Wooden blocks ARE COMING BACK ;)

Sometimes I need a break from oil colors....and especially from cleaning brushes, I HATE cleaning brushes, is the worst part. Tedious, long, boring job.
 I enjoy more cleaning the floor or ironing :) Maybe not ironing, just cleaning the floor ;)

As a relaxing practice yesterday I cleaned some wooden blocks, sanded them, painted white with gesso then painted with acrylic colors. ( Brushes are much easier to clean after acrylic colors, since is water only medium !)

I did this one and some HOME SWEET HOME ones :)

It was fun, and they got me relaxed :)
Happy ending!

A postcard from Rwanda

8x10 inches

oil on Canvas

A postcard from Rwanda

My husband was just back last Sunday from a10 days trip in Rwanda, Africa.

He met amazing people, heard the saddest stories ever and at the same time the most encouraging ones. He described me a country full of scars and full of hope, very green and surprisingly super clean.

The camera is full of beautiful pictures, i picked one to start.

It was taken at the end of the week , 2 hours north of Kigali.

 

Early morning still life

Hubby is jet lagged (after coming back from 10 days in Rwanda) that means early night and early, really early wake up.
This morning I picked up the brushes at 6 AM.
I kind of like early wake though, by noon you have done so much already and it feels good :)

I decided to paint glass again so I set up a small still life in the kitchen and I went for it!

8x10inches

Early Morning

US!

Hello!

A couple of weeks ago Michal and I went to the open house of an apartment in SF, next to Ocean Beach, we liked the apartment, we bid on it and we won!
So this picture taken on the same day brought us luck!!;)
It was cold and cloudy in SF, but still nice to be right on the Ocean though...you ll see plenty of paintings of the ocean in the months to come!

12x12 inches

oil on canvas

In front of OUR  apartment  :)

Tuesday portrait

Here is my usual Tuesday portrait, quite challenging !

Normally when you have trouble drawing a face there is a say : the hair is your friend!
Hair can be really helpful actually ! but it was not the case of today, ginger beard and bold...ahhhhaggg!!!!
Still happy with final result:)

still life painting glass 2

Second attempt! :)
Here I went for a different approach, since I was painting on old canvas with a landscape I decided to leave some of the landscape in the back, so to have a window effect.

8x10

oil on canvas board

Still life , painting glass 1

This is the first still life from yesterday afternoon, it was my first attempt at painting glass, i need to practice!!!:)

8x10 inches

oil on canvas board

Red shoes on the run

14x11 inc

Red Shoes on the run

This a painting I did yesterday afternoon, it was supposed to cheer me up...it really didnt do the job but it turned out cute anyway.
I saw this picture few days ago and I loved it!

As soon as I saw it I new I wanted to paint it :)

ENJOY! and happy Friday :)

Home SWEET Home

Hello! Sorry for not posting lately, but I was busy working on a larger painting, a pretty busy one!30x40inc.
I will post images of it by the end of the week.

Today to relax my mind I went back to painting my beloved (!) wooden blocks :)

Here it is:

 6x5 inchex1inc

Crazy hair, curly hair, old dried paint hair!

Hello!
Today I am back to my first painting love:  painting red hair girls.

I started this painting yesterday and I finished it today it was really fun!
To create the texture in her hair I used old dried paint. I glued it on the canvas with modeline paste then I painted on top with acrylic colors .
Today I painted it all with oil colors.

I really hate wasting paint! :(  But some time there is no choice, or I dont need some colors for my new painting or it dries before I get the chance to use it.
Sometime ago I started keeping on a side the dried painting I was scraping off my palette...thinking that sooner or later I would come up with an idea on how to use it!
Here it is! :)
Hope you like it, I love it!

 11x16 in

oil and mixed media on canvas board

Crazy hair, Lovely hair

The way home

Hello!

Sometime ago I painted a small painting 6x6, the title was Cozy painting.
After the amazing success it had on ebay ( with more than 20 bids , my record till now! ) I decided to paint a couple more small little painting on the same line.
I painted only 2 more just because I am only left with two 6x6 canvas in the house, time to go for my favorite shopping! Art Shopping :)

6x6 in

oil on canvas

The Way Home

 You can see them on ebay! :)

http://myworld.ebay.com/monalisacorner

Tuesday portrait

I am very happy with today's portrait, sometimes it is just a good day and things go right and smoothly since the beginning!
I wish I had more of those days ;)

California Landscape, quick study

9x12 in

oil on canvasboard

50 min study

 

This is my landscape study of today, it has a calming relaxing feeling , I am happy with it!

Enjoy it!

Cool , finished :)

12 x 12 in

oil on canvas

Cool

I am pretty happy with the finished portrait, the picture is not great, I ll take another one tomorrow outside in the day light.

 

This was an experiment, using a limited color palette of burnt umber, naple yellow, red and white.

I am planning to do two more painting on the same style .

My husband has a lot of work trips coming up, that means that I will busy my self with more and more paintings! 

Have a nice evening everyone :)

Baby with sunglasses, work in progress

12x12 inches

oil on canvas

WORK IN PROGRESS ;)

A very nice hot Sunday. 

I "ve just started this painting (my husband told me that we have enough paintings of him in the house! But I just IGNORED him!)

I love painting him!!! :)  He is my favorite subject, I am never tired of looking at his pictures, and this is a plus when you are painting a portrait ;).

Painting to be continued of course! Have a nice evening everyone!

Lake on the way to Half moon bay, right side

8x10 inches

oil on canvas board

40 min study

This is another picture taken yesterday, on the way to Half Moon Bay, that is exactly behind the hill where the clouds are.

For this painting I used a red underpainting, you guys can decide which one works better!

Lake on the way to Half moon bay, left side

8x10 inches

oil on canvas

40 min study

This a study from a picture I took yesterday while driving to Half Moon Bay with Mona for a freezing relaxing walk on the beach...I wish I had my gloves with me, it was sooo cold !

Amazing change in temperature, over 70F over her in Menlo and under 55F at the beach.

Anyway :) let's go back to art talking :)

In this painting I used a blue underpainting, you can still see the blue if you zoom in .

I like the blueish effect.

 

♥ ♥ ♥Our place ♥ ♥ ♥

On my list of paintings to do this one has been for a long time!!!
And today I decided to give it a try! Pretty complicated and busy "still life", I think I need to practice more buildings and cars (!)  but as a 60 min study I am pretty happy for the result.
It will be a sweet memory of our home sweet home in Menlo Park.
We are planning to move to SF soon... and I will start attending the Art Academy starting from June, a lot of exciting new things ahead of us!

9x12 oil on canvas

60 min quick study

Home Sweet Home

Cozy painting with palette knife

I just finished a larger painting that I will post in month or so. ( Is a gift, so I "ll publish it on the blog after having handed it out!)
To relax a painted a tiny cozy fresh landscape.
I used only the palette knife, no brushes, I love the texture effect.
Enjoy it!

6x6 inc

Cozy landscape

 It is for sale on my ebay page:

http://myworld.ebay.com/monalisacorner

Lonely Tree and crazy sky

9x12 inches oil on canvas board

quick study

This the landscape I painted today during my quick study landscape class. The picture I choose to paint was pretty difficult. Simple composition but complicated colors!

Here is the painting next to the picture:

It was a long, BUSY Tuesday, crashing on the sofa after clicking ENTER  :)

ciao!!!

Tuesday portrait

Another Tuesday, another portrait :)

Here is the picture with my drawing and the model posing. I chose a challenging angle, I still I need to practice more from the left side.

Roses on colored canvas

4 canvas   5x5 inches oil on canvas

Yesterday I enjoyed painting roses so much that today I decided to do it again :).

Some time ago I bought in framing shop some small canvas with frames, not sure about what I wanted to paint on top, roses looked like a suitable subject.

So I started :) 

Enjoy my flowers and have a great Saturday!

Painting yellow roses

 6x6 in

oil on wrapped canvas

Yellow Rose

We are surrounded by roses in my neighbourhood, which is beautiful!!! Every time you go out there is smell of flowers lingering in the air, colorful flower all around, is just lovely here!

Of course we do not have any rose in our garden so I had to steal one out from my neighbour's garden! ;)

Planning to do some more of this flower today!
Have a great Friday everyone!