How I Go From a Sketched Idea to a Fully Realized Painting

 

A quick pencil sketch from my sketchbook, that became my in-progress "Butterflies in the Sky" painting below.

Still a work in progress..."Butterflies in the Sky," acrylic on panel, 24" x 24". 

The sketch at the top of the page here took me all of about 30 seconds, with a few notes added in the seconds afterward. I generally keep my sketchbook near me, whether I'm doing household chores, preparing meals or painting. My ideas appear as out-of-the-blue epiphanies, as a flash, and I get them down as quickly as possible, then move on with my day. 

When it comes time to decide what I'll be working on next, I flip through my sketchbook, and consider which of my sketches are worthy of being developed. Then it becomes a more refined color sketch, and after that, for my Cookie Landscape paintings, I bake and decorate the scene, photograph it, and proceed to the many hours -- often hundreds of hours -- of the painting process. 

I'm really loving working on these Cookie Landscapes. They enable me to be endlessly creative, and hone my technical skills as well. From across the room, they really look quite magical, quite dimensional (despite being totally flat), and that challenge of being able to create a painting that isn't just fun and beautiful, but one that can also trick people into thinking that there is some sort of dimension or texture, it really excites me as an artist. 

If you like these works and want to see more, I post my daily progress frequently to TikTok and to my Instagram stories. If you want to see full process videos, I post those, too, when the pieces are done. You can check out my latest one, showing the process of designing, baking, decorating, then painting "Here Comes the Sun" on my Instagram. 

Thanks so much for visiting! 

Want to see how I make my Cookie Landscape Paintings?

Hey folks, if you are interested in following the daily progress of my Cookie Landscape painting series, which I'll be debuting at my March 2026 solo show at Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, make sure you check in on my TikTok or my Instagram stories to see the latest (remember that the Instagram stories are only up for 24 hours, so to see all of the clips, check my TikTok). 

Check out the latest video, where I show you some insights about the complicated planning stages for the cookie/frosting paintings. In case you are curious, there's no AI of any kind here! Just my brain and a bit of imagination creating a good old-fashioned sketch and color sketch, followed by me baking and decorating a real cookie/frosting scene, then spending many many hours painting it. 

Like this one, still in progress: Butterflies in the Sky, 24" x 24", acrylic on panel.

Check out my latest behind-the-scenes video if you want to see the crazy process I have for making the models for my Cookie Landscape paintings. This one, Butterflies in the Sky, is still a work in progress!

I hope these paintings bring a little bit of joy into your life! Thanks as always for your interest!

Stock Up On Ice Cream Prints During the Annual Sunshine Sale!

Hey all, a little over a week left for the Annual Sunshine Print Sale! Buy any 2 limited-edition prints -- including any ice cream prints and other sweet treats -- and get 1 FREE. Great way to stock up on holiday gifts! 

Sale ends July 31. Discount automatically applied at checkout. 10% of all print sales donated to the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

Thanks so much for visiting!

New Strawberry Scoops Ice Cream Cone Print Available

 

Strawberry Scoops Limited-edition Print now available.

Available in three print sizes: 16" x 12", 12" x 9" and 10" x 8".

So excited to release the print of my Strawberry Scoops Ice Cream Cone, based on my 2025 painting. Technically I began this painting several years ago, and then set it aside because it was too difficult, I thought. But I came back to it this year with new eyes and new skills, and it's one of my absolute favorites. 

Be sure to catch it while it's on sale during my Sunshine Print Sale (Buy 2 get 1 FREE, ends July 31; discount automatically applied at checkout). 

Hope it makes you smile!

SUNSHINE PRINT SALE - Buy 2 Prints Get 1 Free - Ends July 31

 

Featuring Two Scoops of Vanilla, limited-edition print, 16" x 12". 

Hey folks, it's time for the biggest sale of the year, just in time to keep you cool this summer! During the SUNSHINE PRINT SALE, buy any 2 prints, get 1 FREE. Yep, that includes all the ice cream prints, as well as many of the other sweet treats featured on my website. 

Discount automatically applied at checkout. Always free FedEx shipping within the continental U.S. 

Sale ends July 31. 

And 10% of all sales still go to the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Thank you again for your kindness and support!

Preparing for a New Show of My Cookie Landscape Paintings

 

Here Comes the Sun (Cookie Landscape Number 1), acrylic on panel, 30" x 20". Check out my kind-of-awesome TikTok video of the painting process for this one.

 

Hey all, it's been a while since I've posted an update, but I just quickly wanted to share that I'm currently deep in the midst of preparing for a March 2026 solo exhibition at Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I'll be premiering my new Cookie Landscape paintings, like the one shown above. You can check out a brief overview of what it is that I'm doing on my website, but be sure to follow me here on my blog or on my various social media sites this year as I begin to share more. I am so excited to share the beautiful, crazy creations I'm making, and I really hoping they'll bring a bit of much-needed joy, hopeful nostalgia and optimistic dreaming into the world right now. 

Will I ever return to painting ice cream? Sure! I think I'm pretty darn good at it, and it's something I really enjoy. So look for more ice cream pieces next year. There are a handful of my ice cream paintings still available via Hidell Brooks Gallery. 

Also, just a quick health update: You may be aware that I fell on the ice in my driveway in February and shattered my left wrist (the non-painting one), so badly that I needed surgery. I had 30 staples in my arm after the surgeon pieced the shattered bones together with plates and screws. If you are very brave, you can check out the x-ray here, or watch my TikTok video (GRAPHIC WARNING) with an actual photo of my arm before the staples being removed. It has been a very painful recovery process, but I am happy to report that I am probably 85% of the way better. Some things are still in the works - I'm not as good at typing with my left hand right now, nor can I scratch my back very well. But mostly, I'm getting there! I appreciate all of the kindness and positive thoughts! 

Broken Wrist Surgery Update - And I'm Starting to Paint Again!

Post-surgery x-ray of my wrist from Monday. Holding together with plates and screws. Those squiggly lines are the 30 staples I had removed, along with some stitches. You can see how I shattered the top of my forearm bone in the wrist area. I actually didn't know how bad the break was until after the surgery, nor did I realize that I had 30 staples in my arm until Monday. No wonder I was in so much pain!

If you read my last post, you know I took a bad, albeit quick, fall on the ice in my driveway in February, and broke my wrist, which required surgery. It was my left wrist, which is not my painting wrist, but it has been pretty painful, on top of a bad case of the flu. In other words, it's been a rough month.

But today I'm happy to report that my surgery sutures came out on Monday, and I'm now wearing a removeable brace instead of a cast, which enables me to do the necessary stretching exercises four times a day on my wrist, plus finger exercises, to try to get my range of motion back in place.

So even though I'm still very much in recovery, the pain is much less, and I have been able to start painting again. Here's a quick photo of a painting I'm not almost finished with, "Balance," 30"x20", which I had started and titled ironically before my fall.

Biggest lesson: Be grateful for the things you have, the people who love and support you, and for the days when everything is going okay. I'm excited to be getting back to being me again. Thanks for your positive thoughts as I heal!

In-progress, Balance, 30"x20", acrylic. Being able to paint again just makes me feel more like me.

Fell on the Ice, Shattered My Wrist & Caught the Flu - When Making Happy Art Goes Wrong

 

Shattered my left wrist, which has had to be surgically repaired. At least I'm right-handed for most things, like painting.

Warning: This post is about my recent injury and may gross people out. Please feel free to skip it and return when I start posting my happy paintings again!

Two Saturdays ago, our driveway was quite icy, so I thought I should put something down to help melt it before starting my day. It was two steps, not even two steps, more like one and a half. My left hand was in my jacket pocket, both my feet slipped out on the glassy ice surface, and crack, straight down on my left wrist. Ow, I said out loud. It hurt but I almost continued on with my task until I looked down at my wrist and knew something was very wrong. Maybe it’s dislocated, I thought, so I pushed on it and heard crunch crunch crunch. 

If there’s any big blessing in this, it is that I broke the left wrist, but I am right-handed. Thank God!

Two hours at urgent care, but they said it was too bad to set. I got sent to the trauma ward at city hospital. About 9 hours later, including 30 minutes in a makeshift traction unit, I was told I’d need surgery. 

At the ER with my fingers suspended from a makeshift traction unit, in an attempt to bring my long bone back into alignment. 30 minutes, really painful, but it did move the bone quite a bit in the right direction.  There is a weight attached to my arm, pulling things downward, while two of my fingers are looped into tight gauze. 

I hadn’t initially realized the extent of injury, but let’s just say it was very bad. Broke the long bone, which became severely out of place and was manually pushed back with the help of an ER doctor and the makeshift traction unit; then shattered the piece at the top of the wrist into a bunch of shards. Now, two weeks later, I have been stabilized, the surgery seemed to go well, and I’ve been stitched back together by a talented surgeon and a lot of plates, pins and screws.

Not gonna lie, it’s been painful most of the time and incredibly uncomfortable the rest. And somewhere in the process I caught a bad case of the flu, which I also gave to my husband. It severely sapped our energy among other symptoms. We’re on the mend, but it’s been rough.

I’m sharing this not because I want anyone to feel bad for me (although if I can save someone else with a cautionary tale of being overzealous on the ice, that’s good enough for me), but because I want to share what’s been important to me in the process: the help and support of my husband, without whom I cannot open a tuna can among other things; the love of my two elderly cats, one of whom lovingly tried to lick my cast and has kept watch over me every night since my accident, the support of my family, and my desire to start painting again. 

When things get taken away from you, when you can’t function at the same level you used to, when everything, even very simple things, becomes harder (like the fact that I can only type with one hand right now), you see more clearly. I’m not well enough yet, but I am trying to rest, eat right and strengthen myself enough to get back to my painting. I don’t make happy art because everything in my life is always perfect. I make happy art because it’s not, but the art brings me joy and lifts me up when I need it. I hope the pieces I’ll be putting out in 2025 do the same for you! That's the biggest thing I'm dreaming of right now.

Be back soon! 

Remember to check out my latest painting, Bee Dancing with Daisies, 12"x12", acrylic on panel, on view as part of the 2025 Richeson75 Small Works Show at the Richeson School of Art & Gallery in Kimberly, Wisconsin, through April 2. See all of the finalists online here. It's my first finished trompe l'oeil cookiescape, but I'm excited to do more!

Watch my process video here. Feel free to share!

New Prints of Old Paintings - Toy Cars and Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

Toy Cars, new 8" x 8" limited-edition print now available. Based on a 2016 painting.

 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, new 12" x 16" limited-edition print now available. Based on a 2020 painting.

Happy weekend, everyone! I'm happy to announce that I'm releasing prints of a couple of old-school paintings I did - Toy Cars (from 2016) and Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich (from 2020). Both of these limited-edition prints are now available on my website.

Hope they make you smile! Thanks for looking!
 

Why I Paint Sugary Treats But Don't Eat Much Sugar - and a Tease for My New Project

 

Raspberry Sorbet, acrylic on panel, 16" x 12". Prints available on my website.

I recently donated a print of my Raspberry Sorbet to my old hometown as part of an art auction fundraiser. My mom said people were very complimentary (which is always nice to hear!), but that one of her friends said, "She must really like ice cream!" I don't think this is an uncommon reaction, but the truth is the three things I like most about working with sugary foods for my paintings the most are: 1. the sculptural quality, 2. the nostalgic quality, and 3. the colorful nature of it. The reality is I don't eat much sugar, but I find beauty in the foods that connect us to our past and incite a bit of imagination. 

Years ago, around 2012, when I began painting, I painted a body of work based on the concession areas of the baseball spring training stadiums my husband and I frequented. I made six very detailed, very complex oil paintings in all, featuring concession stand workers essentially doing their jobs or lost in a moment of thought. A couple were of stadium attendees. The paintings were good, some even won some prizes at local art shows. One was reprinted as a 20-foot-tall banner that hung at the exterior entry of an art organization's gallery for a year! I really enjoyed the work, and I still have all of the paintings in my personal collection (at my husband's request). I sold some prints (I may make them available again this spring), and I progressed a lot as a painter. But the thing I struggled with the most was taking photos of people for the references. 

Photographing places and people just wasn't pleasant for me. It made me feel like people were staring at me, wondering why this crazy lady was taking photos out in public. Occasionally, I got yelled at. I also couldn't control the lighting, or the crowds. So what I gradually ended up doing was moving to still life painting, and eventually I learned that I could control every aspect of the painting in my kitchen (and never fear getting yelled at!). 

One of my early paintings, around 2013, 24" x 12", oil on panel. Featuring a half-empty crowd shot of attendees to a Yankees spring training game in Tampa, Florida. Still in my personal collection.

Very soon, I'll begin sharing images of the new body of work I'm working on. And while it, too, is sugar-based, like the ice creams I'll continue to paint, the work is primarily about having something I can sculpt in my kitchen and create a bit of magic with on my painting panel. I really feel like it's the culmination of my work, from the baseball stadium paintings up through now. I'm building a world, the world in my head, the beautiful, happy, crazy thoughts that blend my visions from childhood to the state of things today. 

I'll begin by sharing these new pieces to my email list first. If you'd like to get the first previews, please feel free to sign up for my VIP list. Help me make some magic this year, and share a little happiness with the world. 

The 2025 Annual Art Mailer from Hidell Brooks Gallery

Such a nice way to start off the new year! I just received the annual mailer from Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina. So pleased to see one of my ice cream paintings right in the middle, among so many wonderful works by other represented artists. Thank you to the ladies at Hidell Brooks! It will be a good year, with a lot of new stuff coming...