10 x 10 Portrait in Oil by Mary Hughes

"English Street Performer"

10" x 10" Oil on Canvas

A former classmate of mine came back to the states after an extended stay in the U.K. with wonderful photos of people on the streets of England. This man in particular captured my attention. After toying with the idea of painting people for years this man's face settled the inner debate. I just had to paint him. 

This painting is available for purchase. Contact me for details. 

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10 x 30 Parakeet & Cocktail Umbrella Oil Painting

30" x 10" Oil on Canvas

"Keets and Cocktails"

Click on the image to get a larger view. 

This painting is of 10 white baby parakeets standing in front of a wall of cocktail umbrellas. I painted it so that the birds on both sides are in shadow so only the center birds and umbrellas are highly lit. One bird is showing off for his friends. The size of the painting makes the birds slightly larger than life. This one took a while to complete. I didn't have any umbrellas or white parakeets that would sit still long enough, so most of this is imaginary. 

Contact me for purchase information. 

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Pet Portrait

12" x 12" Pet Portrait Commission

                                               

          

Gift certificates are always available for pet portraits or any commission painting. Contact me for details. 

Cat, dogs, birds, ferrets, snakes, horses, your pet chicken..... 

Gift Certificate e-mailed to you or your loved one. 

Contact me for more information

Mary Hughes Website 

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Antique Mason Jar Oil Painting by Mary Hughes

12" x 12" "Old & New"
Available

This painting depicts the old (the antique Mason Jar) hosting the new (a cutting growing roots). I have it on my kitchen window sill and loved how the light played on both the glass and the plant. It's simple yet somehow striking. This is an oil on stretched canvas. The painting is just finished today. If you're interested in purchasing this painting e-mail me or check my etsy listing in a few days. Clicking on the picture will take you to my etsy shop.

Mary Hughes Studio

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Dog Pet Portrait Tribute With Ashes

20" x 20" Oil on Canvas: Commission

A few weeks ago I got an interesting commission order. A lady who had lost the family dog about a year ago was interested in commissioning a portrait for her husband for Christmas. The unusual part of all this was that she wanted to know if I could paint some of his ashes into the painting. This was unusual only to me as I'd never had that request before but I don't doubt it's been done by others many times. We talked about how his name and nick names could be incoporated into the portrait as well. Seeing that he played with tennis balls I thought the names on the balls would fit into the painting nicely. Klondike had unique black makings on his tongue too and we made sure that was part of the portrait. This tribute to this beautiful and much loved dog was a joy to paint.

Mary Hughes Studio

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Thank you for visiting!

At Last....

8" x 8" oil on Canvas: Available here

SPRING!!!!! It's finally arrived.... yipppeeee, yahooooo,. Yes it's still in the 20's at night, it's almost 50 during the day and windows can be cracked and you don't have to have as heavy a coat to go outside.... While cherry blossoms are blooming and daffodils are long past their prime in many if not most spots in the country we still have all that to look forward to. So there. :>

The Gabriel Foundation

I'm pleased to be working in conjunction with The Gabriel Foundation of Denver Colorado. To help support this worthy foundation, I'm donating a portion of original bird portrait sales. Please visit my site page dedicated just for this purpose: Gabriel Foundation Catalog Page.

Also if you're ordering a commission portrait mention them and I'll make a donation.

Moving Forward

Bassett Hound: 12" x 12" Sold

The deep freeze is still going strong here. -5 this morning and now it's just 5.

Does it feel like the world is holding it's breath? It does to me. I wish it would just exhale already!

Cow Lady

Available here: Cow Lady 18 x 18 Original Oil on Canvas

This pretty young Holstein was standing in a muddy field when I came across her and decided to paint her portrait. She expressed a gentle sweetness that I found captivating. She seems to be peeking shyly from behind her dark coloring. My grandson Garrett gave this painting it's name, and so it is. My first offering for 2009. Happy New Year!

Coming or Going

20" x 20" Original Oil on Canvas: "Autumn Storm"

Click here to bid.

This is the scene I witnessed a week ago. Dark brooding navy sky behind brilliant sun lit autumn trees. It was spectacular and I decided then I wanted to paint it on a large canvas.

I'll leave it up to the observer whether this is the oncoming storm that brings an adrenalin rush, or the sweet relief of a receding storm that leaves the air so fresh.

Evening On The Lake

"Evening On The Lake": Sold

Just finished this little scene. I wanted to do this particular scene because I loved how the water distorted the tree branches in such a pretty way. The details are very hard to see in photos. I find some of my paintings don't revert well to photographs.

Catnap

"Catnap" 12" x 12" Original Oil on Canvas: Available Here.

Just finished (and still wet) a cute kitty taking a nap. This is a 12" x 12" oil on canvas original of a friends cat. She has all the cute stories I just paint em.

I'll Show You Mine......

8" x 8" oil on canvas "Show and Tell" available on Etsy.

A few months ago I was commissioned to paint several Cockatiels and when the client couldn't get a photo of how he wanted his bird to look I asked for the co-operation of my two. I pointed the camera at them and half jokingly asked them to cock their heads and they did. In every single frame. Now when I go take their photo they always pose. This particular day they decided to play a game of showing each other their tongues. They only did it while I was taking photos and I've never seen them do it since.

Tomatos and Baths

"On The Vine" Available here.

Just finished... a nice bright 8" x 8" ode to the tomato. Available Tuesday evening on E-bay once the paint has a chance to dry a bit.

You might remember the large family of geese I highlighted a few weeks ago? Well the 27 babies are getting bigger and this afternoon they took a nice family bath. Having a wonderful time on this gorgeous summer day.




Interrupted by scowling human with broom.

Wait a minute, we liked it there and we're not done!!

Finishing that bath with some splash action.



Human with broom says maybe not. They'll be back!!

Donuts and Sunsets

"Party On A Donut" Sold


Just finished! A tribute to the glazed donut with additional icing and jimmies. What more can we add to this already sweet treat?? I've done this in oil on a 10 x 10 canvas so the subject is just a bit oversized. Why I picked donuts with the complication of jimmies, only a good counselor could tell you. It was not simple but I do like a challenge and I got what I wanted. It was fun.

It will be available on E-bay beginning Monday evening. Since I just finished it 15 minutes ago it's still quite wet.

Another beautiful sunset on Indian Lake.

Double Teamed

12" x 12" Oil on Canvas: Chihuahua painting I call "Double Teamed": Available

These two look like trouble don't they?

Well today is another gentle rainy day. Love it!! The lilacs are getting ready to bloom and it smells like spring. I don't know how far along spring is everywhere else, but the colorful trees are just blooming now and we finally have tiny green leaves filling out on the trees. Just 10 days ago or so everything was still pretty brown.

Today is a day of painting and trying to get organized. My organization is a bit like washing your car while driving down the road at 55 mph. I know I should stop what I'm doing and get things cleaned up and organized but.... I have things to paint and I don't want to take a day out to do the other so I try and get it all done in bits. It all gets done somehow.

Bzzzzy Beeez

8" x 24" Oil on Canvas: Sold

Sometimes the end result to an inspired conception can be anything but what you pictured. Such is the case with this painting. I'd pictured two paintings, each featuring 7 canaries. The first was the "Canary and Butterfly" (shown at the bottom of this post) It worked out just as I'd imagined it.

The second painting was to be 7 canaries with striped shadows running across them. They would be like the bees in a subtle way. When the painting was almost finished my husband came to look at it and didn't understand what it was. I realized I hadn't made it work. I'd struggled with it for weeks, stopping and starting. It was his viewing of it that made me realize what I already knew deep down. It worked in my mind but not in the outer. So I had to reinvent this idea into something else, which I'm pleased to say was a good thing.

In making changes to this painting I ended up using much more vibrant color and texture. I think it makes for a nice contrast to the first painting.

These little guys are actually quite a bit larger than life size. It's hard to express that in photos and ads.

Crispy Frymix

8" x 8" Oil on Canvas: Sold

Clovis and Henrietta contemplate their past while their future looms large. This is the most fun I'll probably have with a set of salt and pepper shakers, an egg and a box of frymix. This painting will be available on E-bay later in the week. It's still very wet.

Challenge: Not a Dirty Word

"Canary & Butterfly" Oil on Canvas available on my website. http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.

I used to work with merchandisers for a large national retailer, and one of our jobs was to allocate the number of individual products to each store for the year. "you get 12 lawnmowers", etc. and it was decided by how many the store sold the year before. I can tell you I got an ear full from store managers when they got the news that they wouldn't get the opportunity to sell even one more than the year before. Their best hope was to do only as well.

A public school art teacher drilled into our class not to paint anything we didn't know. If you live in a corn field, paint that. Don't try to paint the sea if you don't know the sea. While that sounds like common sense and maybe even a good recipe for better than average art it leaves out a lot of things. Fantasy for instance or experimentation, inspirations. It's limiting, just like the limited allocations.


In each case challenge was outlawed. There was no opportunity to move forward, go higher, do better. It's safe. Safe is ..... safe, boring, it's living the same day over and over again. What's the point unless your goal is to just see how long you can survive and stay sane in sameness. But sameness is also a sort of insanity.

Snowball

"Sasha" 12" x 12" Oil on canvas. $75.00
Available on my website: http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.

We had company this week and somehow the topic came back to cats quite often, even though we don't have any cats in the house at present. The news today was cat topical too. So with cats on the mind it's only natural I'd showcase kitties today.

"Spider" 12" x 12" Oil on canvas. $75.00
Available on my website. http://www.maryhughesstudio.com.


It's dusk and it's snowing. It's a very pretty snow, and one I know will have little effect in that it will be melted tomorrow for sure. Spring snows make for pretty pictures. It's nature reminding you what you'll miss on those hot July days.