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 / Large © #sidexside2014 #largefloralart

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Purple Iris / Large   30"x24"

Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

$1300 + sh/h in US
Contact me for purchase

Here is another image for my "Side by Side" exhibit with photographer Bill Oakey, starting next week!!!!! Yay!!! Our new works will be installed this Thursday, September 4. And our reception is this coming Friday, September 5, 5 - 7 pm. I had such fun working with Bill's amazing photograph pictured below. I did a small 10"x8" using the palette knife and thick, juicy paint, a more abstracted version, and this large expression that is powerful, more representational though still impressionistic. Hope you'll come see all three images in person.

Cedar in Tall Grass ©

©2014 Debbi Smith Rourke

Cedar in Tall Grass 8"x10"

Oil on canvas board

SOLD

I painted this Monday and just love it. Snapped a pic of this cedar in some tall winter grass on our way back from San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. Love applying a few simplification techniques I learned from Sandy Ostrau. Also love the mixture of brushwork and palette knife application. So much fun!

Sweetie Pie ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Sweetie Pie 8"x 10"

Oil on canvas panel
SOLD

I set up this still life for my 9-year-old art student for her last still life class. A split-complimentary painting. She did an amazing job. So I decided I should paint it as well...before my husband ate all the pie. I suggested this title and he laughed. He had a great back-up title: "Life of Pie." We know around here that the life of this pie was quite short, but indeed sweet!

Spring Snowfall ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Spring Snowfall 11"x14"

Oil on canvas board

SOLD

I painted this from a photograph taken by my photographer friend Bill Oakey. He took it this past spring on a trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I loved the photo immediately upon seeing it in my email. I painted this in my current abstracted-landscape style using a palette knife. I painted the detail and didn't really try to think about what the whole painting would look like. I know you are supposed to get up and look at your work from a distance continually as you paint. But I am enjoying painting "what I see" while staying at the easel and waiting til it is almost complete before standing back to see how it looks. And magically, it looked fabulous!!! It's like a game with me. Ha. I made a few tweaks after I stood back but not too many. What fun!!! 

This sold quickly so I will paint a larger version for our October "Side by Side" exhibit at the Old Bakery and Emporium Gallery at 10th and Congress in Austin.

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!!!!!

Playa Blanca ©

©2013 Debbi Smith Rourke

Playa Blanca 11"x14" 

Oil on canvas board framed in natural wood and black float frame
SOLD

I painted this initially while doing a demo at the Palette Club at the Austin Senior Citizen Center. I am enjoying working in layers and continually adjusting work over a few days to see where I might take it. Each day brings new ideas. Love the swirly paint in the water, scratches in the sand and big brush strokes simplifying the sky.

Here are the sweet folks at the Austin Palette Club! These painters were so kind, inquisitive and appreciative. I brought the painting home and adjusted it further, adding some contrast and scratching a bit with my palette knife. I took the photo that inspired this painting on the Mayan Riviera in March of 2012. We stayed at an incredible resort called Grand Velas near Playa del Carmen. Heaven!!! More Grand Velas paintings to come. :-)

Healing Light

©Debbi Smith Rourke

Healing Light  30x24"

Oil on .5" gallery-wrapped canvas  / unframed (no frame needed)

 $1300 + sh/h in Contiguous US

Contact me for purchase

This is special to me. I often get "downloads" or inspirations from my angels. One Saturday morning last fall, I woke up and received what I now consider a powerful light healing meditation. That morning, my mind was quiet and happy and blank. I was lying down. All of a sudden I started getting mental images of large squares of white light, about six feet by six feet, thin like a dryer sheet, going through my body starting at my feet and up to my head and surrounding space around me. They swashed though me one by one and then started coming faster and faster till it was just one strong light at my feet shining through me like a big strobe light. The thought came to me: "purification." Then I started seeing, in my minds-eye remember not thru my eyes, dark inky-blue purple light coming up my body, starting with my toes and slowing moving up my body. The thought / word came to me: "fortification." I understood that all the cells in my body were being fortified. This took several minutes - was slow like a software download on the computer. Finally, I saw a burst or flash of vibrant red light shoot up my spine to my neck. The word/thought came: "repair/reparation." I've had disc surgery in my neck and I have referred pain occasionally from this. Thus, the red repair light appeared where it was optimum for ME. So purify, fortify and repairing of cells must be the optimum way to heal. Works for me!!!!

I was inspired to paint this "Healing Light" piece so everyone could do this light healing meditation. The large white-ish area above represents the purifying white light. I put a Roman numeral I at the bottom right to indicate it is the first passage of light. The purple is actually next, so I put a II symbol in the bottom right. There is a tiny III in the red area. So now you can do your own "light healing" meditation. I am sure it was meant for all!! 

This painting is available. It uses techniques I am embracing - layers, varying thicknesses and using bold brush strokes and a variety of palette knife styles of application. It will be exhibited in the Scarborough Building main 6th street lobby from March 3 thru mid April. After that, any interested buyer can take it home. :-)

On the Rocks

©Debbi Smith Rourke

On the Rocks 12"x12

Oil on canvas, framed in natural wood and black float frame
$500 + sh/h 
Contact me for purchase

A big thanks to Carol Schiff who named this painting for me. Yay! Perfect. I love these water scenes from my trips to California. And am digging the thick paint and how it mimics the swirling water flow. LOVE IT!! It's going in my Scarborough Building exhibit March 3 - April 15 if it's not purchased before March 3. If purchased during the exhibit, I'll ship as soon as I can after taking the show down sometime in mid April.