Here is the photo, the drawing and the painting of my dad.  I painted this while sitting on location at the Silver Star Mercantile in Old Town Carrollton, TX.  It was so much fun.. I was really nervous and the minute that I arrived Susan put me at ease and I painted with out any anxiety at all.  I did this painting and then worked on Kirby's painting as well.  I will show that later as I can't seem to get a good shot of it to post.

She will probably kill me.

Robin, my sister, does amazingly well for her first time taking a workshop like this, too.  She has a talent that she has not really tapped into very deep yet.  I am sure that she would probably surpass me in what she could do with a paint brush.

I am going to post her painting and you can see how her paint comes together on the page, her interpretation of her subject.  She has an exciting style all her own.

For starters, this is a wonderful picture of my father.  It is so interesting how I have looked things in normal, everyday settings and always see them as to how I can paint them.  This is definitely one of them.

 This is one that I came home and took of daddy the first day after class.  Looking for a good picture where I could have cast shadows and form shadows to interpret into a painting.

 Barbara had such an interesting face. Her beautiful curls and even though most people don't like their wrinkles, I happen to think that they are the beauty of  the face.  They tell where you have been in life and to wear them proudly should be an honor.  They are almost like little awards for all that you have done in life.

We have all kinds of exciting subjects to paint now.  We had some very interesting classmates and with wonderful faces all their own.  So naturally we were all taking pictures of each other.   Look for some new paintings to come from a few of these faces.

Watercolor portrait workshop with Ted Nuttall.... fantastic!!!

We loaded up the car for our first day of workshop, my sister and I.  I had talked her into attending with me. She drove across the country to see our dad and mom and head to Texas to take this class. Such an adventure.
This was a workshop with a world renown portrait artist.  Ted Nuttall, whom I had been wanting to take from for a number of years now, was in the area.  This workshop just seemed to come out of nowhere.  I knew that it was now or never.  It was finally in my reach.  I would not have the expense of traveling to somewhere else.
I really did not know what to expect.  I have not taken from anyone else except my very talented watercolor instructor in Denton..
So when we walked into class, we were very pleasantly surprised.  Ted was a very warm and genuine human being.  He was funny and very interesting to listen to.  And not at all hard on the eyes.  Sorry, Ted, being a single woman these days that seems to entertain me.  It was a very enlightening class.  Not only the talent that is within this man, but the ability to connect with his students.    Most of us signed up to learn his technique of painting very loose and to absorb his sense of color.  He uses so many colors to get his characters to come to life in his paintings. And come to life they do!!  If I could absorb an ounce of what he was teaching would be advantageous to my career.
To think that we had four more days of his teachings. I looked forward to each day and what I could learn from him.  How inspiring he was.  He always had something to teach us in so many ways.
He gave all of us a sense of comfort when he would mention how nervous he was having 16 people watching over his shoulder as he was talking his way to applying paint to the paper.

What was really amazing to all of us, I think, was how meticulous he was when he applied paint to the paper and what a deliciously loose feel he brought to his paintings.  We were all sure that he had to just juicily apply that color to his page.  Boy, were we amazed.  And the "sloppy dots" that he is so well known for were in fact not sloppy at all, but placed in their spots ever so carefully to achieve that effect.

This last photo is my attempt at a portrait.  I did not accomplish his technique, exactly, but we really are just learning his technique and applying it to our own style.  It came out rather nice, if I do say so myself.

You can see, if you know what to look for, my attempt at "sloppy dots".

A commission for an antique Nash Metropolitan

 I chose to create a collage using all the different components that make up the whole vehicle.

 I added the lettering on the tail light by painting in the negative... painting the background to bring out the letters.

 I had the most fun painting the reflections in the chrome components.  The recipient was very satisfied.

New Painting

This is one of my newest paintings....

What I Do

I am an artist.  I love to paint, more than I like to do almost anything else.    

In The Beginning.

I needed a name for my design company.  I have a friend who named her little girl Ella George.  I loved that, especially George.   She generously allowed me to use that name for a business name.  But I thought if Ella ever wanted to use it,  then that would not be good.. So it had to be more of an identity to me.. My grandmothers names were Sophie and Opal.  I Thought that Sophie attached with George sounded the best together.  So in the end I did use George and made it unique to me.