Adventure is worthwhile

Friday, and what a Friday!!!
Another rainy day here, but yesterday's rain was nothing compared to what came down today !!! oh wooww... never seen so much water all together.
And today I had also to drive back from SF, it took almost 3 hours (normally 40 min)

Anyway, stop complaining and let's focus on some good art :)

Here is today's fairy:
front ...

 and back...

 and tops and sides :

 This is a very cute piece , sorry for the bad picture, but to take decent picture i need the SUN!!!  hopefully Monday :)


have a great Friday dear friends!!
I am finishing up my coffee and going for a quick relaxing swim :)
Now that I have discovered how much I love swimming under the rain nothing can stop me!

Double fairy, my reminder

Here is my second fairy, this is a very special one, all what is written on her was thought for me!
No one has ever said that following your dream is easy right? No one!Because is everything but easy.
I sometimes I think I should go back to a safe, office job....but luckily enough the thought never stays with me for too long!!

This is fairy is reminder for me :)

I glued together 3 wooden blocks, both sides are painted

and these are the side

DO THE THING YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU COULD DO

Cheers!

12x9 inches oil on canvas

Good evening everyone!
Another rainy cloudy day here in Menlo Park, but I will not complain! I managed to take Mona for a run in the morning and I also went for a nice swim. Swimming outdoor in winter (water is heated of course!) under the rain...is almost as beautiful as swimming in a sunny summer day, loving it!

Today's painting was quite challenging...painting a pint of beer is more difficult than painting a glass of wine...hope you like it!
I love the contrast of the colors in this painting, black, white, yellow, a nice combination.
Starting working on another beer tomorrow :)

Have a nice evening everyone, cheers!!!

Fairy time :) Stretch your wings TAKE A FLIGHT

Good evening from a very, very, VERY wet Menlo Park.
Today it rained like never before!! ( I am exaggerating of course!) But it was pretty impressive, our garden is a swimming right now, even Mona doesnt fancy going out. Which is good , more time for me for painting!!:)

5x8 inches wooden block  (width 2 inches)
 

This is the first of a series of fairies and angels I have been working on lately.
Right now I am sitting on my desk surrounded by all my fairies, I love looking at them! They are so colorful, sweet, just lovely!! I am extremely happy of my latest creations :)

I will post one per day, hopefully you love them too!!

Big Sunflower with red shoes

Hello dear friends!
Hope you had a nice Saturday:)
Mine was AWESOME.
A beautiful day this one, my health and appetite are back too so I fully enjoyed  the day.
Mona and I went for a drive to see some girlfriends in the morning.
We drove roof down all the way, nice and sunny ,the  heating was on!!but still..it was really AWESOME :)

The painting I am posting today was done some days ago, is my last and final painting with  my red shoes, promise!! NO MORE:)
I just wanted to paint one more canvas with the sunflowers I had in the house ( they are all dead and in the garbage right now!!)

So here it is 8x8inches, oil on canvas:

California coast with palette knife

6x6inche oil on canvas

Hello everyone! hopefully your day was better than mine ! Still sick with very very annoying stomach bug...not fun!! Hopefully it ll be gone soon...

Anyway...Even when sick I am not able to keep my hands off the brushes or...off my palette knife! Since this small painting is done ONLY with the knife, I love the texture, is still wet but once dried it will be real fun to touch!

Wishing everyone a nice Friday Night!!

Last portraits

Hello everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Sorry for not posting anything late but I felt sick...another stomach bug, twice in a month, a bit unlucky I would say!!
The sun is shining and I am also finally feeling better today though :)
We are going soon to have lunch with some friends, turkey of course!

The portrait I am posting now is the one I draw last Tuesday, is ok, but not actually great, it was done that when I got sick...my concentration was soooo bad!!
Here they are :

I will be back with the portrait in January! I am not attending any class for the month of December, more time to work on "my" art! :)

Tiny sunflowers

Here is another tiny painting
1,5 inches x 1,5 inches
Painting is small is real fun and VERY very relaxing!!
need to buy more small canvas!

a tasty still life

Hello everyone!

A rainy Sunday here in Menlo Park, just back from a lovely run under the rain :)
Lovely for me, less for Mona! She loves getting dirty but she loves less getting a bath afterwards!!! She is so funny!!


Today s painting is my last still life, dedicated full to my husband! that loves my hamburgers! the real ones of course!! Hopefully he will like this one too :)
8x8inches oil on canvas

Mess on my table :)

Happy Friday everyone!

Rainy and gray today here in Menlo Park, the perfect day to spend on the sofa under the duvet reading a book. Which is not what I am doing!!! :) I wish!!

I am not a very tidy person, not at all my mom would say!
Unfortunately my husband is the same if not worst ! and my dog starts barking every time I clean....which doesnt stop me from cleaning of course! we have a messy clean house, let's put this way :)
The kingdom of mess are my desk, my hubby's office and our bedroom.
Maybe one day I ll paint our bedroom, it could be fun.

For now I painted a corner of my desk.
The red shoes have been sitting on my desk for 2 weeks almost, time to put them away probably!!!:)

8x10 inches oil on cardboard
hope you like it!

Sunflowers...a never ending painting story

 6x6 inches oil on canvas

This is my painting from yesterday, is full of color ( notice the texture !) and full of life, I actually really really like it!!
The funny thing is that just yesterday morning I told to my self that it was about time to stop painting flowers. So how did I get here?
Well...the sunflowers from last week (the ones I bought to paint with the red shoes) are still alive...and I would feel really bad in throwing them away in few days from now without having painted them.
No judging here! That's the way I am done :)

 So here they are a perfect trio!

Today I went to a new market near by to buy some veggie, in the end the groceries were so expensive that I left the shop with a tiny bag and a big bunch of...guess what?
YES! SUNFLOWERS! they were HUGE and at an amazing price...last time I buy them for..the month of November!! Deal!

see you soon for more sunflower's painting!
:)

Tiny mini painting !

Hello everyone!
Hope you had good start of the week :)

Last Sunday I took part at my first ever art sale...it was a very positive experience, still I have LOADS to learn about art selling!!
Looking forward to the next one already!

Today is painting is the tiniest painting till now, 1,5 inc x 1,5 inch, I like it a lot and I think is super sweet!!
Here it is  :

Hope you like it!
Taking the crazy doggie for a walk now!
ciao!!!

My NYC shoes :)

10x8 inches 

oil on canvas board

These are my orange leather shoes I bought in NYC a couple of years ago, on a crazy shopping afternoon in SOHO with my hubby.
It feels ages ago...life here in Menlo Park is so much slower, and quieter and....completely different from Manhattan, sometimes I miss that life. But you cannot have it all, can you?
Mona is happier here for sure!
Taking her out for a walk in a few minutes, oaks, parks and squirrels here, heaven for her!!

Here you can see the still life with the shoes I created on my desk:

My favorite shoes

I am not a big shopper ( my husband can confirm!!), I don t really find pleasure in going shopping, I 'd rather be home and painting!
Sometimes though (very RARELY)I find something I really really like, normally it happens with shoes or boots.
 Then I cannot focus, I cannot think straight..I just need to have that pair of shoes.
And when I dont listen to my small inner voice asking me to buy the shoes please, then ....well I do regret it...I am still thinking about a pair of shoes I saw in London during my last trip in Europe.  Ishould have bought them! :(
As I said it happen very rarely ( my husband is happy here)
For our wedding in Las Vegas I bought a pair of blue shoes D&G, amazing...I wore them once, but the idea of having them is enough to make me happy.
Same thing with the red shoes, I bought them when I was in Italy a couple of years ago, present of my mom. I wore them less than 5 times in total I think, but I JUST LOVE having them!
Last week I went to a Halloween party dressed up like a dead child(!) nice white dress, white make up, and red shoes...really cool! I wore the shoes and I decided that they deserved to be painted.
So here there are! :)
8x10 inches oil on cardboard

 I really love this painting, is very fresh! you can see some brush strokes...I am super happy with the result!
Painting from life and not from a picture makes really the difference sometimes, it might look more difficult but is definitely easier to me.
Hope you like it!

last picture..me at the party with my shoes!!

PS.This last painting is also for sale on Etsy, in my shop :)
I am very proud to announce that my shop is back! :) go and visit ! 

http://www.etsy.com/people/LAURADALLAGATA7?ref=si_pr

Foursome...

I go through phases ...and right now I would definitely position my self in  LILY CALLAS PERIOD!!:)
Be ready because I am not  yet out of it!!
This is a 18x24 inches canvas, the background is painted with acrylics while the flowers are done with oil.
I love it, hope you like it too!

The beautiful weather is still here...I dont wanna make you guys jealous but I am off to the swimming pool for a short break!
Have a nice day!

Lily callas on wood: BLUE

Hello !
This is the last lily callas...last because there is no more wood in the house!!
 Need to go for some wood shopping soon! :)
The trio is ready, hope you like it!

I dont want to make people in Europe jealous, but we have 25 C here!!! Just back from my morning run...so nice and warm!
Off to the garden for some painting now, I am starting a new work today, I prepared my canvas yesterday and no I am ready to go!!
have a nice Monday everybody!

Lily calla on wood :GREEN

Hello!
Sunday morning...a beautiful one !
With the hour change we also managed to sleep a bit longer! A good start of the day :)
This is my second Lily calla on wood...I love it!
The colors are so bright, you can see the grain of the wood...I think it makes a really cool painting!
I will have to buy more wood (!!! ALARM!!becoming addicted to painting on wood!)
Here are the 2 pieces together, hope you like them!

one more BLUE to come! see you tomorrow!
Off for a run now :)
ciao!!

Lily calla on wood, YELLOW

Happy Saturday everyone!
The sun is shining and is nice and warm here in Menlo Park, it doesnt look  like November at all! Well...that's the beauty of California I guess! I am getting so used to it :) spoiled I would say .
This is my work of yesterday, is acrylic and oil painting on a wooden panel 24x9 inches.
Is a very thick panel, so is pretty heavy...I love the brightness and the light of the piece!
Hope you like it too!

Green and blue panel will be following soon!

Have a nice day!

Kansas dream

Hello everyone!
I am very pleased to introduce you my last large art work , 30x 40 inches oil on canvas.
This time I can definitely say that it was a journey.
I started this project almost 2 weeks ago and making changes and adding things in the process.
That's the beauty of oil painting, you can remove, create and add.
The medium is alive and the painting has a life of its own.

What I love most about this last painting is that is born from a common idea of my husband and me...that makes it priceless !!
Showing the work in progress , getting feedback, asking for opinions... is all stuff that is very much needed when you are painting on your own.
I can consider my self extremely lucky since my husband gives me all this and much much more!! (Thanks baby!)

This painting is dedicated to all my friends in NYC, for them the hurricane was not a dream neither a painting!!!!!...hugs to you all guys!!Hope to visit NYC soonxxx

Twix!!!

 Happy Thursday everyone!
1st November today...hard to believe.... time flies when you are having fun, so so true!
Today is painting is an healthy Twix bar.
A nice Halloween treat from yesterday :)
Hope you like it!
5x5 inches oil on canvas