Dolphins and Mermaids

Well, it's getting to be the end of Mermaid season for this one here.  We've had a cool, rainy summer and I'm wondering even if today my lake will be too cool to swim in.  Gonna give it a go anyhow.  So in honor of these blissful summer swims I present you my Count Your Blessings Pendant.  Any of my images are available in pendants and earrings in case you didn't know.

Here is a link to them on my website. http://melissaharris.com/creatrix/jewelry.shtml
and  here is a link to my Economy line of jewelry.  http://melissaharris.com/creatrix/jewelry-economy.shtml

Enjoy.   Melissa

Getting into color

Every so often I get stuck on a particular color that I like to use over and over in my paintings.  This couple of weeks it's been a color called Fanchon Red by Williamsburg paints which is the cadillac of oil paint companies.  Their tubes are really heavy because they use so much pigment as opposed to fillers which make the colors that much more vibrant.  I used this color mixed with Prussian Blue in the post below.  It's funny because I've had it lying around for some years and haven't used it.  Now, my next project will be to see if I can keep my brushes and paint tubes from getting full of paint.  I guess it's a habit like anything else.  I just have to wipe them off.....  HHHmmmnnnnnn discipline......
Till then,   Melissa

End of Day Image Blast

Sometimes I will be standing around the studio and flash on an idea that I just have to paint now. That happened yesterday just as I was cleaning up and preparing to leave the studio. My eye landed on a small canvas ( I had painted over a painting ) and all of a sudden I saw how a photo I had taken would work so well on that background and actually saw in my mind's eye how the painting would lay out.

Lately I am doing small studies and then making them into larger canvases, something I never would have had the patience to do in earlier days.

This painting carries the mood of the series I have been working on only with different subject matter.

Doodling

I like to paint wherever I am and whatever I am doing if possible. Some folks call this doodling - you know, when you scribble while you are on the phone, etc. I take my paints wherever I go and even will paint on the beach while everyone else is busy doing the usual beach things. Long ago I thought there was nothing to paint there but nowadays I'll just paint whoever happens to be around and it's a great exercise at quickly noting where the light falls and anatomy etc.

Some people prefer knitting :-)

here are some beach doodles

soon I'll have to do some lake doodles but normally I just jump in, swim and back to the studio

I LOVE SUMMER

New series Old series

It's been awhile since I posted here but that doesn't mean I haven't been painting like a fool or like a fool that loves to paint. I'm working on 2 different series at a time which is not always the case. Normally I work on more than one painting at a time but now more than one series. I usually need to be in the mood to work on a series in order to capture that energy but sometimes I can roam in and out.

And sometimes I return to series that I began many years ago and add to it. Here is a study I just did for a larger painting that is part of my Intimacy series. What do you think?

on the weekend

I love painting atHarkness state park in CT on the weekends. This particular garden which I always call "my sacred garden" is my fav. I learned last weekend that the woman who lived there and created it did so in honor of the sacred feminine and wanted to honor all the stages of a woman's life. There is a special section that glows irredescent in the full moon. No wonder I've always felt so special there.

Liking it

I recently finished this painting kinda by default. A wonderful woman came to my studio for a Spirit Essence Portrait and saw it on my easel. I t wasn't officially finished but she wanted to purchase it just as it was. I scurried to have it professionally photographed and then put a few coats of spray varnish on it for protection. I really love this piece and perhaps she saved me from overworking it by buying it right then!