"Strawberries in a Dish" 5x7

I bought this little dish the other day, only because I wanted to use it in a painting. I thought these strawberries would look pretty against the shiny white ceramic surface of the dish.

"Pair of Poppies" (Finish)

Oil on 11"x14" Canvas
I'm really proud of how this painting came out. This is a larger painting than usual, and is painted on a Winsor & Newton stretched canvas.

"Pair of Poppies" Oil on Canvas, 11"x14"

(in progress)

These oriental poppies were from my garden, I took a picture of them back in June. I found out a long time ago, poppies don't do well cut and put in a vase, they droop after only a few minutes. But, they look so gorgeous and big when they are put in a vase, away from the usual garden setting. I wanted to make a larger painting of them. Here are some photos of my progress. I'll finish it up tomorrow.

Poppies

I have been following artist Michelle Burnett's blog, "Following the Masters", where she invites anyone who's interested to join in and try her monthly painting challenge. The challenge is to try and replicate a painting by a master, and this month's suggested challenge has to do with Poppies,( or your own favorite flower, or garden scene). Poppies make me think of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and her wonderful paintings of poppies. I thought I would try and copy one of her paintings, and I picked this one from a book I have. It was a very interesting experience trying to replicate her style. It looks easier than it is, for sure! Wow!! All those subtle value changes, and magical brush strokes, I just couldn't seem to follow along like I thought I'd be able to. But, I kept at it, and I like how it came out. My version is done in oil on a 16"x20" canvas. The original by Georgia O'keeffe is called "Poppies" and is 36"x30" and was painted in 1950. It can be seen at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Also, I started a painting of my own poppies, from a picture I took while they were blooming in June. I'll post my progress on that one tomorrow.

"Banana and Strawberry with Box"

This is painted in oil on a 5"x7" Ampersand Hardbord. I recently bought a package of hardbord to try, instead of using the gessobord. It's the same kind of panel, but the gessobord already has gesso on it, and the hardbord does not. I like putting my own gesso on, I did 2 seperate coats, one brushed up and one brushed across, criss crossing each other. It made a nice soft pattern, almost like the threads of cloth.

Impatiens 5x7

Oil on Ampersand hardbord
More impatiens, I used a shot glass as a vase for them this time.

Daisy and Impatiens 6x6

Oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 6"x6"
These little impatien flowers are such bright vivid colors it was hard to match them, but I tried. I just couldn't seem to find a paint color that would compare with those brilliant fushia/magenta petals. Also, I found this composition very interesting. The box sitting up behind the flowers seems to cause me to think I'm looking at a more rectangular painting instead of a square one.

Green Grapes on a Box 5x7

I finally had a free day to paint, and did this one of some grapes. I also did another of some small flowers, but couldn't get a good picture of it. I'll try again tomorrow.

Lemons and Cherry 6"x6"

I haven't had time to paint in quite a while, but I finally finished this little one of a cut up lemon and a cherry. It was difficult trying to figure out just what color to do the background. Every time I painted it in, I'd see it later on, and not like it. I finally mixed up some permanent rose with some cad. orange... wow! what a color that is, and then added some ultramarine blue. It made a nice mixture that I thought complimented the lemons.