White lily

Here is a picture of an easter lily that has just bloomed in my garden. I don't know if this is the usual time for them to bloom, I had bought this as a potted plant last Easter (2007), and after it died, I kept it in the basement, not paying any attention to it, until I saw some new growth coming up, so as soon as it was warm enough this spring,I planted it outside. It slowly grew, and I was so pleased to see it get flower buds, and now they are opening. I wish I could paint a picture of these beautiful flowers, but I'm a little intimidated by that thought. I would be disappointed if I couldn't do it justice. Anyway, I thought I'd at least post this picture, and maybe if I do get some time, and they are still in bloom, I'll give it a try. Actually, I think a watercolor painting would really be pretty of these flowers, but, we'll see...

I haven't had much time to think about painting lately, my youngest son graduated from High School today, and we're planning a party for him... that'll be fun, but I am also looking forward to when I'm not so busy, and can settle down and have some time to myself to sit and think up something new to paint.

Bananas and Tangerine 8"x10" Oil on Board

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click here to view this painting on eBay.
I played around with this painting today, and decided just to add some new lines and darker values here and there to fill in the space better. I like it much better now. I tried to think of some new object to add, but everything I thought of just seemed to complicate things more. So. I think I am finished with this one.

Bananas and Tangerine

8x10 Oil on Ampersand Hardbord
I thought I would try and do something with a painting that I had started quite a few weeks ago. I had put it away, since I didn't like it very much -for whatever reason, I don't really know. I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I started working on it again, but I didn't. Well, I fixed it up a little, and I'm still working on it, I think I might need to add something in the lower right, near the banana...it seems unbalanced to me with the banana in the back going out of the picture and nothing to balance it out on the other side... I can't just take that banana out, because thats what the tangerine is sitting on... hmmmmm Maybe I'll just have to put it away again for a while.... I don't know yet.

Two Strawberries on a Napkin

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Here are a couple of pictures of the finished strawberry painting. It is a 5x7, painted on canvas panel. I've posted 2 pictures since they each are a bit different. The top one is good, but has a bit of a glare on the background, so it doesn't look as dark as it really is. The bottom one shows the darker colors better, and looks more like the real painting.

Available for purchase on eBay, click here to view the listing.

2 Strawberries on a Napkin (oil sketch) 5x7

I started this painting today, of 2 strawberries. They are in season now! I thought I would start this painting in a way that I like to draw. On a toned surface, with just a dark color and white. I don't have time to go any further on it today, but I think that's good, because it should be dry by tomorrow and then I can add color, and try to keep the values of color the same as the values in the sketch.

Nectarine, and Green Grapes.

Oil on 5x7 canvas panel

Here is my finished painting, the grapes were a very hard thing to paint, I don't know what my problem is with green!!! I can't seem to realize how yellow some green things are. Maybe I should just forget about putting any green out on my palette, and just use the yellow, and blue. I had a teacher once explain that it was a good idea, when painting green things, especially in landscapes, not to use a green, because then you're stuck with it, you can't adjust it toward yellow, or blue... Actually, that was in a watercolor class, so I suppose, in oil it would be different, you can always change it... Anyway, after a few tries, I was happy with the way they came out. The reds and oranges in the nectarine seemed for me to be much easier to understand, and to paint. I also changed the position of the nectarine a bit, the stem seemed too close to the center, it looks better turned to the side a bit.

Nectarine and Grapes (in progress)

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Today, I worked on a painting of a nectarine, and some green grapes. Here are pictures of my set up and of the painting. Not very good pictures, but, once the painting is finished, I'll take the extra time to get better ones.

Small Wedge of Watermelon, with Cherries

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Here are a couple of photos of the finished painting. I think it's a nice little summer time painting. I'll remember how hot these last few days have been here, every time I look at it, and of the other piece of melon that didn't make it into the painting, I ate it instead.

This painting is SOLD.

(in progress) Watermelon Wedge, and Cherries 5x7 canvas panel

I thought I would paint a peice of watermelon today, and a couple of cherries. I have been experimenting with different surfaces, and this time I'm painting on a canvas panel that I had already painted a gray tone on, and let dry. I like it alot! I've also tried other methods, like, painting right onto the gessoed surface, or toning it with thin color and turpentine... so far I think I like the feel of this the best... for right now. So, here's a quick picture of my subject, and the painting I've started.

Lemon Cherry, Oil on 5x7 Canvas Panel

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I made a few little adjustments to the painting, so here are a couple of new finished pictures of the lemon cherry painting. (The color variation is due to the difference in lighting of each photo, but the painting is the same in each one)

Lemon Cherry

I saw these cherries in the store and bought them so that I could use them in a painting. It didn't occur to me to eat any of them, until I was arranging some, and thought I'd try one....I couldn't stop eating them! they were so delicious!!! It was hard leaving the 4 on the table... I really tried hard to finish this painting, only so I could finish eating those cherries. They were fun to paint. The lemon on the other hand was more challenging than I expected. I'm happy with how it finally came out though. I will post it for sale on eBay soon.

Orange Bell Pepper and Chive Blossoms

Oil on 5"x7" W&N Canvas Panel

Click on image to enlarge

Another hot sunny humid day, so I sat in the a/c and finished my orange pepper painting. I like it, I don't really "get" why I added the chive blossoms, I think it might be because I was waiting for them to bloom, and I noticed them the same day I was planning on painting the pepper, and the lavender color of the flowers seemed to be a nice compliment to the orange color of the pepper. I'm not sure if there is a rule that orange and purple would look good together, but I like it. Sorry about the quality of the picture, the colors are great, but the edges of the panel always seem to bend in in the photo. I cropped it, but the edge is still visible.

Orange Bell Pepper (in progress)

I finally recieved my art supply order of painting panels and some new tubes of paint and a brand new glass palette! I'm excited because one of my new colors is Cadmium orange, which I have never had before. I always passed on it in the store thinking I could always use cad. yellow, and cad. red to make it... and they are so expensive.. but Wow!! I'm so happy I have it now, it's such a great color. So, here's what I worked on today, an orange bell pepper, and some chive flowers. The pepper is from the store, the chives from my garden.

It was such a hot day today, summer seems to have arrived all at once out of the blue. It is about 90 degrees today. Just a couple days ago, it was in the 60's. It seemed to me that the hot orange color in my painting seemed to fit how it felt today.

Rainy Day

I haven't been painting for a couple of days, I spent yesterday working in the garden, and today it rained, and stayed cloudy and wet all day, I drew in my sketch book... and I am patiently waiting for my order of art supplies to arrive. I ordered some winsor & newton canvas panels, I'm eager to see what they are like, I've always used Fredrix before, and some more Ampersand gessobords.. and some paint, and a new glass palette, which I really miss having, since my last one broke a few weeks ago. So, there's that.

Iris in a Small Bottle, oil on linen on board.

A few little touch ups on this painting, and some new photos of it. What a difference the lighting makes when taking a picture! This painting will be listed on eBay tonight(Sunday). Now I just have to wait for my order of art supplies to come next week, and I'll have a whole new batch of painting panels to work on!! This painting is sold.