Susan Nally: A Painter's Journal

Up Front

2012-02-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

Can't think of a thing to say -- so I will go with Happy Leap Day!

Extrovert and Introvert

2012-02-21T20:12:00.004-05:00

This painting brought to mind an interesting article I read recently about extroverts and introverts. It said artists are generally introverted although I have artist friends with very outgoing personalities.

Tulip Bouquet

2012-02-14T19:01:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Posting was delayed by out of town trip/taking a break/goofing off.

Usually, my motto is less is more but this time decided to do the whole bouquet.

Two Green Pears

2012-01-31T19:09:00.003-05:00

Initially, I got rid of all that white canvas by covering the entire board with a mixture of ultramarine and burnt sienna. The cloth and pears were then lifted out with a paper towel and then restated with the appropriate colors.

Orange with Two Cups

2012-01-25T19:38:00.004-05:00

Same painting--the top is the final version. Usually, I paint alla prima and when a painting is finished within a day or two, that is the final version. This time though, after a week or so, I decided to glaze the bottom painting, giving the cups and background a bluer and brighter tone.

Orange with Leaves

2012-01-15T20:12:00.001-05:00

Found this orange with leaves still attached at a little market. Bought several of them but was only in the mood for a simple small painting, hence this little guy is all by his lonesome.

Orange Rim

2012-01-08T22:44:00.001-05:00

This week, I thought I would mix things up with a different perspective and color palette.

Three Dancers

2011-12-25T20:16:00.001-05:00

I loved the stance of this young woman standing before Degas's Dancers Practicing at the Barre. She has to be a dancer as well.

Mini with Tulips

2011-12-18T20:30:00.004-05:00

I am very fond of this little mini schnauzer statuette. Paired with tulips and a milk bottle, it becomes a character in a slightly surreal painting.

Flowers in a Jar

2011-12-11T20:04:00.002-05:00

A mixed bouquet in an old jar of some sort. I kept playing with this until finally, I said to myself, no more fussing; it is done.

Flower Trio

2011-11-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

Three different pink flowers, each facing a different direction..... the plan was to quickly paint the same flowers in a different composition but Thanksgiving preparations took precedence.

Too Close

2011-11-20T20:19:00.003-05:00

I took a break from my own still life paintings to do a painting of a gentleman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art inspecting Cezanne's "Still Life with Jar, Cup and Apples".

White Carnations

2011-11-13T19:53:00.001-05:00

It wasn't until I finished this small painting that I realized how red, white and blue it was, inadvertently appropriate for Veterans Day this week.

One Brown One

2011-11-06T19:16:00.002-05:00

Missed last week--pesky power outages here in Connecticut from that bizarre pre-Halloween snowstorm. Others still without power 8 days after the storm.

Yellow Pot

2011-10-23T21:37:00.002-04:00

This was painted a while ago but I wasn't quite sure about it. A friend, (hi Susan!), said she liked the painting, so here it is.

Interesting

2011-10-16T20:27:00.001-04:00

I don't know whose painting is hanging--I should have taken note. But I loved the blue of his sweater against the orange.

Milk Times Two

2011-10-09T20:09:00.003-04:00

This is the same painting. On the bottom, you have the first version which I did not like and thus a few days later decided to muck with it. Mucking with paintings, for me, can be the cathartic prelude to chucking them out -- but in this case, I may give the second edition a pardon.

For everyone in the New Haven, CT area--for the umpteenth year I will be participating in City Wide Open Studios. I will be at Erector Square, October 15-16, noon to five, Building 6E, 1st floor, Room I, 315 Peck St., New Haven.

Sunflowers

2011-10-02T20:01:00.001-04:00

Back to flowers for this week. Sorry for the glare on the dark background. I am not sure how others do so well photographing their dark paintings.

Red Hat

2011-09-25T19:50:00.001-04:00

The canvas was toned with red first--I like the little bits of it showing through here and there. A friend reassured me that the painting imaged is by Mark Rothko.

Lone Pear

2011-09-18T20:04:00.001-04:00

Hi All, here is this week's painting. I wondered if I had "grayed" the cloth colors too much so started a second brighter version. May post later (if I like it).

You Look Familiar

2011-09-11T19:16:00.000-04:00

This painting was dropped off yesterday for entry into the Guilford Art League Annual Juried Exhibition. Nothing left to do but wait for the postman to deliver the little accepted/not accepted slip. You never know.

Egg, Glass Jar and Blue Stripes

2011-09-04T16:29:00.000-04:00

This painting was finished just before Hurricane Irene visited. We were without power or water for five days but luckily no property damage or other misfortunes.

Lemon with Bowls

2011-08-27T16:04:00.003-04:00

Sunday is my usual posting day but with Hurricane Irene coming and threatening power outages, I thought I would get it out a day earlier. Stay safe everyone.

Figure Study

2011-08-21T23:25:00.002-04:00

This incomplete figure study was done on an old landscape. You can see the horizon line passing through the lower legs.

Lemon on Stripes

2011-08-14T20:15:00.002-04:00

Wasn't sure there would be a posting this week. This was finished just in time.

Little Pitcher

2011-08-07T20:41:00.002-04:00

This is a variation of a painting done previously. I read somewhere that you should paint what you like more than once and I decided to follow that advice.

Three Pears with Bowl

2011-07-31T20:40:00.000-04:00

The pears managed to paint themselves rather quickly. The bowl, however, was most uncooperative. I couldn't get the sides to even up or maintain the same angle so the bowl grew and shrunk about a dozen times.

Creamsicle Dream

2011-07-24T20:00:00.003-04:00

Today's title is inspired by the heat, the fact our AC is on the fritz and lastly by the orange hues in the painting. The new little glass vase with the cute flared bottom was the reason to paint.

Black Skirt

2011-07-17T20:15:00.001-04:00

The above is a substitute for a less than stellar still life. (It turns out that tube black as a background color is not a good idea.) This was a study done at portrait group.

New Again

2011-07-10T19:28:00.000-04:00

I was looking through the old, bad painting pile and decided to have a go at reworking the below painting. It had never been varnished, so I just painted on top of the old painting. I am much happier with the new version.

Blueberries

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

Blueberries --- love 'um.

Three Cherries

2011-06-26T19:37:00.000-04:00

This week, I rearranged my studio and painting setup-- palette from my right to my left, easel lamp instead of overhead light, different table for the still life objects, etc. My brain must have been confused because this simple painting was a struggle. The next painting (will post later) was easier but the studio lighting still needs tweaking.

Peonies

2011-06-19T20:10:00.003-04:00

There were lots of peonies around two weeks ago. I did try to indicate more petals but ended up satisfied with this looser interpretation.

Cherry

2011-06-12T17:00:00.001-04:00

Summer is full of fun distractions. This week, a simpler painting.

Centered Purple

2011-06-05T11:07:00.004-04:00

This was a week of many paintings but only one postable one. (Is postable a word)? There was the not quite right ribbon painting and the baaad peony painting started in Johanne's garden. This one made the not too embarrassed to post standard.

Encircled

2011-05-29T17:06:00.001-04:00

I decided to keep the ribbon theme going (for now).

Entwined

2011-05-22T20:34:00.001-04:00

This is the first still life post vacation. The ribbon was raided from a friend's gift wrapping bag. (Thanks, Lindy!) I am not sure this painting is done; I am trying to resist mucking with it until I know what it needs.

Flag

2011-05-18T08:37:00.001-04:00

This art lover is at the MOMA in New York reading about "Flag", a painting by Jasper Johns. I loved the combo of the stars and the polka dots, although they were time consuming to paint.

This posting was slightly delayed--- I have been in Texas where funny and fun things were happening. I happened to be in Texas when Carol Marine happened to be having a party to celebrate her new studio. Then, Qiang Huang showed up at the party and I got to visit with him and his lovely wife, Song. Both Carol and Qiang have wonderful blogs-- check them out. Pictured below is Qiang, Song and Carol Marine in Carol's studio.

Tulips

2011-05-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

The image to the left is the most recent version of this tulip painting. I had great fun painting the initial rendition but months later after many sideways glances the muddled quality of the background began to bother me. Hence, the second, brighter version which is perhaps too bright. It may have another reincarnation.

Explaining Rothko

2011-05-01T18:32:00.001-04:00

She was very excited by this Rothko painting on display at the Museum of Modern Art. He --- not so much.

Eggshells and Pear

2011-04-25T19:00:00.001-04:00

This is a painting completed quite a while ago-- not sure why I never got around to posting it. I do like the red background (note to self; try red background again).

This painting is currently hanging at the DaSilva Gallery in New Haven. The last day of the show is Sunday, May 1st.

Black Jeans

2011-04-17T17:23:00.003-04:00

Luckily, a visit to New York museums is an easy day trip. Following Karin Jurick's fabulous lead, after looking at the art, I take photos of others looking at the art. These paintings for me are a nice change of pace from still lifes.

Lemon Slice

2011-04-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

It is funny, on the last painting "Three Berries", I had intended for the overall tone to be more neutral, grayer. On this small painting, I managed to keep the background grayer but am thinking it might look better if it was bluer. I guess you do have to be careful what you wish for.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged/helped/attended or had anything else to do with the reception for "The Art of Everyday" exhibit at the DaSilva Gallery today. It was a wonderful event.

Three Berries

2011-04-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

The goal here was to have a very tiny area of red be a commanding presence. I had intended for the rest of the painting to be more neutral, more gray but somehow it came out a brighter blue. Sometimes you only have so much control-- the painting seems to go its own way.

Mushrooms and Red Onion

2011-03-26T17:56:00.000-04:00

I wanted to paint something different and both the baby bella mushrooms and the red onion were new subjects for me.

A save the date reminder: for all those in the New Haven, Connecticut area, the opening reception for my upcoming show "The Art of Everyday", will be Sunday, April 1oth, 1 -4 pm at the DaSilva Gallery. Please come and say hello.

Tall Bouquet

2011-03-19T18:12:00.000-04:00

There is only one painting above, the final version is to the left. Usually, I work on a painting for 1 or 2 days, 3 at the most. (The advantage to working small.) But this was a painting that I was never really satisfied with and whenever I was in the mood I would change it a bit--take out a flower, put it back in, move the stems around, change the highlight, etc. Anyway, it was time to stop.

Ranunculus

2011-03-12T17:58:00.002-05:00

Ranunculuses versus ranunculi-- apparently both are correct but both sound funny. This is the painting I had just completed before moving on to the Lincoln challenge.

Lincoln

2011-03-06T17:48:00.002-05:00

The Daily Paintworks site currently has a paint Lincoln challenge and since I happened to have leftover paint on my palette and since I had not done any self portrait paintings lately (as I promised myself), I gave Lincoln a go. This was on a black gessoed panel so the dark bits were lifted back out. The greens and reds were leftovers from a ranunculus flower painting that I had just finished. Bizarre looking but fun and no disrespect intended to Mr. Lincoln.

Strawberry and Pear

2011-03-04T04:58:00.000-05:00

Although, in the end, I was pleased with this painting, it was a struggle. The background color changed several times -- initially it was a much warmer color, almost a flesh tone. You can see remnants of it, mixed in with the gray.

Sieve

2011-02-25T19:12:00.003-05:00

I was looking around the house for another object for the "old stuff" series. A friend who was staying with us suggested this sieve. The challenge was the mesh part. Luckily, the texture of the cotton canvas was mesh like enough to take care of that problem, otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do.

Red Carnation

2011-02-18T17:26:00.000-05:00

Back to a very dark background. It seems I lean toward the extremes of a very light or very dark background. Perhaps, a mid-tone is in order soon.

Two Cups

2011-02-11T18:25:00.001-05:00

Ok, I promise, this is the last cherry painting -- at least for a while. The top cup was actually initially angled towards me but I was having a bad ellipse day so I angled it away. Bad ellipse days are much worse than bad hair days.

Tall Pear

2011-02-05T16:42:00.003-05:00

I am making use of those few cherries I bought. Think I can get one more painting out of them.

Cherries on Stripes

2011-01-29T17:41:00.000-05:00

I was amazed to find cherries at a local market (they must be imported). Couldn't resist buying a few--needed something cheery to paint while house bound by snow.

Orange Mum

2011-01-24T04:36:00.000-05:00

The orange mum, front and center, wasn't quite that big relative to the other flowers. It just had a dominant personality that was hard to ignore.

Paint Brush

2011-01-19T17:35:00.000-05:00

This is one of the "old stuff found around the house" series, although I actually found this well-worn paint brush in my parents' basement. The background was done first with a thin layer of red acrylic. Then on top of that is a layer of thick blue acrylic, which was applied with a palette knife. I used acrylic because it would have taken weeks, if not months for oil to dry. The brush was painted with oils.

Yellow Pear

2011-01-13T10:04:00.005-05:00

Had one of those weeks when time and ideas were scarce. I chose similar subjects from a prior painting-- changed the orientation and background colors and the above painting is the result.

Old Blue Bottle

2011-01-07T16:57:00.001-05:00

Initially, this painting was more realistic but also more timid. I loaded up the paint on the blue bottle and eliminated fussy details elsewhere. I like the reincarnation better. I suspect I will have to "oil out" this painting as clearly some areas are drying more matte than others.

Self Portrait

2011-01-01T17:24:00.000-05:00

I am posting this self portrait because I ran across an artist whose work I really admire. She is Catherine Kehoe who was born in Connecticut and teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her still life paintings are great but her self portraits are particularly engaging. In an interview, she said that she does her self portraits quickly with the paint left over from her other paintings. Although I suspect that I will not repeat this exercise often, this week I thought I would try to follow her example.

Cup, Pear and Lemon

2010-12-26T16:38:00.000-05:00

This is the painting completed just before Christmas. As in most of my paintings, the light source is on the left. This time, taking a clue from Qiang-Huang, I blocked the light from falling on the background on the left side of the painting.

White Cup with Shells

2010-12-20T20:24:00.002-05:00

I am not posting today's painting because I am not quite sure it is finished; I need to look at it again over breakfast. (The kitchen is the place where the final decisions are made.) This painting was actually done right before the similar painting with the little pitcher. I think I prefer this one because of the more subdued colors of the background and tabletop.

Red Handle

2010-12-13T20:34:00.002-05:00

I was reading Hawthorne on Painting, first published in 1938. In the introduction, he talks about seeing the beauty of the ugly and the commonplace; "it is better to make a big thing out of a little subject than to make a little thing out of a big one."

This red handled fork is old, fairly beat up and at one time was probably commonplace.

Daisy with Limes

2010-12-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

The above painting is now hanging in an eight person group show at Case Memorial Library in Orange, CT for the month of December. The group is the Artclectics whose members have been painting and drawing together once a week for over 5 years. The Artclectics work in a variety of mediums and their work ranges from abstract to representational. Come join us if you can for the opening reception on Thursday, December 9th from 5 to 7 p.m. in the library's second floor meeting room.

Chicken Little

2010-12-04T17:08:00.001-05:00

We use this little pitcher for maple syrup but I thought he looked better with eggshells than with scattered pancakes. This painting was done a few days ago. Yesterday's painting was a scraper--all the paint scraped off with the palette knife after many hours of work. I think everyone who paints has had that experience (well, maybe almost everyone).

Sunflowers

2010-11-29T20:30:00.000-05:00

Like some previous paintings, this was done on a panel first toned dark green. This eliminates having to fight all that white in the beginning but necessitates laying down the lighter values with copious amounts of paint.

Rose with Apple

2010-11-23T19:09:00.000-05:00

Although I love oils, every now and then I like to play with acrylics. You acrylic painters out there amaze me. This stuff dries so fast!

Pomegranate

2010-11-18T15:10:00.003-05:00

Last week, the demonstrator at the Hamden Art League meeting was Dick McEvoy, who gave a very energetic pastel landscape demo. His major point was to have fun while making art (which he clearly did during the demo). He snatched random colors from his pastel box, made lively marks and color patches and in the end, the painting read as trees and a stream alive with color and movement.

Inspired by the fun motif, I changed by usual perspective (still life at eye level) and put in color patches not seen in real life (just because I felt like it). The result is the above painting.

Chocolate Covered

2010-11-12T13:52:00.002-05:00

I was in the mood for something more decadent than a pear. The doughnut was from a local shop, Whitney Donut. It was funny looking over the selection not with taste but with visual appeal in mind. At the time, I wasn't thinking about including the bag in the composition but I liked the white bag and the bag was the more challenging to paint.

Single Blue

2010-11-06T13:28:00.001-04:00

In this painting, I used a variation of a technique learned at Stanley Bielen's workshop. I toned the panel with dark green acrylic -- because it dries within minutes there was no waiting to start painting. The challenge was to get the illusion of petals without painting each one individually.

As always, these dark paintings are more difficult to photograph accurately, the background is not quite as dark as it appears and excuse the glare on the upper right.

Lemons (Twice)

2010-11-01T13:40:00.002-04:00

The painting below was painted a while ago and put in the not good enough to show, not bad enough to throw out right away rack. It just felt too timid. This week, I had another go at it and the result is the above painting.

Eggs, Three Ways

2010-10-26T13:37:00.000-04:00

This painting continues my keep it simple mood. Before I started this, Humpty Dumpty came to mind and I thought it might be less messy to use blown out eggs. I had to google how to do it and I must say it took some severe lip pursing to get the job done.

Meadow Grass

2010-10-20T15:32:00.000-04:00

While walking by a roadside meadow a few days ago, I spotted tall, thin grasses with these wispy cattails. They were so delicate; I thought it would be an interesting challenge to paint something with essentially no mass placed in a jar with no water. Primarily, it is a painting of air.

Mike

2010-10-13T19:13:00.003-04:00

Wow, look, it is not a still life. Although I suspect portraiture will never be my thing, after watching Sherrie McGraw do a portrait demo, I attempted to apply some of her portrait principles while doing the above study. Some of her recommendations: Don't model in the shadow--the shadow is the stability and should be simple and structural; Don't over soften the transitions from shadow to light and finally-- Go for the easiest solution!

Sherrie McGraw Workshop

2010-10-11T15:17:00.003-04:00

Last week I attended a Sherrie McGraw workshop at the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts in Wethersfield, CT. Sherrie is an incredibly accomplished artist, a generous and gentle person and a wonderful teacher. Above, you see Sherrie, her still life setup and the beginning of her painting on a toned canvas. Her first suggestion?-- work on the still life set up until you are dying to paint it.

Big and Small (A Second Look)

2010-09-30T13:09:00.002-04:00

I didn't have much time for painting this week so I mucked about with the painting below which was previously posted. The rather sharp transition from the light to the shadow side of the large mug bothered me so I made it a more gradual change. Somehow, the background color ended up changing as well.

Sea and Egg (Shells)

2010-09-23T14:16:00.001-04:00

This painting just got dropped off at Gabe Da Silva's lovely Frame Shop and Westville Gallery on Whalley Ave. in New Haven. Although I will be at Erector Square this weekend, several new paintings will be hanging at Gabe's gallery for this weekend and beyond. So if you can't make it to Erector Square this weekend stop by Gabe's sometime.

The studios at Erector Square will be open noon to 5, Sept. 25 and 26. I will be on the first floor of building 3.

Eggshells with Lime

2010-09-17T14:30:00.002-04:00

City Wide Open Studios is next weekend! The above painting isn't brand new but I will have it with me at Erector Square, Building 3, Room A 2-4, September 25th and 26th from 12 to 5. Just like last year, Rita Brieger, Rob Jacoby and I will be sharing a space. The buildings will be full of interesting art.

For more details about the whole event which occurs over several weekends visit http://www.cwos.org/

If you are any where near Erector Square, 315 Peck St., New Haven, CT. next weekend come say hello!

Lime with Pear and Vase

2010-09-10T13:19:00.003-04:00

This will be in the upcoming New Haven Paint and Clay Club Members Exhibit which opens September 19th at the John Slade Ely House in New Haven. I had lots of fun with this one--used loads of paint and painted rapidly--sometimes it feels great not to think too much--just let the paint fly.

Lemon Wedge with Two Cherries

2010-09-03T13:50:00.002-04:00

Here is one more cherry painting with the last of this season's cherries. (Where has this summer gone?) This painting is now at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, CT.

Bluebird

2010-08-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

This painting combines two tag sale finds--the small scale milk bottle and the latest find, the glass bluebird.

Tidal River

2010-08-22T13:52:00.003-04:00

I was in the mood for painting something other than a still life, so took a tour through my old vacation photos. This painting was based on a photo taken while on Edisto Island, South Carolina several years ago. I remember lovely tidal rivers and marshlands.

Bull Thistle

2010-08-17T13:00:00.001-04:00

The purple flowers of this thistle looked so pretty out there in the field. When I went to pick some -- ouch, ouch, ouch -- every bit of this plant was covered with spines. Since then someone told me it is bull thistle. I found a funny site on line called Eat the Weeds. You can actually eat the stalks after stripping off all the spines. Supposedly, the stalks taste like bitter celery. I am going to take his word for it.

Untitled 102

2010-08-11T13:22:00.001-04:00

Leftover paint plus playing with shapes and colors yields another untitled landscape.

Mixed Bouquet

2010-08-05T00:43:00.002-04:00

Here's one of my last paintings from the workshop and the last technique tip from Stanley Bielen about painting a still life arrangement against a dark background. You start with toned paper. Stanley generously provided some pre-cut pieces of dark green Canson Mi-Teintes paper that he had sealed with matte medium. When painting, you then match the value of the paint to the paper for the background. You can then focus on the bright colors and lighter values of your subject -- here a bouquet of marigolds and carnations.

Lemon, Bowl and White Cup

2010-08-01T12:34:00.002-04:00

These were done during the recent workshop. The top one was completed first. Mr. Bielen's only comment was "paint it again". I had to change the setup a little, hence the spinning lemon.

Marigolds

2010-07-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

This was the first painting I did at the Stanley Bielen workshop. Below you can see Stanley beginning the first of two demos he did during the week. Here he had quickly toned the canvas using Indian yellow mixed with a little black.
This was about halfway into the demo. After the toning, there was a quick underpainting. This was followed by the "loading the lights"; using generous amounts of paint to establish the light values.

King of the Hill

2010-07-26T13:08:00.000-04:00

I just got back from Bennington, Vermont where I took a fabulous still life painting workshop with Stanley Bielen. It was an Art New England workshop which is sponsored by the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

The above painting was done before I left for the workshop. On upcoming posts, I will tell you more about Stanley Bielen and the workshop and show you some of the work I completed there.

Shaker and Jars

2010-07-22T13:23:00.002-04:00

For this painting, I toned the panel with red acrylic. I then painted with oils, "lifting" the oil paint to expose a few bits of red.

Untitled 101

2010-07-17T13:14:00.003-04:00

The actual title for this painting is failed still life turned upside down and turned into a landscape--but that seemed too long. Actually, the still life disaster turned into a good opportunity to just play with colors and shapes.

Lindy's Orchid

2010-07-12T13:00:00.003-04:00

I don't grow orchids but my friend Lindy in Texas does. This was painted from a photo taken at my last visit. Some frown on painting from photos but I think whatever inspires you to paint is fair game.

Tall Pear

2010-07-08T13:56:00.003-04:00

This still life was, of course, painted indoors but somehow blue skies are coming to mind.

Three Cherries

2010-07-04T11:07:00.001-04:00

Happy 4th everyone. Red and green--this little painting feels like Christmas in July.

Think Pink

2010-06-30T01:08:00.002-04:00

For some reason, while I was doing this painting, the song "Think Pink" from the Audrey Hepburn movie, Funny Face, popped into my head and wouldn't leave. You can watch the movie performance of this song on youtube--one of the lines from the song is "think pink and you're Michelangelo". Too funny.

Pear and Eggshell

2010-06-26T18:48:00.000-04:00

Beautiful day in Connecticut today. Stopped by Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison to bring in this recent painting and to see the new David Dunlop exhibit (so worth a trip).

Roadside Daisy

2010-06-23T13:18:00.001-04:00

Thought I would try a different flower with a dark background before hightailing it back to my comfort zone of lighter backgrounds.

Two for the Road

2010-06-19T13:00:00.002-04:00

I decided to finish this study which had been started in Qiang Huang's workshop last weekend. (Did I mention it was fabulous?) Qiang often uses dark backgrounds which are lovely and mysterious. I find them a challenge.

Two Versus Three

2010-06-15T13:32:00.002-04:00

This painting was done a while ago. It is oil on gessoed watercolor paper. (I have lots of watercolor paper in the mini art supply store otherwise known as my basement.) I painted this weekend but nothing that I am going to post yet. I was at a weekend workshop given by Qiang Huang, who is pictured below giving a mini demo on the last day. Qiang is a wonderful teacher-- generous, patient, organized and full of info.

Opposite Directions

2010-06-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Here in Connecticut, strawberries are now in season and they are fabulous.

Little Pitcher

2010-06-06T13:41:00.001-04:00

Although the pitcher and lemon take center stage, the red background will not be denied its place in this scenario. The power of cadmium red--amazing.

Red Grapes and Pear

2010-06-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

Just completed this larger still life featuring my favorite milk bottle. ( Favorite things - I feel like bursting into song like Julie Andrews.)