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.

Pear Fancy -sold

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
SOLD
The delicate color shifts in a pear are beautiful. My goal in continuing practice with pears is to be able to suggest the varied colors and still show the three dimensional form...like you could reach out and pick it up. I think I'm making progress. The teal blue and terra cotta colors in the fluted bowl seemed like a refreshingly different color scheme. The multiple highlights on the very shiny glaze give it sparkle.

Bottled Hibiscus SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

This pretty little recycled glass bottle came from a shop in Yosemite. You can't see much of it here, but it's sure to show up again in future paintings. This painting was interrupted about half way through by ...UGH...a dentist appointment! I had to finish after dark which left none of that nice sunshine needed to photograph it. This is my lame excuse for not posting yesterday. Blame it on the dentist...or any of the five (count 'em) health related appointments I've had in the last 48 hours. Getting older is the pits, but I can still paint! Can't complain.

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.

Pottery Pear

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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Here I've pared the pear (!) with more earthy colors. I'm a big fan of amber yellow and this is one of my favorite hand made bowls. The scalloped pattern adds interesting little tiny shapes amid the large shapes. I really liked the glow of reflected light up onto the bottom shadow side of the pear, but in trying to get that I had to carefully keep the value dark enough to read "shadow side." I'm quite happy with this one and it's cousin: Tomato & Clay, posted Sept. 16th.

Peach Pit Pear

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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Here I pared orange with blue (a bit bluer in person), and then added the yellow green surface to tie in with the pear... then some peach color in the pear. My tone is cad red light, orangier for the colors in the peach. Most times my photos look exactly like the painting, sometimes not. This time not! Augh! If anybody has any picture taking advice, I'm all ears!

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!

The Three Brothers, Yosemite-sold

oil on canvas panel 6x8 inches

For this study done yesterday afternoon, I walked out behind our lodge room and along the river. My goal was to practice simplifying and conveying depth and distance. In this spot, the sun set behind the mountain on the right, instantly shading the right half of trees and meadow. I had to finish up quickly by memory. Time to go back to civilization tomorrow. Of the four paintings I did here, this is my favorite.

Postage

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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We're still here at Yosemite National Park. Painting in the late afternoon the last two days, I've been caught off guard by how quickly daylight fades in this deep valley. When I finished painting, there was no direct sunlight for getting a photo of what I'd done! In the meantime, I offer this little stamp dispenser painted just before we left.

Half Dome

oil on canvas panel 10x8 inches
I'm satisfied with this, my first attempt at painting Half Dome. Plein air is always a learning experience for me, and I think I'm making progress. A grander subject would be hard to come by. It was a good challenge and just a blast to be there doing it!

Painting Half Dome

I painted in this spot for about three hours today (yep, that's me)...too much fun! I'd post my resulting painting, but there are some changes to be made first. Surprisingly, today I met five other painters and enjoyed seeing what they were doing and visiting with them. It turns out Yosemite is not only a Mecca for climbers and hikers, but painters as well.

Off To Yosemite

We spent the day driving to Yosemite National Park. No painting today, so this view out the back door of our Lodge room will have to suffice. I hope to paint tomorrow...and hike! The weather is in the 70's and the summer crowds are gone. I'm so excited to be here!

Old Glory

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

SOLD

There's always a flag flying at our house. As a result, we have lots of old flags. I even have one with 48 stars that belonged to my dad. Even folded, faded and old, to me it's a beautiful thing. In this painting I tried to capture the wear and the colors. The grommets adorn her like gold rings.

Path To Maloof's SOLD

oil on canvas panel 10x8 inches

The home of beloved master woodworker, Sam Maloof, is in Alta Loma about 30 minutes away from me. The Maloof Foundation offers tours and invites artists to paint in the gardens on Thursdays and Saturdays. To say that this is a special place is an understatement. It was an honor to paint where he walked.

Tomato & Clay

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches
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Here's a rustic bowl I picked up at a Santa Fe pottery/candy shop...perfect for my "earthy" series. Sometimes I spend an hour arranging my still life set-up. This time I plopped it down, turned on the light and presto, "There it is!"

Sticks And Stones-sold

Oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches, FRAMED. The wood frame is a simple, flat, mahogany color measuring 11x11. In the photo below it is hanging on a blue-green wall. Colors in the painting are most accurate in the second photo below.

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

sold

Being a big fan of trees and rocks, the idea of a painting with this title has been in my head for a while. It fits right in with my "earthy" series. I picked up the oriental tea cup at a thrift store. If they have a special name, I'd love to know.

Dog Treat Jar SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

This subject has tempted me for a long time. I wasn't sure I wanted to paint all these little dog treats, but the vibrant blue lid finally lured me in. I used a burnt umber ground again yielding just a bit of that earthy feel like my previous post. My favorite part is the latch.

Starbucks Cup SOLD

oil on canvas panel 6x6 inches

In the last few hours of the art show I did this quick sketch--remnants of my morning coffee. I was pretty tired by then, and I think the looseness reveals that. As I toned my canvas with a mid-value burnt umber, I realized how much it resembled coffee! The loose handling and burnt umber peeking through gave the painting an earthy feel. Maybe I'll do more burnt umber grounds. I like earthy.