Nesbitt's

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase You might be too young to remember Nesbitt's orange soda. When I was about 19 I drove an orange Pinto around Orange County as a delivery driver for a reproduction company. It was a great summer job. I'd stop in a little market sometime during the day to grab a Nesbitt's and a candy bar. I do like orange. My spotlight made the orange glow, and that's what this painting is about. The brown drapery looked just right to me with the yellow and orange. Painting finished, I suddenly realized how 70's this painting is. I get a good feeling looking at this. Hope you do too. Now I'll go put a flower in my hair. For fellow painters out there: Painted with 4 colors: cad yellow light, cad red light, ultramarine blue and Twhite. All Utrect. Love that paint.

Strawberry & Old Stuff

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Here's one of our locally grown juicy strawberries. They really are that red. The old bottle has some kind of white film inside it that glows when the light shines through.

Copper Pot

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Back to my ledge series. With this piece I did something I rarely do. I painted it twice. The first go-around I didn't listen to that little voice in my head saying, "Might be too squeezed up top." I forged ahead, and right on through till at the end, sure enough, it's too squeezed up top. (It has to be either high or low, not in the center.) I was so happy with how the objects were painted, I couldn't bring myself to wipe it off. So I painted it all again, which to me, is torturous! I still like that first lemon. Need to get a ban saw, cut it out and glue it on the second painting! Ha!

Watercolor after Deschampe

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase In June I had a serious case of the blahs while struggling with various physical ailments. I thought I should be painting, but pity-partied instead. I remember hearing the master watercolorist, Milford Zornes say once, "If you have a physical condition, don't let that stop you from painting." He was nearly blind at the time from macular degeneration, bent over his full sheet of watercolor paper and painting from memory. I have no excuse. This watercolor was done when I had little energy to be creative, but just wanted to get a brush in my hand and move some paint around. I found an old Walter Foster oil painting book in my studio and thought it would be interesting to turn an oil into a watercolor. The original oil painting is by Gabriel Deschampe.

Fruit Stand Reds & Greens

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!" This line from an old sports show came to mind. Last watercolor posted seemed so fun and effortless, with too much confidence I ventured outside this time for more fun....NOT! The heat got to me and dried everything too fast. So the lovely fruit stand items were overworked, and the tomato became a large sinister tomato monster, overpowering everything else. Still, I thought the set up had potential, so I gave it another try (inside) another day using my first painting as reference. I shrunk the tomato, left out a few cherries and moved an onion. The painting has life, but is still more heavy handed than the last one posted. Might be the deeper color scheme.

Flower Bowl With Fruit

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase Monday the power company was working in our area so we had no electricity for most of the day. Too hot to paint outdoors, so I worked in watercolor using filtered light from a very large window. I've done very few still lifes in watercolor, so I didn't expect a fabulous result. With low expecations of how it would turn out, it felt like play. I had fun, and I'm really happy with the result after all. Funny how in painting the play looks like fun, and the work looks worked, and sometimes overworked. Hmmm.

Surrounding Red

watercolor and gouache approx. 12x9 inches magnify/purchase A break from my ledge series. I don't have a good shot of my recent ledge piece, so I offer this little watercolor in the meantime. I did this one a while back at my Wednesday night paint/talk/laugh group. I picked up the geranium and lavender at Home Depot on the way, then borrowed the pots and glass from my friend, Martha's still life collection. Why the little oil can? I aimed to combine contrasting textures: plant, ceramic, glass and metal.

Apricot Guard

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Here's one of my little Xian Warriors. I have a boxed set and have used them in other paintings. The chopsticks came in a pretty little sleeve with a bright green knot that tied in nicely. I got pretty excited about the green drapery with the various apricot colors. Yummy color! The warrior is just keeping it all under control. :-)

Ginger Jar

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I don't know anything about ginger jars, but I like the shape and the blue. Part of my "on a ledge" series. The yellow is a bit more subtle in person...kinda buttery. Yum.

Luminous Lemon -SOLD

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I love the way light shines through lemons. Seventh in the series.

Yellow Flower

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase More stuff on the ledge, and the flower insisted on being the star of the show. With the change of season, I've lost my primo spot next to the house for shooting my photos. So if you like this painting, just know it's even better in person. :-)

Primary Focus -sold

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Kinda funny that the image of a painting titled "Primary Focus" would be slightly out of focus. I tightened up a bit on this one, probably because the objects were simple enough I could just l-a-b-o-r over them! Anyway, I'm really happy with the grungy patina on the brushwasher.

Grapes & Stuff

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I honestly could not think of a title for this one. Next in my "three things on a ledge" series, well this is more like three or four and a quarter things on a ledge. Let's just refer to it as the "ledge series." I deliberately pushed that flower up almost off the canvas so it would not hog the scene.

Apricot Half

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Third in the series: "three things on a ledge."

Colman's Mustard

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Motivation is high. I have a partial answer to the relentless question, "What am I going to paint today?" Answer: three things on a ledge. This is the second in the series.

Apricot & Blue On A Ledge

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase This strong design really appeals to me. Might be a series coming up: three things on a ledge. This big apricot is from the little fruit stand on Balboa Island. I couldn't believe how big they were. Beautiful color, and yummy too.

Orange & Blue, Palette Knifed

oil 6x8 inches magnify/purchase That space between the crock and the orange had been bugging me. For some time I'd wanted to try painting with a palette knife. So with a bit of time on my hands I took the dry painting just above and smeared the paint on. A lot like frosting a cake. Purely experimental. For some really great palette knife paintings, check out David Boyd Jr.'s work.

Here's a trick I've been using for a while. It enables me to paint right off the edges of my panel. I use several loops of wide painter's tape on the back of my panel to stick it onto a larger piece of MDF board from Home Depot. It stays on for painting, for carrying it around to photograph it, or laying it under a warm lamp to dry. Works for larger panels too. Just use more tape loops.

Here's my display at the Balboa Art Walk. What a blast! Twenty linear feet of space, perfect weather, a friendly crowd and great sales. Special thanks to the friends who visited and kind folks who purchased my work. Thanks for supporting my habit!

Still Life With Crimson Ribbon -sold

oil 12x12 inches magnify/purchase Reds and violets with greens seem to be one of my favorite color schemes. This one was kind of "gaggy" until I added the earthy vintage photo and especially the lemons. The lemons provide happy relief from all the reds and greens. The main players in this piece belonged to my mother; the photo of her as a young child, the iridescent tea cup and the flower pot. Think I should keep the painting? No, because I have the objects themselves. It's the act of painting them that's the real joy for me. The BALBOA ART WALK IS THIS SUNDAY! I'm really looking forward to the cool temps, the music and the happy crowd! If you're in So Cal I hope you'll come and say hi. I'll be pretty close to where the ferry lands on the island. Turn left as you walk off the ferry and walk along the sea wall to Pearl Street. I'll have 20 feet of display space. Wooo-hooo!!!

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!

Light & Shadow, Oak Glen

oil 8x10 inches magnify/purchase On a fall visit to Snowline Orchards in Oak Glen, I set up to paint these lovely shadows. I should have brought a jacket, I thought while I set up. The light lasted about 5 minutes, then dark clouds came in and made everything go flat. I wimped out and went home. I took my good pictures home with me, along with a little bag of hot mini apple donuts. UPCOMING EVENTS: Tomorrow I'll be at the Chino Arts Festival, 10-4:00. BALBOA ART WALK, SUNDAY, MAY 18, 9-5:00. Over 100 Artist Booths and 4 musical groups. On the island promenade, along the seawall. To find me, walk left off the ferry and along the seawall to Pearl Street. Same location as last year! I hope you'll come by and say hi.