Little Folk Art Roller Coaster-Not For Sale

Title:  Little Folk Art Roller Coaster
Size: 6x6x1.5
Medium: Oil over acrylic on stretched linen.
Date: 3/17/14
To enlarge, click on image.  For more information and views, click here.

View toward Mission Bay and Beach and historic Belmont Park's, wooden roller coaster (The Big Dipper), built in 1925.  On July 4, 1990, a ceremony was held to officially recognize the Dipper as a National Historical Monument.

The inspiration for this painting is this great photo I saw online. 

It is a bit blurry but I could see enough to want to re-imagine it as a little folk art painting.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it , you can see the red roofs and roller coaster in the background and the West Mission Bay Drive bridge in the center foreground.

Little Folk Art, Point Loma Lighthouse-Not For Sale

Title:  Little Folk Art, Point Loma Lighthouse
Size: 6x6x1.5
Medium: Oils on linen.
Wired and ready to hang. 
Click on image to enlarge.  Click here for more views and information. 

It's been awhile since I've posted a folk art miniscape.  This little one depicts the new Point Loma Lighthouse in San Diego, with a view toward Coronado Island and eastward to San Diego's mountains. 

Valentine - SOLD

Title: Valentine
Size: 30x40x7/8
Medium: Oils over Acrylic
Date: 1/8/2014
Click on image to enlarge.
For more views and information, please click here.

Red is a tricky oil color to work with and even trickier to photograph.  So I will provide a little narration.  The reds in Valentine consist of warm and cool tones, from deep blue-red to orange-red, darker and lighter red shades along with chartreuse, dark ultramarine and light blues.

Happy Valentines!

Canyon Light - SOLD

Title: Canyon Light
Size: 36x36x.75"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 12/13/13 
Click here for more views and information.

One of my favorite things about living on the canyon is seeing how the morning sunlight plays on the leaves of the eucalyptus trees that fill it.  It turns the leaves a bright, almost iridescent, translucent, green like bright green icicles.

California -SOLD

Title:  California
Medium:  Oil and Acrylic on Stretched Canvas.
Size: 36x36x.75
Date:  6/30/2013
Click image to enlarge.  Click this link for more views.

Hoping to be back in my condo by next weekend and to be able to paint again soon.  This is one I painted just before I had to move out.

Over the Deep

Title: Over The Deep
Medium: Oils over acrylic
Size: 36x36x3/4
Date: 6/26/13 
Click image to enlarge

Please click here for more views and information.

Just here for a few minutes to catch up on some things.  My condo building had a flood on July 1st and those of us affected have moved out until work is completed.  Wow, what an ordeal and what a mess! Can't get to anything.  Drywall dust everywhere, all the furniture stacked into small area of the condo, many calls and appointments etc.    But no one was hurt and most everything can be replaced. 

Split the Sky, Move the Sea - SOLD

Size:36x40x3/4
Medium:Oils over acrylic, on stretched canvas.
Date: 6/22/2013 
Click image to enlarge.
 

Living on, or near, the coast for most of my life has exposed me to an array of dramatic evening skies,  with the sky and sea often seeming to merge into a single, deep, distance.  Sometimes the sky opens slightly and  slivers of the last rays of  light draw their promises in the sky.

For more views, click here.

My Mother's Garden - SOLD

Title: My Mother's Garden
Size: 36x36x3/4
Medium: Oil over Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
Date: 6/16/13

More than a year of not painting, and it's spring, and my mother's garden is in full bloom and I wanted to capture the brightness, the color and the feeling of her garden.   Each time I see it, it has changed and grown.  It has pots of tall and short flowers and succulents and layers of textures and colors arranged artistically.  Others she and the birds have planted into the ground.    In the center are flagstone pieces forming a pathway.  If you turn the painting on its side, you see another view, but it's still her garden.

Little Gardens

As long as we are on the subject of small spaces and small gardens, here some more pictures.  First, balcony photos from Barb out in Las Vegas.  These are their former Hawaii condo's two balconies.  Just the right amount of plants to create a peaceful, little refuge.   She's doing the same in their current desert abode.  Perhaps I can post those photos later.

The next photos are courtesy HGTV Gardens.
How about this garden for a narrow space:  Trellising Jasmine.  

Or perhaps the only space  you have for a garden is on your steps,  or

along a little entry pathway

The only garden I had at my little cottage apartment in La Jolla many years ago was half an old whiskey barrel beside the front door, that I planted with wildflower seeds.  I loved it.

Artful Gardens

It has been a long time since I posted to my blog.  Still no paintings to share, but this doesn't keep me from appreciating artful inspiration in all its forms.

While I was online searching for inspiring gardens to share as we enter into our spring and summer gardening adventures,  I came across this cute backyard cottage.  It does have a nice little garden of its own.

Actually,  I was looking for inspiring little balcony gardens, since my garden is on a balcony, and this image appeared.  Is this someone's idea of a rooftop garden?

After all my searching for a special balcony garden, I really didn't find anything worthy of posting.  But I did find a picture of some potted citrus trees, which in theory would make a lovely addition to a balcony garden. I've never been successful with potted fruit trees, but it looks as though someone else has.