"Sunset Beach" (oil on linen; 9" x 12")

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I did four pet portraits in a row for my Facebook fans and am now totally out of pictures.  While waiting for more pictures to arrive in my inbox, I thought I would go on an artistic vacation.  This is a sandy beach in Kauai, where my family vacationed in early 2012.  We saw several sunsets there, all of which were spectacular.  The sunset doesn't last long, but what a golden moment it is!

"Sheba and Shaman" (oil on linen; 6" x 8") sold

sold

"Sheba and Shaman" is for Patricia and happens to be my first cat painting! Both are Maine Coon cats.  The black one is Sheba, who is seven years old.  Patricia and her husband bought the white one for her as her "boy toy".  When their 26-year-old cat, her constant companion, passed, she grieved so deeply that they had to find poor Sheba someone else to love.

His name is Shaman, two years younger than her.  He was supposed to be a show kitty, but was sold as a pet, because he didn't "meow." Patricia often finds them "holding paws."  Both of them play fetch, and Sheba will even take a small ball in the glass shower and play Jai Alai.

If you would love to see your beloved pet painted by me and shared on my blog and Facebook page, please email me at kimstenbergart@gmail.com.  Send me a picture or two, preferably taken in natural light without flash.  I will do a drawing at the end of September and give one painting away!

"Monte" (oil on linen; 8" x 6") sold

sold

"Monte" is for Liz.  Monte is a 2-year-old Havanese.  He loves being around people.  He likes to run around the house at top speeds and when he is tired from that, he snuggles with his family and takes a nap.

On a sadder note, he has to have surgery this Thursday because he has a condition common to small dogs.  Both his hind legs have "trick" knees; his knee caps keep popping out of place, which is quite painful for him and can lead to bad arthritis and serious walking problems later.  He will be out of commission for 8 weeks, but the good news is that he will no longer have leg problems after the surgery.  Let's keep him in our thoughts and wish him well!

If you would love to see your beloved pet painted by me and shared on my blog and Facebook page, please email me at kimstenbergart@gmail.com. Send me a picture or two, preferably taken in natural light without flash. I will do a drawing at the end of September and give one painting away!

"Coneflowers and Daisies" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

sold

A few years ago, I bought a packet of wildflower seeds and spread it in a small sunny garden patch right next to the sidewalk.  Who knew that coneflowers, daisies, and black-eyed susans, etc. will come back year after year?  My husband thought they were too tall, wild, and out of control.  So I tried to get rid of them.  A word of advice.  Be careful with wildflowers.  They are HARD to get rid of.

I kind of like the cottage-garden look of my "warm-palette" wildflower patch.  It doesn't look as pretty as the painting now, with lots of spent flower heads that need to be trimmed.  But who has the time!

"Sunflowers on Hot Summer Day" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

No other flowers say "summer" as loudly as sunflowers.  In the depth of winter, or on a cool summer day like today, if I want to feel the hot summer sun in my heart, I just have to think of these big, bold, in-your-face, flowers.

By the way, I am back to painting oils.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums.  Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I created during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  Enjoy!

Collage of my Yupo Paintings created in July 2013!

"Summer Garden with Hydrangea" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12") sold

sold

Before

Something about "Summer Garden with Hydrangea" bothered me.  It felt like a faded old picture.  I decided to rescue a painting nobody seemed to care for.  I punched up the darks, got rid of the dominant sap greens, and played up the violet-yellow green complementary color scheme.  My new summer garden painting looks kissed by the sun, don't you think?

"Winged Victory of Samothrace" (watercolor on paper; 20" x 14")

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The famous ancient Hellenistic Greek statue at the Louvre Museum in Paris was the inspiration for the painting.  The 2nd-century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory) was created to honor a sea battle.  Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.  Although headless, it conveys a sense of action and triumph.  I cannot imagine it with a beautiful woman's head, just as I cannot think of "Venus of Milo" with arms.  The power of imagination!

I visited the museum back in 1997 during a two-week trip to France with my husband. I was awed by the beauty of a chunk of an ancient marble.  I wanted to paint it and paint it well.  It was particularly challenging project.  The reference photo with a flat, interior lighting didn't give me much value variation.

I crumpled a thin piece (90 lb weight) of watercolor paper, which crackled (damaged) the surface.  A sacrilegious act, but I was going for an unfussy way to suggest the marble texture. The background interior of the museum was pained with minimum details, whereas I carefully punched up the statue as much as I could with the same limited palette.  It is a subtle, blue painting, which is curiously alive.  You can almost feel the breeze caused by the fluttering wings of the goddess, which is about to take off!

The painting was juried into the Art League show in Alexandria, VA in 2006.