Black Cat on Halloween Night - Happy Trick or Treating

Black Cat in the Night • 6" x 6" • oil on canvas

Tonight the streets will be filled with trick or treaters in their fun costumes. Having a great time and eating too much candy. I love Halloween.

My family has black cats, so when I took the challenge of painting this street scene for Halloween, I wanted to add a symbolic cat.

Adopt a Cat

Sunny was adopted by my parents when he batted his paw for my dad to play with him while walking through the cat area of the local humane society. He was there to get a trap to rescue the black and tuxedo kittens born under his deck. Now my parents have the perfect most spoiled cat and another black cat that was born under their deck.

Union Square Macy's San Francisco

Union Square Macy's • oil on canvas • 20" x 24"

I love the way this rooftop view of Macy's Union Square came out. I used the influence of Richard Diebenkorn to create it and it will influence the way I see things forever. It was quite a layering process although it looks quite simple. I started it much more realistic, painted over many of the details, then came back with glazes and lines.

The biggest challenge of this painting was finding time to get to my studio and when I got there not talking to the other artists in the building. I brought it home to finish it because believe it or not the swine flu has hit my children.

It was great to finish it in a new environment and when I hung it to dry I realized it had found the perfect place to hang.

I am posting a sequence of the creation of this painting at lorimargulies.blogspot.com if you'd like to see its' progression.

September Trail Ride; Just Me & Renegade

September Trail with Renegade

Before the rain the trails are dry. The little lizards scurry across; the horses don't even notice. They stop and perk up at the wild turkeys and the deer. We love to canter this uphill path until we are under the oaks.

Full Moon Lights Up The Night

I had to stop my bike on a night ride with my dog when I saw the perfect reflection of the full moon on the water. Pulled my phone out of my pocket and got some beautiful photos.

Warm Grey Horse Oil Painting

Warm Grey Horse • 18" x 24" • oil on canvas

After many layers of perfecting this warm beauty I have finished and do love the result. I can't wait to post it side by side with the cool colored Grey Dapple I posted on September 16, 2009.

Today I went to an old riding club to meet yet another grey horse. A quarter horse named Smokey who I will hopefully be leasing and riding through the hills and on the beach soon!

Windy October Sea - Change - Favorite Month

Windy October Sea • 6" x 6" x 3/4" • Oil on Canvas

October brought the wind to California. I was out biking my dog along the bay and I was literally blowing sideways on my bike. The sea was choppy. The clouds were little and floating. I was studying the choppy waves trying to find a pattern. I couldn't see with the wind and ended up painting this from a beautiful memory. I love the color of the sky and the light on the rocks. The fresh air blowing on my face whipping my hair in my eyes and freezing my hands. October is my favorite month. The air is clean, the lighting is clear and vibrant and the smell of the air changes from crisp to warm to fire. One day it is 100 degress the next 68, or raining. From summer to fireplaces burning, the leaves changing and blowing. Life, movement, color, light texture... October! My favorite month.

Spike • 4" x 4" x 2" • oil on canvas

Everyone loves a black and white kitty. I have one now, her name is Tasha. This portrait reminds me of a long hair cat we had named Spike. He bit through the computer wire of one of the very first apple computers. His tongue got fried and it hung out of his mouth from that day forward. He couldn't put his tongue in which really made him adorable. He also drooled all over and we had to have a second comforter and pillow on the bed he liked to lay in so we didn't have to lay in his drool at night.

I ran into my friend yesterday and she told me her 18 year old black and white cat passed away this week. It was a coincidence that I had just finished this painting.

Artist tip: I used no black in this painting only alizaren, red, yellow, blue and white. I put a lot of thought into using complimentary colors.