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.

Sleepy Fox

Sleepy Fox

Oil on Canvas

12x16"

$384

     Animal Ark, near Reno, Nevada, is a refuge for animals who cannot thrive on their own in the wild.  What a beautiful day we had there photographing the wonderful creatures, knowing they were protected, not imprisoned.

     This little darling was too adorable for words. I painted him on a dark green canvas. At the very beginning, with only a few strokes, it read fox. How much more work should I do on it, I wondered. I decided to do little. It was so rough and unfinished looking, but I allowed it to be, for fear of losing the freshness of the paint and also the charm of the animal.

Mandarin Bowl

Mandarin Bowl

Oil

8x10"

$160

     I wanted to continue with the warm background. The slightly blue bowl is a nice complement, and nature provides the lovely cool green leaves. Can't improve on that.

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.

Mandarin Lineup

Mandarin Lineup

12x36"

Oil

$300

     These mandarins are on a large extreme rectangle, a canvas I like to use from time to time. It is fun because it is an out-of-the-ordinary format. The oranges themselves continue to delight me as I paint them. I will do another, though smaller, before I must go shopping again. I did a little photography of the fruit for later, but painting from life is more personal and I like it better.

Mandarin Pair

Mandarin Pair

6x8"

Oil

$96

DPW $76

     Two bright orange mandarin oranges. Two orange balls would be fun to look at, but I love the complexity the stems and leaves add. The shadows are an important element too. This was fun to paint.

    

Mandarin Single

Mandarin Single

6x8"

Oil

$96

DPW $76

     Imagine a box full of bright orange mandarins with their stems and leaves still on! The box even said, "With stems and leaves." For me that was the best news. Supermarket fruit is so bare. The greenery makes the fruit so beautiful and interesting. Orange--what a color! I bought the whole box. I now have plenty of something lovely to paint for days and days.

Red Gerbera

Red Gerbera

5x7"

Oil

$70

DPW $60

     Here is a cheerful flower. The sun hit it and made it glow. How often nature dazzles our eyes. So, of course, we want to paint it. I think that must be akin to "gilding the lily." Anyway, I had to paint it, and I got to use all my warms. But they would not have stood out without the cool dark background made up of my darkest blues and greens.