Formally Yours

                                  6x6 $90
This one started out with a tulip in the little glass jar, but it looked awkward, so I replace it with the yellow/orange vase. I really like the color scheme. I also reworked a couple of my recent paintings that I wasn't happy with. See below:

I decided this needed another element in the foreground- thus the white plate. Also reworked the cloth a bit.

I'm still searching for compositional solutions with my landscapes. I think I'm starting to "get it" with still life- but I'm not "there" with landscape.

Lone Tulip

            
I was given a beautiful bunch of tulips for my birthday, and I am eager to paint them before they wilt. This one's a goner, having been out of water for a couple hours.

Red Roof Inn

                        
I painted this one last week, but had to stare at it awhile to figure out why I wasn't completely happy with it. I finally decided that the shadow in the foreground was too dark, the roof of the tall house was too light and the sky was too blue. I changed all those things, and now I like it a lot better. I realize that the shadow to the left of the tall house makes no sense, as it should come off the corner of the house. Maybe I'll change that too. If I do, I'll replace this post. With these "made-up" landscapes I feel free to make lots of outlandish choices for the sake of shape and color, but I think that the "natural laws" should be followed if it's this close to being realistic. What do my fellow artists think about that?

Walking in Tandem

 

                                   36x48 plus floater frame $3200
Well, today is my 60th birthday, and I haven't had time to paint in the last few days, so I'm posting one from my Asian series that I painted in 2009-2010 after returning from a fabulous trip to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Most of these paintings are now hanging at Thoa's Restaurant in downtown Seattle. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this series from my photos and memories. In a way, it extended and cemented the whole experience. I look at this "older" work now and wonder how I would paint differently today, having learned so much in my daily paintings. I still like the painting, but I think I would use larger brushes and paint more loosely today. One of these days I'm going to try "duplicating" one of my older paintings to see what I think of the changes.

Regarding my birthday, I'm thrilled to be healthy, happy and able to travel, paint, and otherwise enjoy life. I have enjoyed every stage of my life, but I think this may be the best yet.

Greys and Greens

                     6x6 $90
The blue under painting gives this one an almost surreal look. I had a hard time photographing it, and this still isn't quite "it", but I give up. It's close. I was especially intrigued by the reflections of the apples in the metal vase. I may try the setup again with more color, although there's something I like about this almost monochromatic palette.

Egg on Stage

                                    5x7 $90

I've had this polka dot egg cup for some time not, but never painted it until a few days ago. I really like this color scheme; it's kind of unusual- for me, anyway.

When Gas Was Cheap

                                        12x12 $300
Here's the 12x12 I painted after the 6x6 "Bisbee Truck" As I mentioned yesterday, that one was on a blue under painting; this one is on red. I have to say, the red is probably my favorite, largely because it ties in the gas pumps to the overall scheme. Thanks to everybody who commented yesterday; it was fun to get so much feedback!

Bisbee Truck

                          6x6 $90
I photographed this truck when we were in Bisbee this fall.. This painting is done on a blue under painting. I liked the composition so much I painted it on a 12x12 also- but with a red under painting. As you can imagine, the mood is quite different. I will probably post that tomorrow.

Spread the Cheer

                                  6x6 $90

This morning I did kind of a demo for a group of 3 young people who are creating a videotape of my art/studio, etc. I am involved in a group called Community Artists Program- or CAP for short. It's the brainchild of a wonderful woman named Anne Lancaster, who is devoting countless hours and dollars to get it up and running. the idea is to take what artists have already been doing (hanging their art in public spaces) and ramp it up several notches by making it more professional, more profitable and in short, more effective for the artists and the community. Anne has the experience, the enthusiasm and the tenacity to make a difference- with the support of the artists she represents. Anyway, part of her marketing plan is to use videos of the artists involved to personalize the artwork. 

So....this little painting was going to be called "The Kiss" because what first attracted me to the setup was the "kiss" of red on the yellow cup. In the end, though, the kiss is rather indistinguishable from the rest of the red that permeates the painting, so it looks more like "Spread the Cheer" to me. 

It's What's Inside That Counts

6x6 $90

Well, I cracked that egg open and painted the whole scene again, this time with minor repositioning, a bit stronger lighting and a cad yellow under painting. What a difference the under painting makes in the final appearance! I actually think I prefer the blue, although this is pretty "sunny".

Bridging the Gap

                                    6x6 $90

It's no secret what this represents: the "all white" challenge! I did this one with my new favorite, the blue toned surface. I think I'll do it again with a warm under painting just for comparison- and maybe add an egg yolk. The beauty of the all white challenge is that it forces you to look at values really closely, because that's the only thing that defines the objects. While I was doing this painting I got a phone call, and while I was talking, I viewed the setup from a different angle that I found quite intriguing. I may try painting it from that angle too.

Objects of My Obsession

                               6x6 $90
I told my husband that I thought this one represented a breakthrough, but he couldn't see it. "It looks like just another daily painting to me" he said. What I like about it is that it came together spontaneously and freely; the brush strokes are "one-timers" and I think it works both compositionally and color-wise. I love the little vase at the right and I have rarely painted it. It may start showing up more often.

Red Hot

                     12x12 $300 oil on canvas; add $50 for black frame

I'm enjoying painting on a bit larger format. This one is on a 3/4" canvas, and I have ordered some black floater frames for this size. This is also a first for the draped fabric. I tried to keep it really simple with just a few suggestions of the folds.

It's been 3 days since I painted and I'm really eager to get back to it. Today I had a great excuse to be out of the studio. My husband and I attended the ultrasound where we found out the sex of our first grandchild- IT'S a BOY!!!! Didn't really matter which it would be, but it's fun to know and start visualizing.

This Little Piggy

                                          6x6 $90
This is a woodcarving pig- not actually a piggybank- that I picked up a few months ago. He actually has a few big black spots, but I thought, for the purposes of this painting anyway, that he would look better spotless. I love the way the ears point forward, thus creating a great shadow above his eye.

Ready

                                          9x12 plus 2.25" frame $300 / $20 shipping in USA

The title is a play on "Red"- although it could mean that I'm ready to paint a bit larger. I will say I enjoyed painting larger, but what spurred me to do this one was a painting that I no longer liked that was permanently mounted in a frame I do like. So I taped off the frame and went to work. The color scheme was chosen with the color of the frame in mind. At first the bowl to the left was yellower, but it detracted from the red objects,. so I neutralized it a bit. The green that shows up on the photograph on the inside of the bowl is not so evident in the actual painting. It must be there, as I can't get it to go away when I take a picture! I really like the stacked cups and the apple. I may try that as a vertical painting.

Simply a Green Vase

                                          
Here's the last of the "Simply" series. It's kind of a weird color combo, but I like it. Now that I'm done with this exercise, I will say that the biggest thing I've learned is that the results are best if all the colors are distributed, however subtly, throughout the painting. This kind of happens naturally if I pay attention to the reflected colors, but I'm trying to be aware of it all the time. I notice that in Karin Jurick's "Faces" she always works the "background" color into the colors on the face. I love her painting; it's so fresh and lively and skillful.

Simply a Purple Vase

                                          6x6 $90

I've almost completed my color wheel now. I've done red, yellow, blue, orange, and now, purple. Only green to go (I'm stopping after the secondary colors) I'm not sure what to do next. Black and white? Glass? Yesterday I painted a "large" canvas- 12" square! I enjoyed working a bit larger, and I'm thinking I'll do that for awhile. So many possible directions to choose from! By the way, I looked at some of Carol Marine's archive paintings, from 2006 and onward. Maybe some of you have already done this, but I found it very inspiring. She has improved immensely over the past few years. It's a real testimonial to the power of daily painting!

Simply a Yellow Mug

                                          6x6 $90
Back to the "simple" theme- this time featuring yellow. Yellow is hard for me; I like it as an under painting and as an accent, but it easily overwhelms in a larger mass. In this one, I especially like the reflection in the metal. I'm also pretty happy with the brush work. I didn't over work it as I sometimes do.

No Place Like Home

                                          6x6 $90
I'm still doing my "simply" exercise. Just thought I'd throw in this architectural one to shake things up a bit. It's a totally make believe scene, which is why the title came to me. This really is "no place" like home.

Simply a Blue Cup

6x6$90

Continuing with my "simple theme" I bent my own rule a bit by adding a small plate below the mug, but the challenge still holds; create a composition and a color scheme that shows the focal subject off to good (best?) advantage. My intent is to do this exercise with all the primary and secondary colors- and maybe block and/or white. 

With this composition, I was intrigued by the shaft of light between the cup and the shadow; it reflected down on to the plate in a wonderful, glowy kind of way.