"Tea and Biscotti" Oil on 6x8 inch board

 
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Here is a picture of work in progress.   I worked from a photo on my ipad to get this 'more over head' view of my subject and referred to my real life set up to paint from.

"Tea and Lemon" Oil on 6x6 inch board

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Here is a picture of my set up, and the start of my painting.   I used my camera to take several photos of the cup and lemon in different positions, also with and without the cloth... I chose the composition I liked best and used it to start my painting.  The set up remained for me to paint from life, as a photo never really has the best color or feel of the real thing!

"Mixed Fruit Bowl" Oil on 8x10 inch canvas

"Peeled Lemon and Cranberries" Oil on 5x7 inch board

Here is a picture of work in progress
Thank you for stopping to look at my artwork today!

"Creamer with Persimmon and Pear" Oil on board 6x8 inches

Hello! and Happy New Year!   This is the first painting I've done this year.    I had gotten a variety of fruits a couple of weeks ago, but busy with the holidays, I just didn't have the time to spend painting them.  So, I thought I might spend a bit of time making some arrangements with the fruit and other objects and photographing them white they were still fresh.   Now, with the holidays over, I still have a few pieces of this fruit to refer to,  but it was fun looking back over my photos and choosing one to paint.  I don't usually work this way, but it was fun and worked out nicely.
(note: at the time I took the photo of the painting, I hadn't signed it, but it is signed now)

I set my ipad up with my photo displayed to paint by!

Here are a couple of progress photos.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my artwork!

"Clementines, Acorns and Cranberries" Oil on 5x7 inch canvas board

The holidays are quickly approaching... and with Christmas only a few short days away I've been too busy to even think about sitting down to paint.  But, today I found myself sitting at my easel working on a painting that I had done a few weeks ago but wasn't really happy with.  I made a little pile of clementines, they really are darling (like it says on the bag) so cute and small.... and I added some cranberries in for color.  

One new, and one reworked painting...

"Winter Pomegranate"  Oil on 6x6 inch board

Available on Etsy
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I decided to rework the background of this pomegranate.  I like it much better.
And below, is a new painting... a peeled clementine and a sunburst tangerine....

"Peeled Clementine and Sunburst"  Oil on 5x7 inch board

sold

My favorite part of this one is the glow of light showing through in the back of the peeled tangerine.

Matted Drawings

I picked out a few of my favorite drawings from this year, and matted them.  You can view some of them on my drawing blog, here, by scrolling down the page.   They are in a  variety of medium, charcoal, pastel and graphite.   

They are available for sale in my Etsy shop.  

"Pomegranate" Oil on 6x6 inch board

I love the unusual shape of pomegranates, and wanted to paint one.  I looked for one that still had the little tips still attached on top.   This one had a couple tips missing, but still such a beautiful red, and fun shape to paint.  Here are a couple in progress pics...  I had chosen a piece of decorative paper to use in the background, but decided not to use it.  

"White Cup with Tangerine, Blue and Turquoise" Oil on 6x8 inch board

Finally, a new painting to post!  And I really love this one, the combination of orange, blue and turquoise is so attractive to me.  The flower pattern is a sheet of decorative paper, and so is the blue base.  The white cup is from the Goodwill store. 

"Black Plum in October" Oil on 8x10 inch canvas board

I followed a triad color scheme of violet, green and orange for this one. 

"Autumn Gourds" Oil on 8x6 inch board

sold

 Didn't get any pictures while painting this one, but here it is close to the end, with the set up. 

"Autumn Gourds and Acorn" Oil on canvas board, 5x7 inches

sold

This is painted on a canvas panel that I had applied about 3-4 extra coats of gesso, and then a coat of acrylic paint in a neutral shade.   You can see some of my other drawings of the little collection of gourds I had picked up from a nearby farm market here.  I love all of their shapes and colors!

"Plum, Apple and Grapes" Oil on 6x8 inch board

I started this one on the white gessoed surface with very thin oil paint.  I waited about an hour hoping this underpainting would be dry enough to work on top of.  It wasn't quite dry enough, but I went ahead and continued anyway.   I painted in the background first, then the fruit.
 The finished photo above is a bit bright.. especially the green apple around the highlight.

""Crab Apples" Oil on 6x8 inch board

I recently did some drawings of crab apples from my backyard tree. (see them here)  I decided to do a painting too, since I just love the contrast in colors of yellow/green and red.
I started with a pencil sketch on a gessoed panel...

After the sketch, I sealed the drawing with a mix of turp. and damar varnish. (I'm trying that again, making sure to wipe off the excess better)  Once it was dry,  I colored in with thinned oil paint...and then, I put it up on my easel to finish.  I added some more leaves to fill out the space better.

"Acorns and a Mineola" Oil on 5x7 inch canvas board

So, just trying something a little bit different.  This is a canvas board that I added 3 or 4 extra coats of gesso to, and sanded it a bit.  I sealed the dry gessoed surface with a mix of oderless mineral spirits and damar varnish.  That dried fairly quickly and I began my painting.  I thought I would do a sort of under painting and leave the details and color for another session.  I was surprised to find, that my painting stayed moist for days on this surface, and I just kept going back to it whenever I had time.  I added, scraped off, added again... until I was happy.  I'm not sure how long this painting will take to dry completely.  I don't think I'll do the coat of oms/damar again... even tho it made a nice surface to paint on. and I'm happy with the painting.   I'm not sure about the slow drying time.  We'll see how this one goes tho.

                                 
                                         
I took this picture after I had already painted on the board and scraped and wiped off what I had done and started again. 

"Strawberries and Cup" Oil on 5x5 inch board

sold

"Daisy and Blackberries" Oil on 5x7 inch board

sold

It's that time of the season, lots of flowers to pick, and these blackberries I found while out on a bike ride.  I stopped to pick a hand full, and brought them home.  I was disappointed, they were a little bitter... but still nice to add to my still life!

"Lemon with Basil and Garlic" Oil on 8x10 inch canvas board

sold

 I started this one on a canvas panel that I primed with tinted gesso.  I used thinned paint to begin with.  (I had taken the basil out of the set up and set it in a glass of water to keep it from wilting)

I had taken a picture of the basil first, so as it changed position, I could just refer to the picture.  I was surprised to find I had more trouble painting the lemon, than the basil.  I thought it would be the other way around.

"Neapolitan with Cherry" Oil on 8x6 hardboard

Neapolitan ice cream in a cone with a cherry on top. 

"Purple Flowers and Turquoise Ribbon on Yellow" OIl on 6x8 inch hardboard

sold

"Cherries and Daisies" Oil on 5x7 inch board

I began this painting with the cherries and little bowl, but decided it seemed a bit boring... and with a garden full of blooming flowers I should try and paint a few of them.  So, I picked a couple daisies to add into the picture.

 

"PB&J" Oil on 5x7 inch board

I've always wanted to paint a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.   I used to make them for my kids, and each time I would think how pretty the jelly was, and I'd notice the swirl designs in the peanut butter and how it might make a nice little painting.  So, when I saw Abbey Ryan's DPW painting challenge, inviting others to paint a PB&J, I was excited!! Yes! I'm totally gonna do that! lol....    and so I made a pb&j but I like how the peices of bread look before putting them together in a sandwich.  So, I set them up and took pictures from an over head view, and then made the sandwich,cut it, and took pictures of that... and decided I liked it better the first way I had it.
So, I quick printed out the picture I liked best, and used that to go by.  And, I left my "deconstructed" sandwich out on the table,  so I could still see the actual colors of the subject to paint by.  There was only 1/2 a sandwich left then,  I couldn't help but eat the other half! It looked and smelled so good, and I haven't eaten a peanut butter and jelly in ages! Yum!  ...  thanks Abbey for the challenge, what a treat it was!

my painting with the reference pic below it

...an extra piece of bread to get the color right

jelly on a new piece of bread to help

Oh, and just a side note... I discovered this painting will look just the same no matter which end is up...ie:

...although, my signature would be upside down...hmmm.