Rez: October 15-17, 2011

"Rez" is a commissioned painting, 8"x10" acrylic on stretched canvas. Rez was an abandoned dog that chose her current owner who loves her dearly. Rez is enjoying the large bone that her owner's previous dog had discovered and carried out of the mountains.

Dove: September 3, 2011

"Dove" is an 8"x10" acrylic painting. This is a commissioned painting of a beloved pet.

Clegg Winery: August 25, 2011

"Clegg Winery" is a 14"x32" acrylic painting on stretched canvas. Many thanks to the client who commissioned this piece.

Plumerias: August 11, 2011

This is the beginnings of an 8"x11" watercolor painting. I started it in the watercolor class that I am teaching this summer at River's Mist Gallery of Fine Art. The background was put in using various greens with dashes of black and yellow. The black is a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna. The yellow is raw sienna and was also used as the first layer on the nearer leaves.

Zebra: August 11, 2011

This is a 5"x7" watercolor on watercolor paper. This will be a birthday card for my son's friend whose favorite animal is the zebra and favorite color is pink.

Daisy 6: June 2011

Oh, boy, I almost missed adding this painting to my blog! This is a 5"x7" watercolor painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper. This is a larger version of the 2.5"x3.5" series of daisies that I did March 24th.

Plumeria: June 14, 2011

"Plumeria" is finished. This is a 7"x9" watercolor painting. The flowers, along with some of the leaves, come forward because of their contrast and details. However, I would love to continue working the leaves to make the flowers come forward even more but I must get this in the mail. It will be included in the Montana Watercolor Society's raffle book this year.

Plumeria: June 5, 9 & 13, 2011

This is a 7"x9" watercolor. My goal at the beginning was to create great depth to the "busy" scene. Usually when I paint a subject, I like to greatly simplify the area around it. This time, I wanted to leave in all the vegetation. In order to cut down on that busy-ness, I am painting the most distant parts of the plant with more diluted paint and as the objects become closer, I am adding more vibrant color and more detail. Right now it looks like a jumbled mess so I'm curious to see how it comes out when the flowers (the last and closest parts of the painting - the focus) go in.
These are two images of the painting in progess: the very beginning with the farthest vegetation and then one with closer leaves and branches with more detail.

Studio Tour & Workshops

This weekend my studio will be one of 26 participating in the Artists Along the Bitterroot Studio Tour. The artist reception is Friday, June 3, at River's Mist Gallery of Fine Art, 317 Main St., Stevensville, MT. Maps of the tours can be picked up at River's Mist as well as at the Frame Shop & Gallery, 325 W. Main St., Hamilton. The tour is free and studios are open from 10:30am-6:00pm Saturday & Sunday, June 4-5.
I will also be teaching workshops in acrylic and watercolor this summer. Subjects will include exploring limited palettes, textures, pet portraits and art trading cards. The workshops will be fun and informative. Workshop descriptions and applications can be picked up at River's Mist Gallery or via email (keecojo@bridgeband.com).
Have a great summer and hope to see you during the tour and the workshops!

Giraffe: May 24, 2011

"Giraffe" is a 5"x7" watercolor greeting card.

Blue Elephants: May 9-10, 2011

"Blue Elephants" is an 8"x10" watercolor painting. Why blue elephants? This is for my son's friend - elephants are her favorite animals and guess what her favorite color is.

In the Clefts: April 27, 2011

"In the Clefts of the Rock" is an 11"x14" watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Sour Lemons: April 27, 2011

"Sour Lemons" is definitely finished. This is a 16"x20" watercolor painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Sour Lemons: April 26, 2011

Okay, "Sour Lemons" looks done but I need to make some minor adjustments. Maybe some major adjustments. I'll see how it looks tomorrow morning.

Sour Lemons: April 25, 2011

This is a watercolor painting in progress. The colors I chose are mostly blues with a touch of green to harmonize with the yellow of the lemon wedge.

Pretty in Pink: April 21, 2011

"Pretty in Pink" is an 11"x14" acrylic painting on stretched canvas.

Pretty in Pink: April 19, 2011

This is a painting in progress. I started it months ago. The image with the greenish background was the painting as it sat for all those months. I wasn't happy with the background color, so I sampled different colors and settled on the purplish-brown background that you see in the second image. I'm pleased with how it's coming along. The purple is much more complementary to the flamingo's pink plumage.

Logo Contest: March 30, 2011

The Stevensville Art & Sculpture Society (S.A.S.S.) had a logo design contest for their annual Bitterroot Artists Showcase. I just received word that I am the lucky winner! This is the logo and you can see it in use on the S.A.S.S. website: www.SASSart.org.

Daisies: March 24, 2011

This is a series of paintings using the same reference but different color choices. Each one is painted in watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper, 2.5"x3.5" (ACEO / ATC - size).

Hickory: December 20-21, 2010

"Hickory" is a 2.5"x3.5" acrylic painting on watercolor paper.

Diamond Head (finished): October 21, 2010

"Diamond Head Lighthouse, Oahu, HI" is an acrylic 8"x10" painting on stretched canvas.

Diamond Head (in progress): October 19, 2010

The lighthouse has been put in.

Diamond Head Lighthouse (in progress): October 11-12, 2010

This is an 8"x10" acrylic painting in progress.

Chief Mountain: October 5, 2010

"Chief Mountain, Glacier NP", has been altered to lighten the mood. I eliminated the distant looming clouds, increased the highlights on the mountain, and warmed up the nearby hills.

Chief Mountain (finished): October 1, 2010

"Chief Mountain, Glacier NP" is complete pending the client's approval. This is an 8"x10" acrylic painting on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Chief Mountain (in progress): September 29-30, 2010

"Chief Mountain, Glacier NP" is an 8"x10" acrylic painting in progress. This is my first painting using Golden OPEN acrylic paints and I'm really enjoying them. OPEN acrylics stay wet longer giving a longer "open" working time. This allows for better blending much like oil paints, but they don't take quite so long for the finished painting to cure. Normal acrylics dry almost too fast in this arid Montana climate. With the OPEN acrylics I can really slow down and enjoy the process.

Painting Something Else: September 2010

This was my most recent painting project. It took a few weeks and required a little help from my parents and my son, who can be seen in one of the photos. I painted the exterior of my house - two coats of latex. My husband and I have added on to our house, including my future studio. The interior photos are the unfinished studio.

Roo redo: September 1, 2010

The backgrounds for "Roo 1" and "Roo 3" have been redone.

Roo 3: August 30, 2010

"Roo 3" is 2.5"x3.5" acrylic on watercolor paper.

Roo 1 & Roo 2: August 26-27, 2010

"Roo 1" and "Roo 2" are two of a set of three miniature paintings. These are each 2.5"x3.5", acrylic on watercolor paper.

"Monster 2": August 21, 2010

"Monster 2" is another illustration, 9"x12", in acrylic.

"Peculiar" & "Monster 1": August 20, 2010

"Peculiar" is finished, as is "Monster 1", both illustrations in acrylic on 9"x12" watercolor paper.

"Peculiar" (in progress): August 19, 2010

Whew! It has been quite a summer! I spent quite a bit of time preparing for my art show at River's Mist Gallery which was in July. Then I did a gallery talk, my first one ever, on the 16th of July. I've been so busy with other summer and family activities that I haven't had much time to paint, but I'm getting back into it. This is the first of a few illustrations that I am doing for someone. It is called, "Peculiar", 9"x12", painted in acrylic. It is still in progress.

400th Post: July 10, 2010

This is my 400th posting on my blog! My first blog entry was on April 20, 2007, with a painting of a pineapple. My goal was to paint and record a painting a day. After a good year of painting almost every day, I had quite a collection of small paintings. I highly recommend any artist, quilter, writer, singer, etc., to do a small piece of their work every day because I saw a definite improvement in my painting skills.

My blog now shows larger works and projects that I am working on. I have neglected my blog for the past month in preparation for a big art show, my first in a real gallery. I've shown one or two pieces in galleries before but not my whole body of work. My work has mostly been shown in coffee shops and restaurants which are great venues for art. In preparation for my art show, "Flora & Fauna: Wild & Not so Wild", at the River's Mist Gallery of Fine Art in Stevensville, MT, I ordered supplies, matted and framed my paintings and prints, sent out mailings, and other sundry tasks. This photo shows the piles of small framed paintings and prints.

While preparing for the show, I received a commissioned job. The words are from the client's own plaque. She wanted one made for her son with a caricature of his dog. This was painted over a beat up print of folk art. I repainted the frame. You can faintly see the old print beneath the layer of gesso.








The day of the artist's reception, I found out that my painting, "Dane", was accepted into the Montana Watercolor Society's national juried show Watermedia 2010. The show will be held at the Bigfork Art & Culture Museum in Bigfork, MT, from October 1-31, 2010.




July 6-7, 2010, the soccer mural was painted on the kicking wall at the High School soccer field. I designed the mural in May and drew it onto the 8'x24' wall. Some of the soccer players, their dads, and a couple of soccer moms (including me) used exterior house paint to fill in the image.