Tea Time - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Click title for more information or to purchase.
Size: 16" w x 12" h
Medium: Oils on Canvas


I'm excited about this little painting and hope to develop it into a series. Since I love tea and teapots, it seems only fitting.

Last week I became a member of the San Diego Art Institute Museum of the Living Artist. It is a wonderful space in San Diego's Balboa Park with many wonderful and fresh works of art. If you are not able to visit in person, the art may also be viewed on line at SDAI.

See you again after Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with all your favorite people around you.

Karen's La Jolla - NFS

Click image to enlarge. Painting not for sale.
Size: 8" w x 6" h
Medium: Oils on Canvas board.


Inspired by the fun of last week's mini landscape, I painted one for my sister-in-law for her birthday, which is in January. It depicts their home along with parts of La Jolla. Even though it is painted in an abstracted style, I think she will recognize what it is. I will buy a small table-easel for it so she can put it on her desktop if she chooses.

San Diego Landscape Miniature - SOLD

Click image to enlarge.
Size: 8" w x 6" h
Medium: Oils on canvas board.



Most of us have been perplexed at times over what to give a special person in our lives for Christmas. Something different. Something special. I have a friend who is so good at finding the most unusual and fun gifts for each person in her life, that I have often thought she could have a second career as a personal shopper. She thought of a very personal and unique gift for this person in her life. Why does it belong on my art blog? Because her idea was for me to paint a small canvas, incorporating his several San Diego homes in an abstracted style and that would be small enough to stand on his desktop.

I made many different sketches of how this might look and sent her some. Then we met in my studio over coffee, Christmas music and goodies to choose and then refine her favorite. Next, I transferred the sketch to the 6" x 8" canvas, mixed the colors, gave her a brush and set her to painting. My idea was that she would paint some parts and also add her signature to the finished piece for an added special touch. My favorite part of the painting is one of the areas she painted. It is the 2-toned, green triangle shape in the center of the painting. It represents a coastal estuary.

This project was so much fun from start to finish, that I started one for someone on my birthday gift-list.

Ukulele - collage - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Sorry, bidding has ended.
Size: 16" h x 12" w.
Medium: Oils and papers on canvas board.


As I wrote in Post #60, Bowl of Oranges, the collage, Ukulele, was inspired by a friend's invitation to hear ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. Ukulele has enjoyed a rise in popularity, much of which is probably due to Jake Shimabukuro himself. My friends up the coast are enthralled with their ukulele lessons and friends here are atwitter about Jake. For me it reminds me of my father, who liked to play it and we would sing to it together when I was little, or he would sweetly serenade me.

Two more paintings to see this week. Scroll down to Modern Folk Art Bouquet and Tea and Oranges.

Modern Folk Art Bouquet - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Sorry, bidding has ended.
Size: 16"h x 12"w.
Medium: Oils on Canvas Board


This piece was so much fun to paint. It came together smoothly and quickly using only the pallet knife in a spirit of happy adventure. And I love the way it turned out.

I little ahead of you this week, so there is one more painting to see. Just scroll down to Tea and Oranges.

Tea and Oranges - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Sorry, bidding has ended.
Size: 16" h x 12" w.
Medium: Oils on Canvas board
Date: November 14, 2007



I grew up in a small, coastal town in Southern California. In our backyard we grew oranges, lemons, peaches and avocados. Every room, including the kitchen had a view of the trees in our yard. In the morning our mother often made fresh-squeezed orange juice from our trees. The sunlight flooded our home and we were flooded with with happy times that left us with happy memories. This painting is a memory of breakfast and oranges and our happy life.

Bowl of Oranges - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Sorry, bidding has ended.
Size: 14" h x 11" w.
Medium: Oils of Canvas Board.



Posting a bit early this week for Thanksgiving. Still painting these smaller Outsider, Folk Art pieces and experimenting with eBay listing strategies. Ready and waiting to post and list are: another fruit painting; an abstract at night, and a collage ukulele. The latter was inspired by a friend's invitation to hear Jake Shimabukuro. As it turned out, I was sick and could hear only the clips available on Youtube. I knew the Ukulele had become quite the rage. And friends up the coast are enthralled with their lessons and everyone is talking about Jake. My own fond feelings for this shy little instrument are attached to my father, who used to play it and we would sing to it together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Home - Sold

Click image to enlarge. Bidding has ended.
Medium: Oils on Canvas.
Size:16" w x 12" h.



Last week I listed 11 paintings, in my continuing eBay listing experiment. Quite a few were little paintings listed at other times during the year that did not sell at the time. Of the 11, 8 sold and Bowl of Fruit (see previous post) will end Saturday.

Each was listed with a starting auction price of $.99. All but 2 were listed in the broad category of "self-representing artists" and using the keywords Folk, Outsider and or Pop art. The results? This is one example: The Red Bicycle, that did not sell last Spring at a starting price of $99.00 and then $49.00, was bid up from $.99 to $51.03. Is this due to timing?, the category?, the excitement generated by the low starting price and the race to win? It will take more experiments to know for sure. This time it had 110 views and 10 bids. It had only a fraction of the number of views in the earlier listings.

This week I am listing 2 new ones at $9.99. I want to see whether they have as many views, watchers and primarily, bidders and how this starting price effects the outcome. I will keep you "posted".

Bowl of Fruit - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Sorry, bidding has ended.
Size: 16" h x 12" w
Medium: Oils



Continuing to paint in the Outsider Folk Art genre and having fun with it. By next week I hope to have another update for you on my eBay listing experiments. I am conducting a number of them through this week. See you then!

Three Lollipop Candies - SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Bidding has ended.
Size 10"w x 8"h.
Medium: Oils on Gessoed Board.



Continuing my eBay experiment painting Outsider, Pop, Folk Art and opening the auction at about $1.00 this week with Lollipops. Next week I will be doing the same but I am considering changing the category from the smaller "Folk Art" category to the much larger "self-representing artists" category, just to see what happens. To read the results of the Windy Day listing experiment, scroll to previous post, #56.

What makes art "art"? Who makes these determinations? People have been discussing this for ages and Marla Olmstead has painted her way into the middle of a flurry of discussions on the topic.

Marla is a little girl whose abstract expressionist paintings have sold for as much as $20,000. Some controversy has arrisen over whether to call her work "art" and even whether she finishes it herself. If you would like to see a video clip of Marla in action, click HERE. To see her gallery, click HERE.