A New Bird Painting...

English Robin

(6x6", Oil on Stretched Linen)   Price: $ 180.00  SOLD

I painted this little bird at Illuxcon 5 at Altoona, Pennsylvania two weeks ago. A public demo in fact. I seem to be getting better at painting in public, even though I spent the first half of my life deathly afraid of public performance of any nature. I guess we all grow up and outgrow certain things. Anyway, this is my little English Robin...aka Robin Red Breast... and he was a joy to paint. The subtleties of his brushy feathers are a bit lost in this photo, and the whites have muddied slightly. Sorry about that. I toyed with the details on Photoshop, but to no avail. I'll try again another time.

Meanwhile, this is me, using my little Guerrilla Painter Box again. I love that box. Everyone else in the show was painting large canvases with complicated subjects...presumably, some of the artists brought their day job to Illuxcon so they wouldn't miss out any work time on them. Mind you, I got asked so many times during the weekend, about 'did I finish my bird painting?' and 'is it for sale?' that I think half of the convention attendees must have stopped by to watch me work. That's entirely too flattering for words, considering how many Art Gods and Art Godlets were showing the most gorgeous paintings in the same hall.

I will probably paint a few more little birds in the coming weeks. They are a joy to do, and I have a stack more little linen canvases to work my way through.

Thanks for dropping by.

Cheers,

Marianne

The Price of Bird Song...

Interference

(Oil, 8x10", Framed)  Price: $ 200.00

And now for something completely different...

I've had this idea hanging around in the back of my brain for some time now. However, I was held up by trying to find the perfect robot and the perfect bird to go together to make the idea work. Well, I solved it right before going to Illuxcon two weeks ago. The paint was only just dry as we left on our Illuxcon road trip. This painting kind of follows in the goofy footsteps...or robotic footpads...of one of my first paintings in my Birds 'n' Bots series, "HEY, I NEED THAT!" And, too, I wanted to get away from using my red Rover Space Robot dog a bit. He's getting way too prevalent in my paintings. He can't help being cute, but I want to lash out into using other robots - tin toy or otherwise. I used the same palette from the last painting, "TELLING SECRETS".... but with highly different outcome.

Thanks for stopping by again. I'm going to take a little break from the more complicated paintings and just paint a few little birds now and then between writing projects that are demanding my undivided attention. And, because I've had a few requests for them... :-D

Cheers,

Marianne

Lost in Nature...

Further on the theme of lost technology in nature that I used in a previous painting, SLEEPERS, here is a slightly more truncated idea....TELLING SECRETS. The little Yellow Warbler is singing or talking into the ear bud of the buried, rusted robot. I considered several titles for a time when I was developing this idea, but one seemed to settle into the back of my mind. I watch old Mission Impossible episodes when I'm working on my computer or sewing, among other things, and in one episode, Cinnamon Carter tells her 'husband' - "Not now, darling. We're telling secrets." I've seen the episode many times, and the idea stuck. So here is my version of TELLING SECRETS...

Telling Secrets

(Oil, 11x14" on canvas board)  Price: $600.00  SOLD

Below is the original drawing for this painting. It was a lot of fun to create...

 Telling Secrets - Drawing

(Pencil on paper, 9x12", Matted)  Price: $65.00

My painting techniques haven't changed much. I still like to use a limited palette: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Medium, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre and a tiny touch of Pthalo Blue. The brush sizes occasionally differ, but the big fluffy blending brushes are always to hand.

I really enjoyed painting this one, and I have more along the same theme planned for next year.
Thanks for stopping by...

Cheers,

Mariane