This morning I was blessed with this spectacular Sunrise. The blues, purples and pinks lit the sky like a fireworks show. Its amazing how beautiful the sky can get and how quickly it disappears. After a week of gloomy rainy days that had me in a slump, this explosion of color is just was what I needed. Now the sun is out & just like a little miracle so is my energy. Oh how my moods and energy are driven by the weather. I wish it wouldn’t, but just smiling into the sun this morning was the jolt I needed to start my day. I hope you get a charge in what ever it is that ignites your passion and energy today. Blessing to you
Here is a Sketch I’m currently working on, I think it will make a fun Greeting Card. I was going to finish it today, but my right hand is hurting so much, that I decided to take it easy with it. Sad thing is, I don’t know what I did! Maybe its the weather, its been so rainy & humid around here. Anyways, I hope it feels better tomorrow so I can finish it. I’m using Pen & In & Watercolors. I’ll show it to you as soon as its done. Thanks for stopping by
I’m starting to play with my Pen, Waterproof Ink and Watercolors again, its been a while since I’ve done them. Its a big change from the Commissioned Acrylic Pet Portraits that I normally do and I love it because it does feel like playtime. I used to work at Shoebox Greetings Inc., Hallmark Cards, as an Art Director and I was fortunate enough to do a few pieces for them that made it in the line, but then I got married and moved to Columbus Ohio with my husband & became a Freelance Illustrator. I did work with many other Greeting Card Companies and my style was similar to this. I have to say I’m a little rusty, but I was just freely drawing with the Pen & Ink and that medium is not as forgiving as the Acrylics, LOL. I’m going to sketch out my ideas with pencil first, then ink them, but when you are playing you have to just go for it, right?
I’m going to continue creating little ACEO’s I think they are a terrific size to paint and a great price point to sell.
This one is $15 for the Original, $4 for a print plus SH.
Let me know if you are interested, Thanks for stopping by
On Wednesday August 18th, my husband Kent, my son Lucas & I spent the day in the middle Cat room at the Humane Society of Marion County. I had already done some work there earlier this year, but we still had to finish the Cat Walk Wall. My husband had a great idea in mind of what would be fun for the kitties, and boy was he right.
Above are some of the pictures from that day, and as you can see there are a lot of happy cats exploring the wall. The first photo showcases the whole wall and all the tubes and boards that we put up so the kitties would have a place to hang out, literally You can see me busy painting & touching up the walls that I painted a soft lavender. My husband and son are the ones wearing the black shirts and Bruce Fishalow, the Executive Director, is in the green shirt checking out our progress. Everyone at the Humane Society specially Bruce, Lyn Zambito & Mary Wrye were thrilled with the way it all turned out. They are such such Angels! The best reward for all our hard work, was seeing the kitties having a fabulous time on the cat walk. There are so many sweet and gorgeous cats there ready to find someone to love and care for them, could you be one of them? I hope you can stop by and see the Cat Walk Wall and maybe meet a new companion
When I was there I asked myself, If you look at the cost of becoming a member of the Humane Society which is as little as $15 a year and think about how much that money can help all of them and think about how many cups of coffee you can buy at Starbucks for that, maybe 4, I think we could all brew some coffee at home and help out all these sweet animals and the amazing people that take care of them. Please Think about donating to your local shelter and you will feel like the white Kitty in the picture above, Blissfully Happy!
Every summer we head out in our RV and go on a family vacation to explore this amazing Country we live in. I always go with the intension of doing art work. I bring sketchbooks, watercolors, colored pencils and a backpack full of many other things always thinking I’ll have time to create some new work.
My husband, Kent Weakley, is a photographer so our vacations are somewhat planned according to the “shots” he wants to get. We wake up at the break of dawn and get back to camp after sunset, those are the best times to photograph, and from what you can see on his site, his photographs are stunning, and we’ve been to some amazing places creating lasting memories. For my boys and I it’s an adventure in endurance, we love the hikes and the magnificent vistas, but when we get back to the RV, we download photos and go to bed and recharge because we’ll do it all again the next day. Even though we do have some down time, its nice to relax and have a glass of wine by the campfire while the boys roast their marshmallows and forget about everything else.
I realized this summer for the first time that our vacations are not about creating, they are about recharging. I do a lot of thinking while we are on the road. My thoughts are about what I have accomplished, about creative projects I want to do, and about what I will come up with this coming year. I think its important to get away from the everyday “to do” lists and even from the work we normally do, and think about the year ahead (by the way my year starts and ends according to the school calendar, at least while my boys are still in school).
I am blessed to have this time to look out the RV window and think, recharge and re- ignite my creative fire. Summer is almost at an end and for me a new year will soon begin. I have some great new ideas that I want to try, aside from the pet portraits that I am really exited about. I’m also going to become a better blogger, I admire all of you that blog consistently. Lastly, one very important goal for me this year is to have some Balance, yes, it is something that its difficult for me and I need to figure out how to achieve it!
I hope you had a fabulous Summer! I would love for you to share your thoughts of what you did and where you went and what your new year will bring, so please leave me a comment so we can all hear about it
Here is the Map on the side of our RV of all the States we’ve been in the last 5 years. We do have a rule which is -we must sleep in the State in order to earn the colorful sticker. As you can see we’ve been to almost all of them, except the the upper eastern States which we will hit next summer. A heck of an accomplishment don’t you think? You can see some of the stunning photography my husband has taken at KentWeakley.com
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great day!
Hi Everyone. I decided to place these three large original paintings for sale exclusively on my Blog. If you are interested in purchasing them send me at email at callmaggie@yahoo.com and I will send you more photos and all the details.
“Golden Luna” is 24″x 30″ it is painted on wood board. I created the background which resembles rough leather. This Overo Paint horse has touches of Gold acrylic paint highlighting pieces of his mane and throughout the painting. I restored this old antique frame by filling in the cracks and dry brushing the details with Gold acrylics. This photo does not do it justice. This painting is rich in color, texture and feel.
“Valentino” is 24″ x 48″. It is a very tall and skinny painting, perfect for a narrow wall. He is a sweet colt that will make you fall in love with him as you stare into his eyes. The negative space above this relaxed thoroughbred will capture your attention and you will draw you to him as you will want to sit with him for a while.
“Love that Pig” is 30″ square. A dynamic background sets off this sweet pink pig that you are sure to love. There are many textures throughout this very large painting complimenting that sweet stare and big smile of this very fine Pig.
Hope you enjoy them be sure to leave a comment would love to hear what you think
Here is one of my Time Lapse videos showing the process of painting one of my portraits. This is Madeline a sweet and very calm Jack Russell that I had the privilege to paint. In the videos you can see all the layers of glazes I use. I start with a pretty chromatic palette and work up to the more traditional palette. By doing this, the layers of colors create a depth to the paintings that is luminous.
To see more of my videos click here were you can view my YouTube Channel.
Now you can order a set of five Maggie’s Angels Bookmarks. Each durable heavy card stock bookmark is printed on both sides and measures 2.375″ x 8″. Protective UV gloss coating assures lasting quality. The bookmarks are valued at $2 each. However, the complete set of five bookmarks (valued at $10) is only $5 Total …and shipping and handling (in U.S.) is FREE!
Day 5 of Elin’s workshop was all about Skies and Back Lighting. My Husband Kent, was kind enough to drop by VoilArt gallery and snap a picture of all of us. It was a wonderful group of artists ranging from beginners to professionals and I have to say we all had a great time.
Being inspired by the night before were Jackie Schindehette took Elin canoeing on the Silver River for a great adventure, according to them, were Elin ended up poking a gator with her ore and getting baptized by the gator with mud & gator poop, and experiencing the river at night as they canoed back in dark, the stories were great! Elin certainly got to experience our beautiful clear river & all the splendors it has so it was appropriate that she would paint what she saw on her last day in Ocala.
She used a picture from a Florida book and I let her use one of my husband’s photographs of an Egret that was backlit. Below you can see her working with oils and how she lays down the paint, sketching it out and blocking in the colors. She kept all the cool colors in the background and the warm ones in the foreground. You can see her finish piece and her explanation here one her Blog;http://elinpendleton.blogspot.com/
I had an off day today, I started painting a cheetah cub that was backlit and soon realized that it was not going to work. The photo I was using did not have all the information I needed & I just was not feeling it. So I started over & I painted this tree scene in the above picture, in about 20 min. Its not great & its just a start, but for 20 min, its not horrible. While I was working on this, Elin was reviewing and doing a critique of everyone’s work for the week, one artist at a time. In the picture below you can see all the painting I created for the week, the good and the bad. Elin asked each of us what we learned, what will we take away from the workshop, and how we would apply what we learned to our work.
For me, this workshop was a refresher course on color. My work is whimsical and colorful, and my strength is capturing expressions and conveying them on animals. Color is a strong suit for me and even in the large paintings I’ve been creating, the color I use is Bold and full of movement.
This workshop was the opposite of what I do on a daily basis, and I loved it. I had to paint realistically which I have not done in years, but even in my best efforts to create realisms, my whimsy style shined through. We all have certain styles that set us apart from all the other artists on this earth, its a quality that is hard to find within us, but once you do, don’t loose it. I took this workshop because I love Elin’s style, her brushwork, her color sense and the way she paints horses. I also took it because I knew some of the artists that were attending the workshop which included Margaret Watts, Nancy Moskovitz and Elaine Trice. I believe if you paint along side great artists you will always learn something, and I did. I also had a blast with everyone there, specially Elaine cause we sat next to each other.
What I will take and use from taking this workshop is The Pill Boxes- I loved using them to organize the paints. Using one box for cool colors and another for warm colors is really effective, plus the acrylics stay wet. I will definitely use them again and the color system, when I’m working on my larger paintings. I’m currently working on a large piece that has two horses in a forrest scene with backlighting and maybe I’ll even include a stunning sky. I’m excited to start it. I have it drawn out, but I must finish the commission paintings I am currently working on before I start that one. Also, I will pay attention to the colors I chose when painting light, keeping in mind the color system because it makes for a dramatic painting.
You might be wondering if Elin’s Color System applies to my portraits? Well, in my particular case not really, just because I don’t use any main light sources in my portraits. Most of the photographs I get are snapshots that my clients have taken of their pets and they are usually done in flat light. The main thing I will take away from Elin is how she has changed the way I see each individual color, the temperature it has and how my eyes see it. I’m very happy with what I’ve learned and the new friends I’ve made
Day 4 of Elin’s workshop was full of Vibrant colors. The theme was to add chroma, and be Bold!
We painted sunsets or evening light. Above is a picture of Elin using and old postcard of a Florida landscape and making it her own. For this time of day, we are looking for DRAMA! Strong lights and darks or values, and rich colors. We add Cadmium Orange to just about everything, and a purple-ish hue to the shadow areas. The oranges and purples love each other because the are complimentary colors and the sing together making for dramatic and rich paintings. She added some grays to the sky so when she added the oranges it became even more dramatic, as you can see below in her finished piece.
The 5″x7″ Palm Tree painting was created by Elin in about 20 minutes, yes 20 minutes. Just amazing how she can quickly put down a scene rich in color, value, composition and drama.
Above we all our trying to capture a moment in a day. By the way we are still using the Color System, the same 14 colors that we’ve been using this whole week. Its incredible!
I also have to tell you that I’m in love with working with the paints being in the pill boxes. My Acrylics have stayed wet for 4 days, can you imagine how much money I will save, as long as you mist them with a spray bottle while you work and then when you are done painting for the day, wrap them in a wet paper towel and slip them in a Ziplock bag. Brilliant!
So, here is what I painted today. My 13 year old son Max, upon seeing me gathering photos for the workshop, asked me if I would like some of his pictures to use. He is like his father in that photography is his gift, but instead of photographing landscapes like his father, he loves to photograph wild life- he gets that from me. He is a little bit of both of us, & I love it!
So he tells me this is a Waterbuck, I looked it up to make sure & it is. He knows his animals, he has been reading animal encyclopedias since he was 2 years old.
I began the painting by doing a purple wash over the canvas to knock out the white. Then I sketch out the Waterbuck with a deeper purple keeping in mind placement and composition.
I began putting down the background using the colors from my cool box and as I got closer to the foreground I introduced the colors in the warm box. Making sure I added Cadmium Orange to my lights as well as some of my shadows, and keeping all my shadows cool using Ultramarine Blue with Alizarin Crimson and a touch of White all from the cool box. I kept blocking in shapes and forms adjusting and balancing the colors.
When Elin came by to see what I was doing she immediately took the painting from safe to BOLD by putting teals into the shadows and intensifying my lights with oranges. This photo does not do the colors justice because in person it is very rich. Its not done yet, but for an hour and a half I’m happy with how far I got today. I think I’m going to leave it loose and maybe just tweak it a little bit more, what do you think?
We had our daily critiques and its neat to see everyones pieces, a lot of talented folks here.
Below is sweet Sparky, he lays in his little doughnut bed all day, perfectly behaved.
The painting on the right is an example of moon light (again the photo does not do this painting justice)
I’m proud to say this 5″x7″ little gem is mine! I bought it and I could not be more thrilled, I will treasure it!!!!
Last but certainly not least is Max & I, two artists showcasing their work. By the way, he wants the painting and its a joy for me to give it to him. I am using another of his photographs, a baby Cheetah, tomorrow for the back light painting. I hope I can do it justice and he can have that one as well to hang together in his room.
Hope you tune in tomorrow to see what we do. Thanks to all of you that have been leaving comments, I appreciate you taking this journey with me
On the opposite side of the Gallery wall we had Jackie Schindehettepaintings, she creates beautiful Florida Landscapes. It was an inspiration to have both of these artist works around us. You can see see more of JAckie’s work at http://www.floridalandscapes.com/
You can see me busy painting & touching up the walls that I painted a soft lavender. My husband and son are the ones wearing the black shirts and 
