Globe Grapes

Warmest wishes for a safe and joyful holiday season.

Two Red Onions

Happy Thanksgiving Leftovers Day!

Big Glass Jar

A new glass object and found in my own basement!  The dark background is a change of pace for me as well.

I had the pleasure of observing Qiang Huang give a wonderful demo today. Although often his backgounds are dark, interestingly, today he chose a light background for his demo.  Below are a few images from the demo, ending with the setup and a photo of Qiang (a wonderful instructor).

Lemons and Plums

How did we get halfway through October already?  Here we have two plums, huddled together, outnumbered.

Onions with Brown Pot

A change from the usual fruit or flowers.

Figs with Jar

Fresh figs from a local market-- a new subject!  Took a wee bit licence with the colors and their intensity.

Yellow Flowers with Lemon

I wanted to paint flowers with even more air around them than usual.  I liked the sparseness of this bouquet.

Three Plums with Quince

These were tiny plums.  They grew a little as I painted them--it is amazing how that happens!

Cherry with Marigold

I just came back from a workshop in Vermont with my very favorite artist --- Stanley Bielen!  The above is one of several paintings completed at the workshop.  It was a great experience.  Mr. Bielen is a generous teacher and all around nice guy.  Below is a series of images from one of his demos.

 
 

                                 

Carnations with Cherries

Usually when composing a still life, I choose the fewest objects possible but for this painting decided to  have more overlapping objects.

Silver Teapot

White paint was used in abundance in the mixtures during this painting which did make me mindful of the advice often given "Too much white = dull, chalky colors".   In this case though, I still liked the outcome.

Mixed Bouquet with Egg

This is the first of a few recent still lifes.  The title should actually be mixed bouquet with misshapen egg!  I have temporarily given up on the egg after repainting it numerous times.  One of these days, I will go back and make the egg more well, eggy.

Figure Sketch

A group of us meet once a week to draw or paint from a model and the above is a recent sketch from a two minute pose.  I had bought Sherrie McGraw's book The Language of Drawing several years ago but I didn't read it thoroughly until recently.  It is such a wonderful book and Sherrie's drawings and words are so insightful and inspiring.  Anyway, the above sketch was my attempt to put the lessons from the book into practice.

Transported

Here is one more museum piece before I get back to my still life paintings.  I liked the bust looking forward while the tall gentleman bends to closely examine the landscape.

Admiring Rothko

One of the challenges with these museum paintings is portraying the artist's original.  I think the colors of this Rothko are more in the spirit of rather than absolutely true but I loved the way this gentleman's jacket blended with the lowest color bar.

In the Middle

This was completed a bit ago but I don't think I ever got around to posting it.  What I liked about the composition was the way the tulip stems curved in opposite directions, making an overall very gentle S-shaped curve.  Sometimes you get excited about the little things.

Never Too Young

This young girl may be a squirming handful but she loves Gauguin.

Green Plate

I find it very difficult to maintain the the egg shape while painting them--they start losing that interesting, one end slightly fatter, one end slightly narrower, shape.

Perched

The title may be "Perched" but as I look at the painting, that pear on the right really looks like he is ready to do a swan dive into the little cup. Oh no, don't do it!

Hiking in Van Gogh Country

This young man was clearly transported out of the city by Van Gogh's "Cypresses".

Feather

Spring forward! Yes, spring is almost here. It couldn't possibly snow now!

Up Front

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

Extrovert and Introvert

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

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

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

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

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

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