Maggie Parr Art & Design

Okay, who can resist a kitten? I know I can’t — which is partly why we have so many cats! Actually we had way more this summer, when we fostered 8 kittens through Kitten Rescue. We even managed to adopt out 7 of them — we just couldn’t let go of the last one. So we have one new addition to the family: Jasmine, a Siamese/Snowshoe. Now it’s time for Kitten Rescue’s annual fundraiser, Fur Ball at the Skirball, and I decided to donate a painting of one of our fosters for the silent auction. This one is called “Picassa”.

I’m also donating a certificate for a custom Portrait of Love. Can you tell I love animals?

If you’d like to attend, it’s at the Skirball (obviously) on Saturday, September 11. Click here to find out more about the event. Jenna Fischer is hosting it, and from what I hear, the auction always contains some interesting and valuable items that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

I’ve been working for a few months on paintings for a new Dreamworks Fine Art program; it’s finally launched (Click here). They’ve posted my Kung Fu Panda paintings (click here); but here’s a sneak peek at my new Shrek piece. This was so much fun!

I went out painting with some friends a couple of weeks ago — we found a beautiful spot at El Pescador State Beach just north of Malibu. It was a perfect, sunny, breezy day, and I enjoyed doing this oil sketch.

This is another plein air piece from the Jove Wang workshop I attended recently. The fog was just starting to lift and the sun was shining through. It’s still this beautiful, even on the first day of December! I love living in southern California.

Two weeks ago I took a 4-day painting workshop with Jove Wang. Besides being an amazing painter, he’s an excellent teacher. I learned so much in that short amount of time. I finally know how to capture the spirit of a painting in less than an hour. Not to mention I actually understand values now; and temperature. I have so much more to learn, but that will come with practice.

On our last day, the Palos Verdes peninsula was covered in fog. At first I didn’t think there was anything to paint in that grey muck — but then I looked down at the rocky shoreline and saw all these subtleties in color and mood. With freezing fingers, and water dripping off my glasses, I whipped out a painting in an hour (1st image). Then a few days later, back in my studio, I re-did the painting from a photograph (2nd image), and came up with something slightly different. I never thought I’d care about rocks in water, but after this experience, I feel like I could paint rocky shorelines for the rest of my life and be happy!

I recently completed a new Portrait of Love for Artist Knox, one of the sweetest guys you could ever meet. He adores his dog Bumpy Johnson. Don’t you love it when people give last names to their pets? If you ever need your dog groomed, he’s the best: http://www.artistgrooms.com/. He also has his own show on Animal Planet, “Beverly Hills Groomer”: http://animal.discovery.com/tv/beverly-hills-groomer/. It was so fun to paint his portrait — his spirit was so bright it just leapt into the painting and stayed.

I’ve discovered that I really enjoy painting animals and people together. It’s the love between them that interests me — how do I capture that? Each one is so different.

I just painted a quick study of Dolce, our tabby cat. Isn’t she cute?

Last weekend I joined the California Art Club for a paint-out honoring Wagner’s Ring Cycle, which will be performed by the L.A. Opera next spring. This is a quick study in oil. The girls were supposed to be Freia and Fricka. Nice names! They wore these crazy silver glitter wigs, which ended up looking more like grey hair, or shawls. I might develop one of these figures into a bigger painting.

Saturday I joined the California Art Club for a paint-out in South Pasadena. Our assignment was to paint any of the historical trees scattered throughout the area. I chose a beautiful view on Chelton Way, where three old trees grow right out of the middle of the street. It was a scorcher and I just about fainted from the heat, but I got a nice little painting out of it, and I met some interesting people. I think I’ll do another one of these before the exhibition on October 3rd. I’ll post an announcement as it gets closer. Happy Labor Day!

I finished this last May, but this is the first chance I’ve had to post anything new! I’m attending two paint-outs in September, and I just finished another carousel horse painting, so I’ll be posting more work soon.