Shiraz wine bottle and glass

Click here to bid on this painting.

I have a feeling that I won't get the chance to post in the morning. I promised my three year old we'd go to the park when she wakes up, which pretty much guarantees that I will have a tiny little person waking me up at 6am to go feed the ducks.

With that said, I thought it would be wise to go ahead and post tomorrow's painting tonight.

It's titled "Shiraz", and happened to be the bottle I had a glass of wine out of while watching Grey's Anatomy. I was inspired by the color, so there you have it. A 10x10 painting on canvas.

Available in my eBay store.

Have a great day everyone, and enjoy these last few lovely days of summer. I know I plan to.

Colorful Fish

I've admittedly got fish on the brain. My little brother is coming to visit with his wife next week, and I haven't seen him in a year.

He's a professional sportsfisherman, and spends many months out fo the year in Costa Rica and Panama, fishing tournaments.

So, here's a little colorful fish, 5x7 on canvas board, up for sale in my ebay store. I'm sure more fish-related pics are to come!

Equine Color Study

I'm on a horse kick again. I don't know if it's the beautiful fall weather or what, but I find myself missing having a horse around.

One day soon, despite my husband's protests, I'm going to get one.

In any case, that was the inspiration for today's painitng. It's a color study of a horse profile. I had fun with it, and am pleased by how the colors work together.

As always, it's in my eBay store if you'd like to bid on it.

Last Chili Pepper is Here, First Day of School!

So it's my daughter's first day of preschool, and you would think we had been preparing for her first day of college. I have been so excited getting her little outfit picked out, organizing her snacks, talking about all the fun things she's going to do.

At 2 months shy of three years old, she's so ready to have this kind of environment. I've been at home with her since she was born, and even though we do playgroups and regular interaction with other children, there are mornings when she looks at me like "how are you going to entertain me today, Mommy?". Preschool, I hope, will help to fill in what I can't do as one person.

Plus, her school falls right in line with my 1 year old's morning nap, which means, I might have two hours during the day to paint three times a week! How crazy is that?

SPeaking of painting, I'v listed my last of three chili peppers. This one is a Belizean Habanero, a gorgeous little hottie with bright red, shiny skin.

I've had such a good time with this series, I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do next, possibly tropical fruit. I'm on a healthy eating kick, so tropical fruit would fit.

Here's the piece, it's available in my store (check out the links on the right). Have a great day, I'm off to make my little girl some pancakes to celebrate her first day! This is so much fun.

2nd Chili Pepper Painting - Round Peppers

Good morning! I'm feeling like a new person today, not only did a VERY happy client pick up his commission piece last night, both of my girls slept in until almost 7am, so I got more than my standard 5 hours of sleep. YEA!

So, we're going to be off and running today, getting things organized for Sophie's first day of preschool tomorrow, and my brother's visit at the end of the week. I'm hoping to find some good painting time in there as well.

Speaking of painting, my newest painting is available in my eBay store. It's called "Round Pepper, Trinidad", and is a beautiful green/yellow/orange/red pepper hanging on a vine. The colors of ths particular pepper are so vivid and lovely.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the last of three in this series.

New Daily Painting Series of Chili Peppers

So I just finished a small series of paintings inspired by Habanero peppers, which are my absolute favorite ones to use in cooking.

I've been dying to paint the past few days, and one thing after another has kept me from it... first I fall down the stairs, then I got so sick I couldn't get out of bed for an entire day. Thank goodness for my husband who took care of the kids so I could rest.

Now that I'm feeling better, I am ready to post my latest daily painting, titled "Costa Rican Habaneros". It's going to be listed in my eBay inventory Sunday morning, and it is 1 of a three part painting series.

It felt good to have my brush out and working again. I have found that if I don't paint daily, I get a little cooky. Not to mention irritable. So, it's midnight, Saturday night, I'm posting Sunday's blog early so I can dedicate my morning to Sophia, who really wants to make pancakes for her daddy's breakfast tomorrow.

I'm off to sleep so I can be alert and tuned in when my girls wake in the morning. Good night, All.

Folk Art Rose Daily Painting

So I fell down my stairs last night as I was going down to get my paints and work on a new piece. I mean, fell hard, starting at the top and ending very near the bottom of the stairs.

Scared the heck out of my three year old and my husband. Mostly hurt my rear end and made me feel oh so graceful!

Anyway, so the paintings are coming tonight. I have one new one to post, which I'll be listing this evening on eBay, it's called simply "Folk Art Rose". The inspiration for it was taken from a fabric sample when I was looking for fabric for curtains for my guest room/office.

The fabric was hideous, in that I would NEVER hang it in my house, and it was way too busy for clothing, but the pattern was interesting. Taking the chunky rose out of the very busy background provided for a cute little painting.

It's another 8x8, Framed in black. Available in my store (click here)

Not a good day for painting.

Well, it's becoming obvious as it is 2:30pm that I'm not going to be able to paint ANYTHING today.

Since my girls woke up way too early this morning (they are one and three), I took care of my errands and household stuff, and all of a sudden, it's the middle of the afternoon and I need to get ready for a meeting at my eldest daughter's new preschool.

There is something to be said for working OUTSIDE the home, where you can devote the majority of 8 hours a day to your "work" whatever that may be. I face challenges trying to paint between diaper changes, preschooler tantrums, meals, naps and playdates. I wouldn't change a thing, though.

Today's daily paint not happening, I've decided to write a little about a new abstract piece I listed called "Still Waters". It's a study of the light on the Pacific Ocean at sunset.

I really had fun with texture, color, and composition, and am very pleased with the result. The entire painting has a subtle cinnamon colored shimmer created with a specialty glaze, and lots of texture from the paint and black lava texture medium.

It's 16x16 with gallery wrapped edges. I was never an abstract painter in college, but I find that it's very liberating to create something entirely out of my head, and letting the painting work itself out.

Plus, I get a kick out of my daughter saying things like "Mommy, why did you paint that? You should paint a hippo".

Cracks me up. Have a great day, and hopefully I'll post a couple of new little works tomorrow!

New painting aptly titled "Rain"

In celebration of the weather, which I'll have to get used to for the next 6 months, I'm posting a small abstract acrylic titled "Rain" today. It's 8x8, heavily textured, and actually framed in an ebony poplar frame.

I painted this as a celebration of the Pacific Northwest, because after all, if we didn't have all the rain, we wouldn't have the beautiful green surrounding us. My father had a saying that I incorporated with my wedding (we married on St. Patrick's Day 2001, and of course, it rained).

Dad's thoughts are "I love the sun as it warms the bones, but I love the rain for it cleanses the spirit".

Thanks, Dad! I needed that today. It's a hard transition from 80 and sunny to a week solid of 60 and rain.

Here's the link for "Rain".

Tiny Fish

Since my earlier post was actually yesterday's painting, I'm adding today's painting right now.

It's a tiny 5x5 study of a fish, one I'm using to prepare for a larger grouping of tropical marine life paintings.

It's in my ebay store, up for auction.

Rain...

Well, as it's 58 degrees and raining this morning, my plan to take my daughters to the park so I could sketch are out.

So I'm looking at other inspirations around the house for my new line of daily paintings. I've had quite a bit of interest in smaller, more affordable little works, so I'll be listing a new daily painting on my blog as well as in my ebay store. In the event that a painting doesn't sell at auction, I'll list it in my store for $40-60.

Most of these paintings will be smaller than 8x10, and specific dimensions will be listed for each. All are acrylic on either canvas or canvas board, and come ready to hang.

I don't sell prints, or reproductions of any kind. I'm a self represented artist who only lists my original acrylic work.

Please email me with any questions at carriefalquist@comcast.net and I'll be more than happy to discuss commission pieces, my current listings, or anything else.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Today's listing is "Hibiscus", and is available on ebay for two more days. Starting bid is low, click here to go to listing. It is 8x10 and comes framed in an ebony black poplar frame.