Crabs and more crabs....Shell-y and Clawed

"Shell-y".....12x12.....oil....$150

"Clawed"...12x12....oil....$150

These are two more in my "seafood" series...I have loved giving them slightly skewed people names. If these guys don't sell, I might just end up hanging them in my house somewhere...I like them that much.

Seafood Sampler...Crab, Shrimp, and Crawfish

Painting 1

Painting 2

Painting 3

# 1..."A-2 Fay"....12x12...oil.....$150

#2..."Barbie Q".....12x12....oil....$150

#3...."Sue Shee"...12x12.....oil.....$150

These are three paintings that I did for the festivals that I have coming up. As I said in a previous post....this is how I want to paint. I love the colorful loose style and the mood of the paintings. And it was a little bit of fun naming them.

Tipsy Wine and Wine Straight Up..Oil Paintings...

Painting 1 Painting 2

#1........Tipsy Wine................8x16............$130

#2.....Wine Straight Up........8x16............$130

These are two more wine bottle paintings that I have done to get ready for my two upcoming shows. They are fun and evoke thoughts of having a good time, I think.

Speaking of having a good time.....I have some more paintings waiting in the the wings to unveil. I just love them, the style, the subject, the mood of them. I am finally getting a more consistent "look" for my work. I have all my new stuff hanging in the foyer to dry and when I look around I see that I am heading in the direction that I want to be. I knew that my little "painter's block" that I experienced last week was probably a harbinger of change and I was right. I am so much closer to where I want to be.

This is not to say that everyone is going to like my paintings better, or that they will sell better (but I hope both of these things do happen). I used to paint a painting every now and then and be able to say..."this is how I want to paint!" But then I would fall back into the inconsistent mode and paint something totally different in style and mood. Now I am finding that I am turning out one of those "this is how I want it to be" paintings much more often now.

I don't ever want to be one of those painters that finds a "niche" and then paints nothing but trees or nothing but houses. I want my unifying factor to be my signature style and my consistent choice of colors. I think in this past week I have taken a step closer to achieving that goal.

Blue Heron on the Bayou....Oil Painting

"Blue Heron on the Bayou"....12x24...oil......$290

This is a painting I did for the Peter Anderson Festival in Ocean Springs. Their website is beautiful, but I have to say the way they list the artists leaves a lot to be desired. If you click on the right to see Visit our Vendors...it brings up a word document and I am on page 13 out of 14 if anyone wants to take it to that level. I would advise just look at the other stuff and skip that step. My booth is #710 and I will be in a spot off of Government between Government and DeSoto. I am going down there for something else this weekend so I will check it out and get better directions for those who are near enough to attend. It is a wonderful festival with so many talented artisans...I am just proud to be there!

Martin the Crab...

Martin the Crab....8x16.....oil.......$130

I have a friend, Martin. He paints crabs. In fact he is "the Original Crab Man". He will think that I am painting crabs because he paints crabs and because he has outsold me at the last two shows we have been to. However, I do have witnesses that I painted crabs before I knew him. (if you go to this link you will have to scroll down past the twin's first sonogram, but there is, indeed, a crab down there.)

I painted that crab because I was going to be doing a show in South Louisiana and I knew that it would be popular down there. (and it did sell, by the way) That is the same reason I painted this guy...I will not only be in Covington again, this year, but I will also be at the Peter Anderson Festival in Ocean Springs...another venue where seafood in general, will be popular.

Plus, if you read my former post about the new artist I found that I admire greatly...Carole Foret...you will see that she has some great crab paintings and it just got me in a "crabby mood".

More Tabascos for the Art Festivals...

Painting #1 Painting #2
#1......Just a Drop.......8x16......oil.......$130

#2...Tilted Tabasco...10x20.....oil......$200

You may say, "is this woman not tired of painting Tabasco?" I'm really not. There are many good thoughts associated with the Tabasco paintings I do, one of which is that they always sell, lol. But aside from that, some of the most important men in my life put Tabasco on everything. One of my first paintings that I did as a gift was a Tabasco for one of my favorite people in the world, my stepdad, Bob. Plus, it is such an iconic item. There are Tabasco clothes, and housewares. If you are sporting a Tabasco tie or shirt, it says something about you...you have a spicy side.

Plus, I have discovered another thing I like about them...just like my tomatoes that I paint all the time, I just love painting the shades of red that you use...I love the way that alizarin crimson gives way to cad red deep and then cad red light...and when you add that pop of orange on there...well, I guess I am lucky, it just never gets old.

Painting 1 Painting 2

#1"Middleman"..10x20...oil on canvas...$200

#2"Hotty"....12x24...oil on canvas...$290

This first painting is a composition that my son and daughter-in-law have been wanting me to paint for a while. They saw something similar in a restaurant in Lexington. I love the negative space. I want to revisit this one another time and try it again. But I love the idea of it. Thanks Michael and Heather.

Painting 2 is another Tabasco for my upcoming art festivals. I like it...see, I told you not all my paintings were going to be "twisty" like yesterdays's.

Tabasco with a Twist...Oil paintings

Painting 1 Painting 2

Painting..................."Pssst"....10x20.....oil on canvas....$200

Painting...."Twist of Tabasco".....12x24....oil on canvas....$290

I have struggled, since I returned from my two are shows, to get back into painting mode. The posts from the last few days since I returned have been of paintings that I had done prior to the shows that I had not had time to post before I left.

I knew why I was struggling...it was because I was headed in a new direction. I had looked at lots of good art at the two shows I had been a part of, plus I had spent 8 days in a tent surrounded by my own work. I knew what I liked and I knew also, what was missing. I knew where I sort of wanted to go but I just couldn't break out and make a move in that direction. I unpacked and primed new canvases and did all sorts of "useful" stuff instead of painting.



But then I saw the art of Carole Foret online. She is where I want to be. She even paints Tabasco! Looking at her stuff got me going. It says what I want my work to say. I want my paintings to look like they are moving. I want them to be alive and happy and colorful. I had the colorful part and the happy part (according to comments I heard during my art festival stint) but I was missing the moving part. The work you see above is a result of combining what I already did with what I see others doing. I will not switch completely over to this form of expression, but I can tell you for sure you will be seeing more of it.

Slices, Cantaloupe on cutting board oil painting...

Slices...12x12...oil on gw canvas....$150

These cantaloupe slices just looked so nice and juicy that I had to paint them. And those of you who know me well know that I don't eat melon of any kind. But you know what? I love to slice cantaloupe. Is that weird or what? I love to cut it open and scoop out the seeds and cut it in half and into slices and cut off the rind. Then I pop it into a bowl and into the fridge for someone else to eat. I don't even really like the smell of them. Hmmmm.

For any of you out there with super computer skills...I had started trying to make a little simple webpage on GoDaddy.com, where I bought my domain name. I had not even gotten past a title really. Then I was redirected by a friend to use the publishing application that is a part of this blog. Through that I was able to get my blog configured so that if someone types in www. and then my name it comes to this blog(which is what I want)...but if they just type in lorriedrennan.com it gives an error message that I have published my web page incorrectly and directs me to the "web site tonight" which is the designing program from godaddy that I was using. I did some DNS numbers, when I did the part that worked yesterday, that were supposed to redirect to my blog even if they didn't use the www. but it is not working. Does anyone have experience with this?

I want to have new business cards printed up ASAP, but I don't want to put the web address on there it if won't work correctly.

Hay bale oil painting....and big news!

Marmalade Skies...30x40 oil painting....$1200($1300 framed)

I took this picture on the way through Georgia a couple of years ago. I have always wanted to paint it and I am glad that I did.

The title comes from a Beatles song...Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds...."Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies" It was running through my head the whole time I was painting this. Those Beatles sure did have a way with words didn't they?

Now for big news....on the advice from an artist friend that I just met at the Shrimp Festival, Terri Keller, I have bought my own domain name! Soon, when all the little miniature computer gremlins finish working their magic, and if I did it right, which is a big IF, you will be able to type in lorriedrennan.com and you will be brought directly to my blog. I tried it with the www in front of it and it works now, but since I didn't do it the easy way and go directly through the blogger program, I had to do a couple of extra steps to get it to work without the www. Those things take a day or two to catch on I think.

So try it. My blog actually looks better if you view it on the actual blog page...if you gt it sent directly to your email you just get the white background. I designed a nice page, but you have to click on my name at the top of your email to go to it. Some of the paintings just look so much better on the black background, I think.

Anyway, thanks Terri, for your help. It's not like you are sitting around looking for things to do!