Two Rainiers

Two Rainiers

Oil on Canvas

18x6"

$100

     I thought painting a couple of cherries was going to be pretty easy. Just add the reflection in the glass they are sitting on and their shadows. Take away the double light source casting yet another set of shadows. The reflection should not be so hard. Simply paint the thing again upside down, but the glass does not reflect what you see straight on. It reflects from the bottom up, sort of. And the reflection is a duller color than the actual cherries which were very bright. That makes four cherries, each with its own special set of painting decisions. It all would have been easier if I had practiced what I read once: paint what you see, the shapes, not the cherries. 

Sliced Pear

Oil on Canvas

24 x 8"

$200

     Love to paint pears. Never seem to tire of it, but sometimes I want something new in the process, so I tried the horizontal-slice approach and found it interesting. I saw that the slices themselves were very pretty and will consider painting the lovely white circles with their starlike seed centers next time.

Red Pear Stem

Red Pear Stem

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     One might think I tried to paint a pear, but I consider it a painting of a pear stem. It was fun.

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.

Citrus Challenge

Citrus Bowl

Oil on Canvas

5x7"

$75

     When I saw that the Challenge was to paint fruit, I was glad. Painting fruit is one of my favorite things, but I found creating an interesting set-up difficult. Finally, I chose the green bowl and the painting became a painting of the bowl, not the fruit. That is OK. A Challenge should be challenging after all.

Stroke Challenge, Second Try

Red Poppy #2

Oil on Canvas

6 x 6"

$75

     I have pondered Carol's instructions and studied her example and decided to give it another try. Maybe each stroke should be a different color, but I still did not manage it. I know I must study and practice some more. I just hope I am practicing the right thing.

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.

Abby Extreme

Abby Extreme

Oil on Canvas

12x36"

$432

     This is called Abby Extreme because I painted the abyssinian on one of my extreme rectangles that I usually save for still lifes, but it took the extreme to get all that long cat in the picture. The cats are so great, you don't want to leave anything out.

Ft Bragg Dahlias

Oil on Canvas

11x14"

$308

     First a landscape and now flowers. Hope! If anybody tells you that painting these two genres is easy, my advice is don't believe them. It would be easy to paint them to look dopey, trite, boring, and childish. It is a rigorous quest for me to paint them to look the opposite of those things.

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.

Little Fawn Girl

Little Fawn Girl

Oil on Canvas

12x12"

$288

     A good neighbor gives me photos of his Abyssinian cats. He knows I love to paint them, but I can so easily get the color wrong. True fanciers know all the colors and exactly which one they own and love. This kitten is supposed to be Fawn. I hope I am forgiven.

Two Plums on Branch

Two Plums on Branch

Oil on Canvas

8x8"

$128

     The plums on our tree will provide me with five paintings this year. Here is #3. I climbed around in the tree taking pictures just for this purpose. I use photographs for my paintings of fruit because we eat the fruit before I can finish all the paintings. I use photographs for the animal paintings because animals will not hold a pose. I use photographs often, I must confess.      
     Today, in Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Newsletter, (Painters Keys) he discusses the shortcomings of using photographs in painting. He says, "Sitting in front of a subject and sweating it out may be the old fashioned path but, in my opinion, it can produce better art. "Cavete camerae," said the well-known Roman philosopher and poet Kjerkius Gennius, (36BC) "Beware of the camera."     
      I take it to heart, but here I am still, a painter who uses them. In fact, I am looking forward to working with them again next week.

One Red Plum

Oil on Canvas

9x12"

$216

     The arrangement of the leaves across the canvas is what I was after. Other leaves were in the scene  and I painted them too with the result that the painting was not so good. When I eliminated some of those background leaves and simplified down to the ones I really liked, then it was much better. Simplifying is an artisitic skill, something I know I should do, but I don't always practice what I know until I stop to remember what I know.

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.

The Resting Stump

The Resting Stump

Oil on Canvas

20x16"

$640

     Monte goes up on the madrone stump to sun himself. I think he looks cute when he does that so I wanted to paint him, but I had to try four times before I got this one and decided to keep it. I think the reason I like it lies in the limited palette: prussian blue, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and of course, white. I found it exciting to watch those few colors create the harmonious color scheme for the painting.

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.