Tidal River

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

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

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

Mixed Bouquet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three Cherries

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

Think Pink

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

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

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

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

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

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

Little Pitcher

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

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