Red Flowers In Hair Daily Painting #20

This Painting is available at My Art Store.

Daily Painting #20

November 18, 2007

“Red Flowers In Hair” is an oil painting on a 12”x12” unframed canvas. I painted a portrait of a woman with red flowers in her hair. The photograph is from some random magazine I’ve held on to for a long time. I always wanted to paint this picture so I guess the timing was just perfect (funny because my printer was out of ink and I couldn’t print anything from my laptop anyway). I love painting people with out of the ordinary colors. If you look closely, you’ll see lime green, hot pink, purple, blue, and other fun colors. I had a lot of fun painting her. I just love looking into her eyes.

I’ve been busy getting ready for a big residential paint job Dena and I will be working on in December, all the while thinking about how much I couldn’t wait to get back up to the loft to paint. During the month of December my Daily Paintings will probably be limited to weekends, maybe I will figure something else out. Oh well, will just have to wait and see huh?

I’m in the mood to paint some nudes in thick, heavy brush/pallet knife strokes, so if anyone out there has any good reference photos they think would make a great painting please feel free to email them to me. I’d prefer photographs of not-so-skinny women. Obviously, please consider this to be a painting so the picture should be a nice, non-offensive one. They also do not have to be nude, dressed is fine too.

Something that has been on my mind since yesterday is from Alice In Wonderland. My friend Alexis Ahrens (www.littlelogbook.com) told me about this, after she heard Rev. Michael Beckwith talk about it:
"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Now exercise suggested that was inspired by this is everyday, to think of 6 impossible things before breakfast. So I did this. I wrote them down. Really trying to pick the most impossible thoughts I could possibly have about what I’d like in my life. After I looked at the screen I realized, THIS IS A FANTASTIC WAY TO WRITE AFFIRMATIONS! Brilliant! I thought about those 6 impossible things all day long! Try it. I know you’ll be smiling and it will effect you in the most delightful way!

Well that’s all for today. Hopefully I’ll get another painting off before I leave for Thanksgiving. There will be no paintings for the majority of the week.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving – just incase this is the last time I write.

Peace & blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry

EBay Store:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

my web page:
http://www.GaylesPaintings.com

Birds of Paradise II Daily Painting #15

This Painting is SOLD.

Daily Painting #15

November 7, 2007

“Bird of Paradise II” acrylic on unframed, 8”x8” canvas.

I’m in a flower mood. I decided to paint another view of the Bird of Paradise Flower. By the way, I forgot to mention in the previous painting the source of my subject matter. I used a photograph as inspiration from a book titled, ‘Flowers and Plants of Hawai’I’ by Paul Wood, Photography by Ron Dahlquist. I bought the book in Hawaii and always love looking through it. Well, I used another photograph from the book as inspiration again. If you like flower books as coffee table books, then this is a good one. I bought it in the airport on Maui, but I’m sure Amazon.com has it too.

Since I spent 3 days with 500 people and Wayne Dyer on Maui last week, the Tao has been on my mind… A LOT. The movie, ‘The Secret’ came up in discussion and apparently Wayne Dyer was approached to be in the film. He declined because he thought there was too much focus on the ego and not enough focus on sharing and giving back to others. He then talked about the following four important virtues of the Tao (the true Secret… what a paradox that is!):

1. Natural Sincerity: Find your truth in nature and be willing to live by it. If you do this you’ll see it everywhere. Live honestly, with simplicity, and as natural as possible.

2. Gentleness: Be kind to the kind, and kind to the unkind. Instead of saying, ‘What’s in it for me?’ start asking, ‘How may I serve?’ When you are inspired, spirit takes you in the direction you want your life to go towards. (‘When you are inspired, dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you find yourself to be greater, by far, then you ever dreamed yourself to be.’ –Patanjali)

3. Reverence for all Life: Love all creatures. Stop using force in your life, only use power. Using Force will weaken you, while power will strengthen you. If this is something new to you I HIGHLY recommend you read the book, ‘Power Vs. Force’ by David Hawkins. After reading this it will make you think twice about the thoughts you think to yourself or toward others. You are only a part of the problem or the solution and this all stems from your thoughts.

4. Supportiveness: Live a life in service to others. Try your best to stand in the center of your being and forget you are even there. What is your inner calling? Everyone has a gift to share with the world. How will you support others by following your inner calling?

There is a great quote by Albert Einstein that I immediately thought of after hearing Wayne talk about these 4 virtues, ‘I want to think like God thinks… the rest is just details’. What a great quote, huh?

Well that’s all for today. That is until the next painting….

Peace & blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry

eBay auction at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

Gayle’s Art web page:
http://www.GaylesPaintings.com

and of course….
http://www.GodBlessHumanity.com

Birds of Paradise #14

This Painting is SOLD.

Daily Painting #14

November 6, 2007

‘Bird of Paradise’ acrylic painting on unframed, 9”x12” canvas.

Well I am back on the mainland. We returned from Maui late Sunday evening. The trip to Maui was incredible and very difficult to return to Los Angeles after spending 10 days in paradise.

One thing that I looked forward to the most (besides seeing our dog, Lucy) was to return to my loft to paint. Hawaii is such an inspiring place and it is filled with artists. Every evening after dinner, Blaine and I would walk down Front Street in Lahaina and look through all the art galleries. Needless to say, my head is spinning with new ideas for future paintings.

I thought the perfect first Daily Painting after Maui would be of a Birds of Paradise plant. Hawaii has so many beautiful plants, flowers and birds… and this is a little blend of them all (in my mind). Every time I see one of these plants I think of Lucy when she was a puppy. My friend Merrill and I used to be roommates and we lived in a house in Mission Hills. We had a Birds of Paradise bush in the backyard and she’d take the flowers and shred them and shake her head like she killed a real bird. Maybe it was her future training for catching pigeons on our rooftop patio (we have a MAJOR pigeon problem in Sherman Oaks). Anyway, that thought makes me laugh and reminds me just how crazy our dog used to be.

The holidays are quickly approaching which I just cannot believe. I read somewhere that there’s about 8 weeks until the new year. Now that is NUTS! No way it is already that time of year. Oh well… what can you do? Nothing. Just let it ride and let go.

So I am happy to wrap this up by saying I AM BACK AND READY TO PAINT.

This painting is up at my ebay store at:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

and of course at my web page:
http://www.gaylespaintings.com

And don’t forget to visit my new web page:
http://www.GodBlessHumanity.com

peace & blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry

Earth Flower Daily Painting #11

This Painting is SOLD.

October 7, 2007

Daily Painting #11, ‘Earth Flower’ is a 10”x10” unframed canvas, 1 3/8th thick oil painting. There are several layers of paint on this canvas so it will take at least 2 weeks to dry. I used brushes for this entire painting. The photo reference I used for this painting came from Maryanne Brunetti, a talented photographer from New Zealand who’s web page is http://www.creativeeastbay.org.nz to view her work, go to ARTISTS – FILM – PHOTOGRAPHY. Many thanks to you Maryanne for letting me use one of your photos as an inspiration. I kind of used it as a guideline and then ‘went to town’ with the color like I always do. I taped the painting process on video and will upload it on youtube in the next few days (still learning iMovie). I ended up changing my mind on the petals - The pink/white theme I was trying to achieve just wasn’t working (which you’ll see on the video). So I decided to go into full, vibrant color. I like the final result much better.

I was drawn to this photograph of Maryanne’s because it makes me think of my daily walks with my dog, Lucy. In the neighborhood behind our condo building there are several houses with rose bushes and we always stop to smell them. Lucy even smells them sometimes (so cute!). But I love to watch the bees crawl all over the roses. Can you imaging how incredible it must smell to a bee? Think about how massive the flower is in size compared to the bee. So while I was painting this, I was trying to pretend that I am the bee looking at the center of a flower. This is what I think they see.

The theme that’s been running in my mind this entire week is something I read in the Wayne Dyer book on the Tao. It’s from Verse #17 on living as an enlightened leader. This is the part that rang true to me…

The great leader speaks little. He never speaks carelessly. He works without self-interest And leaves no trace. When all is finished, the people say, “We did it ourselves.”

And then from a Hafiz, 14th Century poet:

Even After All this time The sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe Me’ Look What happens With a love like that, It lights the Whole Sky

So what does this mean to me? Well, I’ve been really trying to listen more, speak less, be kind and loving to others without any conditions. I’ve been noticing nature’s gifts everywhere. All the while saying, ‘Thank you’.

I heard an idea for a meditation the other day. Just sit and smile. Smile so big that all of your organs inside are smiling. I suggest you try it. Even if you are just walking or driving in your car. It may sound goofy but it really works. ☺

I have missed my paintings (I REALLY miss it!) this week because Dena and I are working on the Fall part of the Oscar’s. We should be finished in a week or so. Until then I will have to wait till the weekend for a new Daily Painting.

Peace & Blessings,
Gayle Etcheverry

eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/Gayles-Paintings

web page http://www.gaylespaintings.com