Petals A Plenty

 

Petals A Plenty  oil 12x9 inches

Purchase info here.

I painted this piece originally in 2017.  Recently I made some major changes, mostly to the surface and background in the interest of better color harmony.   I also added the fallen debris.  Normally I'd post the "before" photo, but I lost a lot of my files when my computer crashed a couple of years ago.  I hope you've had a nice weekend.  I got my second Covid vaccination on Friday and I'm almost back to normal today.  Stay well, my friends!

Camelia Stages

 

Camelia Stages  oil 12x9  

Purchase info here.  

Right outside my studio window lives a full grown camelia that blooms her heart out in January.  I clipped this small branch and noticed every stage of blooming.  I thought that was pretty cool.  The fully opened bloom being only partially visible helps the viewer roam around to see the other stages.  

Patio Roses

 

Patio Roses  oil 12x12 inches

Purchase info here.  

April floribundas from my yard, painted outside on my kitchen porch.  My mother's old patio set depicted dates back to the sixties.  In high school I took geometry during summer school.  I remember sitting in one of these chairs for many days copying "theorums."  At the time, it was the only math class I got an A in because it was visual, and I got to "draw."  At this point in my life I can't even tell you what a theorum is!  

Sunny In Blue -SOLD

 

Sunny In Blue   Original oil painting 8x8 inches

This painting is custom framed and currently available at Vanessa Rothe Fine Art, 418 Ocean Ave.  Laguna Beach, CA.  Open Fridays and Saturdays, and by appointment.  949-280-1555

SOLD Apples & Poms-Some Gallery News

In & Out Apples 6x6 SOLD Vanessa Rothe Fine Art

Backyard Poms 8x8 SOLD Vanessa Rothe Fine Art. I'm very pleased to announce the recent sale of these two small pieces at Vanessa Rothe Fine Art. Thank you, Vanessa! Vanessa's gallery is as beautiful as they come. Located at 418 Ocean Avenue in Laguna Beach, it's a quaint cottage chock full of California, Russian and French Impressionism as well as contemporary realism. In November, Vanessa approached me about carrying my small works. I'm so grateful! Below is a sneak peak at a few paintings on their way to the gallery soon. Be sure to visit when you're in Laguna Beach. For more info on Vanessa Rothe Fine Art, click here. Thank YOU for following my work by reading my blog posts. Stay healthy!

Sunny In Blue 8x8

Backyard Still Life

Kim's Arrangement

oil 10x8 SOLD Painting roses is a challenge. It's difficult enough to get their complex structure down in paint. The structure may be right, but they can still look stiff, like a plastic rose. I really want to express their transparency, delicacy and softness. In this painting I got the roses I was going for.

S For Sunflowers

oil 12x9 inches Purchase info here. Target has these ready-to-paint sunflower arrangements!

Peach & The Giant Peony

oil 12x9 inches For a closer look and purchase info, click here. Peachy pinks, reds and oranges on a taupe background make for a soothing color palette here. Another painting that's much prettier in person despite my new camera.

Violet Vase Floral -SOLD

oil 12x12 inches magnify/purchase info The final piece in the January Strada Easel Challenge. I finished this piece fairly late in the evening of the 31st, placed it on the floor of my studio and added all the others. I took the picture below and posted both on Facebook by midnight as the challenge required. I had a great sense of accomplishment. Was I glad it was over? Nope! I can honestly say I never got tired of painting.

Sunflowers & Violet -an oil painting of Sunflowers -SOLD

oil 12x9 inches magnify/purchase This piece is the first demo I did at Associated Artists of the Inland Empire's Fall Show in Rancho Cucamonga back in September.

You can see the set up on the end of my display table.

Pink Gerbera

oil 8x10 magnify/purchase Saturday's Chino Art Festival was a hot one! 95 degrees. Even so, I met some really nice folks, had good sales and managed to get some paint on canvas. I made s few changes to this once I got it home. Thanks to all who stopped by. Looking forward to the BALBOA ART WALK ON MAY 18th. Sunshine and cool ocean breezes!

Still Life With Hammered Silver -sold

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase I painted this soon after attending Qiang Huang's workshop, but I'm just now just getting around to posting it. I admired an arrangement I saw at a friend's house. She had made it solely with dried Japanese iris pods. She insisted I take some home, so that's what you see sticking out and all around. I like the assortment of textures in this piece. It has an earthy feel in spite of the saturated fruit color. UPCOMING EVENTS: SATURDAY, MAY 3 Chino Arts Festival 10:00-4:00 at Chino Civic Center. Mostly music and dance performances, but I will have a demonstration booth with a small amount of work on display. SUNDAY, MAY 18TH BALBOA ART WALK 9:00-5:00 Over 100 artists and 4 musical groups along the seawall on the island. More info later on my exact location.

Lucky Flowers

watercolor and gouache approx. 9x11 inches magnify/purchase I bought flowers at a local farmer's market. Later that day, they pulled my raffle ticket and I won a huge basket of fruit, veggies, bread, nuts and a fragrant bunch of stock to add to my flowers. Lucky flowers! I nursed the bouquet along for a week. Here are the survivors barely hanging on. I liked the prospect of making a lively painting with a not so lively subject. I kept it loose and left my marks alone.

Fall Bouquet -SOLD

oil 12x9 inches click for more accurate color and magnify feature Another painting from the same grocery store bunch. I loved working with all the subtle variations of greens. Greens can be tricky. I don't use any tube greens. I mix all my greens with combinations of ultramarine blue, cad yellow medium, and cad yellow light. For a brighter green I use thalo blue instead. But I almost always add cad red light. Somebody told me once, "Every good green has some red in it." I think it's true. Of course sometimes a careful touch of T white is needed.

Peach & Mum Bowl

oil 8x8 inches click for purchase information and zoom A California "Summer Flame" peach accompanied by some tiny mums from my yard. I love this little floral bowl and have painted it many times.

Floral Bowl 2 -sold

oil 8x8 inches Click to purchase Still posting work from my time at the fair, I got some flowers at the grocery store knowing I'd be able to paint from those for a few days. "Paint 'em 'till they die", I say. Where are the pomegranates? Elizabeth thought I was sick of painting them and tossed them out! Maybe she was sick of watching me paint them! Just kidding. So a little break in the pom action. Good thing I had the flowers, and my series continued after Dawn brought more pomegranates.

Crimson Floral

oil 20x16 inches Click to Purchase This larger painting became quite a learning experience to put it mildly. I was done with the painting before it was done, if you know what I mean! Bigger brushes and piles of paint was the easy part. I guess I need to develop a longer attention span. :-) Below are the various steps I took to get a background I liked.

Here the dull color doesn't enhance the painting, and the drapery folds are a distraction. Yuk. I carefully wiped it off, and retoned the wiped areas.

Simpler design and the color enhances the flowers better, but now it seems unbalanced and the background seems too close to the vase.

I clipped a flower and added it for balance. Then I pushed back the division of surface and background. (See finished, at top.) I could have avoided all this if I'd taken more time with the background in the beginning. I find it irritatingly amusing that I can paint objects, but have a hard time with backgrounds! I'm open to suggestions if anybody has some. Thanks, everyone who commented on the last post.

In Progress

oil 20x16 I've been working on this larger piece and thought I'd show the progression as of today. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I've been painting only small paintings for three years. I knew I needed to start painting larger, and seeing the Edgar Payne exhibit at PMCA on Saturday gave me the kick in the pants I needed. Bigger brushes and bigger piles of paint feels SOOO good!!!

The arrangement is backed by an olive drab drape, which I will use for value and shape but alter the color a bit in my painting. That jug is not part of the painting, it's just to weight the front of my platform because the vase is so heavy. I toned the canvas with alizarin and cad yellow.

I started with the flowers first because they'll move and die. I did have to wipe out one whole section of alstromerias because they got overworked. I like to do flowers almost like Chinese brush painting, just a few strokes. All these shots were taken with my beloved iPhone. :-)

Loved painting all the subtle colors in the vase. Maybe the sides aren't perfectly matching, but i think I can adjust when I paint the background.

Early on I decided to place the vase slightly off center which necessitated another object for balance. Grapes seemed perfect. Not wanting to go to the store right then, I grabbed some fake grapes I had laying around, a bit concerned that they'd look fake in the painting. I think not. After painting them, I sprayed them with water so I could see where the highlights would be. So glad I've painted lots of real grapes. It helped.

Floral Bowl- sold

oil 6x6 inches click here to bid This ceramic piece is a favorite of mine. It has three little tubes in the center you stick the flower stems into. When we went to San Diego recently our friend, Angie house and dog sat for us. She likes to keep busy, so there are always surprises when we come home. (One time she built a gate!) This time I found this cheerful little display in my studio. I added some green sprigs to break up the round cluster, and it looked like a painting.

Flower Happy

oil 8x8 inches click here to bid I love cut flowers, but don't buy them often because they die usually sooner than later. Not so with this bunch. Got them at Ralph's grocery store (!) and they're still good after 3 paintings and more than a week. For this painting I strayed from my limited palette and mixed in some permanent green light for those bright green notes. Tomorrow we're off to San Diego for a few days of biking and sightseeing...maybe painting and posting too.