Ten Minute Pears

oil on canvas panel 8x8 inches

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Last week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint a simple object several times with exactly 10 minutes for each "pose". Since I'm a born fusser with an eye for detail (blessing and a curse), this is just the kind of exercise I need. Except for maybe some abdominal work! :-) I toned my canvas with a mix of alizarin & cad red medium. I stuck to the rules and quit when my timer went off. 40 minutes of fun!

Still Life With Wine Bottles -SOLD

oil on canvas panel 10x10 inches

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Okay, I confess. I like cheap wine 'cause the labels have cool designs. This set up was a playground of color for me. Maybe it's a little over the top? The accountant's comment was "Wow, that really catches your eye." (Hmmm.....? ) The red grapes are a virtual rainbow of colors and the photo just doesn't do them justice. The hunk of bread is leftover from Crab Cooker (So Cal people, you know what I'm talkin' about! Yum!) I found out you can keep painting stale bread and it looks just like fresh bread. Handy to know.

Tuxedo Cake SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
private collection La Quinta, California

The grocery store had this pretty little dessert yesterday. This square plate with the rounded corners can be tricky to draw so this time I considered that when I placed it. Part way through my painting session, the power went out for almost two hours. I resisted painting for about 45 minutes, then I couldn't stand it anymore. I painted the fork and gray-blue with not much natural window light. I knew it was risky, but when the power came back on it looked pretty good. I added highlights, and was done. I'm especially happy with the fork. The power outage forced me to paint it without fussing.

Pacific Street Afternoon

oil on canvas panel 9x12 inches (image size)

gallery quality wood frame, warm brown/black with antique gold lip

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On Saturday I made some adjustments to this painting while in my sales booth. Now signed and framed, it is for sale here.

Old Town Storefront -sold

The Tustin Art Walk on Saturday was fabulous! I entered the painting above in the Plein Air Contest. Old Town Flooring occupies this, one of the oldest buildings in Tustin. Though my painting didn't win any awards, I can't complain... it was purchased by Margaret from the flooring company. Thanks, Margaret!

You can see from the photo of the building the most interesting part (the front) was completely in shadow. I lightened things up a bit so I could play with the little bits of color in the windows and flag. On Friday I positioned myself behind a parked car where I could see my subject across Main Street. When the lunch hour traffic backed up in front of me, those Tustin people were so nice most of them left space so as not to block my view!

I met the nicest folks and had my highest sales ever. Thanks to Tustin Parks and Rec for all their hard work, and especially thank you to all who stopped by my booth to say hi!

Pacific St. Afternoon

oil on canvas panel 9x12 inches

The colors of this house on Pacific St. in Tustin caught my eye. I'm not usually a fan of peach and green, but the late afternoon sun gave the house a glow that I really liked. The dappled shadows were a challenge as always. I ended my painting session abruptly because I was cold (haven't been cold in a long time!) I hope to make a few minor changes while at my sales booth tomorrow. This one will be for sale there at the Tustin Art Walk.

Brussels Sprout Basket SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

At Trader Joe's the other day I saw something I'd never seen before; fresh Brussels sprouts on the stalk. The thing was about 24 inches long! Still life material! We cut them off and steamed them for company, but I still had quite a few left for painting. The basket lit from the side adds contrast of light and shadow. I used a lot of transparent red oxide because even in shadow it had a reddish glow. I love that color and use it a lot.

This afternoon I painted in Tustin. Hope to post that tomorrow if I have time and can get a good shot of it.

Morsels & Milk -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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Sometimes looking for subject matter I roam around the house a while looking in closets, cupboards, wherever, to find something interesting. I think of myself like a chicken pecking the ground trying to find edible bits. While pecking last night after dinner, my husband noticed and thought I was funny. He was in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies.

Tomorrow and Friday I'll paint on the streets of Old Town Tustin. I hope I get a good one for the competition on Saturday. I learned today that on Saturday 60 artists will show and sell their work. Wow! Twice the number of last year! If you're in the area I hope to see you there. For more info click here.

Five Crab Apples SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

Not much to say about yet another painting of crab apples, except that I think I'm done painting crab apples for now.

One Crab Apple

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

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Those crab apples are still paint worthy after my busy weekend. We had a great time, but I'm glad to be back painting today. This was my warm-up. I'm painting to the tune of my washer and dryer. When my dryer buzzes, I move a load of laundry. Turns out this is good for painting! It forces me to take breaks and gives me a fresh look at my painting when go back to it. I felt rusty today, but it didn't bother me too much. Finally I've learned to expect it after even a short break.

Red Grapes Go Green SOLD- Old Town Tustin Art Walk

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

Today my Aunt and Uncle from Fayetteville, Ark. are coming to visit for the weekend. Yay! We have lots of family fun planned, but alas, no time to paint or post until maybe next Tuesday. Today I offer this grape painting from...wow...I guess it was August. What happened to September? Grapes are among my favorite subject for their subtle color shifts and translucency.

A heads up for those of you in Southern California: Next week I'll participate in the Tustin Plein Air Contest. I'll paint in Old Town Tustin Thurs. and Fri. and then be at the Art Walk on Sat. the 22nd with all my daily paintings. Hope you can come out and say hi! More information here.

Crab Apples SOLD

oil on canvas panel 4x6 inches

I spent the weekend working on some overdue chores here at home. No time left to paint, so I felt a bit crabby. :-( Thought these crab apples were appropriate. They have interesting and subtle color differences than regular apples. Yesterday I had a little painting time for a little painting of little apples. I feel a little better. :-)

Nursery Lane At Amy's Farm

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

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This morning I got out early to Amy's Farm, just down the road from our house. I took pictures for about an hour, then settled on this scene. Nursery Lane is where they line up calves for schoolkids on field trips to bottle feed. Today there were just a couple of horses (rear ends) visible on the right side. I liked the tree and tiny bits of white from a herd of Holsteins in the far distance, the two horses and especially that puddle in the foreground. Amy and her crew welcome artists anytime. So if you're in Southern California, come on out and paint.

Makin' Apple Pie

oil on canvas panel 8x8 inches

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Still having fun with this color scheme. The steel bowl reflections were a blast!

Gracie

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

Gracie is a little apricot toy poodle owned by my friend, Gwen. Gracie is sweet and happy, but not very smart. I guess not all dogs are created equal. Transparent red oxide, cad yellow medium and white worked well for the apricot color. I left quite a bit of the pink ground peeking through her fur so she'd relate to the background and not look like she was cut out and pasted on. To see Gwen's other dog portrait commissions, go to "labels" below this post and click on "dog portraits." Sadly, Abigail passed away a few weeks after I finished her portrait. Gwen has a new little dog for me to paint, but she has to grow up a bit first.

Apple Pie Season SOLD

oil on canvas panel 8x8 inches

Daily Paintworks challenged us recently to paint signs of Fall in our area. In Southern California, the signs are subtle. My plumeria and Hawaiian ginger blooming? No, that's not it. We have lots of crows around, but they wouldn't hold still. So here it is...Fall at our house means Dutch Apple Pies. I use my corer-peeler-slicer. That red handle was perfect with the yellow green, but the painting would need more than one spot of red, so I hunted down an old cloth napkin with red apples on it. Bingo. I had my painting. Thalo blue and cad yellow light makes that Granny Smith green.

Bed, Bath & Beyond

oil on canvas panel 9x12 inches

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This mountain cabin is in Big Bear. It appeared just as I've painted it, with all the "facilities" out in the front yard. Well, the bed is on the side, but still. I could have straightened the stump, but the pot threatening to slide off kinda fit with all the rest. For me, the appeal of this subject was lots to look at, plus the dappled light. I slowed way down, purposed to leave my brushstrokes alone, and painted it in two sessions.

Road Trip

This coming week my watercolor classes start, so today I've been doing some prep for that. I may not get to my easel until late tonight. Thinking about watercolor and my recent trip to the Denver area, it's a good day to post these shots. This beautiful canyon is in Utah somewhere between Grand Junction, CO and Richfield, Utah. The other photo is my watercolor "Alaska" over my bother's mantle. Last fall he purchased many of my paintings and being an accomplished woodworker, built the frames himself with all kinds of woods and some inlays. He also builds beautiful custom furniture in the Arts & Crafts Style. What a treat it was to see my work framed with such creativity and care.

To see "Alaska" see labels at bottom of this post and click on Alaska.