Christmas Cactus - a still life of pomegrates, persimmons and succulent!

 

Christmas Cactus  10x10 oil

Purchase information here.

It has been a while since my last post.  I've been way too busy (many of you can relate), and have had some minor health issues. I'm really looking forward to summer when things will wind down a bit.  This painting is from December when my Christmas Cactus and pomegranate tree were doing their thing.  I love the colors of Fall!  Hopefully this painting will find a good home.  It's one of my favorites.

Goodness

oil 11x11 Purchase info here. Second painting of four 11x11's. Ready to hang, or it would look great in a simple floater frame of your choosing. These squares would look great grouped together. Two more coming up!

Succulent

oil 12 x 12 inches Click to purchase. The deep oranges with minty green in this piece seemed refreshing and unusual to me. I hope you like it. Today I'm driving north to Camarillo to teach a 3 day workshop for Westlake Village Art League. My car is packed to the hilt, and I'm really excited to share my love for still life painting with these folks. In my excitement, I hope I remember to take pictures I can post!

Still Life In Copper

oil 10X10 inches magnify/purchase info I've been trying out a new painting surface. I purchased some MDF panels and prepared them myself with gesso, muslin and acrylic paint. The texture is very different than Raymar's smooth cotton I'm used to. So far, I like it. IN OTHER NEWS: At the Holiday Treasures reception on Balboa Island last Friday night was very happy to have received an Honorable Mention for my painting "Watermelon Wedges" from Juror Jean Stearn. Thank you, Jean and Debra Huse Gallery! My apologies for the blurry shot below. Software changes prevented me from loading pics from my iphone. But hey, look! My wrinkles are gone!

Blue Plate Demo

oil 6x6 inches magnify/purchase info I had a great group of students here for a workshop a couple of weeks ago. This is one of the demos I did for them. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Bossy Blue Crock -a still life painting in oil -SOLD

oil 11x14 inches magnify/purchase information For this painting I used window light again. I'm not happy with this photo, due to the glare on shiny paint strokes in the darks. Lighting and photographing are just two of the things I have to figure out in the new place. On the positive side, I had a great time painting the color shifts in the apples and the shiny ceramic crock.

While I wasn't posting (or painting) the last few days, I took a quick trip to see my Idaho granddaughters. They are more precious than any painting.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE! Thank you for your interest in my work, your comments and your purchases.

A Little Romance -an oil painting of roses and wine

oil 16x12 inches magnify/purchase Quotes and expressions stick in my head. "A Little Romance" was a piece of music for piano that I played a long time ago. It seemed to suit this painting. Another quote that stuck: "Never knowingly leave something wrong in your painting." I avoid going back into a painting, but the cast shadow on the pitcher was the wrong value and temperature. Funny how you see these kinds of things the next morning. I tried to ignore it, but it just kept gnawing at me along with the quote. So below see a few progress shots and how it looked before I fixed it. Still learning how to paint roses, but these are acceptable. They have some nice impasto you can see if you click on "magnify" and roll your mouse over the image.

Leaf & Persimmon 2

oil 6x8 inches click for purchase info and magnifier The last of my short persimmon series, as the persimmons have gone to mush. This might be my favorite. I like that linear stem going behind the persimmon.

Leaf & Persimmon -sold

oil 6x8 inches click for purchase information and magnifier This is the second in my persimmon series. I'd better hurry up and post these Fall pieces because it's already time to get out the Christmas decorations! Good news! Thanks to Daily Paintworks, I have a "Buy It Now" feature for this piece. So if you don't want to bother with an auction you don't have to. Quick and easy purchase, and fast shipping too. Click on the link above to check it out.

Persimmons & Leaf

oil 6x8 inches click for purchase info and magnifier Ahhh, the power of the three primaries! Painted with just red, yellow and blue, plus white. Specifically, cad red light, cad yellow medium and ultramarine blue. I like painting these fall leaves, mixing the paint on the canvas with overlapping brushstrokes. Thanks to my daughter, Shelly who shared these perfect for painting persimmons. And while I'm at it, I THANK YOU ALL who follow my blog, leave comments and purchase my paintings. I feel so grateful to be painting nearly every day, and I appreciate you all very much!

One Persimmon SOLD & San Francisco

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

Here's my last persimmon painting for the season, I think. It's from a few days ago when I was trying out neutral surfaces. I'm missing painting, but having lots of fun.

Today was our first full day in San Francisco. This morning we took a tour boat around in the bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. The sun was out, and the water and city just sparkled. We ate a SF lunch of clam chowder and sourdough bread then visited the Aquarium and toured the Boudin bread factory. Picked up chocolate at Girardelli, rode a cable car to the concert hall to hear the San Francisco Symphony perform Brahms' "A German Requiem." Then back to our room by 10:15 for dinner: chocolate! Whew!

Fall Trio -sold

oil on canvas panel 4x4 inches

click here to bid

I guess I'm painting a series. I never say to myself, "Now I will paint a series." It just happens that I get excited about certain colors and objects and keep painting them 'till it starts to feel old and worn out. These little canvases are so handy for when I only have short blocks of time to paint. Painters, if you haven't tried them yet, get yourself some 4x4 and 4x6's to have on hand. When finished they look nice on a table in a little mini easel or one of those gold wire easels.

Fall Offerings

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

click here for purchase information and magnifier

On a walk in Oak Glen I picked up some fallen acorns and stuck them in my pocket. Love all these warm fall colors. Someone asked about the "tail" on the chestnuts. They have these white things on their tips. Don't know what it is, but I like how it picks up the light.

This painting is available at Vander Molen Fine Art, Arcadia, CA

Persimmon With Chestnuts -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

click here to bid

With this one I tried a bit simpler arrangement and a more subtle green. I'm having trouble getting good photos lately. The placement and time of day that has worked for months is now giving me glare in every direction. Must have something to do with the season? If anyone has suggestions I'd appreciate them.

Persimmons & Chestnuts -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

click here to bid

On Sunday we visited Oak Glen and came home with apples, cider and these chestnuts. Being unfamiliar with chestnuts, I asked the sales girl at Los Rios Rancho how you roast them. She quickly blurted: "Ya roast 'em over an open fire". I know the song, yeah. But how? So she said to look it up on the internet. Mainly I wanted to paint the shiny reddish brown beauties. My new favorite color, transparent red oxide worked well. Does anybody know if they keep, or should I get that open fire going soon?

Floral Persimmons -sold

oil on canvas panel 8x8 inches

click here to bid

The red, violet and orange color combo of a couple days ago was so fun I thought why not keep that going, but with more objects? This time I added a flower stem with large leaves and for small shapes, a couple of little leaves from the front yard.

Persimmons & Grapes

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

click here to bid

The purple, orange and red were SOOO luscious together! This painting looks SOOOO much better in person! I say that a lot, but really it does.

Persimmons & Pussywillows

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

not for sale

This painting was done before the Thanksgiving holiday (hope you had a good one), but I've been unable to post because we lost internet service for four days! The arrangement is particularly pleasing to me because it has the elements I've mentioned before in my blog: areas, dots and lines.