Cherries on Stripes

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

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

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

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

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

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.