Hibiscus and other bright flowers

Hibiscus blusher, digital photograph 8/27/07 (all rights reserved - I know you want it!)

Have you noticed what's back in style? 1950's-1970's surfing, tiki, and Hawaiian/tiki themes. That means hibiscus floral prints (I put a white hibiscus decal on my car's rear window), surfboard and beach icons, and maybe even tiki paraphernalia. My favorite related color scheme would be aqua blue, leaf green, and buttery yellow or tan -- beach colors. I did my part to stay hip by buying a hibiscus bush (photo above).

I know the one-image-per-day blog rule, but I couldn't wait to post an image I created from cast shadows (below)! I noticed some attractively-shaped shadows on our sidewalk and wanted to use them in art. So I photographed the shadows, uploaded them to Photoshop and applied a couple filters to get the image below.

Lights From the Shadows, Digitally Altered Photograph

Oil rigs -- doesn't everybody LOVE them?

S. Belridge Oil Rigs, gouache on paper, 6x9"

My husband and I were driving north on Interstate 5 to Cambria, and took a highway that cut west to the central coast. Soon we stumbled upon the largest oil fields I've ever seen in my life, and there are lots in Southern California. Oil rigs pumping as far as I could see. There were hundreds if not thousands of rigs, many in bright colors, and at all angles. I loved the almost architectural imagery. I quickly snapped two bad photos and vowed to take more on the way home, but we took a different route back. Recently I painted the scene with gouache paints (above), but I forgot to use my artistic license -- my two photos didn't capture many rigs and I forgot to slip more in, so the whole point is kind of missed. At least I'm a honest painter, eh?

Koi Trio

I'm practicing my painting again. I haven't actually painted, used a brush, in a while. When my mojo strikes, I tend to reach for pens or do some form of printmaking. Painting is hard! I need to produce a few items for an event at the end of September, so I must get going. This is an acrylic painting of some koi in a pond in Ragged Point, California (north of San Simeon on the Central Coast). It's 6x9" and is untitled.