Brande Arno Art

5 x 5 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Sold Decided today to paint a bunny.  How cute is this little face...you'd never know I had a little trouble capturing just the right look and for me that involves strong brushwork and clear color mixtures.  I also love the rich emerald greens of the background.

8 x 10 inches, Oil on Gessoboard  $ 325.  Includes Floater Frame  Buy Here It took a while, but finally Hermit is finished.  I really had trouble with the 'hood that Hermit lives in.  Mostly, I didn't want Hermit to look like Nik Wallenda.   Just like any painting that stretches an artist...there were many failed attempts to bring all the pieces of this painting together and getting along with each other.  Finally it happened.   

"Hermit" cropped - 9 x 12 inches  Hermit and his enviroment need more work.  I haven't painted larger than 6 x 6 inches in quite a while, so I'm a little rusty.  Let's see what tomorrow brings.

4 x 4 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Click to bid From Pinterest, I found the Daily Otter blog.  One of the posts was a short video of a grouping of otters trying to catch a butterfly.  The way they tracked the butterfly reminded me of cats.  After looking at a few Pinterest boards featuring all manner of otters, I got inspired to paint another.

5 x 5 inches, Oil on Gessoboard, $ 75. Click to Buy Let me introduce you to Gen. Beauregard Lee, who has the distinction of being the 2015 groundhog for Georgia. On Groundhog day, he did NOT see his shadow while strolling around their Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn, GA.  Looks like Georgia will be getting another early Spring.  Excuse me while I say: "just peachy, Georgia"   I hope to paint Staten Island Chuck next.  

"Tufted Titmouse" 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Buy on Paypal Painted from a photo.  I replaced the birdfeeder perch with a tree branch.  Artist licence kind of thing.   process pictures Yesterday, It snowed quite hard.  I worry about animals and birds when old man winter blows his nose.  So yesterday found me staring out the window at the birdfeeders.  That in of itself is not unsusal, but what was?   The length of time I was at the window, wringing my hands in worry for my birds. The voice in your head that bosses you around started up:  "If your going to be spending all this time, looking out the window at the birds, then pull out the sketchbook and draw them."  Well, I rounded up my very magic pencil and my sketchbook and got started.  I forgot the kneaded eraser.  Ok, I'm not going to get up and get it.  Started to draw and found that I needed my binoculars.  Well, they were reachable on the end table. ...

"Smudge" 8 x 10 inches Oil on Gessoboard  $ 220.  Framed  Buy with Paypal Smudge is a rare black squirrel who has taken up housekeeping in my backyard.  He mostly stays in the back while his grey cousins spend all day working my bird feeders.  Not that any squirrel would ever go hungry if they could just remember where they hid the plentiful acorns and black walnuts.   Smudge was painted from a photo I took a few weeks ago.  He's not a real big squirrel.  My guess is either he's the runt or a teenager.  Of course, when I first spied him, I didn't have my camera.  So I said a quick prayer, got my camera and hoped he'd still be up the tree when I got back to the window.  He was!  This almost never happens.  I cannot tell you how many wonderful pictures I missed because the camera doesn't hang on my neck. 

"Little Visitor" 5 x 5 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Buy on Paypal  $ 60. This little girl, is inspired by a recent post to my facebook page.  Some people do a great job sharing their time and resources with Hummingbirds.  One woman set up many feeders for Hummingbirds just outside her living room where she keeps one window open.   She enjoyed a little broad billed Hummingbird visitor who wanted to perch on her finger.  After a short while she flew to to feeder again to join the others but while the visit took place, someone filmed it and thus posted on facebook. I have to say, these kind of posts make my day...maybe my week.

"Turn Around Chickadee" 5 x 5 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Etsy Shop Currently, birds, seem to be my favorite subject .  Specifically the Chickadee.  Maybe soon, I'll take a little more artist liberty and abstract them or make them bolder in color and form.  For now, I need to paint more studies of them.

"Pixie the Owl" 4 x 4 inches, oil on gessoboard My daughter thinks this is the year of the Owl and that everyone wants a painting of one.  I think she's on to something.  I know I love to see them featured in artwork.  I really love the stylized Owls of the sixties.  They were more than cool. This little girl is a tiny owl.  I think screech owl.  I did a little research and found that owls can only turn their head about 270 degrees, not the rumored three-sixty.  And for the most part, they are squatters, looking for empty nests or holes in the trees.  They pretty much land and live where they want to.

"Blue Jay No. 2" 8 x 8 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Buy with Paypal I've been enjoying a visit from my granddaughter, Corina.  Between being a grandma and getting ready for my only outdoor art festival  "The Clothesline Art Festival" I  haven't had much time at the easel.  But this past Saturday my daughter, Amy did and in my studio too.  From her Saturday session:    She has not painted in oil before and  although she has talent, she is in the throes of a stellar Military career and between that and raising my teenage granddaughter, doesn't have time to paint.  So this is a very exceptional outcome and I'm a proud mom.

"Spots" redo - 6 x 6 inches, oil on gessoboard Buy with Paypal Sometimes a painting tells you it needs a little more work.  "Spots" is one of many in my art career that needed a redo.  Many times, I scrape a board down after painting all day on it.  I do the latter because I don't any physical evidence of a hopeless painting.   A slather of paint here, a background adjustment and a a few more tweaks was what it took to give "Spots" a sunnier disposition.  Now, he's a very happy camper and I have learned a little bit more, so we are both better for the experience.   

"The Bird Watcher" 4 x 4 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Click to Bid Maybe next week I'll try my hand at painting one of the Blue Jays that visit my feeder.  Now, I have to find the energy to pick up the studio.  Always nice to have a clean studio with paintings drying in an orderly fashion.  Not that I'm orderly or fashion forward!  

"Waiting for My Turn" 4 x 4 inches, Oil on Gessoboard Sold - Thank You It's been a while since I painted a Chickadee and now, I'm hoping to warm up my skills to paint a Blue Jay. We have a pair of them that visit our feeder.   At the feeder, I change my offerings from only black oil sunflower seeds in the winter, to a blend of seed, fruit and nuts in the summer. You probably think it should be the other way around, but the Chickadees need the former in the winter to survive and in the winter, it's all about those little birdies.  They do play nice at the feeder with everyone else too. 

"Spots" 6 x 6 inches, oil on gessoboard Click to Bid This little owl was painted for one of the Daily Paintwork's weekly challenge.  

"Snow Cold" 4 x 4 inch Oil Painting On Panel. $ 40 Buy on Etsy We have snow here in Midwest New York so I added snow to this painting. Yesterday, I was inspired to put up my indoor Christmas decorations.  I've decided that from this year forward, They'll go up the third week of November and I'll skip the harvest type decorations I usually have until after Thanksgiving. I LOVE Christmas and Christmas lights.  I have a vintage string of lights that live over my sliding doors to the deck so I can plug them in on a rainy day. Notice the word "Live"...that's because they stay up year round.   I still love to get in the car in the evening and drive to neighborhoods to see the displays, some of which are breathtaking.   

"The Start of Fall" 4 x 4 inches, Oil on Panel When I first started painting deer, I made them entirely orange/siena.  I realize that they are really a combination of that same orange, but also have grey tones.  I love their eyes but hate their appetite for my garden greens...especially my peas!

Harrisville View ll, 6 x 6 inches, Oil on Cradled Gessoboard This is the second painting from my recent family reunion trip to the Adirondacks.  When I first spotted this beautiful water-rock scape, it was from the car.  I stopped right away, turned the car around and went back.  If I was traveling alone, I would have painted en plein air.  But with a human passenger and two puppy passengers on board, the camera was put to work. 

5 x 5 inches, Oil on Board I can't think of a better way for an artist to start their week than to paint a value study.  Painting with a monochromatic palette accomplishes just that.  

ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches Watercolor, $ 18. Buy with Paypal As of this posting the Roman Catholic Cardinals are still in conclave to discover the next pope.  I'm not Roman Catholic but I do have a wonderment about the this process because it's so entwined in mystery.   This little watercolor Cardinal was at my bird feeder where he grabbed a sunflower seed and quickly flew to a tree limb to perch and enjoy.  After which he waits his turn to return.