"Chihuahuas Rule" (oil on linene; 8" x 12") sold

sold

"Chihuahuas Rule" is for my Facebook fan, Lisa.  For my first chihuahua painting, I got to paint four of them.  Thanks, Lisa!  From left to right, they are Tido (9 years old), Logan (8), Mary (8), and Tyson (8).  They all turn 9 this year.  They are not related to each other.

Tido is the oldest and Alpha male.  He is a bully, very protective and territorial.  He doesn't like people at all.  Logan is a gentle giant, shy and quiet.  Mary, the only female, is "crazy".  She is in control; she runs the house!  Tyson is the sweetest, most loving chihuahua ever.  He thinks he is Mary's husband.

Lisa told me that I didn't have to paint the dog bed in pink.  The boys were trying to aggravate Mary by stealing her bed.  My answer was: "I like the fluffy, pink bed."  Obviously, Lisa doesn't know I love pink.  Besides, the pinks reflected onto the pale skins of the dogs' underbellies, warming them up nicely.  I balanced the pink with the yellow green shape on the far right.

If you send your pet's pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com, I will make beautiful pet portraits out of them.  How fun is that!  Besides, my pet portraits make perfect birthday and Christmas presents.  Thanks!

"Pig in the Garden" (watercolor on paper; 12" x 16") sold

sold

Speaking of azaleas, how about this painting of azaleas?  You don't want a pig in the garden, unless, of course, it is a cute statue like this.  There is a story behind the statue, which used to belong to the brother-in-law of my dear friend, Marilyn.  After he passed away, nobody in her family wanted the "ugly thing."  I wanted it.  I love pigs.  I was born in the year of the Pig too!

"Azalea Shadows" (acrylic on canvas; 20" x 16")

click here to buy

What would happen if I apply the same approach that I have been using for my watercolor florals on a white ground to the medium of acrylic that dries fast like watercolor?  That's exactly what I did with "Azalea Shadows".  I didn't want the ground to be chalky white so, guess what, I went "wild" with pink!

I arranged the azaleas from my garden to cast beautiful blue shadows. Can you find a butterfly shape in the shadow?  If you are looking for a happy painting, this is it!

Edges are all crisp, as in my watercolors.  I used to think that paintings with all hard edges are no good.  That is one of the reasons that I had stopped painting in watercolors.  Now that I have evolved and matured more as an artist, I don't have such an attitude.  Beauty in art comes in all different edges!

By the way, I took a flower arrangement class for a year at college; flower arrangement is a big deal in Korea and Japan.  I am wondering if my "floral education" is finally paying off!

"Two Hearts" (oil on linen; 5: x 7") sold

sold

When even the cookies are in love, you know we are very close to the Valentine's Day! I first painted the ground in lavender, but it didn't tell the story loud enough. So I changed the color to pink!

If you want to win a painting at the end of the month, please sign in to follow my blog. Thanks!

"Pink Cupcake" (oil on linen; 5" x 4")

click here to buy

As always is the case with the second painting of a series, this painting of a cupcake with pink icing went faster than the one I did yesterday.  Doesn't it look looser and yummier?

"Pink Icing" (oil, 5" x 4") sold

"Pink Icing" (oil on linen; 5" x 4") sold

sold

I don't usually paint as small as 4 x 5", but as I had so much fun painting Kisses, I decided to do a series of small food paintings.  The cupcake with pink icing is my second subject.  I bought a package of six cupcakes--three with pink icing, the other three with blue icing.  Somehow the blue ones didn't grab me, so I kept the pink cupcakes to paint and allowed my family to eat the rest right away.  There is something about the pink color which brings out the little girls in many of us.  It makes us happy!

The moment I started painting, I knew I set myself up for a challenge.  It was a lot harder to paint the icing or  the grooves in the paper than the foil wrap or the paper strips of the Kisses.  But who said that painting was all fun and games?  It took almost two hours to finish this small painting!  I am going to work on one more of the same subject, this time with sprinkles.

"Dark Kisses Confetti" (oil on linen; 5" x 4") sold

sold

Okay, you've seen my Kisses paintings and want to move on.  But I had to explore the theme further, at least one more time.  The little dots in the Kisses in "Love is in the Air" reminded me of the confetti thrown at weddings.  So I put the Kisses closer and formed a diamond shape between them.  I exaggerated the little shapes in the Kisses like confetti; the reddish pink ground has confetti-like brushstrokes all over too.  The Kisses are getting married!

"Love is in the Air" (oil, 4" x 5"; sold)

"Pink Peony Garden" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

 sold

Peonies are, in my opinion, one of the most joyous flowers.  The flowers captured in my painting have just started opening.  They will keep unfurling until the heads become so heavy that they will droop to the ground.  Such abundance, such profusion, such lavishness!

This fits my current mood too, as I continue to recover from shingles and feel like myself again despite the throbbing pain that comes back at night.  The weather in northern Virginia has been unseasonably mild.  The potted geraniums out by my front door are still blooming.  I am in a mild state of spring fever!  In last December I was in the mood for painting autumnal and snow scenes.  Not anymore.  I want to paint spring flowers!

"Joyous Peony Bouquet" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

I know that "Joyous Peony Bouquet" is not exactly a seasonal painting except that these pink peonies from my garden have always brought me a great joy and that I painted them joyously!

"Pink Peony Spring" (oil on stretched canvas; 10" x 10") sold

sold

"First Peony" (oil, 10" x 10")
sold

This spring has been such a strange one that many plants seem to be as confused as gardeners.  I have one precious peony plant, which had always given me an armful of fragrant pink flowers every spring.  Not this year.  An unseasonably warm early spring, followed by a cool mid-spring, must have wrought havoc to the poor thing.  What you see above is all the peonies I got!  It is now the hydrangea season in northern Virginia.  Hopefully, hydrangeas didn't get damaged by the funky weather.

HAVE A GREAT MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

"Beth's Rose Arbor" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Reference photo

Beth is a dear friend of mine who went to graduate school together in Minnesota.  She, a fellow historian, was indeed my first American friend, who helped me acculturate to the new country.  Several years later, Beth, a person with a heart of gold, took time and trouble to edit my 400-page-long PhD dissertation!  Alas, we haven't seen each other for almost 20 years.  The only remaining contact was the annual Christmas card, which kept us in touch. 

That was until we reconnected through Facebook.  We now know what's happening in our lives, family, and house.  I saw the robin's nest with four eggs right on a window sill at her house and worried whether they would make it.  They did.  Last week she posted several pictures of her garden; one particular picture of the rose arbor caught my eye.  I asked her if I could paint from it.  She replied "yes" and emailed me the full file. 

We agreed that the gas meter and other evidence of the everyday suburban life be edited out from a painting.  Since I have never been to her house, I couldn't tell what was beyond the inviting arbor/gate, heavily laden with the old-fashioned roses called "Pinky".  So I had to make up as I went along.  I am not a big fan of the late Thomas Kinkade, but "Beth's Rose Arbor" has the Kinkadian romantic feel, doesn't it?  I hope Beth approves.

"Pink Rose Glow" (oil on canvas; 8" x 8") sold

sold

I painted "Rosy Glow" (oil, 8 x 8") from a photo last night.  What do you think?  I had painted the same flower last summer at a rose garden.  It was a very hot day, but I sweated like a pig for a different reason.  Who knew painting a single rose would be that hard?  Let's face it.  It is sometimes easier to paint from a photograph.  The flower didn't move by the breeze.  The sun didn't rise higher as time went by, changing all the shadow shapes.  And no pestering enthusiast wanted to take a picture of me painting!

Do you know what the biggest problem in painting the rose on location was?  I saw too many colors!  Let's see. Many shades of pink--warm (warmed by the sun) and cool (cooled by the blue sky) to start.  Then there was reflected light in the shadows.  Oh my god!  I had to simplify, simplify, and simplify.  Still the plein-air painting didn't work.  I threw it out.

In my studio version, I did simplify the colors in the photo, which unfortunately I couldn't find to show you (I must have deleted it in disgust).  There are just enough subtle changes in the color temperature to make each petal turn.  A rose, or any flower, should look fresh, not bruised with over handling.  I hope you agree with my sentiment that I pulled it off this time.