"Homegrown" Collection of M.L. Dean

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Homegrown roses are a bit like homegrown tomatoes. Ever so much better than their hot house cousins. The first ones of the season are always the biggest and best, like they have been plotting and planning all winter on exactly what they're gonna wear. These two are from my hybrid tea rose, Mr. Lincoln. I always get a bit tickled when I think of the names on the roses. A few years ago I had to sell my home and my dear little mother was so sad since I had planted and tended so many roses there and she knew how much they meant too me. Now Mom has never been one much for growing flowers so I would always point out that this one was Dolly Parton, that one a Chrysler, etc. Later, as she is commiserating with my sis over me having to give up my roses, she confides to my sister.."And you know she had named every one of them....!"

Well, children, The Drawing for my First Monthly Painting Giveaway is tomorrow and Eddie is very excited. He has said he is going to use the mouse and do a random click to see who will win. Of course he is laboring under the assumption that there is a real mouse involved......Keep an eye out Tuesday morning for the announcement!!

And it's a new month, so you have new chances to win as well.......the fun just never stops at me ole kentucky studio..........

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"Mooooving On" SOLD

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I just couldn't let it go without doing a petite one. I swear to you, I think I took longer on this than I did on the two previous pieces which were much larger. Small paintings can be deceiving. You think because they are so small that it means less time----sometimes that can be true, but sometimes it seems to take longer. On bigger paintings, you use bigger brushes which can really even out the playing field (or in this case, the canvas). At any rate, I am now ready to mooove onto other things, so say goodbye to my little cow friend, at least for the time being!

Only two days left to get your name in the pot for my First Monthly Painting Giveaway. Eddie Bill, my cat, will be the one doing the drawing. He has not been very forthcoming on exactly how he plans to do it. He is not above bribes, so if you get any emails offering to list your name more often in exchange for live birds, small rodents, or plush cat beds, please know they have been sent without my knowledge or consent. May the best art lover win!

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"Strawberries and Cream, Part 2"

There are so many potential paintings from a setup like this. And the little cow is just great fun to paint. I like casual feeling still lives, both in items selected and the setup itself. For me, they just have a great feeling of warmth. I guess its the same reason I have always preferred hand cut, homegrown flowers in a jar to their more formally dressed and coiffed cousins from the flower shop. Relaxed still life as opposed to formal, in its own way makes me feel more relaxed ---maybe that's the attraction.

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"Strawberries and Cream"

See this Painting at Courtyard Gallery
I found this playful cow cream pitcher at the Biltmore house (the gift shop, not the house itself, just in case you thought maybe I had "acquired" it....!) She seemed a natural addition to the strawberries and daisies. I will probably do a different view of this still life again tomorrow---its fun exploring things via painting. This piece was done in about 2 hours.
My visit to the "big house" was tiring (255 rooms--sheesh, just think of the cleaning) and inspiring (the rose gardens were in BLOOM!) And made me glad I was born now, after seeing the laundry room in the basement--I fear if I had been around then, I would have been one of those poor souls trapped in the basement rooms working in piles of laundry, not the upper floors with trunks of beautiful dresses and Sargent paintings hanging on the walls. But then maybe I could have been sneaking around watching Sargent work on one of those portraits......
Don't forget my Free Monthly Painting Giveaway--May is almost over. Subscribe now or post a comment to be eligible. More comments = more chances to win! I am as excited as you to see who will win! Pin It

"Turquoise Reflection" SOLD

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I pulled out my Winsor Green to get some juicy color going in this piece. The mugs I have been using have a metallic finish on them which makes for intense color and oodles of reflective things happening. I painted the previous piece and this one back to back since I am going to be out of my studio for a few days. Hope you have a great holiday week-end!

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"In the Pink" SOLD

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This has been not an easy painting week. Next week I will be doing larger still lifes and maybe working some from photos I took while in California. I like the way the brush work around the cup repeats the shape of the rose on this piece. I like the abstract shapes of the background rose. There are things that could definitely be improved upon, but I have decided to let it alone and move on to the next painting. Sometimes, I think we definitely bring with us our distractions to the studio and it creeps into the work itself, albeit unintentionally. It's a holiday week-end with lots of things happening, so maybe my mind is not as focused as I would like---who knows--I will expect a better time in the studio come next week!

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"Mona Lisa" SOLD

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Naming these little 8 x 8's has been almost as much fun as doing them. For some reason, this one has kept to herself and not been very forthcoming on her name. I guess she's the quiet type. We had a nice hour together, early morning, no music except for our bird friends. No matter, her true colors have come shining through anyway. I love the abstract nature of painting glass and the simplicity of singling out one sprig to thoroughly absorb and enjoy. And a bit of mystery is always a good thing. So I decided she was a Mona Lisa. Who do you think she is?

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"Daisy Does the Polka" GIVEAWAY FOR MAY DRAWING!

Got up really early this morning to see who the posted winners were for the FineArtStudio Online competition were. Well, it wasn't me---bummer! My piece did make it into the "starred" entries (along with a slew of others), but not sure what that is.......there were 1, 167 entries. The good news is, there are more competitions to enter so start keeping score---I am on a relentless pursuit to enter and be announced as THE winner. I did this painting late yesterday, but couldn't decide til this morning if I wanted to post it or not. The pressure (which is a good thing) to post is always weighing in with feeling a bit vulnerable about putting your stuff out there for everyone to see---sometimes it's like getting dressed in a hurry and leaving the house to find you have on two different shoes (not that I know anyone who's done that...) It truly is not easy to be objective about your own work---particularly right when its first done.

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"Mugmania"

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At this point, I am not sure which I am addicted too, the mugs or the peony. Actually I am in an abusive relationship with this peony. I painted it twice Friday night and ended up wiping it out--completely.....twice. It just keeps tempting me to paint it, promising that this time it will be better, behave itself, make itself more paintable (this one has really wild hair in the middle). So, like a nut, I have been lured back in with hopes of glory. Actually, I am pretty happy with this one, but I refuse to give the peony credit--the mugs did behave themselves nicely and added some wonderful color and shapes to the piece. As for the peony, I'll let you decide--I am too emotionally involved......

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"Green Peace" SOLD

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This morning as I was headed to my car, I noticed one of my hybrid tea roses was budded out enough to be painted. "How sweet it is!" I am thinking to myself, and parked that piece of info at the back of my mind for later retrieval. After a meeting with a fellow artist, I headed downtown for lunch with my husband at a quaint little restaurant called Varden's. Varden's is an old drugstore restored to its former glory days and holds lots of unique and fun items to look at and buy. I'm standing there trying to decide what to order when I spied it--the cup. It was a metallic bright green. I could already see the new rose coupled with it. Did I mention the name of the rose is "Peace"?

(I now have a dilemma though, there are two other colors at the store---I think I will be visiting Varden's again tomorrow.)

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"Black Tie Affair" SOLD

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I struggled on this today. All I can say is.....I finished it. Tomorrow may give me some insight. Objectivity is never to be found immediately following, not when it's your own work! It is the last of the Mother's Day roses. However, my own roses are budding out, so I now have a built- in supply for awhile.

Just a quick FYI for any Kevin Macpherson fans. I have the opportunity to hear him speak this weekend at the Middletown Ohio Arts Center. He is lecturing on Saturday along with some demo work the following day. I have been able to study with a few artists over the years, but he would be among the top three that were most impacting on my understanding of painting. I am not sure what the ticket availability is at this point, but I have included the links if you want to check it out.

Free Monthly Painting Giveaway----Check my blog at http://www.dreamatolleperry.blogspot.com/ to enter!!

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"Balancing Act" SOLD

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A metaphor for life. Balance is the key. As excited as I am about making art, it is the balance of that with the rest of my life that makes it complete. I find that when I get too intense, too serious, toooooo focused, my art suffers. I second guess myself, I am hard on myself. When I let other things in---time for friends, watching a silly "keyboard cat" on youtube, reading great books, suddenly my art comes into focus and makes perfect sense. I relax into it, enjoy the process and become peaceful about the journey. Life, like art, is rarely if ever "perfect" in the sense that we define it---yet it is perfect with all of its twists and turns---the very reason we prefer real roses to silk ones, even though the real may not be as big, may have a brown spot on the leaf, may have a torn petal---it is real, it has scent, it is velvety soft, it has thorns that can make you bleed---and that is how you know you are alive! So this weekend, I had two dozen roses that seemed to be fading too quickly, but I also have a beautiful daughter that lives 2500 miles away (but only minutes by phone!) and a loving mother that I was honored to spend the day with. So I balanced my time by painting one of the roses and spending time with two other "roses".

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"It's Raining Lilacs" SOLD

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Even though I have roses to paint (an early Mother's Day gift) I chose to squeeze in the lilacs, knowing that they are quickly passing. The slightest move of them and they let loose a fragrant shower. The blooms are each so tiny--the challenge is to paint "them" without painting each individual bloom. Remembering that the silhouette or outside edge is what "tells" us what we are seeing, helps. So I mass them in and then pick out a few to actually detail in. That is the beauty of painting versus a photograph. Giving you just enough to excite you , then letting your own eyes and heart fill in the details.

This past week I had a bunch of fellow artists over to my house to hang out, eat pizza, and talk shop. It was time well spent. I meant to take photos, but was enjoying myself so much--I forgot. They are such a group of talented artists who genuinely work very hard at what they do. Each one brings their own unique perspective on life and art to their paintings. I will be posting links to their websites, so keep an eye out for them! For now you can see Dan McGrath and Bob Sanford at Gallery B, Ann Pass at the Artists Attic and David Soileau at his website.

If you enjoy receiving my paintings in your email, please forward this page to another art lover--thanks!

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"Me Lilacs Are Bloomin'" SOLD

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The scent of lilacs is simply word defying. I have two small bushes that are just coming into bloom and their scent is hanging heavy in the air. I didn't really have a choice on what I would paint today--they (the lilacs) chose me to do their portrait. I am experimenting with setting things up on glass, to add reflections to the painting. I first had the reflection of the back container so defined it was drawing attention to itself, so had to go back in and "knock it back" a bit. Doing so many smaller works, back to back, is a great way to go (grow)! Pin It