"Wine with Grapes"

Oil on 8x6 hardboard panel

This is another painting I started last week but I didn't like the heavy dark background it had. (Just the opposite situation from the painting I did in my last post.) So... I thought I might try some lighter neutral background color. I like my dark backgrounds, but I think I'd like something lighter, and fresher for a change. I painted some pieces of poster board with some different light shades of acrylic craft paint. I put a sheet under the grapes and glass and another behind, changing the colors until I got something I liked, a warm gray behind, and a buff color below. The shadow from the glass was a little odd looking to me at first, but I kind of like it now. It's different!

Fruit Still Life

Oil on hardboard panel, 8x6x1/8 inches.

I had painted this last week, and wasn't really happy with it. I set up the fruit again the other day, and played with the lighting and found that the dark background looked better. (It had been a lighter background. ) So, now I think it looks better.

"Baby's Shoes"

Oil on 8x6 hardboard panel

These baby shoes belonged to my youngest son, who is now 20 years old. I remember taking him to the shoe store, where the clerk measured his foot and tried these shoes on him. He learned to walk in them... it doesn't seem that long ago! I've always loved this classic style of white baby shoes, they are ageless.

Origami Swan Painting

Oil on 8x6 in. Hardboard panel.

Available at Daily Paintworks Auction. Click here , and scroll down to view this and other paintings to be auctioned for Japan Relief.

This painting was painted for this week's Daily Paintworks "Help Japan" challenge. The Challenge is to do a painting that will be auctioned off from their site (not ebay), and the proceeds will be donated to Japan Disaster Relief efforts.
When I saw the challenge, I thought I would like to paint a Japanese subject and origami (the Japanese art of paper folding) came to mind. So, I found some video instructions on youtube, and made this paper swan from a piece of printer paper. If you have never tried origami, you should! It's really interesting and fun.
My painting is posted on the Daily Paintworks website on the Help Japan page, along with many other wonderful paintings. They each have a link to their own auction, and the auction lasts 7 days from the time of posting. The purchase will occur between the buyer and artist through paypal. The artist donates the payment to one of the charitable organizations listed. I chose to donate the payment from this painting to the Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Tsunami relief.

"Strawberries and Creamer"

Oil on 8x6 hardboard panel

I LOVE this painting. I'd been wanting to paint this creamer, but wanted to add something red in the picture. These strawberries seemed to fit right in.

Star Polyhedron Shape

A Study of Light and Shadow
Oil on 8x6 hardboard panel

I've been a little frustrated lately with my paintings. It seems I can't control the paint as well as I'd like to, and that leads to a lot of scraping off and repainting. So. I decided to take a step back and find out what I could do to improve my painting experiences.
I made up a few panels, coating them with different grounds, like a gray acrylic paint, gesso, or some acrylic medium. Then once dry, I tried a few different things on the panel before I painted, like a film of linseed oil, or liquin, or a mixture of both. Then I thought I would paint a picture of something rather basic just to try things out. So, I made this white star shape (copying it after one that one of my children had made in grade school :-) and painted it. And, I have to say, I found the paint to go on better, spread better and I had better control, which made me very happy. I went on to paint a few more things, which I still have to finish. I'll have them posted over the next few days.

"Cheesecake"

Oil on 5x7 hardboard panel

The most challenging thing about painting this was the color of the cheesecake, and the whip cream. My favorite parts are the chocolate dipped strawberries, and the streaks of chocolate in the cake on the right side. I tried a few different background colors, but this grayish blue green color seemed to do the trick!

"Orange Wedges"

Available in my Etsy shop, Click Here
Oil on 5x5 in. Gessobord

I like all the different crescent shapes the orange wedges, shadows, and plate created.

Still LIfe with Metal Pitcher

5x5 Gessobord panel

I bought this little metal pitcher because I wanted to try and paint it. I had an idea of how I wanted the metallic surface and reflections to look, and I'm happy with how it came out. I wanted to give it a clever name, because it seemed to me that the pitcher looks like it is turning it's back to the grapes, or.. the grapes are gathering around the pitcher for some reason... but... as you can see, I didn't come up with anything more clever than "Still Life with Metal Pitcher"
I'll have to give it some more thought. :-)

Spring Masquerade... revised

Oil on 6x6 panel

Every time I looked at this painting once it was posted, I couldn't help but think that something about it was bothering me. The space around the forehead area looked so empty, like it needed something. I finally realized it was because I hadn't completed the black design that decorates the eyes and runs up onto the forehead. Even though it was already posted on ebay, and "Fresh Paint Daily Painters", I still wanted to change it. So, I added the design, and now I am happy. I've changed the picture on my ebay listing and also on Fresh Paint. That's the first time I've ever made changes to a painting after it was already finished and posted! But, this time, I just couldn't leave it the way it was.