Finally this disastrous 2008 ended, and a new year full of hope is starting out.

For us in the studio it means tons of new things, challenges (like trying to control neck pain to be able to paint!!!) and great new business deals.

One of those new business deals is the new auction category on my store which is finally a reality! we started the auction site www.valentiauctions.com in early 2007, but one of the things that bothered not only me but many of my clients was the fact that they needed two accounts to purchase or bid, so after a lot of brainstorming and not too many possibilities for a good auction script, we came up with the idea of having a new category in my store www.manuelavalenti.com/store just for bidding on my new still fresh daily paintings. It made sense! my collectors, clients, galleries and dealers would just need one and one account only to either purchase or bid and since the checkout process was clean, simple and completely safe and seamlessly  integrated with the rest of the store, it sure makes it easy for everyone.

To celebrate I decided to launch all the daily paintings we have in my studio/gallery up for auction like if they just came out of the easel fresh and wet!

So there, a great deal to bid on the perfect painting for your New Years Present…. you got to start a new tradition anyways! why not the tradition to collect original art? ;o)

These are just some of the paintings that are listed right now at auction, just click, register (for free!) and bid! that simple!

Color, Obsession, Joy and Torment
The First Daily Painters Book

It’s finally here and I’m in it. One of the best books of artists ever!

Color, Obsession, Joy and Torment is the first Daily Painters book from The Daily Painters Gallery www.dailypainters.com, one of the best if not the best group of daily painters. The book gathered 146 artists from around the world, painting in many styles thousands of subjects with a common passion, offer our original works to everyone.

The book is available for $39 directly from Amazon.com or CreateSpace.com

To learn more about the book and see a preview plase visit the DailyPainters.com site

Oil on 1/8″ deep Hardboard / Óleo sobre tabla
5.5″ high x 14″ wide / 35.6 x 14 cm

I had panels of 14 x 11 inches in my studio that I’m just not using, so in an attempt to recycle them and use them somehow I asked my husband to cute them down for me. I was planning to have them cut 7 x 5.5 but as soon as he cut the panel in half on the long side I told him to just leave it at that. The size unusual I admit is quite perfect for really panoramic views.

Since the painting is a little bit large I had to take quite a few breaks so it ended up taking me almost the entire day to finish it, well quite the entire day considering the time I’m posting this one on my blog.

A girl I had the pleasure to photograph in Miami Beach, one of my favorite places in the US, I guess because it reminds me of Venezuela with the long sandy beaches and the warm weather.

This painting I’m offering it at auction on eBay. Click the link above to bid.

Oil on 1/8″ deep Hardboard
7″ high x 5″ wide / 17.8 x 12.7 cm

I get the question all the time if I base my works on my own pictures (yes! you shouldn’t use someone else’s pictures), how many pictures I have to take to make a painting and if I make a painting from one whole picture. The answer is yes, I base my works on my own inspiration. I take my own pictures and have literally thousands of pictures (thank God for the digital camera!). I have pictures from Spain, Italy, Venezuela, Paris, Slovenia, Canada and hundreds of different places in the US that I use as inspiration for my works. From one picture I can get countless of different images to paint. This is one of them. The original is very large and the painting above is just a little portion of it. This is my way to maximize one picture and an endless way of inspiration.

The picture was taken in Spain, in the port of Castro Urdiales, the North of Spain. The boy that’s on the picture is my oldest son Carlos. We used to go to this place to fish all the time. The town is gorgeous, just like every town in Europe. They each one have the beauty of the old world that is indescribable.