Stella 3

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     These little flowers continue to delight me. I hope to paint many more.

Freshen Up

Oil on Canvas

10x8"

$160

Cats are very cooperative models. They will lie still or strike poses, but when you are lucky enough to get a good picture of them doing something, like jumping, playing, or washing, it is even better. Mamacita is my favorite model because she is so very white and her ears are so very orange. A real beauty. (Isn’t it interesting to try to paint pure white!)

Rabbi

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

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     This is a little surprise I made for my friend Rabbi Greenbaum, who retired this year. We are going to his retirement party today and we are not supposed to bring gifts, but this is not actually a gift, is it? I hope they won't be mad.

Three Cherry Glaze

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     I realize this might be considered a great UN-favorite by many, but I like it. Sometimes when I am working on an underpainting, I think it looks so exciting as it is that I feel reluctant to begin with the application of thicker paint.  So this time I decided to allow it to be without the richer layers that I usually enjoy so much. Even without the heavier paint, I find this interesting to look at, almost like the cherries are transparent. This might be more of a drawing than a painting. That is OK with me. I love to draw. And where is painting without drawing at its foundation?

Pale Pear Solo

Oil on Canvas

8x6"

$96

     I wanted to paint something very high key, lots of white. I like the way this turned out although it is not as pale as I had envisioned. How often my plans end up so soon forgotten. I might as well say, "Let's see what painting I will get today." 

     I still like the idea of a very pale piece so I will give it another try another day.

The Stroke Challenge

Red Poppy

Oil on Canvas

7 x 5"

$75

     I tried to do the Challenge this week. Having been away for a while, I thought it would be a good warm up. I don't think I got it right. I did not understand the directions, which were to mix one color, make a stroke, mix another color, make a stroke, and on like that. If all the strokes were a different color, I don't think that would be a very good painting, so I obviously did not understand exactly, and Carol was not here for me to ask her. I just tried to make good strokes with the colors I mixed and not blend them much at all, each stroke standing on its own feet.

Red Plums

Red Plums

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     Our plum tree yielded so many great plums this summer. I loved photographing the fruit on the tree for painting later. The photographs were really very pretty, but when I tried to paint them their true color, the painting was no good. After many washdowns, I finally realized I was not going to make that work and decided to use the colors I love. I just need to remind myself that I am an artist.

      "Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid."  --Jules Feiffer.

    

     

Red Apple Pieces

Red Apple Pieces

Oil on Canvas

5x7"

$70

     I am happy to say that I have something in common with Qiang Huang, an artist I admire very much. He likes to paint apples when he needs to regain his bearings. I find that it is helpful to me too. Apples are usually on hand. They are simple and familiar, yet they possess qualities and subtleties that are delightful to pay attention to. When a little out of focus, paint an apple.

Red Umbrella Blues

Red Umbrella Blues

Oil on Canvas

16x20"

$640

     Monte seems to be the star of the month. It just turned out that way.

     I do not normally paint scenes. I usually paint things, but the story in this scene was appealing, I thought, so I went ahead and gave it a try. I do not think it successful enough to make me want to paint scenes all the time now, but I like it well enough to keep it.

Persimmon on Gold

Oil on Canvas

5x7"

$70

     Another orange-red globe, but this time on an analogous background, not complementary. I even tried to put orange in the green leaves. It is really, really warm. I love it. I liked the cool backgrounds, but this change feels good.

Mandarin on Blue

Mandarin on Blue

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$72

     Orange and blue. They are so great together they should be labeled as "too easy."

     The little mandarins continue to please and delight me and I seem to need something friendly these days. I will save the challenges for another day.

     

Two More Mandarins

Two Mandarins

6x8"

Oil

$96

     This painting is very similar to one I did a few weeks ago, but it is different just as every moment is different. While I painted this one, the other one was completely out of mind. That must be what makes it possible to paint the same thing over and over, like those haystacks.

   

The Cat

The Cat

16x12"

Oil

$336

     It has been a while since I painted the cat. I thought this posture was very engaging. She is so beautiful, with her pure white fur and fabulous eyes, one black rimmed and one orange rimmed. That contrasting patch of dark pigmentation she has above her right eye makes her a little glamorous. In this version, I hardly painted her at all, only her pretty little face. That is where the real interest is for me, so that is what I gave my attention to and let the rest speak for itself.

Insect Challenge

Little Green Moth

6x6"

$72

DPW $50

     This week's Challenge: paint an insect. Insects are everywhere when you don't want them. And if I found one, could I look at it long enough to paint it without creeping out. And then there this one was, a little green moth on my kitchen window screen. Really quite pretty.

     There were many more details in his design, but I had to leave them out. When I tried to paint them, they looked "painted on." Nature can be that way. If you paint what you see, it is just unbelievable.

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.