Carrot Flowers

6x6

Do you know what happens when you leave the carrots in the ground WAY past their pull date? The stalks get tall and you get these really lovely puffy flowers. Who knew? Not this city girl! The carrots are really tough....

Tell Me Your Secrets

30x24

This painting has been through many renditions. The crow is the latest addition. Before that, the woman was just posing for no apparent reason. I like it much better now. 

My background was inspired by a Nicolai Fechin exhibit I saw at the Frye in Seattle. His loosely painted backgrounds were a celebration of color, texture and pattern. If I can achieve only a fraction of his skill, I will be thrilled.

Between Jobs

36x36

Seattle Harbor; one can nearly always see tugboats there and whatever ship happens to be idle at the time. The downtown buildings make an interesting backdrop.

6x6

This is another entry to to DPW Composition Challenge. It is essentially a black and white composition with a spot of color. The "weight" of the colored section is balanced by the black cup and the detail on the handle of the cup combined with the sharp contrast draws the eye into the picture One thing I thought was interesting was how the color from the green and red squares bounced onto the underside of the white dish and then back down onto its shadow. It's funny how you don't even see these things until you study them for a a painting.

Waiting and Waiting

20x20

Sure am glad that DPW hosted a "Hand Challenge" last week! It gave me the confidence to tackle this waiter's hands! I've had the reference photo for a while, but only recently decided to crop it this tightly to focus on the interaction between the waiters.
                                                     

Ready Or Not

6x6

This was painted for this week's DPW Challenge, which was to concentrate on composition. In addition I challenged myself to paint fuji apples. The multiple colors make it more difficult to see the values and thus create the form. I'm fond of this oval bowl. It's medium grey on the outside and yellow on the inside. I think it creates some interesting shapes when linked to the background colors.

Santa Rita Spring

30x40

I've been trying to come up with a composition that depicts the pecan orchards in Green Valley, and the part that throws me is that the orchards are rectangular and even- in other words, boring. I opted to place them at an angle for more interest.

Snuggle; version 2

6x6

Last night I reworked a number of paintings. After a bit of time passes, I think I am able to see ways I can improve them. Occasionally I ruin them, but usually I think they're better for having been through the experience. With this one, I decided that the background value should be closer to the values in the objects (it was too light) and the flower needed a bit more of the red-orange hue.

6x6

This week's DPW Challenge: paint these hands on a 6x6 panel. I plan to do it at least one more time. I really admire well painted hands and i hope to be able to do it effortlessly someday!

6x6 Bid on this painting

This is probably my favorite of my recent daily paintings. I love the colors, and I think this knife is pretty cool.

Standup Guy

6x6

I decided that as long as I had the limes out, I'd do another painting....

6x6

For months now, I have been working on larger paintings and doing no little daily paintings other than the weekly DPW Challenges. All of a sudden, I had the urge to paint a little still life. I wanted it to be colorful and light, so this is what I came up with. I was attracted to the light blue on the white cloth as seen through the blue glass bowl. I also love the shadows that start at the red glass and work their way up on the left side of the stacked cups. The expanse of pale yellow background gives the eye a place to rest from the otherwise busy composition.

6x6

This painting is based on an image from Google Street View. I love Google Street View; you can cruise through cities all over the world, up one street and down the other. looking for things to paint. I was captivated by these 3 pedestrians and all the shadows playing on the adjacent wall.

"You Are Here"

                                                               

36x48

     

A new painting on display at Alki Arts. I have taken many photos of the market, but never from this perspective. This painting was based on a Google Street View image. I had a hard time coming up with a title, but and "You Are Here" is perhaps a bit obscure. The colorful rectangle under the umbrella is actually a map, and I think everybody recognizes the "You Are Here" logo that tourists and others use to find their way.

Cockycock

6x6

How's this for color? The DPW Challenge this week is entitled "Pop the Cock"  and I figured the best way to pop the blue would be with orange. However, I started the painting with no ideas beyond that. I think it's kind of a fun little piece. In any case, I had fun painting it.