"Scrambled" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. Still working on my State Fair series, and loving it! My latest painting in the series is taken from a photo I took last summer of people riding the Scrambler after dark. I love how the guy on the left looks like he’s going to hurl at any moment. I used to feel the same way when I rode those things....

"Nothing But Nose" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. Lately I’ve been feeling that my painting efforts aren’t focused enough. I bounce around from one painting challenge to another, learning from each, but I’m not accomplishing much beyond that. I feel the need to do more. I need to focus my efforts on something that’s 100%...

"When Ducks Gossip" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. These little rubber duckies in the Duck Pond game seemed to be sharing secrets. Carnies look at you a little weird when you photograph their ducks for too long. I’m thinking next time I need to placate them by spending some money on their games. Here are a few images captured along the way: Usually...

"The Merry Jester" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. This is the image that got me interested in doing a State Fair series. I love how the carving sparkles. My favorite time to photograph an outdoor carousel is around sunset. That’s when it comes to life, when it’s just dark enough for the glow of the bulbs to be visible, yet there’s...

"Pop Up Showers" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. The local weather people like to forecast “pop-up showers.” Cracks me up every time I hear it. I’m reminded of the old “Pop-up Videos” on VH1. This painting shows the aftermath of one of these brief Midwestern storms at the Indiana State Fair a couple of years ago.

"Dogs" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. It was early morning at the State Fair, and the food vendors were setting up for the day. This brightly colored hot dog booth glowed in the sunlight. My favorite part was the giant graphic hot dog with mustard displayed on the skirt of the booth. Here are a few shots taken along the way: Sign backgrounds go...

"Midway Through" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. My first attempt at painting the lights of the midway.

"Candy Apple Reds" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Raymar canvas panel, 12 x 9". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. One of the things I’ll be painting this summer is Fair Food. My diet is very controlled so I’m painting things I’d never dream of putting in my mouth. Like these candied apples, which to me are pretty but deadly. Does anyone really eat these things? When I was a kid, we thought...

"Up Stairs" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. As I was leaving the fair via the infield tunnel, I spotted some nice clouds at the top of the stairs. I don’t even think I noticed the lady with the balloon animal at the time.

"Morning Tram" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. Another in my State Fair Series. It was the bit of sunlight on her shoe and leg that made me want to paint this image.

"Three Sheep" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Multimedia Artboard, 5 x 7". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. The biggest challenge here? Trying to get three naked sheep butts to not look too disgusting.

"Meander" by Lesley Spanos. Acrylic painting on Ampersand Gessobord, 6 x 6". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. Painted with permission from Google Street View image. This week Bill Guffey’s Virtual Paintout explores the islands of Hawaii. It was hard to narrow it down to one image out of the fourteen I chose, but eventually I settled on this beach scene in Hau’ula, Hawaii, on the northeast shore of Oahu: View...

Trolley No. 1059 was built in 1948 and acquired by San Francisco in 1992 to become part of their historic streetcar collection. Though it served in Philadelphia, the car is painted to represent the Boston Elevated Railway Co.. Our location is on the Embarcadero at a stop near the Ferry Building, with the Bay Bridge in the background: View Larger Map Pretty, eh? This week my goal was to not murder the paint by working it to death, so I limited myself...

"90 on the last 10" by Lesley Spanos. 9 x 12" acrylic and oil on Raymar panel. ©Copyright Lesley Spanos 2010, all rights reserved. Reference material kindly provided by A Day Not Wasted. Is it just me, or do other artists spend 90% of their studio time working on the last 10% of the painting? If I painted for ten hours, the piece would look almost finished after one hour. I could slap it into a frame and most people wouldn’t...

"Canna Secrets" by Lesley Spanos. 11 x 14" acrylic on panel. ©Copyright Lesley Spanos 2010, all rights reserved. The most recent addition to my series of Canna paintings.

"Hey! Google!" by Lesley Spanos. Oil painting on Ampersand Gessobord, 6 x 6". Copyright ©2010 Lesley Spanos, all rights reserved. Painted with permission from Google Street View image. This month’s Virtual Paintout is in the Czech Republic. Finding a subject was difficult for me, until I came across this guy mugging for the Google Street Views camera. I liked him. Here he is on Street Views: View Larger Map I’ve seen collections...