Happy New Year!

Magnolias

oil and gold leaf on canvas, framed

30.5 x 30.5 

$800.

 

Wishing you a New Year that is filled with good things, full of happiness and hope, prosperity and passion! 

This painting says to me what I hope for our future: simplicity and beauty, a feeling of renewed strength and optimism. 

"Magnolias" is mixed media, with oil paint and gold leaf. Painted on the sides, too, it is framed in a shadow-box frame with a (hand done) gold leaf border, so that the frame and painting are one.

This painting can be seen in my Gallery at The Daily Paintworks along with many others.

Table Bluff Road

9.5" x 13"  oil on board

sold

This month The Virtual Paintout went to Eureka, California to paint. I stopped here, on Table Bluff Road, drawn by the big trees and distant vistas. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I did painting it!

I wish you all the Happiest of Holidays!

Please visit my gallery at The Daily Paintworks.

And if you're in downtown Mountain View, I hope you will stop in at the Caffé Romanza - upstairs, at Books Inc. - where my work is on display through the end of the month.

Breakfast

11" x 14"  oil on canvas

sold

It's that time of year, when fall is at it's last stages, and winter, with it's frosty mornings, is at the doorstep. It's always so nice to come in from the cold to a hot breakfast.

This painting is framed in redwood, ready to hang.

Art Show Opening at Moffett Field Historical Museum

Hangar One

oil on canvas 11" x 14"
sold

Last September on a beautiful weekend, Moffett Field opened its doors and invited local artists to come and paint - The Moffett Field Paint Out. Moffett Field, located at the foot of San Francisco Bay, is a former Navy air base, now a NASA facility. It is home to Hangar One, which is one of the world's largest freestanding structures. This huge building was originally built around 1933 to house the USS Macon, a transcontinental dirigible, and dominates the landscape for miles around. Lately, its fate has been uncertain, because of the discovery of PCBs and other toxic chemicals leaking into the ground. Its outer shell is being removed, and the cost of replacing it would be enormous. Whether it will stand as a giant skeleton, or be restored to its former glory is unknown. So it seemed important to paint it while it still stands. I hope they find a way to save it, looking as it always has.

And now we get to the art show:

The Moffett Field Museum is hosting the paintings from the Paint Out, as part of their December exhibit. There is an opening reception on Wednesday, December 7 from 2-3 p.m. Admission is free. Otherwise, come and visit the Moffett Field Museum - it is a wonderful collection of things having to do with aviation and national defense. It is also a wonderful trip back through time with displays and memorabilia from 1931 through the present. For more information, you can visit their web site here.
This painting has been sold.

New Show at Caffè Romanza!

Creation

oil on canvas

31" x 34"
sold

A little different, I know! This piece is part of a show I just put up at Caffé Romanza - inside Books Inc. - in downtown Mountain View (California). I like this little cafe because it has areas for displays up front and in back. Thus I was able to divide the show between the new landscapes I have painted this year and the abstracts I love to paint.

You can see the landscapes below, as I have posted them as I finished them. The abstracts - well, you'll just have to come check them out!

It's a great place to have a coffee or snack, and the book store downstairs is wonderful!

Please drop by and see the show if you're in the area.

Caffé Romanza, upstairs at Books Inc., 301 Castro Street.

Through December 31.

This painting is framed, the frame part of the painting...

Arles in Autumn

9 1/2" x 13"  oil on board

 sold

The Virtual Paintout is in Arles, this month, van Gogh country! But since I had already painted near the center of town, I decided to move out towards the countryside. It is beautiful here, as you can see!

Ivory Roses

16" x 20" oil on canvas
formerly of:

"Help the Children of Africa" Challenge

$110.

Please visit my gallery at The Daily Paintworks.

This painting was originally part of a benefit auction, and it was/is for a good cause. I will still send all proceeds (after tax and shipping) to Oxfam International in the buyer's name. 

  

The Road to Arles

9 1/2" x 13"  oil on board

$75

I actually painted this piece back in May. That was when The Virtual Paintout - a challenge where you paint from the Google map - went to Cote d'Azur. I, however, turned the wrong way and went west to Arles, where I went van Gogh crazy and decided to paint where van Gogh himself might have painted, setting up our easels side by side as it were. You can read about it here.

So when The Virtual Paintout went to Arles this month, I was thrilled! This little piece is one of my favorite paintings, and now I can show it as it was meant to be seen!

You can see more of my work, or purchase this painting (or many others) by visiting my Gallery page at the Daily Paintworks. Thanks for looking!

Stevens Creek

12" x 16"

oil on canvas

 gifted

Plain and simple, I am in denial about summer's demise. I can't believe it's over, I can't let go. My heart belongs to long days, sultry heat and when stepping down to a quiet little brook, you can dip your toes in the cold water - what bliss. 

Stevens Creek Park in Cupertino has just such a creek, which runs from the Santa Cruz Mountains down to San Francisco Bay, but right here it is rather shallow and slow. It's a place where on a hot day you can just take your shoes off and dip your toes in the water. Or you can set up your easel and paint. 

This painting is available through my page at The Daily Paintworks. I hope you'll visit me there.

Autumn

Cuesta Park Annex

16" x 20"  oil on wrap-around canvas

$300

Cuesta Park Annex is one of the few remaining tracts of natural land left in our ever growing little city. City planners have assured us that what we really want is for it to be built up and improved upon, despite the majority of people who think that we should leave it just as it is. But lately it seems that this lovely little piece of open space has gotten a reprieve - the big basin the water district was considering digging has been put on hold, and now the proposed history museum was just voted down. 

That's the good part! The bad part is that the concept of keeping this lovely, natural  little piece of land "as is" is probably still in question. Eventually the economy will improve and the powers that be will look to this place with new eyes and reconstruction in mind.

But till then we still have a chance to walk around and enjoy the land, left pretty much as the early settlers found it.

This painting is painted on a thick wrap-around canvas, in a beige color similar to the dry grass. No need for framing, it is ready to hang.

This painting is available directly from me, or from The Daily Paintworks.

Nuraghe Orolo

Bortigali Nuoro, Sardinia

13" x 9.5"  oil on board

$75.

The Virtual Paintout has traveled to Sardinia this month. The idea is to paint from the Google map, so I traveled over highways and through villages, taking this road or that until I came upon this scene. This is a ruin in the central part of Sardinia, near the foot of Mount Cuguruttu. It is a prehistoric tower (nuraghe) of uncertain age, whose usage is not really known, ancient when the Romans were there.

The Flower Market in Lucca

9 1/2" x 13"  oil on board

nfs

Something different this week!

You can see more of my work - and see lots of other really nice paintings by visiting my gallery at TheDaily Paintworks. To do so, click here. Thank you for stopping to look.

A Summer Hike 

11" x 14"  oil on canvas

nfs

If you're a summer person, it's hard to let go and welcome fall... so, here, let's take one last summer hike!

You can buy this painting directly from me, or visit my page at The Daily Paintworks!  It's framed in redwood lath and ready to hang.

 Bud's Broiler

New Orleans

9 1/2" x 13"  oil on board

sold

The Virtual Paintout is painting in New Orleans this month. With all the history and culture it has, there were so many places to choose from. Wandering up and down the streets (on the google map) I came upon this building. I was attracted by the architecture and the feeling that this place full of stories and nostalgia.  Bud's Broiler is a local institution, and a great place to go for really good burgers. This is the original one, and has been here for almost sixty years. Like much of New Orleans, it has survived Katrina, but has a way to go before it will be the place it once was. To get an idea of how it looked before, click here, and let's all hope it will be back to its old self, and better than ever!

 Before It's Gone

Cuesta Park Annex
16" x 20"  oil
Framed in redwood lath.

$120.

This week Cuesta Park Annex might have gotten another chance to exist. Long story short: official powers want to develop one of the last natural pieces of land around here - a beautiful spot - but now are reconsidering how much they will do. I've posted paintings and opinions so many times about this that it would be overkill to do it again - I'll just list those posts below.

So, another painting showing how beautiful this place is, how wonderful the many trees are, how lovely the whole area is - and what a great place it is for plein air painting! Dare we hope other development plans could be reconsidered as well?  It would be nice to save this place, leaving it as it is, so our children and grandchildren will have some idea of what the land looked like before we came here.

To see my other posts about Cuesta Park Annex:

http://patriciamusgraveapaintingblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/cuesta-park-annex-summer-oil-on-canvas.html

http://patriciamusgraveapaintingblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/mid-spring-at-annex.html

http://patriciamusgraveapaintingblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/oak-tree-at-cuesta-annex.html

http://patriciamusgraveapaintingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/little-landscape.html

http://patriciamusgraveapaintingblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/almond-trees-at-cuesta-park.html

But wait! There are more paintings of the Annex to come - stay tuned.

Sunlight and Shade

11" x 14"  oil on canvas

$150.

Some times when you go out plein air painting, you think it just isn't going to happen - that you won't be able to create anything wonderful from what you're looking at, that you just don't feel the "spark". Then you are pleasantly surprised by what unfolds under your brush! Such was the case when we were painting at over Whisman School Park, where I started without much hope, and ended up extremely pleased! 

Please visit my gallery at the Daily Paintworks, you can get there by clicking here.

Egrets at Baylands

oil on canvas 

11" x 14"
sold

The egrets were everywhere. Nesting in the trees, fishing in the shoals, flying all around.  Even though I came here to paint the eucalyptus trees, I was captured by their elegance and serenity. With their beautiful wing spread and graceful,  long necks, complimented by snowy plumage -  well, they just stole the show. 

The Steese Highway

North-East of Fairbanks

9 1/2" x 13" oil on board 

$75

This month The Virtual Paintout has traveled to Alaska.  The weather's great, the clouds are like cotton, the vegetation is rich and green, contrasting with the flowers, which look like a beautiful  magenta carpet on the hillside.

This painting is for sale by contacting me, or through my Daily Paintworks site, which you can see it by clicking here.

Also, I have a nice little piece, up for auction on The Daily Paintworks site. It is framed in redwood lathe and ready to hang. Here's a small image:

You can get a better look at it, and even bid on it by clicking here.


Again, thank you for looking!

Pink Dahlia

13" x 9 1/2" oil on board

sold

Very often people tell me that as much as they'd like to have "real art" on their walls, they just can't afford it. I sympathize. I wish more real art was affordable for me, too. I'm pricing this and other paintings very low in solidarity with folks who have to live on a budget. You can buy this painting directly through me, or see it at my Gallery page at The Daily Paintworks listed at a very reasonable price. I hope someone who wants a beautiful little painting in their life will get to have it.

It can be framed, but has a "floating frame" attachment on the back, and is ready to hang.

Summer Garden

20" x 24"  Oil on Canvas

gifted

The summer garden is in full bloom now, all the plants are at their best. Zinnias compete with daisies, the zucchini and tomatoes are in abundance, sunflowers reign over all. Mother Nature in full glory!

This piece is framed in redwood lath and ready to hang.

Cuesta Park Annex - Summer

Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

$295

I love summer. I love the heat, the light and all the flowers and vegetables that grow now. I love the way the the fields turn golden and the shadows seem to dance with color.

Cuesta Park Annex is one of the last "natural" pieces of land left in our city. It is easy to stand here and imagine how the area looked a hundred years ago. Before the powers that be step in and change things ("for the better," they say), it is good to walk here, listening to the birds, the squirrels and the daytime crickets. Very peaceful.

This painting is on wrap-around canvas, painted on all sides. No need for additional framing.

Poplar Ghosts

16" x 20"   oil on canvas

sold

This is a scene just off the Steven's Creek Trail in Mountain View. Well, it was a scene, but winter storms blew down a couple of trees and it no longer looks like this.

Though time has changed things a bit, it's still one of my favorite paintings, and I wanted to show it as an example of some of my work showing on a website I've recently joined.

Daily Paintworks is a wonderful online gallery - you can see lots of really good pieces from some very talented painters. If you enjoy looking at art you should check this site out, it has a feeling of feshness and excitement about it! I am proud to be showing among them. You can see the art for each day here.


Sadly, I am not a "daily painter".  I wish I was, but time and my obsession for putting out the best work I am capable of force me to go slower. But when I do put out new work, I am pleased to offer it in such in such worthwhile venues as are shown in this blog. Again, thank you for looking!

Hayfields along La Rue d'Egypte, Jersey

by Patricia Musgrave

13" x 9 1/2" oil on board

$75.

The Virtual Paintout is a painting challenge where participants paint from google maps at a specific location.

This month  that location is Jersey, a small British Channel Island just off the coast of Normandy. I caught this scene right after the hay was harvested, loving the look of the huge hay bales in the peaceful landscape.

To see the google map, you can click here.

If you are interested in this painting, please contact me and I will send you a link. To see more of my paintings, please  see my Gallery page at The Daily Paintworks. Thank you for looking!

A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place

30" x 30"  oil on canvas

(framed in redwood)

$550.

Sometimes you need one of these - a pleasant place where you can just sit and spend a few minutes reflecting, meditating, or just being quiet.