Fall Colors

This fall has been so lovely that I thought I would use the fall colors for painting inspiration.  When I initially finished this painting, it seemed a little safe and boring so I went to town on the background leaving an aura of darker color around the flowers.  Perhaps went too far but it was fun.

Mohegan Island Trees

This plein air painting was done a few weeks ago while I was on Monhegan Island in Maine.  It is true--- they are trees that could be anywhere so you will have to take my word that they are Monhegan trees.  ;-)

Red Gerbera

Gerbera daisies seem to be my latest obsession.

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.

White Carnations

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.

Milk Times Two

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.

Three Cherries

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.

Lemon Slice

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.

Red Carnation

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Eggs, Three Ways

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.

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.