Coastal Icon: Shearwater Pottery Oil Painting

Back Room at Shearwater Pottery.....9x12......oil on canvas board......$175

I just love this little painting! I love when a painting captures the mood and feeling of it's subject. I remember the day I took this photo in the back room at Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs. The woods looked so green and inviting outside those big windows. I just wanted to grab a book and sit for a while in that chair.

I miss the coast as it used to be more than anyone knows.

Coastal Icon: Back Bay Oil Painting

Back Bay Afternoon.....16x20....oil on canvas......$300

This is another painting for my Coast series. I can tell you from experience the Back Bay area was affected by Katrina. I can't count how many afternoons I sat out by the water and watched the boats come in. Our house was just around the bend from Kremer Marine and lots of people put in there.

But I think this guy must have lived on the water....this is my theory.....he is dressed too well to be out fishing or spending the day on the water. He surely is not checking crab traps in white shorts! So, what I think is that he got dressed to go out to eat and his family(wife) was not ready yet. So he is just out for a little spin until the rest of his party is ready to go. Of course, it's just a theory. I hope if he did live on the water that his home is still there. Unfortunately, ours is not.

This painting is for all the people who lived and worked and fished and daydreamed in the Back Bay area.

Coastal Icon:Mary Mahoney's Restaurant Oil Painting

Mary Mahoney's.......36x24......Oil on Canvas........$800

This is my first painting in the series for my show in Biloxi. The show will feature landmarks of the Mississippi Gulf Coast that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Mary Mahoney's Restaurant is a locally famous place that has fed presidents and other important folks as well as been featured in one of John Grisham's books. It is also where my husband and I ate dinner the night of my junior prom, so it has been around a while, let me tell you! I am proud to say that it is one of the businesses that was not totally wiped out and it is back in business. I have eaten there since the hurricane and it is as wonderful as ever!

Spontaneous Combustion Abstract Oil painting

Spontaneous Combustion.........24x20..........Oil on Canvas...............$450

This is obviously another from my abstract side of my brain. You really have to see this one in person to see all the little layers of color and the depth. It really has a lot going for it.

Don't forget to check your June Southern Living Magazines for the article on Jackson Street Gallery. I probably should wait and see the actual article before I make too big a deal about this. Let's just suffice it to say if the two words "Lorrie" and "Drennan" appear in a Southern Living Magazine I will be doing the happy dance. And Heaven help us if they are spelled right!!!! There'll be no stopping me!!!!

Wine Presentation Oil Painting for Esterlina Vineyards

Wine Presentation.......11x14.....oil on canvas............$200(SOLD)

I have been in outer space for the last week or so. I have painted when I could, but just not posted. So this is a study I did for a vintner that I met at the Wine Festival in Orange Beach. He liked my work, but it did not have his labels on it. So I did a little something that did have his label. I am hoping to work out a deal with him to possibly do some art for his tasting room. The and his family have a beautiful set-up in California.

I have a show coming up that I am excited about. It will take place at Negrotto's Gallery in Biloxi on Saturday Aug. 30. The working title is "Back Before Katrina(the Unnatural Disaster)" and the show will feature coastal landmarks that were affected by Katrina. I will post the pieces here as I complete them.

Little Lemon on a Plate Daily Oil Painting

Little Lemon on a Plate......5x7....oil on masonite.......$75(sold)

I like this little lemon and with it being 5x7 I think it will be easy for an owner to find a stock frame to make it look awesome.

Today is crawfish boil day, so not much time to chat! (By the way, later today this honorable lemon will give all it has to make our crawfish a little tangier.)

Graduation yesterday was a wonderful event and we are proud of our girl!

Tomatoes in Bowl Daily Oil Painting

Tomatoes in Bowl.....8x16......Oil on Canvas.....$150

These are a little different for me, not my usual colorations. I like them and it was fun to do something a little different.

My daughter (an awesome little woman if I do say so) is graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi today. My son and d-in-law from Kentucky are here, there's a party in the air and we are all heading down for the ceremony this afternoon. Dacia is going to be the best kindergarten teacher this world had ever seen. I am prouder of her than I can express here.

I am also proud of the painting that I got done this week. It was a busy week since we are having a crawfish boil in honor of the graduate tomorrow. But I still got some painting done, which I would have never done before. I have one more to post tomorrow.

For now we are off to graduate!

Those Drennan Men Beach Oil Painting

Those Drennan Men.....18x24.....Oil on Canvas......NFS(Commission)

This is the finished version of the study I did a few weeks ago. This is my nephew and two of his sons. He has a new addition to the family as of a couple of weeks ago. But this is a commission for his mom, my sister-in-law. We will just have do do another one in a couple of years with all three boys in it.

This is really a dream come true for me. Back before I painted in oils, this is one of those sorts of paintings that I would have fallen in love with. It is loose, colorful and happy. When I started painting it seemed pretty far out of reach to paint people that actually looked like who they are. But these guys do. (It didn't hurt that I had some hotties as subject matter.) I am truly happy with this and am glad it is going to a good home where I can visit it now and then.

Iron Horse Grill Daily Oil Painting

"Rode Hard".......8x16......Oil on Canvas.....$150(sold)

This is a landmark building in downtown Jackson. It is a much loved restaurant that burned not once, but twice. It is actually in pretty bad shape building-wise on the other side, but this side with the sign is still looking like it did when we used to eat there.

The title comes from the old horse saying, "Rode hard and put away wet".

I am working on the commission of my nephew's sons. The painting of the two little boys and their dad at the beach that I did a study for a few weeks ago. Hopefully will post it tomorrow.

Pear Still Life Daily Oil Painting...

Pear Still Life.......6x8.....oil on panel.......$100

Well, somehow I missed the first day of May yesterday. I am leaving today for the Wine Festival in Orange Beach and I spent yesterday putting wires on the back of paintings, making lables, giving them titles. Plus about 1,000 other things I had to do to get ready.

I did this pear on Wednesday, but did not photo it until today. It's not the best photo, but the pear is pretty cool. I was not in love with it when I was doing it and I reverted back to a technique that I learned from my friend/teacher Julie McCartney. I was going to put it away and try again later, but before I let all the paint dry in the static manner in which I had it on the canvas, I took a pallette knife and just sort of worked it all together. It's very fun and random. It gives the juiciest bits of color in the most interesting places. It gives me a looseness that I strive for and was not getting. And now this is a cool pear.

OKAY, now for the APRIL report card.....I started at the first of April (in my mind) to try to start being consistent in preparaation for applying for the Daily Painter site (requirement is 4 months consistently daily painting before you apply) as well as getting ready to be steady enough to keep the ebay thing going. By my calculations there were 20 "working" days in April. I plan to approach this with the discipline of a regular job and in my "job" I don't work on the weekends.

So in April, with 20 working days, of which I was out of town for 8 of the working days, I was able to produce 19 paintings. I need to get better at the posting part because one didn't get posted in April (this one) and some got posted all on one day sometimes. But for a first month I am pretty happy.