Rainbow Bright - And Studio Listens!

 "Rainbow Bright"
10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

It's been a great week - busy and interesting, just the way I like it. One thing that happened: I got interviewed for the podcast "Drawn to Win." What fun!

Here's a link to listen - whether you're working in your studio this weekend, on the road to somewhere summery, or just out for a walk - let me keep you company for an hour. 

Thanks, and enjoy!

Pool Party

 "Pool Party"

8 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$400

Click to buy

More fun with my new white ceramic pear. I showed this painting to my dad, and he said "That white thing is unnerving." Do you agree?

Here's the value plan for this composition. It got a little skinnier from sketch to finish....

Pale and Glowing

 "Pale and Glowing"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$350

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I picked this pear from amidst the jumble at an antique mall on the Oregon coast last week...

...and it's since made itself right at home with my other still life objects. It's an ever-changing menagerie!

Did you know I sell these black and tan sketches? Usually to followers on Instagram, since that's where they are most often posted. If you see one you like, send me an email! They are $50 a piece. 

Thanks for reading!

Radiate

 

 "Radiate"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

For this one, I did a quick study with black sharpie and grey Pitt pen on white paper - just three values. When you have your composition all planned out before you get to the canvas, painting is even MORE fun!

Inner Circle

"Inner Circle"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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A fun, colorful painting from my Still Life Open Studio earlier this week. Just reveling in thick, juicy paint, and the interplay of colors - like that turquoise reflection on the apple in the bowl. Yum!

Want to get inside my process for creating a painting like this - from still life setup to signature? Come join me for a workshop! (Locations from Seattle to Oklahoma to Nashville - check 'em out!) 

Pink Ladies

 

 "Pink Ladies"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Click to buy

Pretty in pink - and white! There's some luscious thick paint on those apples. Click the image to zoom way in! 

Here's my sketch - sharpie, ballpoint pen, and white marker on tan paper. These really help me plan my composition and value structure.

Blue Vines

"Blue Vines"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Sold

Blue vines on the bowl, green vines in the bowl! Love this little Hoya plant. It has so much movement and liveliness about it, and almost grows before my eyes.

Lemons in Glass - And Videos!

"Lemons in Glass"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

This was April's demonstration for my Online Art Mentorship group, talking about painting glass - a subject many of us love to visit and revisit - including me! It was a great session, and I've got the videos to prove it. 

A two-minute time-lapse of the finishing stages: (click the link if you're reading this in your email)

And the longer version. Enjoy!

Lemon Water

 "Lemon Water"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

I had a great week of daily painting. Six 10x10's and an 8x10. Phew! Thank you for joining me!

Here's the preparatory sketch for this one. It was actually done on tan paper, but I liked the look of it converted to black and white. Maybe I will get a gray sketchbook next!

Here's a collage of the week's paintings. These are all available - you can check them out on Etsy. 

Three In, Three Out

 

 "Three In, Three Out"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

I loved noticing all those blues of the bowl reflecting onto the apples - and the green reflections in the plate! Lots of opportunities for chunky color spots. Satisfying!

 

Sluiced

"Sluiced"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

This was day five of my seven paintings in seven days. After two days of painting tulips, my thought was, "I'm going to keep it simple today." You can see how that worked out for me!

Four Tulips

"Four Tulips"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

I love the white bottoms of tulips. These were a particularly satisfying color to mix. I used a combination of Alizarin Crimson and Pyrrol Red. Luscious!

A Ribbon Runs Through

"A Ribbon Runs Through"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350 

Click to buy

OH man, did I have fun with this one. 

Day two of my seven-day painting challenge. Follow them all week on Instagram!

Thanks for looking!

Rapunzel

 "Rapunzel"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

 I am doing a painting a day this week with my Online Art Mentorship group - and anyone else who wants to participate - over on Instagram. Just seven days, not the more typical 30-day challenge, with a goal of creating some spring studio momentum! 

I love the way I feel when I paint every day. There's a time for being ambitious about painting - working larger, more carefully - and for being more precious about the outcome. It can be a relief to step away from that, and say 'Tomorrow is a new day....and a new painting!' 

What will you create today?

Green Shadow

 "Green Shadow"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

I painted this alongside a lovely group of workshop students last weekend, walking them through the steps of planning a successful still life. Thumbnail sketch, Notan, 5-value study, underpainting, color! 

These steps are great tools  - I don't do them all, for every one of my paintings, of course. You loyal readers have seen many black and white studies from me, but over time, the other steps have become mental - I look through a viewfinder and try out different compositions in my head instead of doing thumbnail sketches. I think about the Notan, the overall light/dark effect I'm creating. Then I launch right into the value study.

The step I'm leaving out is really preliminary - setting up the still life! Always fun, always challenging. And that's the part that my students don't have to worry about when they're in a workshop with me! I take care of that. ;)

Papaya

 "Papaya"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

My first-ever papaya painting! It was so worth it to spend the $5 on this beauty, to get to delve into all those peachy oranges. I love the subtle contrast with the pink of the napkin.  

Here's my palette for this one: split-primary with bonus yellow ochre. 

You can click on the image to see it bigger, and read the color names on the tubes.

Sketch to finish - I ended up going for more papaya and less knife: 

 Thanks for reading!

Room For Two

 

 "Room For Two"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

Lots of teaching lately! I started this one yesterday with a private student, and finished it up this afternoon. This bowl makes me pretty happy.  That dark rim is so satisfying to paint. 

Lemon Geometry

 

 "Lemon Geometry"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Sold

I spend a lot of time on still life setup - and as you see below, that enables me to really rely on perception as I'm painting. I like to call it "slavishly copying the world," with tongue firmly in cheek.

 

If you're interested in learning more about my techniques for still life setup - or just want to paint one of them - I've got two workshops coming up! One is March 24-25th, in Eugene, and the other is April 6-8, on Bainbridge Island, WA. There are a couple of spaces open in both - join me! :)

Opening to the Light

"Opening to the Light"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

On Hold

When I walked into the studio yesterday morning, I was immediately captivated by these daffodils - the way the blooms move from almost closed to completely open. I knew that was not going to last long once I turned the spotlight on them! So I painted the flowers first, and by the time I'd finished the rest of the painting, quite a bit later in the day, they were all wide open.

Thirsty

"Thirsty"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Sold

These flowers were only thirsty for a little while - I popped them into the glass once I finished this painting, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.