Baby Gala

oil on Raymar canvas panel 4x4 inches

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I've been getting really fussy lately, so I thought why not paint a single object on a little canvas with a big brush? And why not do a series of these? An apple makes a good start. It's still a bit fussy, but with a colorful gala like this I can't stop myself. Maybe I can stop myself on the next one.

Tomorrow I'll take a one day plein air workshop in Murietta with Lisa McDill. I hope I have a good painting to post, but mostly it will be fun and instructive for sure!

Tomorrow is the Opening Reception for the Ontario Open Art Exhibition at the Museum of History and Art. Two of my daily paintings are in the show. The reception is from 5:00-7:30 and the exhibit runs through June 19th.

Just Fruit-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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What would happen if the brightly colored fruit alone were placed on a neutral earthy surface? Here it is. I added the "Black Grapes" for dots and lines. They are interesting little gems: so dark purple they look black. Sometimes you see deep crimson glowing in them. I especially like how the grapes and reclining pear turned out.

On The Edge-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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There's something soothing about green. In this painting I used two different green fields to break up the negative space. The fruits all seem to be following the line between the two greens and heading toward the knife, hence the title. I'm finding that in painting pears, I have to make the bottom shadow side darker than it appears in life in order to sit that pear down firmly in my painting.

Green Plate Galas SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

More galas. The more I paint the same thing, the happier I am with my brushwork. I tell my watercolor students all the time, "Don't go back, keep going forward." With these apple paintings I'm telling myself to make a stroke and leave it alone. It's the same deal: resisting the urge to "fuss, fuss, fuss" as Carol Marine puts it, or "noodling", overworking...whatever. I think those of us who are detail oriented people (in life) have to work harder at learning to resist the fussing urge when we paint.

Galas Out Of The Blue -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

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Here I'm getting some more mileage out of these little beauties, and playing with the Munsell color wheel--the complementary pair: red and thalo blue. The yellow works well, because both the apple red and blue surface lean toward yellow. Yummy saturated color!

Galas Go Green SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

It's good to get back to still life after several days of plein air. Orchestrating color combinations as I choose objects and surfaces is so much fun. For some reason my camera seems to accentuate yellows, so this green in real life is much more subtle, and as always there's more colorplay in the shadows than what you see here. These cute little galas were irresistable--and yummy!