Nectarine and Strawberries 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

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I wanted to paint these strawberries, because some of them have that unripe yellow/green color near the stem, which I think makes them look more interesting. The nectarine was very ripe, and I wanted to be sure to finish this painting so that it could be eaten. And I did, and it was.

I loved mixing up all the different reds, and seeing how some of them just seemed to glow next to others. Alizarin crimson, and cadmium orange; cadmium red and alizarin; permanent rose and c. red, winsor red.... etc. etc....so many ways to make such pretty reds!

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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

"Cup with 2 Strawberries", 5x7 oil on panel

Here is the finished painting. It is for sale on eBay. This painting is Sold.

Peeled Mineola Tangerine, Oil on 5x7 linen panel

I went back to this tangerine painting, because I wasn't happy with it the way it was. I wanted to change the shape of the cast shadow, and give the background some depth. Well, I'm much happier with it now, and I think I leave it this way.

This painting is Sold

White Violets. Oil on 5x7 linen panel

This is a painting of some white violets that are blooming right now in my yard. They are so small, but they have such elegant shapes for such a tiny flower. Sorry about the glare in the picture from the flash. I'll take some better pictures of it tomorrow, in better light.

Iris

Here is a picture taken in outdoor light of the finished painting. This painting is sold.

Forsythia, 5x7 oil on board.

I went back to my forsythia painting, and this is going to be the final version. I like the brightness of the flowers, finally. I changed the background color a bit, to add more contrast. Now, what can I paint next???? This painting is sold.

grapes

A close up. Oil on 5x7 board.

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)