Little Red Hen Sold
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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Tomatoes
Oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 12x12x1"
click here to bid
We have a few different varieties of tomatoes in our garden, heirloom, cherry, and the kind that grow well in a container. All of them are starting to ripen, demanding to be painted. Ah summer!
Doncha love red?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Blue Teapot
I think I'll have a wee cuppa tea.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
We are rejoicing over a good week of rain and now the expected overwhelming plant growth can get going.
Our Bee Balm is past its prime but the butterflies and hummingbirds still visit often. This one is right up against the porch so we can watch them feed so close. I plan on putting more Bee Balm all over the yard next Spring, since it is doing so well here.
This monster Stargazer Lily got a late start but is not letting that hold it back. Does it seem to have a few more petals than normal?
Altho we did not plant a 'butterfly garden' on purpose, the word is out and we have tons, really tons of butterflies all the time. This is so great. We loves us some wildlife.
Speaking of which, here are some of the 30 or so frogs and our Gang of Five Goldfish.
In yesterday's comments I promised (someone?) to address why I am painting this way. What way?
Well, back in 2006 I took a break from quilting and for two months was painting abstractly and loving it. I felt loose and free and could just play with design and color and experiment to my heart's content. At the time I may have suggested that I would never go back to realism, or some such foolishness. And now here I am painting realistically. So what gives?
Hmm. To explain this is a long story but suffice it to say that I was afraid if I ever painted realistically I would tighten up and be miserable, as I was when I was in art school. After a career in quilting, making non traditional quilts in non traditional ways, I felt that I had overcome so much of that tightness that it should also make it easier to loosen up my painting.
I suppose that was true to some extent.
So beginning again with painting, I knew I would have to struggle at first to regain my chops and thanks to the painting a day movement, it was clear that this was the way to do it.
OK? So I am painting realistically because I can. But really, I love that I can paint realistically without all that old tightness and fear and that turns out to be the best reason in the world.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Amazing skill. But...is 'real-looking' the style you're going for? >shrug<>
So as to real looking style? I guess I am learning to accept that this is the way I paint and it is evolving, and getting better if I do say so myself. Daily painting makes it happen.
I have discovered a new Painter a Day person, Oriana Kacicek at Elusive Hues. Wonderful, inspiring, expensive small works.
I'll be making a new painting this morning, inspired by her elegant simplicity.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Photos with my paintings inserted.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Abundance
Oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 12x12x1"
Click here to bid
It's easy to see why Italy and Mexico chose these colors for their flags. How festive! I am happy to say that the garden delivered these beauties to us and before we use them for our dinner I felt they must be painted.
The work of several other painters is influencing me on this one. I wanted a different viewpoint, so I lowered my surface to about nine inches above the floor so I could look down at the subject. What I didn't count on was that my field of vision with my eyeglasses was just short of the distance. I spent the whole day switching between bifocals and my magnifying readers to capture all the details and textures. It worked but it really wore me out.
I LOVE that little green cherry tomato. It is the star of the painting if you ask me.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 8x10x1"Sold
Katie painting in her studio. I must get a photo of myself like this. O, but then I would have to get dressed. Follow the link above to see her work and notice the prices. Woowoo!
Friday, July 18, 2008
We ended our trip with a visit to TJMAXX and found all sorts of objects to add to my still life collection. You will be seeing these things in paintings in the future.
One of the things I love best about having house guests is COOKING FOR THEM. I dream about it. We had a lovely dinner which included fresh beets pulled right out of the yard, and a salad with basil, cucumber and nasturtium blossoms and leaves, plus other regular salad stuff like red ripe tomatoes, feta, and kalamata olives. The main treat was grilled filet mignon. O how yummy to eat this all al fresco.
But it is all over way too fast. Frieda returns to IL today via the Nashville airport. Sigh. It was a great visit and I got to share our Mexican Chalet with her and she got to meet the chickens, the frogs and the five goldfish.
And Popeye, of course.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
I must say that this daily or almost daily painting is the best way to get over all the fears or hangups that have been in my way over all these years. I feel completely relaxed now. So relaxed that I neglected to shoot these paintings when they were still on the easel. Duh. So I have tried to capture them flat on the drying table, and have encountered the glare off wet paint problem.
These red fruits were HEAVENLY to paint. Glossy and vibrant and intensely red. I went for happy on the tomato and dark and mysterious on the pepper. Fitting.
And for the banana, British Men's Club, with dark woods and lots of cigar smoke. Must make it reflect history.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
What a fruitful day! Thanks to you for all your encouragement about the neutrals. I went with the rust/mossy backgrounds and it seems to be working.
Friday, July 11, 2008
The assignment was to use a neutral background. Omigod. I am so lost when it comes to neutrals. I thought I had a light blue gray, and what it ended up being was teal. That is the apple's background. So then I switched to the onion, and used the same fabric for it's background as I did in the original Onions painting. Still not very neutral.
The pear came next. It was nearly the same color as the background I had used on the onion, so again I switched it out for a more rusty purple color. I used it again for the warm yellow lemon.
I am second guessing myself which is why commissions are so hard for me. Me thinks the apple is too bright against the teal. I love it, but it is hardly cohesive with the rest. That's why I ordered 25 canvases than the 16 I needed.