Sill Life With Lemons and Orchids

oil 12x12 inches magnify/purchase My friend Audrey gave me these very paintable and delicious lemons from her tree. I had a great time with this painting. Like 99% of my work, this was painted alla prima (all at once, or at least while the paint is still wet.) I'll share a couple of tricks I've learned from other painters for keeping your paint wet a bit longer. Before you begin, apply a VERY thin coat of linseed oil to your canvas. Just enough to make it a tiny bit slick. You can do this with a brush, then spread with paper towel. Facilitates the application of paint too. To keep the paint blobs on your pallette wet a bit longer, add a drop of pure clove oil and mix with palette knife. Waste less paint this way, and your painting dries slower. Caution! Bees will love you if you use clove oil in your paint outdoors! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

IN OTHER NEWS: I'm pleased to announce that Flower Happy (above,8x8 inches) will be included in HOLIDAY TREASURES at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island. This "Small Gems" Salon includes 100 works from artists across the country. The show runs from Dec. 4- Jan 4. For more info, click here.

Three Little Orchids SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

Yesterday morning I gave up and wiped off a painting I'd struggled with for several hours. I had worked on it in little blocks of time over two busy days--not the best situation. As I wiped it off, I thought I heard Carol Marine's voice; "If you work at it and work at it, and it still isn't working, it's probably the design. " Bingo! I happily wiped then grabbed a clean canvas. I've been admiring my little kitchen orchid who is still doing her thing, so I painted the new flowers.