(120) Emeril's "Gahlic"
6 x 6, oil
At first glance, garlic appears to be off-white or ivory in color. But once you start painting, you begin to see all sorts of beautiful bounced colors. Then, "white" takes on a new meaning for you, and you never see it the same way again.
"Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul"...Henri Matisse

(119) Three's Company
6 x 8, oil
"A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw"...Robert Henri

(118) Sunday
6 x 6, oil
So how do you paint melting ice cream? Gee I don't know, but let's add a little chocolate syrup and make it abstract...
“There are four questions of value in life... What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same...Only LOVE"
...Johnny Depp (from Don Juan DeMarco)
Here's a little trivia for you: Both Johnny Depp and George Clooney are nominated for best actor Oscars at tomorrow's Academy Awards, and both are from KENTUCKY! (and you thought we were only known for our beautiful horses, right?)

(117) Triple Chocolate Fudge
private collection
6 x 6, oil
"I'm just the flavor of the month"...George Clooney

(116) Make Mine Scrambled
private collection
6 x 6, oil
I was enthralled by how the ripples of light bounced into the egg whites and on through the clear glass onto the tabletop--sort of like a play-within-a-play.
"What we need is more sense of the wonder of life, and less of the business of making a picture"...Robert Henri

(115) Yellow
private collection
6 x 6. oil
"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun"...Picasso

(114) Pebbles
5 x 7, oil
I love how Nate Berkus incorporates natural elements into his designs. He suggests putting a personal stamp on decorating by displaying organic materials you have collected from nature or travel. I think we can all relate to finding the perfect shell at the ocean, knowing it will bring back memories of the vacation every time we pick it up, or see it on a shelf. Thinking about this today, I realized that pebbles would be a good study in plane changes. I picked these up in Nice, near the home of Henri Matisse. They are my good chi--I love the colors, smooth edges, and striations in the stones, and when I look at them, I envision Matisse walking along the same shoreline, picking up a few pebbles himself.
"An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language"...Henri Matisse

(113) Pop's Airplane
private collection
8 x 10, oil
This is one of the wooden toys my dad made. I love the different kinds of wood he used that give it a rich color variety.
"Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least, for they are thinking out inventions and forming in their minds the perfect idea that they subsequently express with their hands"...Leonardo da Vinci

(112) Red Truck, take three
6 x 6, oil
I am still struggling with the drawing, but it is a magnificent subject for studying foreshortening.
"It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character"...Camille Pissarro

(111) Red Truck, take two
private collection
8 x 10, oil
I wanted to try a different view, different light. I really enjoy this subject.
"The centipede has rhythm and flow in its hundred legs precisely because it does not have to think about it. Consider this the next time you move the instrument of your art"...Robert Genn

P.S...I want to pass along a new discovery to all my painting friends out there. It is called "gloves in a bottle" --a moisturizing barrier lotion for your hands; it does an exceptional job preventing dry skin--better than wearing gloves--woohoo!

(110) Chevy Truck
6 x 6, oil
"Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep"...Allen Lacy

(109) In the Big Chair with Daddy
private collection
8 x 10, oil
"A toddling little girl is a center of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people understand each other"...George Elliot

(108) Beach Baby
8 x 10, oil
private collection
I decided to step out of the box today, break my own rule, and paint something from a photo instead of from life. So today's challenge is painting a gray day, something that I really struggle with because the values are so close.
“To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me”... Isaac Newton

(107) Cotton Candy
8 x 10, oil
private collection
Today's challenge: Plaid taffeta...confectionary fun.
"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;
for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;
and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone"...Audry Hepburn

(106) Pirouette
8 x 16, oil
A peach gelato for your Friday.
"Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you are exactly the same"...Audrey Hepburn

(105) Toddle
Pink--preppy--silk, with a hint of sweet confection. Just the basics for spring.
"Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously disturbed"...Elle from "Legally Blonde"

(104) Feather Boa
8 x 16, oil
"Fashion anticipates, and elegance is a state of mind...a mirror of the time in which we live, a translation of the future, and should never be static"...Oleg Cassini

(103) Swish and Swirl
8 x 16, oil
Here's a little tulle for a Tuesday. You just can't wear it without smiling. (and swirling)
“A woman's dress should be like a barbed- wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view”...Sophia Loren

(102) Peony Dance
8 x 16, oil
private collection
Although the dress was painted from life, I added the peony hanger from imagination--they just seemed to go together. A new fabric to check off my list: chiffon.
"All gardeners need to know when to accept something wonderful and unexpected, taking no credit except for letting it be"...Allen Lacy

(101) Swirl
"I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules"...Vera Wang

(100) Juliet
8 x 16, oil
So what is the opposite of yesterday's light, wispy fabric? Well, how about a thick, lush velvet?
"I think I have something tonight that's not quite correct for evening wear--blue suede shoes"...Elvis Presley (today is Lisa Marie's 40th birthday)

(99) Wispy
I used two light sources to accentuate the subtle layering in this dress. It is constructed from layers of gauze that allow it to drape in a light, floating "Great Gatsby-movie" sort of way. (Where's Robert Redford when you need him?)
"The designers have forgotten that there are women inside the dresses. Most women dress for men and want to be admired. But they must also be able to move, to get into a car without bursting their seams! Clothes must have a natural shape"...Coco Chanel

(98) Shimmer
8 x 16, oil
~Love the fluid quality of this fabric. Painting the iridescent sheen was intriguing, and one of the things "on my list" to explore in paint.
"I don't design clothes. I design dreams"...Ralph Lauren

(97) Swish...
8 x 16, oil
(Swish is the sound the tulle in this dress makes when I wear it)...I have read that many artists throughout history, including Degas and Sargeant, placed costumes on mannequins in order to study how the fabric hangs and better understand how to sketch and paint fabric folds. And, in the case of figure or portrait paintings, sometimes the clothing could be painted from the mannequin first--then the client would wear the costume for the remainder of the portrait sitting, thereby reducing the amount of time the client had to pose. Brilliant.
"Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?"...Yves Saint Laurent

(96) Favorite LBD
8 x 16, oil
private collection
I chose a different canvas size for this one (8 x 16) that I feel is perfect for the elongated subject. In order to post it to the blog, I photographed it on a neutral square background (so the gray on each side is not actually part of the painting itself)
Coco Chanel introduced the little black dress in 1926 and it is still a fashion staple 82 years later. "One is never over or under dressed in a little black dress"....Karl Lagerfield (from the house of Chanel)

(95) My Mother's Hat
6 x 6, oil
private collection
"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination. You are always living three, or indeed, six month hence. I believe people entirely devoid of imagination can never be really good gardeners"...Alice Morse Earle, 1897
(I am stepping away from the easel to spend time with family for a couple of days. Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy YOUR weekend~FCP)

(94) 50's Fashion
6 x 8, oil
This is a favorite hat that I found at a vintage shop--a Gwenn Pennington creation that is stunning from any angle.
"Fashions fade, style is eternal"...Yves Saint Laurent

(93) Fanfare
6 x 6, oil
I love these colors together, the hat is an old favorite.
"You can flirt with a fan in your hand. You can flirt with a cigarette, too. But you can really flirt with a hat"...Delores Foster

(92) Tribute to Audrey
6 x 6, oil
private collection
"If a woman rebels against high-heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat"...George Bernard Shaw

(91) MLK Day
6 x 6, oil
private collection
As a young girl, I was inspired by Dr. King's grace, courage, wisdom, and vigilant dedication to fighting poverty and encouraging peaceful solutions. He issued a challenge to people of all races and backgrounds to act, and he is one of the reasons I became a member of the ONE Campaign, an organization dedicated to making poverty history in our lifetime.
This eloquent message of peace and hope dates back 40 years, but it is just as applicable and timely today:
"We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will-and determination- to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment"
...Martin Luther King, Jr.

(90) Platforms
6 x 8, oil
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"
...Michelangelo

(89) Vogue
6 x 6, oil
I found several of these mannequins a few years ago and have enjoyed using them to display my hat collection. Today, I discovered that one could also be the perfect model for painting. I didn't have to worry about her getting sleepy, shifting positions, or requiring a break. And not once did her boyfriend call on her cellphone. Priceless.
"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted"...Mae West

(88) Opera Gloves
6 x 6, oil
"Over the years, I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it"...Yves Saint Laurent

(87) Spring Fever
6 x 6, oil
Outside it is a dreary, cold, rainy January morning...but wear your shades in my studio, honey, because it is spring in here!
"To me, eyewear goes way beyond being a prescription. It is like make-up. It is the most incredible accessory. The shape of the frame or the color of lenses can change your whole appearance"...Vera Wang

(86) Derby Hat
6 x 6, oil
"Life is like a new hat. You don't know if it suits you if you keep trying it on in front of your own mirror"... Shirley Maclaine

(85) Red Hot, Baby!
6 x 6, oil
I started out painting "girl stuff" with the plan to switch subjects after a week, but here I am two weeks into it, and (a) I have lots more stuff and (b) I find the challenges of painting satin, velvet and animal prints, as well the decisions involved in rendering metal and glass (in the lipsticks and nail polish) to be most informative, demanding, and interesting. Before I started the daily-painting challenge, I sat down and listed over 200 subjects that I wanted to study in paint. One such challenge was sheer fabric, which I attempted above. Can you tell that some of the scarf is sheer, and other parts are overlapped?
A lot of daily-painters opt to paint the same fruits and vegetables for months or even years at a time. And, while I see the merit in choosing a subject to study in depth; I would miss the challenges and painting decisions that a variety of subjects demands (plus, I would lose my mind)--which reminds me of a great scene from one of my all-time favorite movies "The Four Seasons" (written and directed by the brilliant Alan Alda) in which Nick explains how boring his wife, and his life, have become. He tells his friend Jack about his wife's obsession with photographing the same vegetables over and over..."For a year and a half, all we talked about was zucchini. Then, for another year it was green peppers. That was a nice change..."

(84) The Line-Up
private collection
6 x 8, oil
"Fashion fades. Only style remains the same"...Coco Chanel

(83) Bling
6 x 6, oil
"Zest is the secret of beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest"...Christian Dior

(82) Heart of Gold
6 x 6, oil
"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary"...Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion photographer

(81) Go for the Gold
6 x 6, oil
"I am inspired by the movement and rhythm of the seasons, by the search for newness, the diversity and breadth of possibilities of what someone would like in a variety of worlds"...Ralph Lauren

(80) Basking in the Glow
6 x 6, oil
""The best thing is to look natural, but it takes makeup to look natural"...Calvin Klein

(79) Paper Fan
6 x 6, oil
"Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future"...Coco Chanel

(78) Fabulous at Forty
6 x 6, oil
""Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40, after they have won a few races and know how to pace themselves. Since few women ever pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely"...Christian Dior

(77) The Usual Suspects
6 x 6, oil
"If they ever do my life story, whoever plays me needs lots of hair color and high heels"...Charlize Theron

(76) Dancing Shoes
9 x 12, oil
This is a fun piece that I painted for a women-in-the-arts exhibit.
"I don't care who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot"...Marilyn Monroe

(75) Pink Ice
6 x 6, oil
"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love"...Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(74) Almost ready...
6 x 8, oil
"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous"...Coco Chanel

(73) Scent of a Woman
6 x 6, oil
private collection
"It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure"...Coco Chanel

(72) Pearls
6 x 8, oil
private collection
Ever since I bought this mannequin hand I have wanted to paint it; and keeping it white-on-white allowed me to explore the subtleties of warm and cool tones.
"Every good artist paints what (s)he is"...Jackson Pollack

(71) Peace on Earth
private collection
8 x 10, oil
~ In this new year, it is my fervent wish and prayer that we find peace in our own hearts, so that we may extend that gift to the world each day ~~FCP
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Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God...Matthew: 5:9
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"If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart"...Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.)
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"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace"...Buddha
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"The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war"...Desiderius Erasmus (1469-1536)
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"There was never a good war or a bad peace"... Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
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"I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more. All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers"...Chief Joseph (1840-1904)
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"Good works are links that form a chain of love. I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other"...
Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
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"Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other".... Elie Wiesel (1928- )
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"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means"...Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
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"Human Beings, indeed all sentient beings, have the right to pursue happiness and live in peace and freedom".... The XIVth Dalai Lama (1935- )
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"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding"... Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802-1883)
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"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding"... Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace"...William Gladstone (1809-1898)
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"It is possible to live in peace"...Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
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"There is no way to peace; peace is the way"...A.J. Muste (1885-1967)
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"Let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people."...John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
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"To reach peace, teach peace"...Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
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"All we are saying is give PEACE a chance...
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one... John Lennon (1940-1980)