It wouldn’t probably loom large on some other serious artist’s calendar I suppose, but I have no history of public art showings. Seriously, none. So it’s new and a big deal. I have to winnow my list of candidate paintings down to six. One that is almost certain to go there is not pictured below, so assuming I select from this pool only five of them can go represent me.

Cecilia Napping:

This girl is the prettiest sleeper I know. Her face is of an angel at rest in total peace which  admittedly I haven’t yet captured, but I had to try. The uniquely beautiful treatment of the blanket doesn’t convey well in a photo. See it in person and  realize how poorly even a good picture shows it off. The chief disadvantage of this painting is that it likes a specific lighting. It looks good generally, but in the correct light it becomes spectacular. Very pretty.

Cecilia

Rachael at the Coast:

For this show this is not an actual candidate. It’s an early member of the 2100 series painted 12 years ago. It’s been on my mantle ever since, and just gets better. I should finally sign it. Rachael was still in secondary school and was the last one in my nest. Nice memories.

Rachael

Juliette would gather wildflower bundles for her mother that year every time we took a walk together.

Juliette

Kayla and the dress:

I started out wanting to paint Kayla in plaid, but while I waited for layers to dry on her face and skin, I designed a dress. The fabric would be similar to velvet in that it would have a soft crush surface. To that I added embroidery and sparkles, some lace, and a belt. She’d be pretty in anything. What a girl!

Kayla

Touching Day:

One of many paintings of my long time favorite model and even better, my grand daughter. I think this was my first from scratch oil painting  in decades and it proved to me that the medium had advantages I couldn’t ignore. I’d avoided oils so as not to full the house with fumes but as an empty nester it was time to try the medium. With oil paint I could capture her classic features in a refined way.

Leah

Selfies:

Larissa and Kayla stir up a unique magic and I love the ideas they conjure up. One day they came up with this.

Larissa & Kayla

Pure Joy:

Larissa is all girl. She’s adorable. She says she’s a tomboy. She’s a fun-amplifier in the best way. I smile every time I see this painting.

Larissa

This one has a history. A long history. Originally I wanted to paint a kelp forest, which I did. Then I added fish and a boat and a shark. Kelp forests are particularly lush and beautiful gems of nature. I decided add a  swimmer who would be causing ripples by touching the surface from below. Suddenly she became the star. The kelp forest became a distraction. One of them had to go. So I painted out the rest of the picture and consulted with a friend  who spends a great deal of time scuba diving. She told me about Clear Lake in Oregon. So that became the new environment. This past month I reworked the composition in a smaller format and changed to portrait orientation. Thanks to Elizabeth, it works nicely.

An important feature of this painting is the holographic micro glitter on the fish. What may rule this one out from the Library show is that unlike the others, it doesn’t feature an actual day in the life event of anyone I know. It was just a concept that appealed to me to create.

Circles