Tomato Trionow on auction!

Tomato Trio ©2010 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
4 x 4 • acrylic on Gessobord
©2010 Karen Mathison Schmidt
gloss varnish for UV protection and easy cleaning

Click here to bid

I’ve been keeping this one for myself since I painted it, because it’s just so cute and cheery it makes me smile, but I just decided to list it for auction on eBay.

As you can probably tell, I’ve decided to get serious about building up a presence on eBay, mainly for the worldwide audience. Some of eBay’s rules for sellers have changed since I first started selling my art there several years ago; it’s no longer an option for me to choose to pay more for my listings to jump to the top of the page they would normally be on in any given search by a buyer. This option will only be available to me after I achieve a feedback score of 100 or more, with 100% positive rating, then I have a chance to become a “Top-Rated Seller.”

So I’ve decided to plug away listing original art to build up a following there again ... and I may have to let a few pieces go at lower prices than usual for a while in order to achieve this goal ... but I’m confident that it will be totally worth it in the long run ... only time will tell!

Impressionist Oil Painting Kitty Cat Artby Louisiana Artist K M Schmidt

Just wanted to let everyone know I’ve just put this one of Ray on auction on eBay starting at $200 ... what a deal! And I always offer free shipping in the USA, of course.


You Blinked, I Win © 2010 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
14 x 11 • oil on 3/4" cradled Gessobord

SOLD
private collection • Leonding, Austria

Sophie! a new dog painting in progress ...

Here’s the work-in-progress photo of a painting I started today ... Sophie was having a little lie-down this morning after a barking-at-squirrels session in the back yard went a little long. The color combinations of Redbone Coonhound against powder blue garden-y rug and red-and-greenish quilt hanging off the edge of the sofa were irresistible; I just had to take a few reference photos, then I put aside what I had planned to paint today and did this instead.

The last time I painted Sophie by herself she was just on the verge of emerging from puppyhood:

I can’t wait to see what happens with this new one!

Neither can I!

Silly Cats (a redundant phrase?)

My aunt recently did some spring cleaning and asked me if I would like to have this antique coal bucket, complete with a big chunk of actual coal. Right after I set it out on the front porch, I saw that Ray, after his daily roll in red dirt beside the driveway, did some nosing around inside my new acquisition and then settled for a nap.

Why do I suddenly have the tune to “Chim-chimeny, chim-chimeny, chim chim-cheree” running through my head?

P.S. In the middle of uploading these photos I ran downstairs to freshen my coffee, and when I came back, here was Bailey, making like a bear-skin rug on my computer desk. She really cracks me up ... I never knew she could get so flat.

Almost nothing goes better with fresh coffee than a good laugh.

Unless it’s a chocolate croissant.

Awakening

SOLD

Awakening © 2011 by Karen Mathison Schmidt

18 x 24 inches • acrylic on cradled Gessobord

private collection • Puyallup, Washington

I actually finished this one a couple of days ago and published to my Just the Paintings blog, but Ive been battling a cold and haven’t gotten around to posting it here until today. So ... here it is, finished! I know I said I planned to finish this one in oils, but as I got further into it, I was achieving the effect I wanted with the acrylics, so it ended up an acrylic painting. Sometimes (quite often) plans of all kinds get changed in the middle of a painting (or any project, really!) and the best thing to do is just go with the flow. Here are some close-up details:

Painter’s Progress

I had a great painting day working on this one today.

Here are the progress photos:

I started today by adding some definition in the bottom part of the painting, before diving into painting the sky.

This close-up shows how I’m defining the branches and leafy sections of the trees by painting in the negative sky space around them. I love this part!

Painting in the negative space around the branches this way lets me make some of the them really really skinny and delicate looking, adding more texture and variety. Just the way trees are in real life.

Now I’ve started adding in the sunrise colors in the bottom section of the sky.

And here I’ve added a yellow glaze to the sunrise parts of the sky, giving them that morning glow.

And here’s where I stopped today ... 

... to be continued!

Back to work! Again!

Well, after a few weeks of spring cleaning, a mission trip, a porch & patio party, and garden projects, I’m back at the easel with this new one in the works. It’s 18x24, I’ve started the underpainting in acrylic, and I plan to finish it in oils. That’s allowed, you know. You can paint with oil over acrylic, but not the other way around, unless you want the painting to crackle on purpose. Hmmm ... I may try that sometime, just out of curiosity, just to see what happens.

I mean, the universe wouldn’t implode or anything if one painted with acrylics over oils.

Would it?