just have a shot..' But beating a five year old just doesn't quite carry the thrill of victory...especially when you authored their agony of defeat. And even that was short lived. By the time Damean was seven, he had learned the game...which again led to my utter demise.
I decided to make fun of Chess in this Trompe L'Oeil chess board. I only scanned a portion of it because I'm not finished. When it is done and several coats of protective varnish have been applied, it will be an actual functioning chess board.

Notice that there are three figures. The King and Queen are lying down pell-mell and the little pawn is still standing...which is exactly what used to happen by the end of our own family nights. Of course, no game night is complete without coconut macaroons and coffee.

Laynie: (almost finished) 8 x 10" oil on hard panel

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a message from Laynie........
"Happy Fathers' Day Dad! The painting is for you."

Ken Brown is my pastor. I cannot count the number of times both he and his wife Kim have helped me gain perspective when I was stressed out. Their daughters Laynie and Anna are delightful young ladies who grow sweeter by the minute. I love this family! Preachers' kids get alot of bad press these days and I'd like to use today, Fathers' Day 2008, to set that record straight. I see a calm and loving interaction between Ken and his children. These two girls are nearly always smiling. We notice things like that.

Happy Fathers' Day Ken!

"Peppermint Oil" 2x3" oil miniature

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SOLD
At no time in the 26 year history of my marriage have we ever been without a bottle of peppermint oil. I use it in my coffee, desserts, and sometimes in my homemade lemon/mint salad dressing (when fresh mint leaves are unbearably pricey). If you want the recipe, I'd be happy to share it via email.

This view shows the painting under diffused indoor light.

Orange Slices 3" x 3" oil

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$45

Some time ago, I painted a series of oranges; oil on canson paper. Canson paper is generally used for high quality works in color pencil and charcoal. Many Color Pencil Society of America artists use it. It had the acid-free quality I needed for oils. The colors, therefore, are just as strong now as they were a year ago when I painted them. It was also the perfect ground for experimental work since it was inexpensive and very durable.

Google evidently liked them because I had visitors from all over the world look at them, including places like Pretoria and the Brittish Isles. Because there was so much interest in them, I am going to do another series of orange and other citrus fruit images this summer. This time, they will be painted on my new ground of choice; gessoed masonite panel.

Make sure your framer uses only acid free materials.

Spring

4" X 4" oil on masonite panel $50.





















School is winding down..or shall I say hurtling headlong into that state of oblivion called the fourth card marking. After a particularly trying day this week, I saw these brilliantly colored seed spinnies scattered about on the walk as I approached my house. So I kick off my painting season with a calming image; the very essence of renewal and hope. Enjoy!

I will be posting this painting on e-bay sometime this weekend. Watch for it.

Evening Rain

Daily painting #38

2"x3" oil on masonite panel
$85 plus $5 shipping

I keep a few of these smallest panels handy for warm-up sessions. I currently have four larger works in progress, but I sometimes need to loosen up my brush strokes before working on those.

A visitor most welcome

daily painting #37

3x3" oil on gessoed masonite unframed

SOLD

My Dad and one of my sisters live right next door to one another, in Kingsport, Tennessee. I had the pleasure last week of rising early each morning and watching six hummingbirds feed at a flaming Mimosa tree which grew at the common fence which separated the two yards. Obviously, I could not work from life this time. The tiny visitors flitted too fast to capture. I had to use a combination of quick sketches, photo references, and my previous knowledge of hummingbirds. They feed about 4-5 times every hour of daylight. These appeared to be of the ruby-throated variety, but I couldn't get close enough to tell for certain. Next time I go, I plan to take a better camera with a quick zoom...and of course my field glasses.

Ripening

daily painting #32
3 x 3" oil on masonite
$85, $5 shipping

My husband and I went blueberry picking near Grand Rapids, the home of my sister Lois. We brought back 11lbs of blueberries..about enough to last a few weeks.

I had difficulty getting a good shot of the mixed bunch with the digital camera. But I'll post it as soon as I get it figured out.

Peppermint Oil

daily painting #31
aprx. 2x3" oil on canvas
$85, $5 shipping

I love to cook. My husband loves to eat what I cook. Life is good. But there is one thing that absolutely sends him running for the fork drawer. That... is peppermint. I keep a bottle on of peppermint oil in the cupboard always. I put it in brownies and in any other thing that seems compatible with it. I get bored, but he never does. I've decided to play an April Fools-in-July trick. I plan to put a drop of the peppy flavoring on the bottom of the oven and turn the thing on for a few minutes....say..a half hour before he's due home. We have lately cut back on sweets, so treats taste especially goood when I do make them. When he sniffs the air and asks what I made, I will feign confusion. As I envision the crestfallen look on his face, I realize that I can't do it. It's just too cruel.

Eggplant Slices

daily painting #29

3x3" oil on canvas

$85, $5 shipping

I normally do not post on Sunday, but these were just too much fun. I don't really like eggplant (too slippery), but they are too interesting not to paint.

Crystal Bell

daily painting#28
4 x 6" oil on canvas
$125 + $5 shipping

A really sensible artist would begin an exploration of glass with a simple straight-sided and empty juice glass. Then, she/he would progress with ever increasing complexity. But NOOOooooooooo...I had to just jump right in there with a tiny crystal bell that defied me to mentallty freeze its flickering shapes! I know, I know....and I really really tried to do this in one sitting like most of the rest, but it just didn't happen. In the days before I discovered the painting a day concept, I might have abandoned the thing before I gave it a second chance. But now? All I can say is thank you to Duane Keiser and all the other first runners in this daily painting marathon. Incidentally, check out Duane's Topophilia Project..inspiring!

Baladi Grapes

daily painting #27

4 x 6" oil on canvas

SOLD

These grapes are painted actual size. Yes, they are this tiny.

A very special thanks to my grocers at Chase and Greenland Markets in Dearborn, Michigan for supplying me with the luscious fruits that have been the subjects for my most recent paintings. They carry an amazing variety of things not found at larger chains. When I got these teensy pearl-like grapes home, I asked one of my neighbors what "baladi" meant. What a delight for this old farmgirl when he told me it meant that the store bought them locally from someone growing the grapes in their own backyard. Baladi literally means home-grown. My neighbor pointed upward and, sure enough, there was a grape arbor over his carport. He invited me to have some when they ripen. How sweet!

Oops!

daily painting # 26

3 x 3" oil on canson paper

Click to bid.

This was the fridge preserved half left over from the previous three paintings. It's a little more dried out and old looking. Not as pretty as #24, but good for study.

Orange Slices

daily painting #24

3 x 3" oil on canson paper

click here to bid

As you can see, this week is all about oranges. Thank you for visiting. Keep watching.

Orange Reflections

daily painting # 23

3 x 3" oil on Canson paper

Click to bid.

I'm working on more accurate reflections and experimenting with oil paint on paper. I like the smooth texture. It's less rough than canvas.