Gloria J Zucaro's Picasso- It Challenge"Taos Girl At Horno

6"H x 6"W Original Oil On Panel

$75.00 Unframed  S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase,email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro

Here is my painting for my “Picasso It” Challenge.
It is called “Taos Girl At Horno, Picasso-style”
A horno is the proper name of the bake ovens at the Taos Pueblo.  I took this picture while on vacation in 2009.
I got the design by cutting apart the photo that I had printed out and then trying various placements on the 6 x 6 panel.  
I think putting the name of the artist chosen in the title is an important part of the challenge.
Below is the original picture before I cut it up.

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Seeds Of Life"

12"H x 6"W Original Oil   $115.00 Framed
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This my early entry for Paint Party Friday, since I will be busy for the next few days and wanted to wish you a happy Thanksgiving with this painting.  I painted this Indian woman with a pumpkin and a sunflower from  a still life set-up of two objects that I put out for my Thanksgiving decorations.  I also have the male Indian and both a male and female Pilgrim.  I decided on the title after thinking about the fact that our native Americans did not always have turkey at their disposal so enjoyed seeds sometimes instead for their protein, fat and carbs.   

Gloria J Zucaro's "Toaster/Broiler/Baker"

6"H x 6"W  Original Oil On Panel

$75.00 Unframed   S&H to your ZIP
To purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

The Daily Paintworks Challenge for this week...our toaster.  But since I don't have a toaster, here is my toaster oven sitting in front of my green tile back splash.  Is my tile organic?!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Are They Talking About Me?!"

6"H x 6"W  Original Oil on Canvas Panel

$95.00 Framed In Plain Black Floater Frame
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To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

This lemons gossiping painting is for my PPF(Paint Party Friday) entry.  I just realised I posted to PPF before I posted here!!  That won't work.  I had the idea for this painting when I rolled out a bunch of lemons on my kitchen counter and took pictures from various sides.  This looked to me like most of the lemons were talking about the one who was left out in the upper left hand corner.  The Instigator of the gossip is the other lemon with a highlight and a well defined nose!

Gloria's"The Worm & The Mushroom II"

8"H x 8"W Oil on Panel

$83.00  Framed in Plain black Floater Frame(see Below)
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To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

I have added this as an entry in Jennifer Mclean's The Artist Playroom, although I did this last year, it fits with the garden theme of this weeks challenge.   http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/
be sure to check all the other artists entries.


From a series of the paintings from Ria Hills "Paint & Shoot"  monthly challenge.
The first one had the worm under the mushroom and was done in Pastel.  This one is in oil.  Here it is in the floater frame, the colors in the top photograph are closer to reality in my monitor.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Abstract Favorites"

20"H x 10"W Original Oil on Stretched Canvas

$145.00 Framed in black floater frame.See frame at bottom of this listing.
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To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

 I am proud to say that I had four paintings accepted into the Randy Higbee 6 Inch Squared National Juried show in Costa Mesa, Ca.

I tried something a little different here.  As I sat watching television, I drew on my canvas different things I like or enjoy.  A heart, fish(in a pond!), a cup of coffee, the telephone,my green tile kitchen counter,trees with the leaves drawn in house shapes, a rose, the wind, a rainbow and the star with various triangle and circles.  As I drew each one, I turned the canvas 1/4 of the way around to the right.  I hope you enjoy some of these things, too.  This can be hung either vertically or horizontally.  See below.  This is in the black frame,against my natural oak floor.  The colors in this bottom pix don't seem as accurate, I think I took this picture in a different place and at a different time of day.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Go To Okabashi"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil  on Raymar Panel

$95.00 Framed        S&H to your ZIP
To  Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com


These black rubber sandals are my "go to" shoes all year long.  I have had them for about 3 years and they are so comfortable that I wear them all summer.  In the cold weather I remove my "outdoor" shoes when I come home, and my socks and put my Okabashi on.  Here they are modeled with my pajama bottoms..it is the weekend after all!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Elephant Story"

12"H x 9"W  Original Oil on Board

SOLD

Today's painting was done from life, but not an alive elephant at Cabela's in Hoffman Estates, IL.  I arrived at 7:40AM, twenty minutes ahead of schedule with all my paraphernalia.  Even though what I considered a rush hour time of day, it only took me twenty minutes from my home in Lake Zurich.  So I tilted my seat back and listened to the radio.  It was a cold 30% morning and the sun had a mist around it.  I was trying to decide how I would paint the sky if I were doing Plein air.  But I digress. 
   
None of the other artists had arrived as far as I could see.  I had noticed employees arriving in those twenty minutes.  At eight I went to the front door.  There was a maintenance man there and he told me to go to the staff entrance because the store didn't open until 9AM and the front door was locked.  So I went, it was locked, so I knocked on the window with my sun glasses because no one had come when I knocked with my knuckles!  At last!  A young woman opened it and I told her I was one of the painters who were to go to the second floor.  She called someone on her walkie-talkie(is that what they are called now???) and said" The painters are here for the second floor".  I said "OH! We are not wall painters we are artists here to paint the animals."  So then she called another person who said I should go to the conference room.  After asking where it was I took the elevator up to the second floor. 


 HOW COOL!  A rocky mountain with waterfalls and with life-size bears, deer, coyote, turkey, moose, elk, fox, mountain goats,eagle,etc.,etc.   I put down all my painting stuff and started taking pictures.  At the far end I discovered the safari animals.  Wow!  So neat...Lions, Gazelle,Rhino Elephant,Water Buffalo, and so on.  More picture taking.  All the animals had labels and a couple of facts about them.  By this time a staff member walked by and told me that even though Cabela's is a sportsmen's store, they are also considered a museum and do tours for groups large and small.  He told me there was a tunnel through the mountain with fish tanks holding local types of freshwater fish.  After he left I called one of my artists friends and found out that since the store didn't actually open until 9AM and they hadn't been able to get in, they had gone for coffee and would see me soon.  I decided to go downstairs and see the fish.  As I walked by all the staff members who were getting their morning update, a woman stopped me to inquire who I was.  It turns out they shouldn't have let me in.  But all was explained and I was setting up and ready to paint by the time the other six artists arrived.  I took my time drawing my elephant, painted til lunch, then finished up early afternoon. 

I am so glad to find out about Cabela's as I had missed going there with another group of artists earlier this year.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Taking A Break"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$75.00 Unframed  Shipping to your ZIP
To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

The Daily Paintworks challenge this week is to use a reference picture to form your own group of people from all the subjects in the reference crowd scene.  I changed the scene by eliminating the umbrellas, and putting people from three different tables together.  I brought the windows and flower boxes down to the lower level of the building. 

These ladies needed to get off their feet after a day of sight seeing!  "Cheers!"  

See the reference photo below.

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Nesting"

6"H x 6"W Oil on Raymar Panel

Unframed  S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase,email me at gloriajzucaro.com

This painting was created to be entered in the Point and Shoot Challenge offered for the month of November by Ria Hills on her blog site. Ria and her friend Pamela White Murphy started these new monthly challenges last month.  All paintings are done using their photographs as the starting point.  I think she has personality! 

Gloria J. Zucaro's Abstracted "Caribbean Moonshine"

8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$75.00 Unframed/ $90. Framed in Plain Black Frame.

Unframed/Framed

Option 1-Unframed $75.00 USD Option 2-Framed $90.00 USD

 
Many of my "fair weather friends" have left for either Florida or Arizona and may be home for the holiday, but not for long!  So I won't really see them or play Farkel, Mexican Train or Mahjong again until the end of April.
One of my friends' and her husband had originally planned on retiring in the Caribbean, but eventually ended up on the West coast of Florida.  Not so expensive for the kids to come down.  I thought of the Caribbean when painting this abstracted tree.  It was done with a palette knife and brush with heavy texture application.  10% of the sale price will go to breast cancer research through the Club 47 a Kimberly Conrad project.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Silent Moon"

8"H x 8"W original Oil     $105.00  Framed

S&H to your ZIP

                                   To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com                                             

I had fun with this one by under-painting with acrylic gold glitter paint which shows through in selected areas. This cat that has a glittery surface is one of my Halloween decorations, as are my Fall leaves that are edged with glitter.   I needed something else in the upper left corner, especially because the cat appeared to be looking at something.  I really liked the moon.  I hope you do too!  

Gloria J Zucaro's "BOO! Happy Halloween!" Abstract Ghoul

10"H x 7.5"W Original oil on Board

$75. Unframed

I really had fun painting this somewhat abstracted Halloween Ghoul to scare your socks off!  10% of the sale price will go to Kimberly Conrad's Club 47 for breast cancer research.

Gloria J Zucaro's Pumpkin Challenge"Up Close & Personal"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

Unframed.  This pumpkin painting may be found on the Daily Paintworks site up for auction starting bid at $35.00 or purchased here for $65.00.  10% of the proceeds from the sale go to Kimberly Conrad's Club 47 to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Shadow Cat"

6"H x 6"W Oil on Raymar Panel

$95.00 in Floater Frame
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I love this little stack of a carved-look pumpkin, black cat and a crow.  It was sitting on my kitchen windowsill for the month of October.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Fall Flavors"

 8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

$105.00 Framed    S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

The Pantone color of the year for 2012 is "Tangerine Tango"  I happen to love orange...red, ...yellow, aqua.  Ah well, I digress!   So I will be doing more paintings with ORANGE!

Gloria J Zucaro's " California,Mexico & Brazil"

12"H x 16"W Original Pastel , Framed Under Glass, Double Matted

The Daily Paintworks site is having a challenge donating the proceeds of all sales to The Help the Children of Africa Challenge.  You can find this painting on the DPW auction site under that challenge.   Starting bid $100.  Free shipping. 

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Fairy Godmother"

11.75"H x 9"W Original Oil on Black Canson Paper

Unframed 

This painting is for sale in the Daily Paintworks auction site for the Challenge, "Every Mother Counts".

All proceeds from the sale will go to Heather Armstrong's(aka Dooce) Team.

I am starting the bid at $50.00 plus actual shipping to your location.

I was ready to paint this little fairy one morning and realized that I didn't have a canvas available in the size I wanted, so just decided to paint her on a piece of my black Canson pastel paper.  I think the dark background really sparks up her vibrant colors.

Gloria J.Zucaro's Ten Minute Pumpkin Challenge

Two side-by-side 6"H x 6"W Raymar Canvas Panels

These may be bought as a set or individually for $35.00 each.  The money from the sale will go to Feed the Children Challenge on the Daily Paintworks site after this weekly challenge ends next Saturday.

These pumpkins are the second 10 minute challenge from Carol Marine.  The object is to paint one still life object 8 times.  Each time you do it you are allowed 10 minutes to paint the subject.  When your timer rings, you must stop.  As you can see from my pumpkins, each time you paint it, you have made decisions about what you want to accomplish or change in each one.  I started quite large and ended large.  I changed some colors along the way, too.  By the end I pretty much knew what I wanted to say.  Does this mean I must paint everything 8 times before I get a satisfactory painting??  No, it means though that I should paint as much as possible and really analyze my still life for its' shapes, colors and values before I jump into the painting.  I mixed my pools of color before I started the timer so that I wouldn't waste time experimenting.

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Mushroom & The Worm"

12"H x 9"W Original Pastel on sanded paper.

 from the photo on the new" Shoot and Paint" art Challenge site.

This new challenge site posts a photo once a month for your painting interpretation.

The painting may be purchased unframed with a protective paper, unframed but double matted, and matted with glass and frame.

Unframed/Unframed Matted/Framed with Glass & Mat

Option 1-Unframed $75.00 Option 2-With Mat $80.00 Option 3-Mat,Glass,Frame $125.00

                            Today mushrooms made me think of the worm who sat on the mushroom in Alice In Wonderland.  I have started another mushroom and worm painting in oil with the worm sitting on top of the mushroom.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Awe Nuts!"

5"H x 7"W Original Oil  $95.00 Framed in plain black floater frame

 S&H to your ZIP

To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

  Another one of my lunches!  This day I really ran out of time and put a handful of mixed nuts in a Ziploc sandwiche bag and ran.  I decided to use them as my still life...before I ate them for lunch!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Blue Glass Lemon"

8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

$100.05 Framed in plain black Floater Frame
S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com
                 

I went to Costco to get some things for a luncheon at my house with girlfriends.  One friend drinks tea, so I bought a bag of lemons.  What was I thinking!  I got 5lbs of lemons and as it turned out she didn't even have tea that day!  So I am thinking I am going to have to make homemade lemonade...humm, I think I need a 5lb bag of sugar! 

Gloria J Zucaro's "Diamonds are..."

11"H x 14"W Original oil on Canvas

                                                                             SOLD
Another really fun challenge from the Daily Paintworks site.  Carol Marine listed a photo of a young girl with a very busy background.  She said to do what we would with the photo in making our own background.  I don't know why, but I immediately thought of the young girl leaving Tiffany's with her bag filled with and her body covered in diamonds.  Carol's photo is below.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Entri qui, per favore"

10"H x 8"W Original Oil from part of cropped photo by Layne Cook

for the Daily Paintworks Challenge for the week of October 9-15.

$100.00

In this challenge we were to pick part of the photo from Layne and make our own composition.  

Here is whole photo.

When I enlarged it to see it better, I saw this beautiful carved wooden and massive doorway at the top of the stairs. It is draped with a canopy and side panels in lush fabric.  I was attracted the the doorway and curved stonework over the door as well as the light on the side of the building leading up to the entry.  To me it is in an Italian city.  So I am calling it "Enter Here, Please" in Italian.  The translation is from the Yahoo Babel Fish site.

Gloria J Zucaro's "String Cheese Salad"

7"H x 5"W Original Oil 

$95.00    Framed in black floater frame

S&H to your ZIP

To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com  

Here is another one of my Summer lunches.  I always have some string cheese available for my 3 year old grandson Enzo when he comes over.  So if I am in a hurry, it is great to grab some cherry tomatoes, the cheese and a little shake of salt on the tomatoes for a quick snack.  I love my salt and pepper set that were handcrafted with wire and blue & red  glass drops.

My Hands Challenge "Just Twiddling My Thumbs"

8"H x 10"W Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$75.00 Unframed

I finally got around to having someone take a picture of my hands, yesterday, while I was twiddling.  Today I got the painting done, instead of just sitting around twiddling my thumbs.  When I am sitting waiting for a train with 189 cars to pass, I twiddle.  When I am in a lecture situation and am not supposed to participate or ask questions, I twiddle.  My daughter said I am the only one she has even seen do the twiddle!

Gloria J Zucaro's Abstract "One Turquoise Egg"

8"H x 16"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

Email me @ gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

I love the strokes of texture in various colors under my eggs.  

Their little chunky nest reminds me of a log and it's splinters.

Gloria J Zucaro's " Egg Cup"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil On Raymar Panel

SOLD

      This painting is shown in the October 2011 issue of Southwest Art magazine

An exercise in white, reflecting the red background fabric and the cool light from the windows.  I love eggs!  They seem to have a personality and are versatile and willing to pose for you in any situation.