Mandarins In Blue

 

Mandarins In Blue  oil 6x6

Purchase info here.

Painted from life in my studio.  A blurry photo of a sweet and simple painting.   

Small Joys

 

Small Joys   oil 8x8 inches

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I very much enjoy painting on a square format.  This design in particular is typical of my work.  The eye moves around the painting. Nothing is smack dab in the center.  The weight of the vase and sunflower is balanced by the tangerine and foliage above.  Objects are unequal distances apart, and there is a variety of sizes and shapes.  I think about these things when I compose a still life.  I hope you like it!

Fall Demo

 

Fall Demo  6x8 inches  oil

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I cautiously held in person workshops in September and October.  It seems so long ago now!  Time has seemed to drag on with staying home so much.  I have had more time to focus on painting, so I'm thankful for that, but like everyone else, I'm hoping for a better year ahead.  I'm very fond of this little demo I did for my September workshop.  It's the design and color palette that I love.  Can you see the acorn in the front?  The other little round shapes are tiny dried pomagranates given to me by my friend, Mary Jo.  They find their way into many of my paintings. 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! 

 Thank you for following my work, and for purchasing. 

 I just shipped two paintings out today!

Below are some other little studies from my September workshop.

Demo On Blue and some NEWS

oil 8x8 inches Purchase info here. Here's a simple demo I did for my workshop back in March. This past weekend I enjoyed a fun and full workshop painting glass and flowers. This is an advanced workshop I offer to painters who have taken my "Paint The Lively Still Life" workshop. You can see fresh workshop pictures and easel shots of my current work on INSTAGRAM. I'm not able to keep this blog up to date as much as I can my Instagram. So please look for and follow me on Instagram at karenwernerart. IN OTHER NEWS: The American Impressionist Society's Annual Impressions Small Works Showcase is in full swing! Link here. 6/1-8/31/2019 at Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey, MI. My work, "Camellias & Bordeaux" pictured here is included in the exhibit. Thank you, AIS!

Fat Cat With A Knife

oil 8x8 inches Purchase info here. SO much better in person. Here we have the first of several paintings in an unplanned series of red and green color schemes. Here's an easel view. More accurate with the good old iphone.

Sprinkles & Stripes SOLD

oil 10x10 inches Purchase info here. Tomorrow night I'll demonstrate for the Yorba Linda Art Association. Open to the public. 6:30 pm 4999 Casa Lima Ave, Yorba Linda, CA.

Fiesta SOLD

oil 10x8 inches Purchase info here. Same objects, different arrangement and size. WORKSHOP NEWS: Last weekend's workshop was a big success with six hard working painters! Some serious work went on, but a lot of laughs too! I have one opening in my March 3&4 Workshop: Two days of fun, instruction and lively still life held in my Upland studio. Email me if you'd like to take this last spot. karenwernerart@gmail.com

Grape Escapes -a still life painting in oil -SOLD

oil 6x6 inches magnify/purchase info Here we have fruit arranged in a circle. Meanwhile, one independent thinker is sneaking away. He hasn't escaped the notice of Apple however, who is spreading the word to Tangerine. What happens next is anybody's guess.

Shiny Fruit Fest -a still life painting in oil

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase info Here's the last demo for my workshop. We painted a few very small studies, then a couple of 6x6's. When I picked up this 8x8 it seemed HUGE! I paint 8x8's all the time, but I just about needed a ruler to convince myself it was really only an 8x8. Funny how your eye or mind gets accustomed to a particular scale so quickly. I've included a studio shot below in which the color is more accurate. Now I'm off to run Camp Gramma for three days. I expect no painting, but a lot of fun and cuddles.

Demo For Redlands Art Association -a still life in oil

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase info Last night's demo in Redlands was a lot of fun. We had a packed house, and a very enthusiastic audience. Most of them stayed till the painting was finished, after 9pm! Thank you all for your patience and serious interest! Next, I'll teach a small one day workshop this coming Saturday in the same place. There are a couple of openings left, so call Redlands Art Association if you're interested. 909-792-8435 Also coming up quickly, my two day workshop at my home studio in Upland, March 3&4. I still have some openings. You'll get a ton of instruction, coaching (limited to 6 participants), coffee, tea, water and snacks. If you're interested in this or future workshops in Upland, email me: karenwernerart@gmail.com

Thank you, Redlands Art Association!

Fruit & Flower -a still life demonstration in oil -SOLD

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Monday night's demo for the Orange Art Association. I painted much faster than I usually do because time was short, then finished it yesterday in my studio. I had used gray drapery which allows me to swing it warm or cool, and in this case violet. I painted the shadows first, then at home had to adjust them so they read right with the cloth in light. Someone asked me about how to determine the color of your shadows. Here's my usual reasoning, although not a hard and fast rule. Consider the local color of the object the shadow is falling on (the cloth, grayish lavender). If the light source is warm (spotlight bulb), the shadow will be cooler (temp.), darker (value), and a bit duller (intensity). So for the shadows I used hardly any white (darker), added more blue (cooler), and a bit more of the complement yellow (duller). I use the same principle with watercolor. With practice you can SEE what color your shadows are. Ask yourself how the shadow color compares to the part of the same object in light. Darker, cooler, duller?

Winter Postcard -an oil painting that's a postcard!

oil 5x7 inches not for sale magnify Here's a little micro-view of my previous set up. Painted on one of those inexpensive canvas cardboards. Once dry, I'm going to glue paper to the backside and make it into a postcard. A friend in Arizona made me the cutest tote bag for Christmas. I owe her a special thank you note, and this will be it! We went camping over the weekend. In between rainstorms I got a little plein air practice in. Will post those next. Have a great week, everyone!

Winter Arrangement -SOLD

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase This set up was really exciting to me. It has rich warm color, the earthy-ness that I like plus some reflection and sparkle. Hope you like it too.

Orange Meets Blue -a still life painting in oil

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Once in a while it just feels good to use some thalo blue. What a yummy color.

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.

Mighty Mandarin

oil 12x9 inches magnify/purchase Over the weekend I attended a workshop taught by Qiang Huang. My friend, May and I had a great time, and though I have been painting a while, I learned so much! He is an effective and methodical instructor, breaking down painting into 5 basic steps: placement, value, color, modeling and consolidation. Most helpful to me was how to keep darks transparent and lights opaque. A simple tip I had not heard elsewhere: rub a very thin coat of linseed oil on your blank canvas to ease the application of paint, then use a soft brush to paint in your darks. Below are pics of my set up and value stage, then Master Qiang at work.

Small Fruit & Flower

oil 8x10 inches click for purchase info and magnifier These are little tiny apples with a big big price. Good thing I only bought a few for painting. It remains to be seen which will die first, the sunflowers or my desire to paint them.

Sunflowers & Eucalyptus

oil 16x12 inches click for purchase information and magnifier Some grocery store sunflowers with eucalyptus clippings. Out on old dairy land I found some huge unattended eucalyptus right by the side of the road. I love the variety of greens with the yellow sunflowers. Tomorrow night the 6 Squared show opens at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the great little works and meeting fellow artists!

Rice Bowl

oil 8x10 inches click for purchase information and zoom feature The last of my Asian influence paintings for now. This large ceramic rice bowl has a shiny blue glaze and little holes/slots for the chopsticks. Very cool. I think we bought it years back in a little shop near Zion National Park. Kinda big for rice. Maybe it's a noodle bowl. I love noodles.

Asian Influence 2

oil 8x8 inches click for purchase information Nothing to say about this one. Rare, but it happens.