Still Life With Cork -sold

oil 10x10 inches click for purchase information Here's a low key painting for sure. My intent was to create a strong sense of controlled light. I placed objects half in shadow with their edges disappearing into darkness. Does your eye go right for the green on that apple? For me, the hammered copper mug almost steals the show. I may have to make it the star of a sequel.

Field Study 2

oil 8x8 inches At Newport Back Bay I turned my easel just a bit to get this scene. I liked the rocks, yellow flowers and row of trees on the bluff.

Field Study, Newport Back Bay

oil 6x8 inches Yesterday I painted at Newport Backbay for the first time. I arrived with the mindset to paint small and simplify. Also, I wanted to practice atmospheric perspective: a clear indication of distance, mid ground and foreground. Most of this piece I'm happy with, but the foreground is too busy. It's hard for me to judge what a painting really looks like until I get it home and sometimes even the next day, so I left it alone. I know I'll paint it again another day. I had a snack, and did another painting which I'll post next.

Bouquet Rose -SOLD

oil 6x6 inches click for purchase information From my Valentine's Day bouquet. The red was so deep they looked like velvet. The photo makes the crevices look black, which they are not in the painting. Some paintings just don't photograph well. Much better in person. This is true so often, maybe I'll just start using an acronym: MBIP. :-)

Figure Study

oil 12x9 inches not for sale With this study from my Tuesday night class, I concentrated on natural skin tones. I used the Zorn palette with two reds: cad red light in the lights and cad red medium in the shadows. This helped me mix the temperatures I wanted. I'm really happy with this study in that I was able to get a reasonable likeness and also an emotional quality. FYI, she is blonde and wearing a large black scarf. I was so far away from the model, I couldn't see much detail in her facial features. I was forced to simplify. A good thing.

Yellow Cottage -sold

oil 10x8 inches -sold- Yesterday I met up with about twenty members of SOCALPAPA at Crystal Cove State Beach. It was 80 degrees and chock full of stuff to paint: cottages, hillside cliffs, ocean and tide pools. I wiped out my first two attempts. I felt like I had forgotten how to paint. I was too warm, I needed my shorts and flip flops, coffee and breakfast. Some plein air days are like this. Okay, so I took all my excuses with me to the cafe and had a fabulous lunch. After that I found a perfect spot of deep shade, a new subject and had a great time. Can't wait to go back!

Rain Forecast, Laguna -SOLD

oil 8x10 inches click for purchase information There were some changes I wanted to make to my field study at Laguna Beach. I had felt hurried, painting in between cloudbursts. As usual, the light and clouds were changing, but I was surprised how drastically the color of the ocean changed too. Rather than rework my field sketch, the next day I started new using memory, field sketch and photo. The feel of the weather was still fresh in my mind, and I had brought home sand in my paint. Perfect.

Kid Stuff -sold

oil 10x10 inches -sold- Here are two in a set of nesting dolls. Not the famous Russian type, but hand painted and colorful just the same. The crayons and marbles are a bit out of focus in the photo.

Field Sketch, Laguna Beach

oil 9x12 inches click here for purchase information Yesterday I drove down to Laguna Beach for a meetup with SOCALPAPA, Southern California Plein Air Painters Association. A cold rain was forecast, so I really didn't know what to expect. The sun shone and the sky was beautifully cloudy. No other painters in sight. I painted anyway and absolutely loved being out in the weather. Rain, hail and wind, but I was layered up and warm. Next time I'll remember a hat with a brim to keep the rain off my glasses, and a big umbrella. I wore my fingerless gloves for the first time, and with the latex over they stayed warm and dry.

Child's Play -SOLD

oil 16x20 inches click for purchase information I chose some of the objects just for their color and shape, but a few have sentimental value. The yellow storybook was mine as a child, a gift from my Aunt Diane. Our youngest son, now 29, carried Snoopy every day to preschool. The little watercolor is by my granddaughter, Emily. She did a lot of paintings one day and had them for sale (like Gramma.) I bought it for fifty cents and hung it on the fridge, of course. Childhood is so precious and too short. I plan to paint these objects again, so this one's for sale.

Fun Stuff

oil 16x20 inches Thought I'd give you a peek at what's on my easel today. I absolutely LOVE painting this stuff!!!

High Bay View -sold

oil 11x14 inches, gallery wrap canvas (sold) With this painting I have done some experimenting. My photo reference for this piece had a nice abstract quality. I turned my photo upside down for the entire painting process. I thought doing so would be a fun exercise and would help maintain the abstract quality. I also painted without any initial draw-in. Instead, I focused on laying in the shapes on canvas. Also, I painted on an oil ground for the first time and without any toning of the canvas. The painting dried quickly and opaquely. Needs a good coat of varnish. I submitted this to Carol Marine's "Try Something New" challenge.

Head Study

oil 12x9 inches Rough head study from my figure painting class with Joseph Todorovitch. I enjoyed the pose with her closed eyes and full mouth.

Nostalgia

oil 16x20 inches click for purchase information Finished, I think. I'll put it away and look at it again in a week. The background leans toward pink, which seems more harmonious with the greens and dark reds. I revisited the clock to revise the shape and make some deliberate marks.

The Art Room

Self Portrait oil 8x6 inches April, 2012 I'm very excited to announce that Taryn Day has chosen to feature my work today on her blog "The Art Room". Thank you so much, Taryn! Each day this month Taryn takes a look at the work of an artist who blogs. Today is my day, so check it out and see the other artists' work too, by clicking here.

Almost There

oil 16x20 Finally I have a shot with fairly good color accuracy and not much glare. I had a great time with the marbles, painting them with just a few brushstrokes and then cutting in the green drape around them to establish their edges. I'm thinking to do more marbles in the future. The book is very worn, and it looks it. Whew. There is a lot of green here, which I've known from the beginning could be overbearing. I've worked hard to get the greens just right: subdued, but not dull and lifeless. Still, you might have to like green to like this one! :-) Now if I can just get that dang background right!

In Progress

oil 16x20 When I finished this stage, I was not happy with the left background shown here. I left it for a day thinking maybe it would grow on me. :-) It didn't. So I wiped out that section and put my burnt umber wash back on. Letting that dry, I continued with the rest of the painting today. It's almost finished. Hoping to get a decent photo tomorrow in daylight.

More Progress

oil 16x20 inches While painting along I noticed that over and over again I'm mixing the three primaries. If you asked me how I mixed color for any part of the painting, the answer would be red, yellow and blue in different ratios. Backgrounds still scare me, so this time I'm taking the advice of a fellow blogger: go back and forth between object and background rather than saving background for last. Hopefully I can work still wet edges this way. Again, please excuse the glare.

In Progress

oil 16x20 inches Here's a better shot of the set up, though the camera's viewpoint is a bit different. The second is after my first painting session. I started with the clock and had to wipe it a couple of times. Overall, I'm happy with the start. I'm using a fairly limited palette: ult. blue, alizarin, cad yellow medium, yellow ochre, cad red light, burnt umber and Twhite. Though the photos don't show very accurate color, at least you can see what I'm up to.

In Progress

I've started this 16x20 still life. I spent several hours working on the set up which includes objects I've used in previous small paintings. The analogous and muted color appeals to me first, along with the nostalgic feeling. After laying it out on canvas, I decided it was too heavy on the left, so I removed the painting with the yellow flowers. I would have had to tone down the yellow anyway. The fact that I've painted each object before is reassuring. Hoping I can pull it all together in a cohesive piece. Sorry about the glare. I haven't figured out how to shoot pictures in my little studio without glare. Today I'm off to the Norton Simon Museum with some friends. Field Trip! Woo-hoo! No buses, no name tags!