"Peach Cherry Still Life"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel
I bought this little hand painted ceramic pot months ago, thinking I'd use it in a painting, but I haven't tried it until now. I love all the colors and designs in it, it was fun to paint.

"Cantaloupe and Nectarine and Cherries"

This is a painting that I had done a few days ago, you can see it here. It was nice, but, I felt like I needed to make some changes to it. I had some cherries nearby and thought it would be nice to add a couple of those, and maybe it would balance the composition out a little better. And I changed the background color. The nectarine and the slice of cantaloupe aren't much different. I like it much better now. :-)

"Black Plum with Peach"

Available on "Fresh Paint Daily Painters"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel
I'm enjoying painting this black plum, it has such a beautiful dark color and subtle reflections in it's skin. Also, I have rediscovered chromium oxide green, (or oxide of chromium). I've had a tube kicking around in my paint box for... years? Don't know why I've been ignoring it. I have been experimenting lately with various mixtures to produce green, using blues and thalo green, and viridian with yellows. The c o green is really great! Very opaque and makes nice natural looking greens when mixed with different yellows, or add blue or brown to make it darker. Add a tiny bit to any red, with a touch of yellow and see what happens!!.. A juicy looking red just right for painting strawberries!!
Thanks to everyone for the awesome comments!! You're the best :)

"Cut Orange and Cherries"

Oil on 5"x5" hardboard panel

"Black Plum and Lemon"

Oil on 5'x7" hardboard panel

I can't help it, there's something so appealing about fruit, I love to paint it. So many colors and textures, and shapes to choose from. I also find that it is a sort of mysterious thing. How a piece of fruit comes to be. How many varieties and flavors, almost an endless assortment! The same with flowers too. Just makes me think of how creative, and clever, and immense God's imagination is. Awesome :-)

"Cantaloupe and Nectarine"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel.

"Roma Tomatoes"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard
These Roma tomatoes are from a friend's garden. I've never painted tomatoes before, so I wanted to give it a try. I love the different shapes of these. The reds photographed a bit too red though, but this is the best I could get it.

"Hosta Leaves and Petunias"

Oil on hardboard panel, 5"x7"
I like the green and white pattern on these hosta leaves. The little petunia flowers are from a hanging basket I have. I added them to the painting for some color. They look like petunias, but they are much smaller, I'm not sure exactly what they are called.
Every time I paint something green, I experiment with a different mixture of colors to see what works best. This time I used prussian blue with different yellows. I've used thalo blue, or viridian, or winsor green, and I've come to think that it doesn't make much difference to me which way I mix it, they all are pretty close once you add yellows and bits of brown or red to it.

Flowers in a Cup 5"x7"

Available on "Fresh Paint Daily Painters"

Oil on hardboard panel
"Memories of Summer"
These little flowers are from my yard. I put them in a dixie cup together, and I noticed right away how pretty that little red flower looked next to the yellow one.

"Strawberries and Grapes on White Cloth"

Oil on 5"x7" hardboard panel

I've been doing some thinking about design, and composition. Contrasts of color, shape, light and dark... etc. All the things that make a painting interesting to look at. I'm not always mindful of making sure these things are a part of my design. I've been doing alot of drawing lately too. And I notice that I really like drawing things with wavy lines, so I decided to put the focus on the folds of fabric in this little painting, and put the fruit up at the top. It's different, but a nice change, I like it.

I don't have any new paintings to post, and it isn't because I haven't had time to paint. I've been taking time to paint every day this week, but always wind up wiping off what I've done. I'm disappointed, and don't quite know what is wrong. So, I guess I'll just stop trying for a while, and wait and see what happens.