"Mug Shot # 1"

A few years ago I bought on eBay a vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster. I found the mixer to look not too dissimilar from a squid when the top was popped off, therefore becoming a hand mixer. EBay then had another Sunbeam mixer for auction of a different vintage. The design was similar but the wooden handle had a sleeker design. Once again though, the mixer, to me looked to be the brother of the other one I owned, with it's oblong body, two black eyes and the cord serving as the tentacles. I had to paint these! A series of paintings evolved from my little spending spree on eBay once I became the owner of 3 mixers. I found the best way to show off the similarities of the mixers, but to still exhibit individuality of each was to do mug shot paintings. "Okay number 3, let's see a profile." This painting is of "Mug Shot # 1, with Accomplice", the green bowl.

"I Want More!"

This painting I did from a sketch I made of a mouse hand puppet inside a big glass canister jar. For once I was able to let my imagination take a story and run. I am usually painting what I see, taking into factor my environment (landscape), which I experience before me, or a still-life I have set up. I do not work from photographs but try to rely on sketches and studies I do on location. Trying to figure out where I want to go before I begin a painting is usually the most rewarding route to take in the beginning. However, with this mouse in front of me posed with his hand hanging out of the jar, and a flat felt hand at that, suddenly possessed a  character and personality that only needed a bit of embellishment. And the entire time I painted was actually fun; no struggles with any analysis of what I was doing. If I could only paint like this more frequently I'd be a happy camper. Oil on linen 18"x 14".

"White Pine"

This is one flower that did not get away. These are baby pinecones just formed on a White Pine branch. This is done in gouache.

painting flowers

About 10 years ago I decided, as a painting discipline, to paint everything that bloomed in my yard as it appeared. Well, I quickly fizzled out on that project when I got to number four, within a week of the first blooms. So much was happening in the yard I had not noticed before. The smells were a give away. Pachysandra smells wonderful in it's early bloom. I moved on to one of the daffodils popping up. I realized a year later, when attempting the project again, that I had never bothered to look up at all the little hellicopters in the maple trees. Then bloomed the lily-of-the-valley... so sweet smelling and only in bloom for a few days. That's when the overwhelming exhaustion set in, either from to much adrenaline or was it the pollen? Every year I tell myself that I'm going to make more progress on "that flower painting project", but I always get sidetracked or realize by then, as usual, that I am so over committed in the art department. Here is the little painting I did of the lily-of-the-valley. First I toned the paper with a blue gouache and before it dried used a rag to lift off the excess paint. Not a particularly great painting, but was then trying to achieve a goal that kept me looking for months at the painting (and flower) that got away.

"Grapes" detail

By the time I went to photograph this painting this afternoon, the light was too far gone, so I tried something different. I put the too large canvas in my scanner and scanned at 300 dpi. The editing was interesting, but the colors are true.

"Second Cup"

I painted this the same day as the last one, but just took out the egg shells and gave the cup a new spin. I prefer this rendering on the handle and find the egg white to be more translucent.