628 Ball and the Jacks

Ball and the Jacks

oil on canvas

8x8"

$140

     As a little girl I loved playing jacks, playing with others, playing alone. My jacks of choice were fat and heavy and my favorite ball was a golf ball. Had to play on a concrete surface in order to get a good bounce with the ball. That equipment was probably too heavy for my third-grade hands, but it was necessary if you took your jacks seriously.

611 California Quail

California Quail

oil on canvas

6x6"

$80

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

How Emily Dickinson expressed the inexpressible!

I think paintings can be like poems. I have recently learned that James McNeill Whistler thought of paintings as musical compositions. I suppose all these means of expression are ways of making connections with others. I hope that is true.

595 Jar of Camellias

 Jar of Camellias

oil on canvas

10x8"

$176

     More camellias. Last spring was good for them. Looking forward to next spring, hoping the deer don't get them before I do.

     

594 Pink Cam

 Pink Cam

oil on canvas

10x8"

$176

     I love pink flowers. Red makes a bigger statement, but pink is my favorite, no question.

     I am trying to paint as briefly as I can. I want each stroke to stand on its own and not get lost in overworked places. Fresh!

589 Teacup with Rose

Teacup with Rose

oil on canvas

8x10

$176

     Roses do not last long in my neighborhood because the deer just love them. This little bush grows on an upstairs deck, so it was safe for a few blooms. It looked very pretty in Aunt Hazel's china cup.

 

593 Yellow Zin

Yellow Zin

oil on canvas

8x10"

$176

     What a lovely winter day with lots of snow for the puppy to play in! This zinnia is from last summer. Glad I photographed them while I could. They sure are gone now.

 

591 Kitchen Sunflowers

Kitchen Sunflowers

oil on canvas

11x14"

$338

     These big ol' sunflowers were a gift from friends to warm my new kitchen remodel. I knew immediately that I would try to paint them because they would serve my still life endeavors. I tried to see less (squint) and connect shapes. Such a lot to learn, even after you think you know everything there is to know.

     The kitchen looks good and the flowers looked good in it.

590 Fox Squirrel

Fox Squirrel

oil on canvas

8x10"

$176

     When we moved to town, we made a new friend, the fox squirrel. Where we lived before we had gray squirrels and Douglas squirrels (so cute!).  We think this guy is pretty cute too.

     The canvas had a mishap that affected the surface quality. I had put it in the freezer to keep it fresh until the next day to finish it, and the freezer breaker switch flipped and the freezer defrosted on my canvas overnight. I thought it would be easy to repair, but it was not. The marks still show. I have decided to accept them.

587 Traveling Raspberries

Traveling Raspberries

oil on canvas

9x12"

$238

     These raspberries are from a bush originally from Oakland, CA, the yard of the the sister of my friend Jay.  I planted them at my old house, and then when we moved here, I brought them with me. They are doing fine because the deer do not eat them. 

     Painting raspberries is a good thing because as they continue to ripen and fall off, I can just pick them up and pop them into my mouth.

586 Sunflower Challenge

Sunflower Challenge

oil on canvas

6x6"

$80

     It has been quite some time since I participated in the DPW Painting Challenge. I should do it more often because it is such a good discipline. For example, here I am painting a flower, not my best thing. That is OK. It is good for me.

     This particular flower grew volunteer in my yard, so, naturally, I took its picture and I am glad I did. I needed it for this challenge.

582 Fuyu Line

Fuyu Line

oil on canvas

8x24" 

$288

     This year's series of persimmons has been fun. Next week we go to the Mandarin Festival in Newcastle CA where I hope to find my favorite little oranges with stems and leaves still on. I will be needing new material for next year.

     

581 Eli

Eli

oil on canvas

12x9"

$216

     Eli lives at Animal Ark in Reno NV. His ears are very short because they froze off before the good people in Reno could rescue him. I took this picture of him considering a reddish fruit. I think it was a carrot, but since I do not paint carrots very well, I turned it into a tomato. I hope it is true that bears eat tomatoes. If not, then this is an example of artistic license.

Persimmon Crowd

oil on canvas

6x18"

$162

     Sometimes when I paint these little orange fruits, they begin to take on personality. I think of them as individuals, people, boys and girls, friends. But at dinner time I don't think about that.

578 California Apple

California Apple

oil on canvas

12x9"

$216

     It is harvest time for apples and persimmons in Northern California, so I must hurry to get my photography done before they are all gone to market. The trees are beautiful fully laden with their fruit. I just take lots of pictures of the trees, go home, download, and look for the paintings in the trees. One tree can give me several compositions to choose from. I feel so rich.

577 Red Zinnia

Red Zinnia

oil on canvas

9x12"

$216

     I believe this is the most difficult piece I have done all year! It was not the white on white that was the problem. It was all the little bitty details in the phone itself. And I left most of them out.

575 Peach with Leaves

Peach with Leaves

oil on canvas

18x6"

$162

     I had toned the canvas with Venetian Red and then found the reddish peach looked pretty on it. I decided to keep the color of the toned canvas but thickened the surface with more paint. The colors worked for me and I had very little more to do. It was like the painting said, "Here, Cheryl. We are going to give this one to you."

     Thank you very much.

574 Peeking Deer

Peeking Deer

oil on canvas

16x12

$384

     It was pretty cute. This one was standing behind the tree and peeked out to look at me when I took his picture. He was coming in to get a drink at the birdbath (the one that got broken when we moved). Now we have a new birdbath and I am hoping for visits from our new neighbors, the family of deer that lives here in the woods near us. I need fresh material.

573 Greta in Blue Cap

Greta in Blue Cap

oil on canvas board, cradled

6x6"

$100

     I measured her face to see how she stacked up to the Golden Ratio. Point for point perfection. I love her in Ninotchka, when she says, "Must you flirt? Suppress it."

572 Pink Camellias

Pink Camellias

oil on canvas

14x11"

$308

     As you may know, flowers give me trouble. Our camellias this year were so beautiful and I love that pretty pink color. I am just always worried that my paintings of flowers will look trite, and they often do.

     I did enjoy composing the canvas though. I am interested in the divine proportion. If you multiply the length and width of the canvas by .618, you arrive at a result that is better than the rule of thirds. I never brag about my math skills, but I find the way the divine ratio works is great fun.

571 Madison B

Madison B

oil on canvas

12 x 12"

     I do not do commissions. I have said it before and I say it now. But when I saw Madison, I knew I would make an exception. She struck me as truly exceptional.

     She did, however, remind me of why I do not do commissions. First, she is a brown dog. How to make the brown look beautiful? Then there are her white spots. How to include them without it looking stupid? And I never would have been able to reproduce her spots and not someone else's spots. So leave them out.

     Her eyes though turned out more easily. I did work on them quite a while and used all the tricks in my art bin, but I did not find them to be problematical. I hope her family agrees with me.