Watercolor Strawberry and jelly beans

Eating jelly beans and painting another strawberry, I decided to put some jelly beans in the picture, too. It was good practice.

Watercolor practice

I thought I would try some watercolor strawberries... none of them came out very well. It amazes me when I see watercolors done well, they look effortless and beautiful. Mine so far just look overworked, and blotchy... but, I never seem to give up.
I tried an apple instead, and this came out a little better. Both are done on a 5x7 peice of W&N 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Strawberry halves 5x7 oil

I painted this strawberry today. I think it might still need some fixing up, but I like it so far.

Grapes and orange slices, 5x7 oil

I thought I would add some orange slices to the grapes painting. The orange seemed to go well with the violet color of the grapes. I think it looks much better now. This painting is sold.

grapes

A close up. Oil on 5x7 board.

Grapes.. in Progress...

When I see a lovely painting of grapes, it makes me want to try it myself.. I'm satisfied with it so far, but I see where it could use some improvement, I'm just not sure where yet.

Orange slices and strawberry

I've set the painted box aside for now... and decided to work on something different. This is an oil painting done on a 5x7 gessobord. I really like how this one came out!

more progress....

A picture of the little box, in progress...

A finished picture of the "mosaic" tray, although I haven't put the final coats of varnish on yet.

In progress...

Since I love the look of stone mosaic tiles, I thought I would try to paint a design on this tray to look like it is really made of stone tiles. I'll have it finished soon....

something different

I have been wanting to paint some decorative objects lately. I had painted a little wooden box, and a tray a few months ago and I really enjoyed it. Now, I'm getting some new ideas for more. I'm posting a picture of the new ones I have just started, and the ones that are already finished.




Wooden tray painted with white gesso.



This is a little box painted with gesso and I have penciled in a design on it. My idea is to make it look like a lace doily laying over the box... we'll see how it comes out. I may even change my mind about it...


This sweet little box is my favorite. Painted with acrylic paints to realistically depict a pretty bow, and little viola flowers and even a tiny lady bug. The bottom is also painted to look like the ribbon continues all the way around the box.

This is another of my favorites. The same type of tray as shown above, unfinished, but I have painted it to look as if it has an inlaid wood design. I also added a realistic looking moth and flower just for fun!

Two Gala Apples

5x7 oil on panel.

Apple

This is another one of my practice paintings. A macintosh apple, painted in oil on 5x7 panel.

Practice

This is a 16x20 canvas that I divided into 9 small squares, and each day or so, I painted something new in each square. It was fun, and good practice, and having them all on one canvas made it easier to compare, to see the areas where I improved, and needed to improve. I included a few close ups of my favorites.


A peeled tangerine. (It smelled so good I ate most of it before I could paint the picture!)

A macintosh apple

Burgundy colored creamer. ( I have to work on taking better pictures, this one is washed out a bit)