A Few Good Artists

I've spent several hours looking over my most favorite site, The Daily Painters Gallery. This is the site I found last year, thanks to Googling "flamingo", that eventually led me to start painting again. It was all so overwhelming at first, so everyday I looked at every painting and said the name of the artist. After about 2 months, I was familiar with many artists and was collecting at an alarming rate; both space and finances have curtailed almost all purchasing. I do have a wonderful collection now, you an see many of them are in albums on my Facebook gallery.

Today, I've made a few observations that I am going to discuss a bit. The artists are among many of my favorites but there are so many - I could go on forever!

First is Carol Nelson from Aurora, Colorado. I can't say enough about her current project. She is painting 100 portraits in (about) 100 days. As of yesterday, she has done 66 of 100. In addition to this, her husband has received a donor kidney from their son. Carol, what are you thinking? My hat is off to you and I seldom take my hat off (literally) for anyone! What I find particularly helpful, is she posts the reference photo she is painting from, something that "we" usually don't do. It is a wonderful project that has already enhanced her skills and could turn out to be a very useful sales technique. She put out a broadcast request for anyone to submit a photo. Since she is a known artist with a following, there is little doubt that she will be able to sell many of her paintings. If I had better self discipline, I'd try it just for the experience; sadly, the 2 or 3 entries I'd receive (That is supposed to be a joke!) wouldn't be that much training! For a quick look at her Daily Painter's Gallery click here, but don't miss her blog.

Next is Liza Hirst from Dordogne, France. What caught my eye is a series she calls "My Things". In DPG, I saw over 25 paintings of her "things", like earrings, household items, blue jeans and hats. I'm not a big fan of the 'single item' painting, but this one was more personal and therefore more interesting. Liza paints beautiful and complex paintings of which I am a big fan - I love you Liza!! I've visited her blog many times in the past, but today, only looked at her work at DPG click here. There is a link to her blog from there.

I've admired Robin Weiss from Poulsbo, WA, but today, I really became a fan! His detail and colors are exactly what I'd like my style to be. There are a few specific paintings I want to mention.

The 23rd Psalm: Both the title & subject are so dear.

Bees on Lavender: Couldn't help myself, just like it!

Cows on the Edge: Need I say more? This is fun!

The Walker: Light and shadows are one of the things I haven't learned yet. This, to me, is a knock-out example of lighting, and a beautiful painting. You can never go wrong with pink trees!
For a quick look at his Daily Painters Gallery click here.

And lastly, I'm going to be a bit indulgent and mention "the one that got away". This is one of my most favorite paintings of all time as it reminds me of my daughter, Mary Ellen when she was that age - it's the hair - and there is nothing I love more than ME! For some reason, I did not buy this painting, I think it was a bit out of my budget at the time, but I go back and admire it often!

The artist is Johanna Bohoy of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts and the painting is:

Reflections: There is actually another of Johanna's paintings that is still available that I've had my eye on for a long time. If only wishes paid the bills! For a quick look at her Daily Painters Gallery click here.

The last observation I made was how many artists get a 'theme' and paint it several times or even many, many times. Fruit, apples and pears, seem to be very addictive. I've tried that myself. "Lions" are my biggest theme - four of them so far! Hope you enjoyed my thoughts.