Island Colors ©DSR #DebbiSmithRourke #beachseries #oilpaintings

©2016 Debbi Smith Rourke

Island Colors 8"x8" 

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

$210 + sh/h
Available on ArtfulGalleries.com

This abstract is part of my beach series as it contains all the colors from my beach series palette. Love the warm muted greens and rusty colors against the light and airy sky colors. Yummy. Looking for it's forever home. ;-)

Art Reception | Westlake | Saturday Morning #atxart #atxartists

Art Reception this Saturday, 10am-noon

Painter Debbi Smith Rourke | Photographer Jack Marshall 

Join us in Westlake Saturday morning for our "Nature Interpreted" Art Reception featuring  my painterly abstractions and impressions of Jack's stunning photography. Plus, we'll have treats for all — assortment of bagels and cream cheese, apple cider, sparkling cider and some yummy brandy milk punch for you adults! Hope to see you.  

"Fall in Austin" ©2015 Debbi Smith Rourke 24"x24" Oil on canvas SOLD

"Fall in Austin" ©Jack Marshall / photograph

"Moraine Lake" ©2015 DSR  24"x24"oil on  canvas SOLD

"Moraine Lake" ©Jack Marshall / photograph

Bending Bloom ©DSR #sidexside #DebbiSmithRourke #abstractart

©2015 Debbi Smith Rourke

Bending Bloom  24"x24"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
$1050 + sh/h
Contact me for purchase

This is one of my favorite works from this year's September exhibit at Old Bakery and Emporium. I'm having such fun trying a variety of abstraction approaches and techniques. 

BTW, we had a fabulous opening reception Friday night!! 

Thanks to all who came by to support us.

 

Hill Country Colors © #sidexside2015 #sidebyside2015

©2015 Debbi Smith Rourke

Hill Country Colors  16"x16"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
Exhibited in national abstract show: Energy and Stillness
Available via ArtfulGalleries.com

This painting was inspired by the colors of the Texas Hill Country in the spring. Enjoy!

Into the Leaves © #abstractoil #smallwork #sidexside

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Into the Leaves  10"x8" 

Oil on canvas board 
SOLD

This painting is a Daily Paintworks Facebook picks of the day today / Labor Day! Yay!
Hope you'll come by our "Side by Side Exhibit" artists reception this Friday at Old Bakery and Emporium (10th and Congress) from 5 - 7 pm. You'll see this work and the photograph by Bill Oakey that inspired this abstract. Well, here you go....Thought you'd love to see my inspiration whether you can come or not.

Purple Iris © #abstractfun #sidexsideexhibit

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Purple Iris 10"x8"

Oil on canvas framed in natural wood and black  frame
$350 framed + $25 sh/h
Available on ArtfulGalleries.com

Here is another abstracted image for my "Side by Side" exhibit with photographer Bill Oakey next month at Old Bakery and Emporium. (In our "Side by Side" shows, I paint my interpretations of Bill's photographs.) This is all palette knife work. No brushes. Fun. Makes for easy clean up, too – no brushes to clean. :-)

I may do another larger version. You'd think larger versions would have more detail, but the larger I get, the more I simplify. Interesting! Love the process and exploration. Again, you'll have to come to the exhibit at 10th and Congress during the month of September to see Bill's stellar photo of one gorgeous iris.

"Aqua Spring" © #AbstractPainting "AustinAbstractArtist #TealAbstract

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Aqua Spring 10"x8"

Oil on canvas panel / unframed
$250 + sh/h in US
Contact me for purchase

While I painted this last weekend, I had the idea for a series of teal-dominant abstracts many months ago. Teals, grays and a splash of contrast color, anywhere from mustard yellow and poppy to purple. Having fun. Look for more to come. Palette knife strokes and brushwork abound. Zing!

Swirl ©

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Swirl  48"x36"  

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
Contact me for purchase 

This is the right side of the diptych I recently started. It is now hanging in our entry. Yay!!! But not for long. Hoping it goes to a collector soon as it IS available for sale. Here's how the diptych looks installed. 

 

"Swish and Swirl" diptych
Oil on two 48"x36" gallery-wrapped canvases (48" x 72" together)
Contact me for purchase

Swish ©

© 2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Swish  48" x 36"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
Contact me to purchase

 Diptych of "Swish" and "Swirl" 

Oil on two 48"x36" gallery-wrapped canvases (48" x 72" together) 
Contact me for purchase

I did two studies last year for this diptych titled "Rising Bubbles" and "Colorful Currents." This larger version of Rising Bubbles is more about movement – clearly there are no bubbles. I just totally got immersed in the process and the flow of moving paint around in large areas. Was a blast! Came together rather quickly. The study helped, but I was definitely in a groove that felt GOOD. There appears to be a heart emerging, and I recently realized these are chakra colors. Maybe it's a combined aura!

Gabriel's Call ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Gabriel's Call  24"x30"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas / unframed (no frame necessary) 
$1300 + sh/h in Contiguous US
Contact me for purchase

I enlarged this piece from a study I did called "Missing Arizona." As this one turned out to have a lot of bronze colors (the colors associated with arch angel Gabriel), and the dark rust markings toward the bottom reminded me of an angel flying with a long trumpet, I decided to title it "Gabriel's Call." It is on exhibit at Bruegger's Bagels in Westlake through the 24th of November. Contact me via if interested. If you are outside of Austin, I will set up a pay pal button for you with personalized shipping costs. So appreciate!!!

Santa Fe Holiday ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Santa Fe Holiday 24"x30" 

Oil on 1.5" gallery-wrapped canvas / unframed (no frame needed)
$1300 + sh/h 
Contact me for purchase

Isaiah 1:18

Verse Concepts

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Snow#sthash.24Ln6wYv.dpuf

Isaiah 1:18

Verse Concepts

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Snow#sthash.24Ln6wYv.dpuf

Isaiah 1:18

Isaiah 1:18

Verse Concepts

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Snow#sthash.24Ln6wYv.dpuf

It was so thrilling to enlarge this image I have painted twice as an 8x10". My goal is to bring the same simplicity of form to my large works that exists in the small, with very little new information. I call this an abstracted landscape because the shapes, forms, textures and colors become more important than capturing the true representational nature of the scene. I'm trying to express the FEELING of being there rather than seeing every detail that was perceptible. And that is thrilling because I remember the glowing of my very full heart that day, at this scene on my Santa Fe holiday! So much love, fun and fantasy gets wrapped up in paint and canvas! All wonderful! 

Happy to meet you for coffee @ Bruegger's Bagels in Westlake if you want to see the show with me. Up for just another 25 days!! 

P.S. Today is my mom's 76th birthday! Happy Halloween birthday, Mom! Love you!

Illinois Gold ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Illinois Gold 8"x10"

Oil on canvas panel framed in gold/black float frame

SOLD

This is another painting I created for the Side by Side exhibit with Bill Oakey. He shot a number of lovely earth-toned images on his trip to Illinois last fall that were ideal for our inspirational and collaborative process. And after he saw this painting, he decided to buy it!! Gotta love that! Hope to see you next Friday at our exhibit at the Old Bakery & Emporium at 10th and Congress.

Port Aransas Dawn ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Port Aransas Dawn 12"x24"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
$650  + sh/h 
Contact me for purchase

Bill and I are working on more "Side by Side" works for our October exhibit. I painted this from a photograph he took recently in Port A. Here's his beautiful image of the beach at dawn -- so lovely and serene, while my version is a bit more edgy and textural. It's all interpretation and totally inspirational. Collaboration is fun. All good!!!

© Bill Oakey

Descending Orbs ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Descending Orbs 30"x24" 

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas (no framed needed)

$1300 + $70 sh/h in US (unframed)

Contact me for local pick up / no shipping

The concept for this abstract immediately popped into my mind when I simply asked for inspiration. Gotta love that! I think of it as orbs of vibrant energy from the ground level on earth down to the core of our earth. They could also be magical plants in the ocean. What do you see? Fun to think about! I am definitely likely these bright colors on my taupe walls. 

Rising Bubbles ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Rising Bubbles 30"x24"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas / unframed (no frame needed)
 $1300 + $70 sh/h in US
Contact me for purchase

My husband "commissioned" me to paint two large works for our entry wall. This is the study for the left diptych panel. Right panel is here. Overall, Jim wants something colorful and dramatic that pops out at you when you walk in the door. So nice he wants my artwork front and center. :-) Soon I will enlarge each panel to 4'x3.' BIG!

I am loving this world of abstracts and exploring new avenues and techniques. Here, I was trying to convey a flurry of activity. Can you feel the movement of the bubbles floating up in sea of color, like schools of exotic fish?

Summit ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Summit  7"x5"

Oil on canvas board

SOLD

I love to create abstracts out of the cool, sophisticated colors I discover at the end of a day of painting. This is one of those wonderful combinations of colors and shapes that seems to create itself. Love these colors!!!!!

Missing Arizona ©

© 2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Missing Arizona  5"x7" 

Oil on archival panel / unframed
$150 + sh/h 
Contact me for purchase

This was painted from the juicy, sophisticated colors you discover after painting all day and mixing up a storm. I just HAD to use them before I put my paints away. The sky is a soft, pale yellow-green. I love how the shapes and colors are reminiscent of the Sedona area, yet the colors don't necessarily appear where you think they might...a sky-colored butte. Fun!!!

Oceanside ©

© 2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Oceanside  6"x8" 

Oil on archival panel, framed in natural wood and black frame
$250 framed + $25 sh/h
Available on ArtfulGalleries.com

I painted this the same day I painted "Poolside." They make a perfect pair. I'm so enjoying taking my landscapes into abstraction. A whole new world opens up. Including exploring  abstract expressionism. All fun and all good! 
Happy to send a photograph of it framed if you like.

Poolside ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Poolside 6x8" 

Oil on archival panel framed in natural wood and black float frame
$250 framed + $25 sh/h
Available on ArtfulGalleries.com

I've been painting but I haven't been posting. So I'm catching up. This little abstract was so fun. The colors are from a poolside photo I found. Feel pool-like to you?  That's the fun of abstract. It is what you want it to be. What do you see?

Garden Tour

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Garden Tour  5x7"

Oil on canvas board

SOLD
 

This week has been a blur. One day I painted four paintings. Think it was Monday. Anyway, this 5x7 is a delicious little abstract I created this week from a photograph I took in Butchart Gardens on our trip to Vancouver Island, B.C. in 2011.