Paintings With Soul

A simple 6" x 6" study done in today's workshop, featuring a Dum Dum lollipop (it IS Halloween, after all!). This exercise was to demonstrate simple blending techniques with acrylics, and to show how to achieve a variety of marks, INCLUDING SMALL ONES (but not brushy-brushy small ones, because those are worst than a firey rash), with a large brush. Inquiries to me , and thank you so much. Say's the woman with her paint brush in her mouth and her fingers in the paint And yes, I open paint tubes with my teeth. I have lots of bad habits. But I also have a few gems of knowledge I'm happy to share with those who will listen. Tomorrow is Day Two of our color and brushwork intensive. I'm happy to report there were no tears in Day One, although there was a knitted brow or two and some most excellent questions. And I'm loving having an audience who's interested in talking about the nuances of harmonic color and the i...

"Ken on a Stick," 6" x 8", acrylics on a museum quality panel, starring non-other than Malibu Ken, $329.  In process photos here  and  inquiries may come to me . I bought Ken - just his head, mind you - off ebay a couple months ago. Best dollar ever spent. You should have seen the rejoicing among the Barbies when just his head arrived up. I think there's a little bit of history here - maybe he was less than gentlemanly to them in the past.  Thanks for following along with my artwork, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

"Lollipop I" from the "Tags, Toys & Treasures" series, 6" x 12", still life painting depicting an old-fashioned lollipop, $239 to the first buyer. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . My booth at last weekend's Flower Fair was situated directly opposite a candy vendor. Was it sheer coincidance, or did the event coordinator know my weakness for sweets (fess up Reggie!!)? Regardless, after eyeballing glorious mountains of fudge for over 10 hours, I caved. Who wouldn't? I bought a generous cube of orange creme marbled fudge - it will make for a beautiful painting (and yes, I am painting it before eating it!!). I also picked up a handful of these wonderful lollipops, all twisted and bright with colors. My kids are fighting over who gets them when I'm done..... But back to business, and today's dog: "Jack," 5x7, commissioned pet portrait, acrylic on board, private collection (THANK YOU!!). Not to diminish Jack in any way...