Ann Arbor Art Fair 2007



















What an awesome week at the Ann Arbor Art Fair! Here is a photo of me in my booth with my studio assistants! Note the big poppy piece behind me did find a new home :) You would think that 4 days of the fair would have left me exhausted, but I found it to be just the opposite. The enthusiasm of the patrons, visits by friends and family and the creative energies from all those artists, not to mention their actual works, left me charged and ready to paint! My very supportive husband wants to double my booth size for next year!

Just around the corner from me at the show were my friends and fellow artists Sarah Stanton and Jay Kukor. They had an awesome week too. Their handmade silver jewelry is very urban-hip and sophisticated all at the same time. Check out their stuff at www.sarahstantondesigns.com

It's back to my day job this week! The kids and the easel will be calling at all the odd hours and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Fall Orchard



















4' x 3' Oil Painting on 3/4" wrapped Canvas. This is likely the last piece I will finish before I am off to set up at the Ann Arbor Art Fair tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Mother's Orchard















3' x 4' Oil Painting on Gallery Wrapped Canvas. Anyone that knows my Mom, knows that she would like this orchard.... Today is my last day to paint before setting up for the Ann Arbor Art Fair tomorrow and Mother's Orchard is going with me!

Dreaming of Merlot














30" x 40" Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas. This piece has a little bit of a surreal and dream-like quality....the fact that I enjoy a nice red now and then made it easy to name!

Grape Study



















This little piece (11" x 14" oil painting of grapes on the vine) was an exercise for the sake of the grapes. Fellow blogging Artist Ed Terpening made a great suggestion on my grape piece below; which was to abstract the grapes a bit by painting them in mass first and then adding a little detail. I would like to refine this subject a little more in a future piece, but I definitely feel that this approach is a much better solution for the direction that I am working. Thanks again Ed!

Grapes on the Vine



















24" x 24" oil painting on wrapped canvas. I have been collecting photos and sketches of grapes for a long time hoping to dive in one day. This is my first attempt and it was a lot of fun. Any suggestions from my artist friends out there?? Please post them! I have a composition planned for a larger canvas that I am sketching through now and hope to start tomorrow.

Farthest from the Tree



















24" x 24" Oil Painting on 3/4" wrapped canvas support. Orchards and apples are one of my favorite subjects. I especially like to create the composition and the color from my memories and experience rather than a specific reference photo.

Sunflower Trio
















20" x 24" wrapped canvas. I painted this one directly onto white canvas which is unusual for me as I always paint into a colored ground. The canvas, though primed, seemed like it kept absorbing my paint and I would have to go back repaint passages that I would have rather kept. Lesson learned. I am off to my studio to prime some canvas in tasty colors.......much more fun!!

Sunflower Lovers



















3' x 3' Oil on gallery wrapped canvas. This is the third painting that I have done that is was inspired by these two particular sunflowers that I watch grown together in my garden. From my kitchen window, I could see their friendship turn into something more.

Best Friends



















This painting is 3' x 3' oil on gallery wrapped canvas. The images are created from composite sketches of sunflowers I grew in my garden last year. There is something majestic about sunflowers that makes them very fun and challenging to paint. This piece will go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair.