Yellow Roses

Yellow Roses

8x10"

$160

DPW $112

Yellow Rosebuds

6x6"

$72

DPW $50

     These are supposed to be for the Challenge, Seeing Double. I think I might have not followed the directions to the letter, but it was important for me.  I wanted to paint yellow roses, one with analogous background and one with complementary background. I needed to see the effect of each approach. Here they are. I think the complementary color scheme is more striking (as would be expected), but I like the analogous treatment better. This is purely a matter of individual taste. And that is fine. There is room in the world for both.

The Yellow Challenge

Yellow Dahlias

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     This week it is the Yellow Challenge. Yellow is like other colors in that there are warm and cool versions of it. In this painting it goes from green/yellow, a little cool, to orange/yellow, a little warm. Even though the painting is based on yellow, the warm end of the palette, the green makes it a cooler painting with a warm focal point. This is an example of the 25/75% rule. 

     Yellow is such a cheerful color. You can hardly make it sad. I have at least three times the number of yellows in my studio as any other color.

Tulips Shadow Challenge

Tulips Shadow

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $50

     This week's Challenge was to make the shadow a significant part of the composition. My problem was also to make the composition not look like I had cut the bouquet in half and just placed it carelessly on the edge of the canvas. This was a bit tricky because the composition might be working, but when you add the color, all the weight goes there, a little off balance. There are just so many considerations when making a painting. Actually, being a little off balance is not necessarily a bad thing.

Sutter Persimmon

Sutter Persimmon

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     When I find a good tree of "small scenes of nature," I usually enjoy painting two or three in a row and then feel ready to move on until another day. These persimmons are from a tree in Sutter Creek, California, another historic town in the Sierra Foothills. This time, I enjoyed trying to make the dark edge of the fruit, red, as dark as the leaf, green, so that no distinction of color shows. Then with the warm bright orange against a cool neutral negative space, I am pleased.

Persimmons

Persimmons

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     I love the genre I call "Small scenes of nature," so I go out into the orchards and climb trees or stop alongside the groves as I travel in order to photograph the beauty. So often nature provides just the color scheme you need as well as the composition. Here we have red and green. What could be better? Of course, there should also be some controlling idea for the painting, the "big idea." Sometimes the idea is not so "big." Here it simply is the light on the main persimmon and the smallest leaf casting a little shadow. Very little "big idea" but very necessary.

Flowers #7 Camellia Surprise

Camellia Surprise

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     This poor little canvas has been washed down so many times it is getting threadbare. Everything lately has been a disappointment until now. Finally I have one I like and it was easy! After working hours and hours on lousy failed paintings, suddenly I am surprised by the simplicity and ease that produced a success. You just can't figure out some things.

     This flower is from my camellia bush. (Deer don't like them much.) Last year I gave it a good pruning, and this year it is so loaded with blooms that it gave me a pleasant surprise. I really love this flower. It showed up just when I needed it.

Flowers #6 Daisies in a Corner

Daisies in a Corner

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $50

     It seems I am under their spell. These little flower paintings are just so much fun. In this one, I used a dark blue canvas for a warm yellowish painting. I then used, very sparingly, a touch of red giving me a painting with red, yellow, and blue--the primaries. Limited palette, simple composition, shapes and values, not petals--done! Let me try that again.

Flowers #5 Daisies

Daisies

6x8"

$96

DPW $65

     These small florals are beginning to charm me. I can see why they are so popular with many artists. When I finished this one, I felt like saying, "Let me try that again!"
     I read Carol Marine's Art Byte on what daily painting means to her and found it inspiring and freeing. The artists on DPW teach me so much. Naturally, I have my favorites and really study them, examining the way they use art elements such as line, shape, color, composition, and also some odd little techniques. For example, lately I have been painting on red canvas. You can sometimes see it peeking through and I like that.

Flowers #4

Flowers #4

6x6"

$72

DPW $50

     The little flower paintings I see on DPW are delightful and inspiring. There are so many artists doing these, I was not sure I wanted to try, thinking I might not have anything fresh to offer. Of course, that is crazy thinking because we all know the creator did not worry that s/he was making pink flowers over and over again. I will just paint and try to remember that Emerson said, "These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day."

Animal Close Up Challenge

Young Deer

8x8"

Oil

$128

DPW $85

     Deer come through our property all the time. (They ate all landscaping long ago.) They are such pretty creatures, so naturally, I have scores and scores of photographs. This week's Challenge was to paint an animal close up and I chose this little one.

     I wanted the picture to be warm and analogous, featuring just the eyes and nose. I used only yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and prussian blue for the whole thing, along with a little red for the insides of her ears. The black eyes and nose are a mixture of prussian blue and burnt sienna. Limited palettes are sometimes not really very limiting at all.

     

Forest 5

Forest 5

7x5"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     Persistent may be too mild a word. Stubborn probably. Anyway, I got an idea and wanted to try it, so I took the painting from a few days ago and reworked it and now I like it. To me, it is an entirely new painting, still very simple, but at least it does not put me in a bad mood to look at it like the first version did. The old colors were too somber. The emotion was not right. The forest can be "dark and deep" but it does not have to be depressing.

Toes & Tail

Toes & Tail

6x6"

Oil

$72

     I am a persistent person, but I am also literate. When the writing is on the wall, I can read it.

     I have learned why one does not see many forest interior paintings. It is because they are almost impossible to paint well!!

     I am not the one to do it. At least, not now. Maybe I will return to it one day, but for now I am looking for cute cats. Here is one of my favorites, Pablo, the fabulous.     

Forest Interior 4

Forest Interior 4

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW Auction $50

     I think these forest scenes are coming down to a color issue. I am very glad I have embarked on this project because it will force me to address some matters that could otherwise be masked by subject matter. Paint a cute cat and I might overlook that it is a mediocre painting if the cat is cute enough.

     I have color theory education. I am just having a stumbling block in making my body believe and paint what I know. I think this is so important that I am willing to paint some bad paintings in order to learn it.

Forest Interior 3

Forest Interior 3

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW Auction $50

     I am being diligent in my landscape work. I really believe in it because so much must be dealt with in each little 5x7: color theory, composition, line, shape, and even deeper meaning. If I use color to create the emotion and value to create the drama, in a way, I have a metaphor. With my beautiful forest all around me, I should never be hungry for material. (Those two little daffodils at the forest edge are for real.)

     That being said, tomorrow I am painting my sister's cat.

     

Flowers #3 Easter Challenge

Flowers #3

Easter Challenge

6x6"

$72

DPW Auction $50

     What a day I have had! Daily Painting is supposed to be every day, not all day every day. I was surprised to find these lilies in a spring bouquet I picked up at the market.  I thought, Ha! They will be just right for the Easter Challenge. They began to open and look beautiful and dramatic. But after painting them all morning, they just looked like Easter lilies, ho hum. Pretty, but ho hum. Finally I cropped to this and found something I liked. It was hiding behind a fully bloomed Easter lily.

     Happy Easter.

Forest Interior 2

Forest Interior 2

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW Auction $50.

     I have so much to learn. Landscapes, hm. This got away from me. I was trying to limit the colors and still ended up outside my color scheme. Here is what I wanted: cool, blue-green key color, red-orange secondary color with accents of yellow and violet. It is cool, but the secondary and accent colors are a little confused. And how did cerulean blue get in there?! Incorrigible.

Flowers #2

Flowers #2

6x6"

Oil 

$72

DPW Auction $50. 

     When I saw these hot red Gerbers against the green drapery, I said, "Wow!" But when I began painting, I was in for a surprise. I thought I was seeing a dark object against a lighter background, but I was not. I put the red acetate sheet up and saw clearly that the red was a much lighter value than the green. My problem was to make the red still a "wow" without losing the value contrast and turning the red a washed-out pink. I stayed on the warm end of the palette and used yellows, not white, to lighten the red. I had to sacrifice some intensity, but the flowers still convince me that they are red.

     

Flowers #1

Flowers #1

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW Auction $50. Click to bid.

     I want to be able to paint flowers and make them fun to look at, not boring. I have been studying and have picked up a few ideas from some of my favorite artists. I tried some here and when I began, I thought, this is not going to work, but it did! I like it fine. 

     Even though this is not really my very first painting of flowers, I am calling it #1 because I hope it will be the beginning of something.

Oak Tree

Oak Tree

6x8"

Oil

$96

(DPW Auction $65. Click to bid.)

     I live in a beautiful place, forest all around, and yet I find it difficult to find the painting in my lovely surroundings. "Can't see the forest for the trees."

     This scene is right outside my studio window and I love looking at it every day just as I do many other favorite scenes 360 degrees. (Lucky me.) I have struggled with landscapes for a long, long time, but I am stubborn. I know that if I can get the hang of it, I will have a mountain of fun. (Yes, I know, a pun.) The treasures are right in front of me. I am trying to open my eyes.

Apple Challenge

Apple

5x7"

Oil

$72

(DPW Auction $50. Click to bid.)

     This week's challenge is to paint one of my favorite things, an apple. How simple can that be? Apples, however, surprise you with their unround shape and subtlety of changing color and value. At first, I thought I would be finished with it in just a few minutes, but as time went by I found more and more to give my attention to. Such a simple object but possessing riches for a painter to put her hand to.

Daffs 2

Daffs 2

6x6"

Oil

$ 72

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     Here is another effort at flowers. The daffodils lasted just long enough. Maybe the key to painting flowers is to not paint the flowers; just paint a general shape and let them read as flowers. Some of my favorite flower artists do that. It is just that they do it so well.

     I will continue to work on my flowers, but another element I want to remain conscious of is the color harmony. I want there to be an overall color to the painting. This one is blue-green. Using analogous colors on the wheel will help me just as long as I do not allow the colors of the subjects to be too bossy. The actual color of the little vase here is red. It is probably best to paint what you see, but I had a different goal today.

Daffs

Daffs

7x5"

Oil

$70

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     I live in the Sierra Foothills where deer eat everything! But they do not eat daffodils. (I wonder why.) 

     I rarely paint flowers because I am a little inept at it, not because the deer have eaten them all. I simply decided I wanted to practice flower painting and there in my yard were those stalwart daffodils, perky as could be, so they became my subject. Now that I have cut them (killed them), I will have to buy flowers if I am going to practice further which I certainly intend to do.

     Flowers make a lovely picture, but they can turn out quite boring if not done well. I am of the school of thought that it does not matter what you paint if the elements of painting are handled in an exciting, expressive, and beautiful way in order to delight the eye. Here's hoping my flowers will cease to be flowers as such so much as a bunch of beautiful lines, colors, shapes, and values.

Figs 3

Figs 3

6x6"

Oil

$72

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     This is the third of my figs paintings. Each one has presented its own challenge. In this one I liked the fig hidden within the dark foliage, making the focal point dark against dark. How can that possibly work? I tried to use light values in front of the fig, making the fig recede. Again the dark was very important, but this time I did not use Chromatic Black. Instead, I mixed Viridian and Alizarin along with a little Ultramarine Blue. Now there is a black to be proud of!

     I think this is the last of my figs for a while. That tree was full of promise, but my eyes will not see it right now. Maybe another day I will again see the possibilities of those deep greens and reds.

Figs 2

Figs 2

6x6"

Oil

$72

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     This is the second of my figs paintings. I thought it would get easier but it was actually more difficult. I wanted to make this one warmer, and I think I did that, but the darks were very hard to keep. They kept lightening up as I worked. The beauty of the composition was in the darks, so I did not want them to fade into mid-tones. I had used Chromatic Black with greens and reds but finally had to use straight black to get it as dark as it really was.

     I never weary of nature, but I wonder if I am growing tired of figs. I will see because there is one more composition that interests me before I put this fig tree to rest.

Early Morning Horse

Early Morning Horse

Oil

7x5"

$70

(DPW Auction beginning bid $50. Click to bid.)

     I have not done a Challenge in a few weeks, and this is actually last week's Challenge, but I wanted to do it even if I am a little late. Love painting animals. I usually focus on their faces but this time I wanted to emphasize the sunlit side of the body and keep the face secondary. I also wanted to work on shapes within the picture rectangle. Here is the hard part: how to create a light shape across the horses back and distant background field and still highlight the sun on her side without using dark against light for the strong edge. Usually I try to do one thing at a time, but I am glad I tried for this "challenge" of doing the two things at once. It would have been easier (and maybe more successful) painting a light horse against a dark background, but in my efforts to improve I think it is OK to fail in order to succeed.

Figs

Figs

6x6"

Oil

$72

(DPW beginning bid $50.  Click to bid.)

     I often enjoy painting apples in the tree, so when I found a fig tree full of figs, I took its picture. Here is my first effort, and while I kind of like it, I think the reds and greens are much cooler than an apple tree and so not quite as welcoming. Still, the reds and greens go well together, made from alizarin crimson and viridian, real partners in a color scheme. The best fun was in trying to paint the light. I picked a spot and used my sharp edges and darks against lights to create the focal point in the dense, dark foliage, and I kept reminding my self to "paint the light." I think I will tack a sign on my easel: "Paint the light!"

Pablo Close Up

Pablo Close Up

6x6"

Oil 

$72

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $50)

     Pablo is a beautiful young cat with the whitest fur and orange markings. I did not exaggerate the orange color one bit.  In fact, it is even more fabulous than that. But it is the white fur that makes you stop and think. How to give it definition without losing the startling whiteness? I chose a little ultramarine blue mixed with raw umber. It made a nice gray and I thought the blue in it would go well with the orange since they are complementary colors.

     When I composed the image, at first I had much more cat in the frame, but I found that as I cropped more and more I liked it more and more. I have many more photos of Pablo and will get the rest of him in a painting probably more than once.

River Rocks

River Rocks

18x18"

Oil

$648

     Abstract art is a genre I have not yet deeply explored, but I am very interested in it and hope to do more. I recently received a message that might give me the encouragement I need. It said,

"Cheryl Wilson River Rocks to be featured in the NEW Best Of Abstract Artists Book!" (This is a series of various art books by Kennedy Publishing.)

Then it said, "The only fee is our $55 editorial/design fee payable upon entering."

You may wonder, did she pay it? I certainly did! Naturally, I wonder if I have thrown away my money,  but the appeal was too irresistible. "There is a sucker born every minute." I will let you know if I was the one that minute.

Cathy

Cathy

20x16"

Oil

     I gave my demonstration last Wednesday for my local art club.  I decided to paint the incoming president of the club. She is a lady with lots of youthful, loving spirit. While I wanted to get her likeness just right, I also wanted to show her warmth.  Most of the people in the club must paint portraits from photos, so I felt it was helpful to the majority to paint Cathy from a photo, but if I could have painted her in person, I think I would have captured her personality much better. There is a richness to painting from life you just cannot get from a photograph. I believe photographs are bossy!

     Even though I practiced, I can see I must do more. The values got away from me. When I corrected them, the color went wrong. Practice, practice, practice.

  

Bill

Bill

20x16"

Oil

     Here is Portrait Practice #3, that fine fellow Bill. I worked so hard to get the values right and now I see yet more corrections that should be made. I wanted to practice my value and color and still get the likeness just perfect. I could have worked on it forever. When I saw that I was heading in that direction, I quit and called it finished.

     The human face is fascinating. Most of us have the usual features, but we still look at faces as if we never saw anything like them, especially faces of people we love. There is always something to see, ponder, and cherish.

     Bill has a droopy right eye and when I painted it, he looked funny, but I left it that way.  It is, after all, those little irregularities that give faces their character and, very often, their beauty.

Kerrie

Kerrie

20x16"

Oil

     I am still practicing for the portraiture demonstration I must do for my art club next week. This is my niece. She is really beautiful and has gorgeous teeth. 

     Teeth!! Egad!! It is really best to choose a pose without teeth, but some people are natural only with a big smile and all their teeth showing, so learning a way to paint that is necessary. I chose to paint very carefully the outline of the teeth but not the individual teeth themselves. The outline expresses her identity without making a "portrait of teeth." I also tried to remember that the teeth are on a curve and I must model them just as if I were painting any round object such as an egg. At the last minute I remembered the little highlight along the upper lip. That removed the odd look that made it seem her lip was caught and sticking to her teeth.

     Really, it is best to chose a pose without teeth.

Oliver

Oliver

20x16"

Oil

     Very soon I will be demonstrating portraiture for my local art club, so I am practicing. This is my nephew when he was about two. The skin tone of children is brighter and fresher than adults, so I must keep that in mind when mixing my paints. Also their features sit differently on their faces than adults. If I paint what I see, I should be safe, but it is good to understand these principles in advance.

"Tangerine Tango"

Three Big Apples

8x10"

Oil

$160

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $85)

     I had this painting all planned, and when the Challenge was to paint something in THE color for 2012, "Tangerine Tango," I did not have to look far for my subject. It took two yellows, one orange, two reds, and alizarin crimson to get that red.

     I love painting apples in the tree, but this was surprisingly difficult for no known reason, but I kept at it and finally got it to where I said, OK. Then when I photographed it, I could not get the colors to be true. I sacrificed the pale yellow (almost white) background for the red, red apples. In fact, they are even redder than they appear here.

     Even the most familiar jobs can sometimes jump up and say "Boo."

Breakfast

Mimosa

8x10"

Oil

$160

(Daily Paintworks beginning bid $100)

     I have not done a Challenge since before Christmas (you know, family, cooking, parties, etc.). When I saw that Carol assigned "Breakfast," I thought of eggs and croissants and such. But then I thought of the lovely Mimosas we had for Christmas Brunch and decided to paint that. 

     I am glad I chose this because I have never painted glass, and so here again is the Challenge spurring me on to new territory and teaching me lessons.

Sundae

Sundae

20x16"

Oil

     This is my latest and last commission. This lovely client talked me into it after I had already sworn off doing commissions. I am very honored that she wanted me to paint this for her.

     To me this is a "true-love" portrait. It was very important to convey the warmth and devotion these two feel for each other. I knew that even if the likeness was perfect but the feeling was not there, the painting would fail. I think it succeeded. My client likes it and she tells me that Sundae likes it too.

Fawn

Fawn

12x12"

Oil

$288

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $185)

     Deer often come through our yard. They eat anything in a flower pot and they drink from the birdbath.  I love it when they visit, but it is especially good when I can get a picture of them doing something more active like this little one scratching his ear. My problem here was to emphasize his cute self, not his rear end facing the viewer. I made his nose and eye very dark against the light background to make his face the focal point and left his bottom a dark value against a medium background to de-emphasize it. I like the way his body naturally creates the composition even though the focal point is in the lower quadrant, not what I usually prefer. Nature just has a way of offering us surprises.

Merry Christmas

Poinsettias

11x14"

Oil

     Merry Christmas to everyone.

 "Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men."

Meghan

Meghan

14x11"

Oil

     This a portrait of that wonderful niece of mine, the owner of Scratch the bunny. Young girls are so full of beauty, mystery, and possibilities. They are the vessels we pour our hopes into.

     This painting was fun for me, not just because it is of someone I love, but because I ventured into the high-intensity color palette. The phthalos and quinacridones go together in a bright, vibrant combination. I love the result. I usually go back to the ochres and siennas for animals, but these intense colors seemed right for the bright pure colors of fresh youth.

     Naturally, I gave this painting to Meghan's mother.

That Rabbit!

Scratch

9x12"

Oil

$216

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $150)

     What is it about this rabbit?! I have painted him five times now. He belongs to my darling niece, so I know him personally. He has a funny nose due to a childhood accident, but he is just adorable, full of personality, very precious to all of us.

     I had several false starts on this painting and finally decided to start with his full eye and work outward from there. When I realized I wanted to put my heart and energy into that one spot of the painting, the rest of it fell into place.

Monte's Kong

Monte's Kong

8x6"

Oil

$96

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $65)

     When I saw that the Challenge this week was to paint your dog with his favorite toy, I was delighted. I love painting Monte and have done it many times. I will probably paint him again many more times. One interesting feature he has is his one blue eye. I have to be careful not to make it too blue or it will overpower his face and ruin its beauty. The concentration you see in his face is for real. When he is involved in sports, he is very focused.

Cupcake for Wayne

Cupcake for Wayne

8x8" 

Oil

$128

(Daily Paintworks beginning bid $65)

     This week we were to paint something in the style of a famous painter. It was known as the Picasso Challenge. I chose Wayne Thiebaud to imitate, one of my all time favorites. He often painted cakes, pies, ice cream cones, all lined up in a case, or singly. He is really a lot of fun, and always bright. When he signed his name he included a little heart, so I did too.

     As much as I admire him and enjoy his work (and what can be simpler than one little cupcake?), I found that I was not really able to paint in his style. It still looks very much like my own painting. I think there is a lesson in that. 

Dancing Shoes

Dancing Shoes

6x8"

Oil

$97

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $65)

     This week's Challenge was to paint your shoes, anyway you want. I chose shoes I rarely get to wear, but I really love them, high enough to be pretty and low enough to be able to walk and dance!

     The shoes are metallic gold and I set them up on a gold colored cloth. All the color was gold, gold, gold. How was I going to make a cool shadow when the shadow I saw was dark gold? I think it could have been good with a dark gold shadow, but I tried for green instead because it is the warmest cool. Then I put a little of the green in the shoes themselves to unify the canvas, and then I needed a little gold in the green shadow to balance that out.  Sometimes the simplest painting like this one takes a lot of work.

Sycamore

Sycamore

9x12"

Oil

$215

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $115)

     Landscapes! If I could learn to paint them, I would have a world of joy at my fingertips. I look around and behold the beauty of the earth. There are paintings just crying out to be done, no end of subject matter for me and my brushes. But success lies just out of reach. I continue to try because I know that if I can make it, I will be a very happy painter.

     These trees are at a park near Beale Air Force Base. I took lots of pictures there. As I said, there are paintings everywhere. I chose this one this time because it was mainly one tree, and the thing I liked about it was the light on the white trunks. I thought if I just stick to those simple parts, I might be a little further along on the road to success.  I wash down so many landscapes. I am going to keep this one.

Lioness with Cub

Lioness with Cub

18x18"

Oil

$648

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $420)

     A friend went to Africa and brought back so many wonderful pictures of wildlife and landscape. I was lucky that she shared those pictures with me since my own safari is yet to come.

     This photo shows the mother lion with her cub by the scruff and another cub (twins!) trotting alongside. To compose the painting, I had to eliminate the second twin and save him for another painting some day. I wanted this painting to be very vague in all areas except in the faces and paw. Those areas I gave detail to but left the rest of the image almost an abstraction. I also wanted the general color to be analogous with only a little spice color in the detailed sections. 

     With those goals in mind, I think it turned out, but not without two or three false starts.

Paint Your Pumpkin Challenge

The Great Pumpkin

6x8"

Oil

$96

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $65)

     I suppose the Challenge implied that the pumpkin should be a Jack O' Lantern type, but this one lives in the front yard of one of the lovely Victorian houses here in Nevada City, Ca, and because it reminded me of Linus' Great Pumpkin, I felt it was appropriate for the occasion.

Four Red Apples

Four Red Apples

9x12"

Oil

$215

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $150)

     This poor old canvas. I have painted so many unsuccessful pictures on it and washed them down each time. The threads I love so much in the texture of good canvas are almost smooth now. 

     Sometimes, when I hit a wall, the best thing for me to do is tell myself to just paint something for myself and forget about all the rules and lessons I have been trying to teach myself. And so here is something I will keep on the canvas.

     This morning I heard Tony Bennet on NPR. He said he had been advised to study successful singers, but to not try to imitate them or he would be just another voice in the choir. How hard it is to find your own voice.

     I am pretty happy my Belgian Bangs was chosen as a DPW Pick.

Little Puffin

Little Puffin

12x9"

Oil

$215

(Daily Paintworks Auction beginning bid $150)

     Puffins look like clown birds, and how funny they are running across the surface of the water with their bright orange feet. This little painting was both easy and difficult. The easy part was the pure white next to the pure black, making the wonderful contrast. The difficult part was painting the face, trying to capture the color without making him look like he had painted on a clown face. The last stroke was the little bit of orange on his belly to reflect those amazing red-orange feet.

Golden Apple

Golden Apple

9x12"

Oil

$216

     This past summer I began working on compatible palettes and color schemes, using Exploring Color by Nita Leland. Much to learn and relearn there. This is one of the pieces I did that turned out a little different than the usual. I enjoy painting small scenes of nature as this one is, but instead of a sunny effect that I often try for, I chose the earth palette, which rendered a completely different mood. The arch composition and the limited color scheme gave me a painting I have grown to really like.

     This painting is hanging next month in the Small Works Exhibit at the ASIF Studios (Artist Studio In the Foothills) in Grass Valley, California.

Ten Minute Challenge

Six Gourds

6x8"

Oil

     The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week was to divide your canvas into small sections and then paint the same subject in each section, allowing only ten minutes per section. I used the little gourd that sits on my window sill in the studio. Our house if full of gourds because of Bill's work, but this one is mine. I think its stem is so graceful.

     At first, I thought I could not paint it over and over again, but now I see the value of the Challenge. The variety of treatments is probably endless, and giving myself only ten minutes to do each one prevented me from belaboring the task.

     The painting is not for sale. I washed it down. I did the work for the exercise and for the discipline. It was worthwhile.