Growth

 "Growth"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$600

Click to buy

This plant - which I've painted several times this year - is surely growing, and so am I. So are you! 

Life is beautiful.  

Want an email with all of my updates, including a BIG Instagram giveaway at the end of this month - and holiday sales?! Subscribe to my newsletter. Thanks!

One Plus Three

"One Plus Three"

8 x 10 x 1.5 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

Keeping it simple! Still lifes of a few simple objects with their cast shadows and a colorful background are a great way to focus on loose, painterly brushwork and edges - and taking some risks with color too! 

Simple, but not easy. There's no satisfaction in easy - and this one was very satisfying to paint!

Thanks for reading.

-Sarah

Bread on Glass - and Mentorship Students' Work!

"Bread on Glass"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

I've begun doing a monthly challenge theme for my online art mentorship program, and August's was "Bread." Aside from a random hot dog bun, this is a subject I've never tried myself - until now! What fun. And my students' work has been fantastic!

I'm a proud mentor. ;)

Three Spoons

"Three Spoons"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Click to buy

How did I ever live without digital painting? Making quick color studies with the Procreate app is helping my finished paintings more than I ever imagined it would. Click here to watch a time-lapse of this digital painting-in-progress, and click on the image below if you'd like to scrutinize it more closely for the differences between the virtual and the real deal!

 

("Real deal" being the one on the bottom, of course. 😉)

White Hydrangeas

 

  "White Hydrangeas"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$600

Click to buy

In this one, I really wanted to play up the darkness inside the glass vase against the light fluffiness of the blossoms. 

Here is my color study - made on the ipad! Which means I've got a time-lapse video of it coming together. Click here to watch!

 

Plums and Lemons

 

"Plums and Lemons"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Click to buy 

I painted this during a public event called "Studio Without Walls," in downtown Eugene. It was a lovely evening - perfect weather, and a fun, funky crowd with lots of diverse artists participating. Here I am, painting on location!

 

I set this still life up at home, began the painting and mixed all my colors from life, and then finished it from a photo on my phone. You can see in the picture how I rigged that up. Clamps! Can't paint without them. The beret helps, too. ;)

Early Apples

 "Early Apples"

12 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

$800

I've been experimenting with digital painting lately. I know! It's crazy. I never thought I would venture into this realm, but it's actually really fun!

The program I've been using is called Procreate. It's an app for the iPad. I also use an Apple Pencil, for drawing on the screen. Below you can see my "sketch" for this piece, above the "real" thing. I'm surprised at how much this digital preliminary color study informed the finished painting.

Another great thing about Procreate is that it records a time-lapse video of the painting as it's created. Click here to watch this one come to life!

Seeking Sunlight

"Seeking Sunlight"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$400

This is the season for Black-Eyed-Susans - they are everywhere! So, it's no surprise that a dive into my painting archive turns up several paintings of this lovely flower, from this week in history.

Here is my first one, from August 2008:

 "Black-Eyed-Susan" 5x7" oil on canvas panel, 2008

I am still fond of this painting! I lost the vase in a wax-spilling accident a couple of years ago. It's quite remarkable, the relationships I develop with my still life objects, living with them and painting them over and over for years. I could show you half a dozen paintings of that vase, and now there won't be any more.

This green beauty is a recent gift from a friend. I wonder how many times I'll paint it in years to come?

The Letter

 "The Letter"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Grapes are so much fun to paint. Every time I try it, I wonder why I don't do it more often. 

Here's a work-in-progress for this one, with its black-and-white oil study. 

Thanks for looking!

Tomato Time Machine

"Spilled Spoons"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

We all have one: that thing we just CAN'T seem to paint. And mine is tomatoes. Or, at least, that's what I've been saying to myself, and plenty of other people, for years!  But! After watching my students create amazing tomato paintings in a workshop I taught last weekend, I thought - maybe I'll give it another try....

So this is my first big red tomato since... 2008! I love getting in the painting time machine. Definitely an argument in favor of keeping an archive of ALL your old work!

"Heirloom Tomato No. 3"
5 x 7 inches, oil on ...hmm, I can't remember. Maybe Raymar canvas panel?
2008

Honeydew

"Honeydew"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

 My very first painted honeydew. The color mixing was a challenge - honeydew has such subtle value shifts, and a lovely mix of warm and cool light greens. A fantastic opportunity to indulge in my favorite color combination - purple and green!

Hot Diggety!

"Hot Diggety!"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
Available through Tvedten Gallery

 

This may seem like a radical departure from my normal subject matter - and it is - but there's a legacy of hot dog painting going back to Roy Lichtenstein and Wayne Theibaud. So, some quirky art history for you!

Should I Eat A Peach?

 

 "Should I Eat A Peach?"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$400, free shipping

Thanks, mom, for supplying this title! I'm not a huge poetry afficionado, but I enjoyed reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, to hunt down this quotation, which popped into her head when I showed her the painting.

Value study! ballpoint pen, sharpie, and white marker on toned tan paper:

 

You can see several more work-in-progress shots of this painting on Instagram.

Thanks for looking!

Peaches with Two Spoons

 

"Peaches with Two Spoons"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Sold

 

It must be summer, because I picked peaches! I love being able to paint them with the branches and leaves still on.

Apricots on Blue

 "Apricots on Blue"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350 (free shipping)

A summery painting, for certain! There's something about that hot orange/cool blue contrast that makes me feel like basking in the sun.

Here's how it came together:

Clarity in Black and White

"Clarity (Black and White)"

11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas
Framed, and available through Tvedten Gallery

 

Many of my black-and-white paintings are done on Arches oil paper, but this one is on stretched canvas - one that was toned with a sepia base layer, giving the resulting painting a warm glow.

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

Sold

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

Click to buy

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!