Birdbath Robins

Oil on Canvas

8x24"

$200

     I am glad I tried these robins on the extreme rectangle. They would have been OK on a conventional format, but the extreme fit them fine I think. Their wonderful red breasts were so bright this spring.

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!)

Yellow Scarf

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Painting from photographs can be tricky. The camera does not see as well as our eyes do to discern subtle variations in color and shadow. But when you try to paint from the black and white glamor photos from the 30's and 40's, it gets even trickier. The photographers would use back light, fill light, and I don't know what else. It is hard to know where the light source really is. Very tricky. But the beauty and glamor is thrilling to paint. I think I will never tire of it. Meanwhile, I get to work on my color theory. Nothing in a B&W to influence and confuse me.

 

Greta

Oil on canvas

6x8"

$110

     As time goes by I hope to do better with likeness. Sometimes it comes so easily, and other times, not so much. I loved the angle in this pose. I naturally want to straighten and line up the features as I paint, but I did a pretty good job of leaving them on an angle this time.

My Mannequin

My Mannequin

Oil on Canvas

8x6"

$96

     This week's Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint something that is beside your easel. I looked around and did not like the pots of brushes and trays of paints. What could I paint? Then I saw this little friend who holds my color wheel. He has never helped me paint a figure although I think that is the intention of this little tool. I just think he is cute and I like having him around. So I painted him. Here he is.

Sunbath

Sunbath

11x14"

Oil on canvas

$308

     Imagine how restful it would be if all you had to do right now is lie in the sun. I liked the way the sun hit that little foot tucked underneath her with her other foot and tail hanging loosely and relaxed in the shadow. I almost chose to do just her face, but her whole pose captured my deeper interest.

In Blue

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     If anyone were to ask me who this is, I would have to decline to answer. That is because I did not get the likeness and they would know I fell short of the mark. I did not try to fix it because I always worry about overworking the paint, and besides, as she became someone else I started to like her.

Zinnias 1

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     Inspired by Lisa Daria and Carol Marine, I thought I would try flowers in a jar again. It was fun. 

Rabbi

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

nfs

     This is a little surprise I made for my friend Rabbi Greenbaum, who retired this year. We are going to his retirement party today and we are not supposed to bring gifts, but this is not actually a gift, is it? I hope they won't be mad.

 

Loy

Oil on Canvas

6x6" 

$100

     Each face I do becomes my favorite face. I am enjoying this so much I have forgotten my original goal which was to try for abstract expression and value-color choice over local-color choice. By saying that I remind myself to pay attention to my intention. We will see if I can do it. Abstraction! It is so difficult.

     Loy. What kind of name is that? Nora Charles I understand. Is it Irish?

Claire

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     Claire Trevor was always interesting to watch. The photograph for this painting must have been taken when she was seventeen. She was as flawless as an angel. She looks a little mad here, but she really was very pretty. I loved her in Key Largo.

Miranda

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Carmen Miranda, the girl in the "Tutti Frutti Hat."  She is very adorable. I dreaded painting her teeth, but I could not avoid it. So many of the glamorous ladies of the period had the sense to keep their mouths closed, but Carmen could not contain her personality. She was great fun to paint, teeth and all.

Baby

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     We all know that daily painting is good for us. I wish I could paint daily. Even though my recent work is not daily, it is more frequent than it sometimes has been, and I feel the difference! I can hardly express how important I believe it is to paint, paint, paint. You gain more confidence with your brush and paint when you paint all the time, but what happens with yours eyes is the main thing. How much more you begin to see when you are looking, looking, looking. I guess this is old news, but it is still exciting.

Hopkins

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Miriam Hopkins has a lovely face and I enjoy her in the old movies. She aged beautifully. Bette Davis gave her a good shaking one time. They sure knew how to take photographs in those days.

Young

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     I have been working on the value, regardless of the color. Now I need to try to get color right too.

Dee

Oil on Canvas

7x5"

$100

     This was very difficult. Sometimes a painting just seems to paint itself. Not this time. In fact, I washed down the first effort and started over from scratch. It is OK. I believe in practice.

Garbo

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$100

     Last week's Challenge enlivened an old love of mine--people! For me, there is nothing so interesting as the face. With the inspiration of the Challenge, I am lining up some of my favorite faces and wishing I had nothing but time on my hands!

Value over Color Challenge

Harlow 1

Oil on Canvas

6x6"

$75

     I love this Challenge. Use value, not local color. I will definitely try for this again. It makes for some very interesting paint. My goal for a long time has been to become more abstract. I find that to be the biggest challenge of all because I lose myself in what I am painting and the details begin to fascinate me and I forget what I am doing. In this one I tried very, very hard to concentrate on the planes of the face, not the details. And the Challenge to use value, not color, helped. (I should have made her lips blue.)

Michel

Oil on Canvas

10x10"

     This cat is so beautiful with his white, white fur, black tips on his ears, and golden eyes. When something is this beautiful, I do not know if I should try to paint it or just look at it. And, of course, I am rarely satisfied with the work because the subject surpasses my ability to paint its beauty.