Hibiscus Cat

Hibiscus Cat

12x9"

Oil

$216

DPW $172

     We all know that cats stalk their prey, but when I am visiting my sister, I stalk her cat. She is very beautiful with wonderful markings. I have taken so many, many pictures of her and have painted quite a few. This time I was lucky to catch her peeking out of the bushes with the evening sun making her fur glow. I tried to keep the white as pure from the tube as I could on those illuminated places. I did not adjust the composition. It is just as it was, a gift. I love it when Nature provides.

Fruit Bowl Close Up

Fruit Bowl Close Up

12 x 12"

Oil

$288

DPW $230

     The fruit in this bowl looks very nice when seen as a whole bowl and all the fruit, but I found it more interesting close up. It looked even better the closer I got. Then when I allowed the edge of the bowl to leave the canvas, I really liked it. 

     My friend says to always have part of your shapes go outside the picture frame. I believe she is right, but I must be careful not to cut things in half, and definitely do not go just to the edge and "tickle" the edge of the canvas. Then I must be sure that what I have left is not stuck right in the middle.          

     Composition can be such a juggling act.

     

Cherry with White Teapot

Cherry with White Teapot

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $60

     White. Now there is a color for you. What paint do you choose? Certainly not white. 

     In this little painting, I had to work with white and with gray. I wanted the cherry to be brilliantly red. The "big idea" was the red against the white. I did what Carol Marine teaches: I mixed red, yellow, and blue to get a gray. I like the way it came out a little greenish to complement and emphasize the red. So the white is not really white, but green. It also had to be not white so that I could put a highlight on that showed. 

     This white business is very challenging. I will try to do more. I have always enjoyed looking at paintings that have lots of white done well.

Cherries Two and One

Cherries Two and One

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $60

     So many non-art duties keeping me away from the studio lately, so I decided to warm up with friendly cherries.

     I have been studying Carol Marine's lesson on color and the importance of gray. I have always known that color stands out against neutral, but I usually end up just painting with color wheel colors.  Here I tried to gray down the shadow on the creamy background so that the red cherries will glow.  I like it, but now what am I supposed to do about that other teacher who said to use warm shadows in a warm painting!?

     If you listen to too many people, you can really get messed up.

Golden Pear

Golden Pear

8x8"

Oil

$128

DPW $96

    Here is another example of an analogous color scheme. I enjoy doing them, probably because the color harmony is built in. I have tried doing blue ones and violet ones, but I just cannot manage to like them. There is something about the golds and reds that makes me feel good. I guess they are my favorites, but I am sure a cool green or blue would be pleasant to look at if it is done right. In my efforts to develop, I must give them another try.

     (I did not do the Challenge this week. We had to paint a blue object. Mine turned out bad.)

Cherry with Stem

Cherry with Stem

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $60

     Here is just what I need for a daily painting. A simple subject and a simple color scheme. I really love setups like this because I can devote all my looking to the smallest variations in value and the tiniest detail. 

     I painted this and thought I was finished, but something kept bothering me about that highlight. Today I decided to look again and see what I could see. I found that the highlight was not bright enough and yet had very hard edges. I thought that was what I had seen in the cherry, but now I think I was wrong. I softened the edges and left some halo around a very bright spot for the highlight. Now I like it so much better.

     Simple setup does not mean simple work.

Lily the Cat

Lily 

12x12"

Oil

$288

DPW $216

     It is easy to see how ancient Egyptians could worship cats as gods. And I bet the ones they worshipped most were Abyssinians. This one lives here in Nevada County and was kind enough to say I could paint her picture. 

     In this painting I tried to get that upward turn of the head with the light coming from below, glowing on her beautiful fur. She is looking up and I wanted her eyes aimed at that interesting something, but one eye is dominant. That is usually the case. I still paint them at the same time, or else they might look they belong to different cats.

Persimmon Extreme

Persimmon Extreme

18x6"

Oil

$100

DPW $90

     These extreme rectangles are fun to do. Choose to place the subject at the top, bottom, left, or right. I love choices, but not too many. I have not chosen to place the subject in the middle, but if I did, I would then have the choice of horizontal or vertical. The possibilities!

     However you place a persimmon, you will have that fabulous orange color to paint. It can go from pale yellow to deep scarlet. And then there are those goofy little petals at the stem. I find them to be a challenge, but if you get them right, that fruit is none other than a persimmon even if you paint it blue.

Sutter Creek Cow

Sutter Creek Cow

16x12"

Oil 

$384

DPW $200

     Aren't cows cute?

     A girl can paint still life just so long before she needs something to look back at her. This cow gave me a good long look. California is full of cows who like to have their picture taken. 

     This painting is roughly rendered; did not fuss with it much, but I loved how the reddish coat went with the green background so easily, so I decided to just let it paint itself and let it be.

Bowl of Red Fruit

Bowl of Red Fruit

9x12"

Oil

$216

DPW $170

     I have been painting many solo and trio fruits lately, and although there seems to be only three fruits in this picture, there are really six (you can see them if you look around) and one flower, plus bowl. So this is a much more complex composition for me.

     The "big idea" here was to make that front fuji stem part stand out. That meant making the apple to the right very dark. How do you make red really, really dark without losing the redness? I used alizarin and transparent iron oxide red--not dark enough. If I used viridian with alizarin, I could get that really dark, but I was afraid of muddying my pure red. 

     I finally knew I would have to use black, but which one? Ivory or Chromatic? I decided on Chromatic because it is transparent. Transparent paints recede and opaque paints advance. Since the dark is mainly on the turning side, I thought transparent would be the best choice.

     I try to find my answers in books, but sometimes I am just on my own, doing what I can with what I have.

Apple Edge

Apple Edge

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $50

     How best to make an apple interesting? Once again, I tried placing it on the very edge, letting the shadow drift over and off. I am hoping for some tension that will add drama to the still life.

     I want my little fruit paintings to be somewhat poetic, not telling everything, but more like a haiku than Paradise Lost. I enjoy finding the colors that make up the white of the apple insides and the range of reds on the outside, and then paying meticulous attention to that seed.

Pears Yellow, Green, Red

Pears

12x16"

Oil

$384

DPW $288

     These pears are starting to log on the mileage. They just turned out to be the right size and color, with leaves. I will probably paint them again before they are lunch.

     I like the way the red is in the green and the green is in the yellow and the yellow is in the red, etc., etc. I did not contrive the fallen leaf. It really did fall from the pear, so I just nudged it a bit into the picture.

     

     

Begonias

Red and Yellow Begonias

8x10"

Oil

$160

DPW $120

     As I have often said, flowers and landscapes are not my best subjects. Yet here I am again giving it another try. So stubborn.

    "Paint the color and value, not the flower." In the first effort, the yellow flower was more interesting than the red one. Stepping back I could tell it was because of two important things: first, the yellow-white paint was fresh, hardly worked or blended at all while the red one was overworked, flat; next, the yellow-white one had shadow because of the light source while the red one was flooded with light rendering it flat to begin with.

     In the second effort, I expanded the shadow around the red one, hoping to give that light source even more presence and hoping for the fresh interest I originally saw in the pale petals.

     I won't even begin to discuss painting the pistils and stamens in the flower centers.

Pink Pears with Leaves

Pink Pears with Leaves

6x18"

Oil

$100

DPW $80

     I work very hard to find fruit with the leaves still on. Adds interest. Pretty.

     I am continuing to work with the warm shadows in a warm painting, but I am also trying to use MORE PAINT! I love the look, but how out of control I feel! With practice should come control, so I do not mind having a few paintings with a chaotic quality. What if I start to like it?

The Rest of the Apple

Sliced Apple

18x6"

Oil 

$100

DPW $80

     Same apple slice as before, but this time I added the rest of the apple and I used my extreme rectangle. I did not know if the orientation would work with the subject at the top of the vertical canvas, but I think it does. In fact, I love it.

     Please see below, the image of the slice from last post. I learned a very wonderful thing and made a change to the painting. I learned that if your painting looks "dirty" check to see if the temperature of your shadow is correct. Mine was cool in a very warm painting and it should have been warm. I warmed it up and it looks so much better.

Apple Slice

Apple Slice

6x8"

Oil

$ 96

DPW $72

     Here is something as simple as can be. I think a slice of apple is pretty and subtly challenging, but it becomes even more so when it sits on the very edge of the table.  I will do more of this type of composition. It creates tension in an otherwise static arrangement. Fun.

Fig Trio

Fig Trio

6x18"

Oil

$100

DPW $80

     I continue my work with the extreme rectangles. I find the compositions interesting, odd but simple. I am putting very little into the subject matter, freeing myself to invest my effort in the smallest and subtlest details. With these canvasses, I concentrate more on color theory and character of paint in a brief process. This is the idea behind the daily painters: paint small and often and learn.

Another Cherry

Another Cherry

18x6"

Oil

$100

DPW $80

Another cherry from the nearly empty summer box.

Is it as red as the wine-dark sea?

Or as red as the cheeks of my beamish boy?

Is it the cherry my mother gave me?

"Don't swallow the seed!" she warned.

It is the cherry I have right now,

As bright  and pretty as a cherry can be,

With its stem reaching over far for something desired

And upward for the thing unattained.

Three Cherries

Three Cherries

6x18"

Oil

$100

DPW $80

     Two neat things: cherries and extreme rectangles.

     When they speak of stepping outside the box, do they mean the traditional rectangle? We already did that with the square, the darling square. Now these extreme rectangles are capturing my heart. I am stocking up.

     Carol Marine paints cherries, cherries, cherries. I can see why. How varied they are in shape, size, color, attitude. I loved painting these and using the complementary green, a color I rarely use much of. See how the red cherries are so at home against the green. They are so strong, the open space on the canvas seems essential to the composition. (That is, if you are thinking outside the box.)

Strawberry

Strawberry

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     The primary colors: red, yellow, blue. Complementary colors: red/green. Strawberry, a simple shape. Lots of fun to be had here. Now what do I do about those little seeds all over it?! 

     I considered leaving them out, but I knew I had to include them. If I painted them just as they really are, the painting would be a portrait of strawberry seeds, so I tried to simply suggest a few and ignore the rest. I just felt that you cannot have a picture of a strawberry without those seeds anymore than you can have a picture of a cat without whiskers.

A Cherry

A Cherry

8x8"

$128

DPW $96

     Cherries have been delicious this summer but will be out of season soon, so I thought I better get some paintings done right now.

     You think of them as deep, deep red, but they have many colors. Look closely and you will see. You can stay just on one end of your palette and have a lot of fun. Another part that I enjoy is the stem. It will surprise you too with all the colors in that little skinny stem.

     Nature provides delights great and small. A cherry can be as rich in expression as an expansive landscape or a big fat floral.

     

The Complementary Challenge

Tipsy Bartlett

8x24"

Oil

$100

DPW $90

     Complementary colors, an idea we learn in elementary school and a lesson well worth learning. This week we must paint with complementaries and I chose orange and blue. Be careful. If they mix, you get neutral, but sometimes that is exactly what you want.

     I liked this Challenge, but my big fun was not in the color. It was in the format. Not so long ago I thought the square canvas was a little oddball. Then I began to love it. Now I am using extreme rectangle. A little oddball. I think I might love it too although it will demand more of me than the square. Even so, I am eager to try again.

Small Scene of Nature

Orchard Bunch

18x24"

$775

DPW $545

     Many of my recent paintings have been small, as "Daily Paintings," so my collection has become out of balance. To even that out I decided to try for a size I used to like very much, 18x24.

     Now I do not know if it is the size, the subject, the color, or what, but I slaved over this. I was willing to wash it down, but since I worked so hard on it, I can no longer tell if it is really OK or not, and so I decided to let it live.

     This is probably a good decision because I had a specific idea for this painting and it would not cooperate with me. It kept taking over. If it is that way about it, it deserves a chance. Picasso said, "Begin with an idea, but it must be vague."

Some Shastas

Some Shastas

12x16"

Oil

$384

DPW $269

     Flowers. I am starting to feel more comfortable with them. But, as always, there is an issue to deal with. Here, it is white. How to paint white without it looking like a polar bear in a snow storm.

     I used viridian as my main color and just treated it as a value painting, adding the smaller percentage of warm for the daisy centers. I put a lot of viridian in the flowers and they still look white, but I believe I could have put even more for a richer effect and still ended up with white Shasta Daisies.

The Rose Challenge

Red Rose

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $50

     This week's Challenge is to paint a rose, any way at all. Flowers are not my strength so this Challenge is a good thing.  I could have chosen to paint just a petal or a leaf, but I decided to be very traditional and paint a rose, thorns and all.  How interesting that the thorns really were the color of the rose! I did not know that about thorns. Another bit of fun was painting on a turquoise canvas. Red has become my favorite imprimatura, but experimenting is a must. Generally this was a good time in the studio, but I am disappointed that the front leaf does not glow with sun against the red rose the way it did in real life.

Primary Challenge

Bright Apple

8x10"

Oil 

$160

DPW $112

     This week's Challenge: paint using the primaries--red, yellow, blue. I tried to keep the colors pure, but some yellow leaked into the blue giving me a green leaf. (Well, OK.) The way the sun fell on the yellow leaves really did make them look yellow, almost white. 

     Painting with three colors is a triad color scheme, which I usually enjoy. The thing to watch out for is not to make the three colors equal. I want the painting to be either one color or another. I worried about this one, but I think it turned out to be a blue painting. Blue with red and yellow. That is good.

     The Challenges time and again push me out of my comfort zone. Now I want to use this color scheme again soon.

Mamacita

Mamacita

9x12"

Oil

$216

DPW $150

     My sister's cat is so photogenic, but then all felines are "masterpieces." They strike poses and walk like ballerinas. I like cats and would have one of my own if I did not dread the "trophies" they might bring me after their trips into the woods. How fine it would be to have my own personal model to paint all the time. I don't think I would ever tire of it.

     I rarely paint with Cad Red, but this time I wanted pure red, red, red, and the Cad gave it to me. Cad Red Light is my favorite red, so I had to add just a stroke or two to break up the flatness of the background without losing that redness I wanted. It really is red.

The Phone Challenge

Delta

The Phone Challenge

8x8"

$128

DPW $85

     Here is another Challenge I was glad to see. My landscapes are my nemesis and I need to practice them more.

     This is from a photo taken on the run with a cell phone and given to us to paint anyway we want. This week's Challenger reminds us that a good photo does not always mean a good painting and vice versa. A good reminder, but how well I know that to be true. So many photos of landscapes with so few paintings to show for it.

     This is the first landscape I have done this year that I like and that I did not have to wash down several times before I arrived at a finished product. Thank you, Elaine.

Happy 4th of July!

Stars & Stripes Cowgirl Angel

Sierra Artisans Craft Pattern

20"

     This is my Independence Day greeting. Happy 4th of July!

     This is one of my craft patterns that I sell on Etsy under my Sierra Artisans label. She is one of ten western-themed figures that I have enjoyed designing over time. It all began with a Cowboy Santa. I thought he would be cute and never expected more from it, but when your imagination is triggered, you don't want to stop it. Now I have a variety of Cowgirl Angels and other seasonal and holiday characters. I like to think of them as a family. The Sheriff is already drawn and Sidekick in taking shape in my head.

     How to find time to finish these ideas and paint every day too! Time--that slippery element. It gets away from me so easily.

     Please visit my website or Etsy to see all the characters.

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.

California Gray Squirrel

Squirrel

8x10"

$160

DPW $112

     I saw a picture yesterday that was done in orange and green, that's all. I liked it, so when I began this painting, I gave myself the assignment of making it in that color scheme. Although the real squirrel is gray and the leaves he was sitting on are beige, he is now an orange and green "gray squirrel." The green is my new best friend, Prussian Blue, mixed with a little hansa yellow and cad orange. His nose and eyes are Prussian Blue, too, made even darker with burnt sienna, another orange.

     

Dogwood

Dogwood

6x8"

Oil

$96

DPW $65

     This spring the dogwoods of so many varieties were wonderful in Nevada County. This flower is in a tree on our hillside. It was surrounded by many others, so I cropped it out and only suggested faintly the others in the picture. It is easy to render white flowers uncomfortably cool so I used burnt sienna and yellows in the greenery and shadows to warm it a little. Paying attention to the shadow of a flower, treating it as a sort of geometric shape is very interesting. It seems to make all the difference.

Rosebud in Shadow

Rosebud in Shadow

6x6"

Oil

$72

DPW $50

     This little rosebud was found on the dim periphery of a photograph of several fully blown roses, but it was this small flower I chose to paint. I loved the way it seemed to emerge from the shadows with only a "baby spot" on its little bud casings (What are those called?). The dark, dark you see is pure Prussian Blue, not black. High contrast is always exciting, but must be careful with the edges.

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.