636 Persimmon Pile Up

 Persimmon Pile Up

oil on canvas

8x16"

     These are the same persimmons as in Fuyu Family, but it is not the same painting.

     I love painting little orange fruits like persimmons and oranges. Just about the time I think I have painted enough of them, another harvest comes and I must paint again. 

635 Fuyu Family

 Fuyu Family

oil on canvas

6x18"

$166

     Little orange fruits! I love to paint them. I was so happy to find these at Trader Joe's all carefully packaged so that their crazy little leaves were not scrunched. Sometimes they dry out and break, ruining their perfect beauty for my painting, but not this time. Even when the leaves turn brittle, the fruit still tastes good. I like mine with a wedge of lime.

562 Mandarin Leaf Closeup

Mandarin Leaf Closeup

oil on canvas

6x6"

$75

     Sometimes if I zoom in, I find lovely new possibilities.

Mandarin Leaf

oil on canvas

9x12"

$216 

     Must paint them fast. So good to eat.

555 Sliced Boscs

Sliced Boscs

oil on canvas

8x16"

$256

     Although bosc pears look quite brownish, they sometimes also have a lovely orangey color that goes well with blue. Because orange and blue are complementary, the orange came out really, really orange, and the blue really, really blue. They could have used a little neutralizing or some split complement work. Aside from that, I love that little star shape in the center when you cut a pear crosswise.

552 Persimmon Scatter

Persimmon Scatter

oil on canvas

6x18"

$162

     I have always enjoyed round orange fruits for my paintings. It is perfect when they still have a leaf or two on them, but that almost never happens unless I do the picking myself. The thing about persimmons is that stem section. Only four little leaves, what could be so hard? I don't know, but it is.

548 Persimmon Lineup

Persimmon Lineup

oil on canvas

6x18"

$162

     Breaking rules again today. This time it is the "Rule of Odds." There is an even half dozen persimmons in my lineup. Maybe it would have been better with five or seven, but it is six and I do not mind. It looks OK to me.

    

547 Four Fuyus

Four Fuyus

oil on canvas

6x18"

$162

     These extreme canvases, 1:3 ratio, are really too long for good compositions but still fun to do. I like the challenge of arranging the subject, and I find that people enjoy them for just that crazy space on the wall that will not take a traditional canvas.

Blue Bowl

Oil on Canvas

6x8"

$96

     

     This is the last of the mandarins from last year. The color is such a perfect orange. I have promised myself my own mandarin tree next year so that I can always have oranges with leaves at my finger tips.

Susans Bunch 5

Susans Bunch 5

Oil on Canvas

9x12"

$216

     More susans, this time on a warm background. Painting the warm flowers on a cool background is a big challenge.  So easy to turn out as a 50/50 painting and I do not want that.

     Painting a series presents many opportunities to work out problems. The next composition is lined up and I am eager to get started. I will try again for the warm on cool and try to get the proportions right this time.

Susans Bunch 2

Oil on Canvas

12x9"

$216

     Black-eyed Susans, there must be hundreds of them in that little corner of the yard. One photograph yields dozens of compositions. Nature provides.

Michel and Mamacita

Oil on Canvas

12x12"

$288

     I have painted Michel and Mamacita before, but separately, never together. In this one, I painted their faces the same way I do eyes, both at the same time. Even so, it is still twice as much work to paint two cats as it is to paint one.

Library Poppies

Library Poppies

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     These poppies grew in the parking lot of my local library. The way the front petal dipped over was as pretty as a picture. Poppies are delightful with their pure bright color, but the trouble in painting them comes in choosing a background color. Nature usually provides the perfect complement, but in painting nature, my work sometimes looks...not so good. Here I kept the colors mainly in the same family instead of going complementary. Maybe not so bad.

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!)

Persimmons on Gray

Persimmons on Gray

Oil on Canvas

6x18"

$100

     Extreme rectangles--too long to be truly pleasing to the eye, but interesting anyway, I think. Maybe it is because of that little discomfort that comes from being the wrong size.

     And gray--for a long time I stayed away from gray, thinking it was a dull, boring color. Now I love it. Now I think it is beautiful. Besides, orange persimmons are so very, very orange against a gray background.

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.

Big Yellow Dahlia

Big Yellow Dahlia

Oil on Canvas

11x14"

$308

     I do much better with flowers when I leave them loose. Otherwise they always look amateurish and corny. This way I can see that I was at least having a little fun.

Mendocino Cypress

Mendocino Cypress

Oil on Canvas

12x16"

$384

      Here is a landscape although it is a scene by the ocean. That little strip of blue sea cannot qualify it as a seascape, can it?

      Landscapes, seascapes, they are a favorite. I live in a beautiful place. I wish I could paint it better. My landscapes often fail. (I mean really often.) It is funny that I have not given up on them.

Orange Dahlia

Orange Dahlia

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$72

     This flower in real life just glows. It is a beautiful bright orange. Of course, I had to give it a try, but I always feel disappointed when I paint flowers. They never look as good as they do in life. At least I can't make it so. They seem dumb looking to me. If I did paint a good one, I wonder if I could tell.

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.