"Spring Primrose" OIl on 7x5 inch board

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'Primrose" work in progress...

Click on any image to enlarge

I bought a potted primrose a couple week ago at a flower show, and I've been wanting to paint it ever since.  I finally decided to try, and plucked a little sprig of flowers off the plant and put them in this little metal container.  The container is only decorative, and water leaked from it, so I put a wet paper towel around the cut stems and set them in it.  The bottom flower is a loose flower, I set that in a thimble of water, and tucked it in.    Since my set up seemed so fragile, I didn't think it would last the hours it would take me to paint it, so I took pictures just in case.  (you can see the lower flower had already drooped from where it had been in my picture)

I printed out one of the pictures, and it was helpful to use it for my drawing.  I started on a white gessoed panel, using thinned raw umber acrylic paint.  Once this was dry, I began with oil. 

I painted in the background and table top first.   I was so excited, even at this early stage, I knew it was going to turn out ok!! :-)

I couldn't quite match that gorgeous pink of those flowers, but I tried my best.  I haven't tried painting flowers in a long time, and I'm so glad I did.  I was thrilled with how it came out, and just in time for Spring. 
I will post the finished painting in a day or two, when I get a chance to photograph it. 
Thanks for visiting!

"Artichoke and Lemon" Oil on 6x6 inch board

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Artichokes usually show up in the grocery store around this time of year.  I had this one sitting around for a couple of days until I was done with the painting.  It was still good enough to cook and eat.  I make them like my mother,  stuffed with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated romano cheese, and cooked on the stove, in a pan of water, with a bit of olive oil, salt, and a few cloves of garlic floating in it.  It takes over an hour, but it is sooooo goood!  The lemons are useful to keep the cut edges of the leaves from browning, but I don't usually bother with that.  It looks nice for the painting though.  :)

"A Bowl of Lemons" Oil on 9x 12 inch Canvas

I should name this painting, " Snow Day Lemons"... hahahha.   A couple days ago, a nice blizzard came through here and pretty much shut everything down.  It was kind of cool, even the Weather Channel was reporting live from a location near the Lake.  It lasted the whole day, and for the whole day, I set up this still life and painted it, while listening to the weather channel, and occasionally looking outside to watch the storm.  I finished it up the next day.

This picture could be better.  The highlights on the lemons are a little blown out, and the yellow is too bright, and the background seems to have alot of glare. .  In real life, the lemons are a deeper yellow and the fleur de lis are a little more subdued.   This image looked better on my computer, than it does on the blogger website.  ??   I guess, I'll try and see if I can't get a better image of it in the next few days.  

"Lemons and Strawberries" Oil on 5x7 board

I had painted a painting of 2 lemons and green leaves over a week ago, and every time I passed by it, it looked more and more boring to me.  Close up  I liked it, but from across the room, it wasn't much to look at.  So, today was my first chance back at it, and I added some strawberries to liven it up, and deepened the background color.  I had some new lemons to use too.    I love the color of strawberries when they are still unripe.  They don't taste all that great, so better to use them as painting props.   The yellow in this finished photo is a bit too bright, but it's not too bad.

That was so much fun :-)  What a great Saturday!  Crappy weather outside still, but it's a great day when I get to paint something.

"Cups with Ace of Hearts"

An espresso cup, sake cup, spoon and ace of hearts.   Items that don't really go together, but I like it :)
It was fun to paint.

"Simply Lemony" Oil on 6x6 in. board

I wanted to paint some limes today, but it just wasn't working out.  I cut one open, and they'd been sitting around too long, and it was sort of dry inside.  So.. I went back to the lemons and spiral cut the peel of one, and forgot all about the limes for now.   I thought about adding a knife or something else to this painting, but I decided to leave it alone, and keep it simple. 

"Lemons like Sunshine and Green Leaves" Oil on board, 5x7 inches

I bought some lemons, limes and grapefruit the other day because they remind me of warmer weather.   I miss the sunshine and green leaves!  Still only snow outside and empty trees.  

I started this painting on a toned gessobord.  It's the first time I used an orange tone, I mixed some red and yellow ochre acrylic paint, and thinned it down with water.  I didn't think I'd like painting over the orange color.  I mixed  a nice light (oil) color for the background and when I put it over the orange it clashed so much I was tempted to change it.  But, on my palette the color looked like what I wanted so I stuck with it, and once the painting was filled in, it looked really nice with the faint bits of orange showing through.

I liked it so much, I toned a couple more boards with the same color.  Maybe I'll try a painting of those limes next!

"Apple with Playing Cards" Oil on 7x5 inch canvas board

I thought I would like to try a different process with this one to get a more detailed look.   I go back and forth between wanting to do something with a bit looser feel and something more detailed.    I started on a toned gray canvas board, with a drawing and an underpainting.  I used black, terra rosa and a little white painted thinly.  It was nice to start this way, because I wouldn't have had time to do a complete painting.  Then during the next couple of days while I had to work, it was a good feeling knowing I had something started that I could look forward to finishing when I got the time. 
 
It was dry when I got back to it, and I started painting in with thicker paint. 
I was near the finish when I thought that all the empty white space of the ace card needed a change.  I thought to bend the card to make more interesting shapes there. 
I liked the triangle shaped shadow it created.  It interfered with the stem though, so I wound up turning the stem in the other direction.

Note:   The painting is signed with my initials, it isn't in the photo because I signed it after I took the pictures.  It took so long to get a good image, I didn't want to re take them :)

Also, the framed image below is only for an example, the painting is not actually framed.

"Blue Glass and Orange" Oil on 5x7 in. canvas board

I hesitate to post this photo, for some reason it appears very washed out.  I don't know why it is coming through this way only on blogger.  I've tried a few times and can't seem to figure it out.   The same image on ebay and Daily Paintworks looks like it should. The blue mug is much darker.

  Below is an image of my painting in progress...
That cut orange smelled so juicy and sweet, I had a hard time not just eating it and forgetting about the painting.  (it didn't go to waste though, I ate it anyway, even after sitting out for hours, it was still good:)

"Eggs, Cup and Spoon" Oil on 6x6 in. board

We had a very snowy day here today... I'm really getting tired of all the snow, but I have to admit, it's fun to watch a snowstorm if you don't have to go anywhere.  I think the whiteness outside has been influencing my still life subject choices.  I like the whites in this painting along with the neutral tones of the background and spoon.  The rose on the cup makes a nice touch of color. 

"Eggs and Decorative Papers" Oil on 6x6 in. board

 

 

 I started this one thinking the simple black, white and grays would be nice.  It didn't take long before I lost interest, and left it for a few days.  When I got back to it, I tried a few ideas to make it into something I wanted to paint.   When I added the red piece of paper, that seemed to do it for me.  I think I must see enough black, white and gray outside,  and I needed some bright color!

"Kings and Queens" Oil on 6x6 board.

I've been wanting to do a painting of playing cards and wondered if I would like to make the designs on the cards with lots of detail, or if I would just do a looser version.  But, as I was drawing the image on the board, I felt like it would be fun to do all the details.  

Below are a couple of  in progress photos.  The first shows the board I started on.  I first painted over the gesso with a gray mix of acrylic paint.  I drew the design with pencil and then painted it in with acrylic raw umber.  Once that was dry, I started painting in color with oil.  I had the cards close by to copy from.

"Egg, Salt and Spoon" Oil on 7x5 inch canvas board

I set up this still life and noticed how my choice of color,( mostly white), was probably caused by the constant view of snow and gray sky I see every day. 

Although, we did have a few days above freezing recently that melted most of the snow.  Now there are actually patches of green to look at :-)

"Peeled Orange 2014" Oil on 7x5 in. board

sold


Happy New Year Everyone!

 I painted this orange yesterday, and finished it up today, so that makes it my first painting of the year! 

I'm looking forward to this year and hope to continue painting, learning, and exploring lots of new things. Thanks to everyone who has collected my work, and also to all of my art blog friends out there who comment and keep me motivated.  I appreciate it very much!

"Forelle Pears" Oil on 5x7 in. board

Happy Holidays everyone! :-D

Here are two colorful Forelle pears.  I love the beautiful ruby red color beside the yellow/green.

I started this painting on a board that had a dried unfinished painting on it.  I had spread some thinned raw umber paint over it and let it dry so I could start this new painting.

"Madonna and Child with Candle" Oil on 8x10 in. canvas

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 Sorry for the glare in this picture, it's lightening the upper background a bit.  I'll try to get a better one soon.  

I had some Christmas postage stamps that had this image of Raphael's Madonna and Child on them, and I liked it so much, I thought I'd try and use it in a painting.  I looked for an image of it on the internet, and found that it is actually a larger painting, and it's called "Madonna of the Candleabra".  It has a couple of angels faces, and tall candles on each side.  I printed a cropped version of it, and added a candle.   I've always wanted to try to paint a lit candle. 

 Below is a picture of it in progress.  

Thanks for looking!

"Candy Cane and Holly" Oil on 5x7 board

work in progress photo

"Pomegranate and Pears" Oil on 5x7 board

This is still the same pomegranate as in the last painting.  I set this still life up days ago, but didn't have time to paint it.  I took some pictures of it then, which was good, because now the fruit is over ripe, and I had the photos to refer to. 

"Pomegranate" Oil on 6x6 board

I looked though all of the pomegranates at the store to find one with the little tips still on the top.  I found this one and wrapped it carefully and got it home with the tips still on.  That made me happy, because so many times they break off before I get home!  Anyway...  it seemed like painting it took forever, I felt like every time I looked at it, there were more colors of red to try and figure out.  They are so pretty. 

"Fruit with Persimmon and Cranberries" Oil on 8x10 board

sold

Here is the finished painting!   There are so many different textures and colors in this painting, I learned alot as I worked on it.  Thanks for looking :-)

Fruit with Persimmon... 8x 10...work in progress

 

I've been looking for a white ceramic pedestal bowl to use in my still lifes for a long time.    I finally spotted this one at the Goodwill store!  Yesssss!! I was so happy!!!   I wanted to do a larger painting with it, and arranged some fruit in it, including a persimmon I bought just for the occasion.  I did this little pastel drawing before starting the painting. 

I started the painting on a  gessoed board using some acrylic raw umber for the sketch.  Once it was dry, which didn't take long, I colored in with oil paint.

I added a small seckel pear, cranberries and some green leaves to fill in the space better.  I haven't quite finished it, but hopefully will post the finished painting soon.  :-)