art collection addition: 'Blue'

My fascination with portraiture shows no signs of waning any time soon. This is my most recent addition to our Ruth Shively collection. Blue is an oil painting on wood panel. I'm not yet sure where she will reside.

Most likely a deep red wall background, or possibly a much more neutral, warm eggshell-hued wall. Wall color certainly impacts the overall feel. I only wish we had more space around the perimeter of our very modest sized home to prop paintings on the floor against the wall. I now stick with smaller pieces as the walls are filling up. Must build more walls!

new art: portraiture

Much to my chagrin, blogging time is scarce. Sometimes I have a chance to post, but I haven't yet snapped the requisite photos to accompany my posts. No excuses today. I just quickly snapped a couple pix of my latest art acquisition.

I've shared here before about my love of portraiture and collecting paintings. Ruth Shively, who lives just down the way in Portland, Oregon, is definitely one of my most favorite favorites. Several weeks back I added her glorious "Russe" to my collection. This painting, on wood panel, is 14" x 20" and will soon find her home on my bedroom wall. For now she is propped in a chair where I still get to see her daily. I love art in general, but much of it feelings fleeting to me. Not so with Ruth's compositions. Russe will endure.

Ruth Shively - paintings

I love portraiture. Eventually, I will write about some of my favorite portrait artists, but for now I need to share my most exciting recent acquisition. For several years now I have been collecting works by Tracie Noles-Ross (I'll write about Tracie's work soon), but I hadn't stumbled upon another artist whose work I love so much that I feel confident I will enjoy seeing it daily for years to come... until I "met" Ruth online. We have yet to meet in person.

Ruth Shively is a painter of portraits and figures in landscapes. Her work is so engaging; it immediately draws me in. Amazing use of color, perspective and ability to convey a mood. Ruth and I started with a trade. I had been coveting several of her pieces, and now I am the proud owner of badlands. I.love.this.painting! A photo cannot adequately capture the colors, depth, sense of movement and overall experience of badlands. Connecting with a work of art is, for me, one of the great joys of life.

Badlands by Ruth Shively

I was so pleased with my new painting, that I decided to purchase waiting for a boat ride as a Father's Day gift for my husband. He has a long-held dream of sailing the seas for a couple of years when our kids are a little older. Given the paths our lives have taken in the past decade, the dream may have tucked itself away somewhere out of sight. It may be a bit dusty, but I know it exists. This painting seems made for him. I do wonder if he has this same sense. The girls were chomping at the bit the week before Father's Day to hurry up and give it to him.

Waiting for a Boat Ride

As I live in Seattle and Ruth lives just down the way in Portland, we plan to meet up eventually. The ability to have personal interactions with other Etsians like this is one of those unique perks of Etsy that I love. It's huge part of why I began blogging as well. Who knows how soon I'll be able to add another painting to the collection, but there are at least 2 battling it out in my head to be next.