"Apple Blossom"

Well, I have been busy painting a lot lately. Sunflowers!

"Among the Cups"

I especially like this one with the reflections going on. 

These stacking cups are a relatively new challenge for me. I think I posted one earlier.

"Sharing Sunflowers"

This is a little 6" x 6" I painted, which is an awfully small size to tackle, for I do not like working with small brushes.
I've lost my power 3 times since writing this, because of Sandy(the hurricane), so that's all for now.

"Beautiful Grapes" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

I'm working here with most of the grapes in shadow, but love the one that stands alone.

"The Rose with Little Grapes" 8" x 8" oil on gesoobord

I used a piece of glass to create the reflections under the rose and grapes. More difficult thean I thought it would be.

Studies

My workshop with Carol Marine was a  blast! I met a lot of wonderful artists and I've got to move on from this workshop, for I am so behind in posting. Here are some studies that I did working along the theme of "white cups".

"Second Choice" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

More flowers! I love painting this particular type of flower, especially the pink ones. The turquoise bottle complimented the color of the flower perfectly. I was with a terrific group of painters in Santa Fe and we were all working with flowers and glass this particular day. I love the energy in the air when painting with a group of artists that have the same goal.....a need to paint!

"First Pick" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

Well, I'm back from my wonderful Advanced Workshop with Carol Marine in Santa Fe. Everything, including the meals, exceeded my expectations. Carol is a fabulous teacher and I met 13 other eager artists ready to shed their egos and allow for mistakes. And the week held quite an amount of diverse talent. One of the exercises we did was to work on painting glass with flowers. Painting clear glass has a different approach than painting colored glass. I was pleased with my study and only reminded myself how much I enjoy challenges.

"Ah, The Rose" small painting on gessobord

Roses, I find, very difficult to paint. So much form with translucent light passing through the petals. I still try to paint them once in awhile. I'm off tomorrow to Carol Marine's advanced painting workshop in Santa Fe. My suitcase is filled with tripod, palette, things to paint, lights, camera, backdrops, paints, brushes, bulbs, medium and a few clothes. I plan to post a few "experiments in learning" while away for the week. Yikes! I almost forgot to pack my confidence and patience. Carol is a wonderful teacher, for I was lucky enough to get a spot in her first workshop 5 years ago. I'm looking forward to meeting some wonderful painters there.

"Royal Pie" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

I just couldn't resist. Not about painting the pie, but having some to eat. Though under the lights with the color background I used, this pie was more than royal for an hour or two. The pedestal I used I got from my mother-in-law, and I find it one of my favorite silver pieces to paint. I love the shape of the base and pedestal. Here the pie is resting on a white plate, which covers all but a piece of the silver rim. I'm really working on forks now. I prefer to paint them foreshortened, but just getting the shape correct I find a challenge. 

"Mirror, Mirror" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

Well, my stainless steel bowls arrived....even in different sizes! I know that I will be learning a lot about reflections in Carol Marine's workshop coming up in two weeks. Like what dominates? The reflection of an item or the actual item? Something has to play the dominant roll, and it's not both. Stay tuned.

"Stack" 8" x 10" oil on gessobord

So, it was late yesterday afternoon and I had attempted 3 paintings and wiped them all off already earlier in the day. I had an hour before the cats came begging for dinner. My kitchen counter top was full of things I've been listing this week for my vintage Etsy shop. And there I saw my next painting. Although often painted by others, I had never painted a stack of cups before. My goal on this painting was to say what I have to say in one hour. That's it! I was so pleased with the way the handles turned out and how the cups "rounded" well. Think I won't sell these in my shop now, but hang onto them for another try. My plums just passed their prime and carrots and orange popsicles are about all the food I have left in the house. So today is another "Well, what do I paint now."

"Eggs and Oranges" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

Once again, I love to paint eggs-in-the-raw! I was trying, in this painting, to make the eggs on the plate more a part of the background....in the dark...coming into the light. But I just got carried away with the eggs and kept going back in to make them more important than I meant for them to be. I am still happy with the painting, but some how got off track with my excitement.

"Tomato Parade" 12" x 12" oil on gessobord

I've been wanting for awhile to paint something reflected in a bowl. Well, I finally got up the courage to set something up and just used my mixer bowl. I, being a quilter, have a good selection of solid half-yard pieces of fabric that I use in my still-life set ups. I really wanted to work with this piece of fabric which is called "chartreuse" by the manufacturers. Actually it's a Shot Cotton put out by Kaffe Fassett. The warp and the weft of the woven cloth are different colors. Up close the fabric looks quite different than seeing it from a short distance, when your eyes mix the two colors. I highly recommend this fabric for painters to use for still life set ups. But there are so many online quilting stores which supply hundreds of beautiful solids. I like to shop here for fabrics. anyway. I really wanted to challenge myself with mixing this chartreuse color on my palette, especially since I use no greens directly out of the tube. I work with blues and yellows. At the moment I could not recite to you the colors I used, but I had fun in the process.

"Tree in the Hedge" 10"x 10" oil on canvas board

I am a member of a plein air painting group that meets every week from spring to fall. The locations are pre-selected early in the spring. It's just a matter of showing up. I've gotten rather bored with painting boats in the water, not that I have that much experience doing so. But I love to paint architecture and big shapes. I was not feeling up to even getting out of the car this day to set up my easel, so I painted, in oils, from the front seat of my rather small car. Across the street from where i was parked was this huge hedge engulfing this tree. The thing on the right is part of a stockade fence at the foot of someone's driveway. I went home and painted another version of this without the fence and gave more detail to the hedge. 

"Painting Tomatoes" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

Tomatoes are not as sweet tasting as they used to be when I was young. But these came from my local market, so I knew they were fresh picked and ready to eat. In the South we really knew how to make a great tomato sandwich!

"Four Plums" 8" x 8" oil on gessobord

Recently there have been a lot of firsts for me with my painting. Today I painted plums for the first time! I know there are many different kinds of plums in the market, but today I worked with what I had in the refrigerator. These plums were more purple than red, so I tried to use the red just for the lights, though I didn't begin that way. Ugh. I think that I must try them again tomorrow and begin with purple instead of red. I'm so happy to be painting most every day again. It's what truly brings me joy.

"Contained Rose" 14" x 11" oil on gessoboard

I'm working on varying my set ups somewhat. Here I have a piece of chartreuse paper propped up against a magenta cloth background. To pot is gold ceramic and the rose is wilting fast! My brushstrokes are larger, for I love working with big brushes. I should use the same brushes on a much smaller panel. That would loosen me up!

"Tomato Pie"  8" x 8"  oil on gessoboard

I have a pie plate that has a beautiful brown glaze. The plate is small, maybe 8", deep, and has a very scalloped edge that weaves it's way around my pie crusts. Everything I bake in this pie plate looks beautiful, especially top crust apple pie with a little cinnamon sugar sprinkled and bubbling out of the top crust vents. So why not a tomato pie? I especially liked the twisted green vines curling their way through the air. I'd like to try painting this pie plate again soon. These are the same tomatos from "Triplets".

"Which One is Different?"  12" x 12"  oil on gessoboard

Today was my first attempt at painting brass. I plan to paint a similar set up tomorrow with this brass pot. I'm really enjoying the apple thing these days, however, the red one here looks more like a tomato. I've been writing a lot lately while I paint about my thought process and decisions I'm having to make with my color choices and composition. I find this helpful to go back later to see where I went wrong... not right. Really looking forward to Carol Marine's workshop. However, I have to drag all my still life props all the way out to Santa Fe in my luggage, and my easel....everything. I love a challenge when it comes to packing!

"Triplets" 8" x 8" oil on gessoboard

"Triplets" 8" x 8" oil on gessoboard

These tomatoes are slated for my salad tonight. Though I've only painted tomatoes once before, I thought I'd try these cute little ones. These are not from my garden....for those I grow just for the woodchuck that lives in the back  :) oh, and the deer! I haven't posted much lately, though I've been painting every day. Just not happy enough with the results, but I can feel a bit of an improvement today....after 2 wipe outs.

"A Bunch of Roses" 8" x 8" oil on panel

I find flowers to be so difficult to paint. I mean, one really needs to know it's anatomy first. I find myself, at times, getting lazy and just stylizing the flower by the shape and color. This was a bunch of roses, but  one flower resembles a morning glory! I worked with a lot of medium and drippy paint, but wiped out the one major drool. Tough, but I need to get with it and practice. I'm going to Carol Marine's Advanced Workshop in Santa Fe in October. Flowers, among many other difficult projects, will be covered. Yikes!