"Christmas Ornaments w/ Ribbon 2"

Available on eBay, Click Here
Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel
I had taken a few pictures of my ornament set up the other day, and couldn't decide which composition I liked better. So, I thought I would just do both. Here is a second painting with the same ornaments and ribbon. I loved painting the shine of the ribbon and all the reflections in the ornaments. I think I'll be looking for more reflective, shiny things to paint in the future.

Christmas Ornament with Gold Ribbon

Available on eBay, Click Here
Oil on 6"x6" hardboard
Here is a picture of my finished painting taken in outdoor light. No snow here yet, I can still go outside and take pictures!

Christmas ornaments and Ribbon

Oil on 6"x6" board
I thought I would try to get myself into the holiday spirit today, by getting out a few Christmas decorations. But, once I saw the ornaments, I abandoned my decorating and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to paint an ornament and a piece of ribbon. I've never tried this before, and now I know why other artists desire to paint reflective surfaces, it's sooo fun, and different from anything else. I think this one is finished, I took this picture of it while it was still on the easel. The picture didn't come out too bad, but I'll take another one hopefully tomorrow in better light.

"Peeled Tangerine with Cranberries"

Oil on 5"x7"Linen panel
I peeled the tangerine, and painted another picture of it with some cranberries. This one is done on a linen panel that I had made. I had primed the panel with a thin "scumble" of raw sienna oil paint and then let it dry. Painting on this surface was enjoyable. The dark paint in the background is thin and transparent, and the light foreground is also thin, but opaque. The tangerine is painted thicker, which makes a nice contrast. This was my last linen panel, I think I'd like to make some more!

"Tangerine, Nuts and Cranberries"

Oil on 5"x7" Canvas Panel
Around this time of year it seems that I always have these items in the kitchen. They look good together, like they might be ingredients in some sort of holiday recipe. Orange Cranberry bread comes to mind. Anyway, I enjoyed painting this one, I might try another with these subjects sometime. I especially liked putting the highlights on the cranberries, they look like little jewels.
Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments, I appreciate them so much!!

"The Pink Flower that starts with "A"...

Oil on 8"x10" Canvas Panel
These pink flowers came as part of a larger bouquet. I always see these flowers in bouquets and never remember their name, other than - it starts with an "a". So, I made a point of looking it up, and they are called "Alstroemeria" (no wonder I can't ever remember it).
You can read about them here if you like.
This painting was difficult to take a picture of, because as the lighting changed, the reds and pinks seem to appear cooler or warmer. In warm indoor light or sunlight, the pinks seem more of a coral color, and outdoors in cooler light, or cool light from a window, the pinks and reds seem more magenta. After taking many pictures of it, the image I'm posting is the one I feel represents it the best. (at least on my monitor it does, there are always subtle differences on each monitor.)
and btw, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

"Apple in Shadow with Grapes"

Oil on 6"x6" Hardboard panel
There is a bit of glare in the dark areas in this photo, I'll try to get a better one, but this one is good for now.

"Cut Orange"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel
I started this painting earlier in the week, and never got back to finish it until today. The orange I had cut up was still sitting on display, starting to mold. I'm glad I waited to finish it, because I never was quite happy with the background color, but I didn't know why. Today, seeing it again after a few days had gone by, I could see why. The background color was too warm, too similar to the oranges, I thought mixing up a color with more blue in it might look better. I spread a bit of the new color on with a palette knife, and liked the color and also, it seemed to make the orange look brighter. I found that the texture the knife left in the paint was interesting, too, as it left the color underneath showing through here and there. I brushed it out a touch, and had to struggle to make myself leave it alone! I just have a habit of "petting" the paint with the brush, and sometimes too much of that makes for a boring surface.

Tangerine Painting with Pear and Apple (Finish)

(Above) "Tangerine" Oil on 5"x7" Linen Panel


"Fruit with Tangerine Painting" Oil on 6"x8" Linen Panel

Here is the little tangerine painting I did, and a painting of that painting with a bosc pear and a ginger gold apple with it. The tangerine didn't originally have any leaves on it, I just taped a sprig of leaves to it to paint by. And as that painting sat finished, I brought out the pear and apple to see what I could do next, and noticed how nice they looked sitting in front of the tangerine painting. So, decided to paint it that way. I had fun painting these.

Fruit with a Painting of Fruit (WIP)

I had painted a small painting of a tangerine with leaves the other day, and somehow thought it would look interesting in the background of another painting of fruit. I liked how all the colors went together. I'm finding the apple very hard to paint, it has such a beautiful soft creamy color, with a touch of a pink blush. I'm still working on it.

Bosc Pear

Oil on 5x7 linen panel
I made some linen panels for myself, and did this painting of a bosc pear. The pear had so many colors in it, and the longer I looked at it the more it seemed to have. Yellowish browns and pinks and greens. I used pthalo green with this one, and I think it worked much better than viridian, which is what I've been using. I seem to switch back and forth between those 2 greens. I had stained the panel with a thin layer of terra rosa, and it shows through a bit around the edges.

"Citrus Fruits"

Oil on 5x7 hardboard
A few colorful fruits, and a sprig of leaves. I have been using this same little leafy stem for weeks now, it was originally in a floral arrangement I received on my birthday in July!! I have no idea what it's called, but, I've kept it in a vase and I keep changing the flowers, and it hasn't shown any signs of wilting yet! I wonder how long it will last?

"Apple with Leaves"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard
I finished painting this apple yesterday. The apple is from the grocery store, and the leaves are from a crab apple tree in my backyard. I like the look of the dying leaves, together with the ripened fruit.
Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful comments, they are so greatly appreciated!!!

Autumn Hydrangea

Above: The finished painting .................. Below: Work in Progress

Oil on hard board panel
I started this painting a couple of weeks ago, and I finally got around to finishing it up this weekend. I thought I would include a picture of it in progress along with the finished image. I always think it's so interesting to look back, and see what it looked like at an earlier stage.

Self Portrait

Oil on 8"x10" canvas panel

When I saw the latest challenge on Michelle Burnett's blog, "Following the Masters", which was to do a self portrait, I dared myself to try it. And I'm glad I did. I've always wanted to try a portrait of myself, since it seems like a safe way to practice portraiture, (I'm the only one who's gotta be pleased with it). Since I've never been able to successfully draw myself in the mirror, I decided to take some pictures and use one for a reference. I used a canvas panel that I put 2 extra coats of gesso on, and sanded a bit. It smoothed out the surface, so that the canvas texture wasn't so distracting. The colors I used most were, transparent oxide brown, yellow ochre, cadmium scarlet, ultramarine blue, viridian, some burnt umber, and white.
I painted until I got to this point, and didn't quite know what I wanted to change about it, so I stopped, and decided if I wanted to change anything, I would just wait, and do another painting some other time. Changing this one, at this point would probably make it look worked over too much.

Vacation

I've been away for a week or so, in Virginia visiting my sister. Now that I'm home, I hope to get some new painting done!

Kreative Blogger Award

How nice, thank you to Lyn O'Neal for including me in her list of Kreative Blogger Awards. She has just started her blog not too long ago, so give her a visit! I will list a few things about myself, and then pass the award along to a few other artists.

1. Besides drawing and painting, my other interests over the years have been sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidering, and I even built a doll house or two.
2. I enjoy taking walks, and riding my bike.
3. I like to bake, especially cakes, pies, and desserts.
4. I love to eat cakes, pies, and desserts, especially cookies!
   
5. I"ve lived here in Rochester, NY, near lake Ontario, my whole life.
6. I love watercolor painting, and how I've tried over the years, but I just don't seem to have the knack. So, I am fascinated by those who do! Same with playing music.
   

Ok, enough about me, here are some artist who I would like to pass the award along to:
Give them a visit!

1. Silvia Williams Watercolors
   
2. Laura's Watercolors
3. Melody Lamb
   
4. Following the Masters
5. Kathy Weber
6. Dar Presto

Also, visit some of the artists I have on my favorites list, they are all wonderful.

Oil on watercolor paper

Oil on watercolor paper, 5" x7"
I went to an art festival recently and saw some wonderful paintings by an artist who said he like to work in oil on heavy watercolor paper. So, I thought I'd try a little experiment and do an oil painting on some watercolor paper. I put a coat of gesso on it, and let it dry, and did this painting of an orange on a white cloth. I changed the color of the background and shadows many times, and wasn't too concerned with ending up with a finished painting, I was just playing around. Then I got an impulse to put this blue/green color in the shadows and I really liked it like that. So, that's where I left it. I might try this again and do a more finished painting.

"Tangerine and Mug 2 "

Oil on 5"x7" board
I used the same subjects in this painting as in the last one, just rearranged a bit. The blue, orange, and green seem to go so nicely together.
I notice on my color wheel that blue-violet, red-orange, and yellow-green are a triad color scheme, which is 3 colors equally spaced from each other on the color wheel. Color wheels can be so helpful when trying to compose a painting, I should try and look at mine more often.

Cupcake

(above) Oil sketch on gessoed paper, (Below) Oil on Linen panel

I wanted to try painting the newest "Different Strokes From Different Folks" challenge. A picture of a row of cupcakes. I picked the center cupcake to do a painting of. I have been wanting to try painting on linen again. So, recently I ordered a large piece of folded unprimed linen from Utrecht. I thought I'd cut a small piece of it and mount it on a hard board panel. So, I gessoed it and glued it to a panel, and then did my painting on it. I'm really excited to make some more panels this way.
I wasn't quite satisfied with my cupcake painting, and decided to do a sketch of it on gessoed paper to try some other colors, and to try and paint a bit looser. And, in the end, I like my sketch much better than my painting! I've since tried to change the painting to look more like the sketch, but, it wasn't working out, I just wound up making it worse. Oh well. So, here is a picture of my sketch, and a picture of the painting before I messed with it, and now that I look back, it doesn't look too bad after all. I hate when I do that!!!