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Mother’s Day at Olivas Adobe

Olivas Adobe Mother’s Day Show

Well, here we go again. Another fresh batch of paintings is now hanging at the Olivas Adobe, in the little adobe located in Ventura, California.

Laura Jespersen and I are please to share with you new paintings that we have been recently working on. How recent?

Well, I finished two paintings yesterday, Artist’s Day at Rancho Camulos & Acres of Color. Both are acrylic on canvas and feature roses.

Artist’s Day at Rancho Camulos

I have chronic insomnia so painting in the morning is my Everest. What’s yours? I was happy that I would see old painting buddies and there was the promise of breakfast too. Perfect.

Here it is at the end of the first day. This painting took three sessions to complete. On April 29th at 10:30 a.m., I started painting part of the rancho, a tiny rose garden, palms and a giant tree in the background. The scene was backlit and saturated with color, my two favorite elements to put into a painting.

Welcome to my world. My Coulter easel, water bottle, brushes, rag, sealed palette, water with wet brushes, viewfinder & a level. Perfection

On May 3rd and 4th I finished this painting.

My goal is to finish my paintings on site. I have been getting faster, little by little and now I have a plan, to hopefully, finish my painting the same day.

I will be painting later today, Thursday May 5th. Wish me luck! I bought new brushes and I will be using cardboard to see if that helps. If it works I will report back!

Now let me tell you about the second painting

Acres of Roses

Here I am starting the painting. I love painting at Otto & Sons Nursery because they let me paint wherever I want, pretty sweet!

Here’s a close up( work in progress) of the foreground roses. They are coming along nicely!

For each painting I create I always have a idea I am trying to get across. For this one, I wanted to transport to this place.

Welcome to my studio

Acres of color studio time- almost done!

Both of these paintings are now on my website in Originals.

I am getting ready for a print sale soon and I will be including these paintings too.

If you ever want to see one of my paintings via FaceTime or Zoom, just ask.

Thanks for reading my journey & take care

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Happy New Year Painting

Happy New Year 2022! Thanks to everyone who watched the live painting session. It was really nice to see some friends and new faces on Facebook.

Below is the highlights of the painting session.

Well this was a fun painting to create. I started it on New Year’s eve and finished it on New Year’s Day 2022. This painting is for an upcoming show all about florals, owls and vistas.

As I go about my day I take a little 3.5 x 5″ sketchpad and I will stop when I see something that catches my eye. Fences, stepping stone, a pond, the promise of Spring. All of that is in here along with some little things too.

Happy New Year to all and may we find moments of happiness, no matter how fleeting, throughout the year.

Happy New Year 2022 Painting Movie, about a minute long

More work is coming so I hope you will visit my website. Maybe it will inspire you to paint, laugh, read or walk. I love walking and discovering things along the way.

This painting isn’t available till March but the prints are available now. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

All the best,

Lisa

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Let’s talk about the studio headspace

Hello there, I thought I would write down some things that have helped me along the way. My hope is this helps other creatives in their journeys. I would also love to hear what helps you! I love being connected to the wider world.

Painting first of all is a tactile process. It is juicy and gooey. I love mixing paint and then swiping it onto the canvas or wood. It brings you right into the moment.

I like that about painting. Sometimes, I’ll lose my focus and then I’ll have to slow down and reconnect. I’ll even have to redo a section if I get lost in the lovely paint! I try and stay loose and happy while I’m painting.

This isn’t always an easy process for me. I try and leave my expectations and worries at the door. I found that writing down my worries on paper helps. Building a task list is another one. There is something powerful about crossing something off on a paper list.

Once that is done, I can come to the work with clear eyes. Noise is another big problem for me. I usually am wearing noise canceling headphones when I work. It blocks out lawnmowers and barking dogs. The best time for me is when everyone has gone to bed. No noise at all!

I’m trying to create an upbeat atmosphere so I can keep going and relax into mixing color and working on sticking with my plan. I have to fight against changing mid painting! I do this by writing down the intrusive new idea and using it for the next painting, possibly.

Finally, the most important step. Protecting my mindset. Staying focused, relaxed, adapting to The negative self talk can be a real problem. I do little things to combat it. Making a schedule, watching deadlines and allowing myself time in the studio to get things done. I have a stack to finish or just start over on.

That might be the next step because I have a floral show coming up and I need to create a positive plan for that. Recycling paintings sometimes has to be done to move forward.

I will share with you a little painting video soon so you can see a floral come to life.

Take care and thanks for stopping by!

Lisa

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Embarking on a new journey

Painting in Plein Air at Olivas Adobe
yup, that’s me in June 2021 weeks after surgery

Back to experimenting

I am a curious person. Too curious at times. I hope this quest for knowledge will be easier than all the others. Ha! I am perpetually optimistic in the beginning of every journey. Probably, that is what helps me to get to the other side…eventually.

**Walking at Low Tide** 8×10” acrylic on birch Lisa Mahony

Take this painting. This nice little painting that I am no longer happy with. It needs more. People simply walk by it. Right now they don’t even see it. It is hard to compete out there against the old masters and modern masters. Everyone sees the best of the best on their phones. After three months of watching people walk by, I came up with a solution; it’s time to take it to the next level.

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Suburban Nights

July 9th, 2021

First off, some good news, I started walking again today! What a relief. After a little stroll, I had to ice my ankle, easy. I didn’t think I would be walking till after Labor Day, so I’m over the moon right now.

**Suburban Night**
limited edition
lovely textures

While icing my ankle, I decided to start working again and finish this painting, Suburban Nights. I started it in 2019 and set it aside for other deadlines. Now, was the perfect time to do some digital painting on the couch. I drink hot chocolate, snuggle up under a blanket. Add a sleeping cat and I am all set!

Walking after dark was one of my favorite things to do. My family and friends would get worry but I felt safe because this it what it looked like: deserted.

I’d walk by open windows smelling popcorn and home cooked second helpings. I would hear snatches of conversations, tv dialogues and snoring. Pizza delivery drivers and teenagers would cross my path, sometimes not even seeing me. It was all rather blissful.

Every once in a while I would encounter a dog walker, or a couple out on a walk. We would do a little wave and avoid each other to enjoy the night a little longer.

I don’t know if I will ever start walking again after dark because I need to make smart decisions about my ankle. Painting a memory, preserves it and it is a lovely way to paint.

If you want a memory painted, email me at lisa.mahony2018@gmail.com

All the best,

Lisa

Improving

Leveling Up

**A Perfect Moment**
acrylic on canvas
20×16

I am happy to share this painting with you as it is a breakthrough painting. This painting was a little like a fussy child, it wouldn’t let me rest. I just kept thinking about it and then working on it.

It was definitely difficult as it wouldn’t let me sleep. Because of that, I kept reflecting on it and then refining it.

Little by little it came closer to what I envisioned. I wanted to take it farther than I had taken any painting in refinement and detail. Easier said than done as I had to fight – just wanting to finish it and move on to the next. To fight this feeling, I would put it aside and then come back to it and refine it a little more.

Later today, I will be hanging this in Carpenteria at Island Brewing Company. They sold one of my paintings days after I had hung it. Sometimes the unusual places work out great.

Galleries are great and I would love to get back into them now that the pandemic is over. President Biden announced that news today.

I am really looking forward to selling this painting to make room for more!

Closing in

Here’s what I worked on early this morning. My studio is clean and I am working steadily on this. I plan to finish it by the end of the week.

I have to start setting time limits or I will miss some important dates. It is not enough for me to paint, showing and selling are big parts of getting better.

Seeing your work out of the studio and on a gallery wall, home or office breathes new life into the painting.

Lately, I have been on a self improvement kick. Acrylics aren’t easy and I am trying to advance my skills by doing warm up exercises. I want to get to the point where I can finish a studio painting in three sessions. I have a lot of wonderful ideas and I need to get them on canvas faster.

My plein air work needs to get down to two hours. It is usually 3/4 done on location and then another studio session of 3 to 4 hours. Sometimes by the end it has changed completely.

Squeezing out a rainbow

I used to play the flute and the bassoon in high school. I hated practicing scales and didn’t really see the benefits. I always wanted to get right into the music. Let’s skip to the good part!

That is until I started private lessons and heard my teacher doing scales. He was actually having fun with them! It was like nothing I had ever heard before. He would play backwards and forwards making a game out of it.

I remembered that and thought it was a good idea to do that in painting too. So that’s what is on my plate.

Thanks for reading along and ask me about any questions you have about my work. I am happy to help.

I see everything in black and white

So I’ve been looking at my work lately and trying to figure out what the next step would be to continue my journey in painting. Showing artwork at the Ventura county fair allowed me to see my painting as an observer, a valuable experience.

I noticed good areas in my painting A Perfect Moment, and how I could improve it. Well not this one but the next painting.

I am a colorist and I Easily become distracted by passages of color. They are so beautiful and can distract me from the whole of the painting. My solution was to work in black-and-white and I never thought I would say this but I am really enjoying the simplicity of black and white.

I think that’s a big part of being an artist is never being satisfied with your own work. It doesn’t have to be big, it could be small and subtle.

Right now, I am working on subtle changes, like blending. It is challenging. I am used to concentrating on form and color.

For the last five days I have been painting in black-and-white and I am ready to share two pieces.

NEW Website

I am launching my new website with a 20% off your first order. There will be a giveaway too.

https://www.lisamahonyfineart.com

Magical Malibu

I don’t know why Malibu feels so magical, other than all the films it’s been in and the idealized way of life. Wait a minute…yeah, that’s probably it.

One night, my youngest daughter and I were coming back from a wonderful weekend on Santa Cruz Island with her eighth grade class. Being stuck in traffic allowed me to observe the day fading away and the night settling in. It was so dramatic that I took some photos and later created these digital paintings. I should really say, here are my three versions of Malibu Nights.

I did a series because depending on the time, weather or season, you will get completely different colors from the same view.

Which one do you like best? Or do you like any? I wanted to do something dramatic and colorful.

I will be making prints this month (July 2021), 10” x 8” to start. Let me know if you you want a 20” x 16”

Take care,

Lisa