Orange Slices and Silver

"Orange Slices and Silver"

8 x 13 inches, oil on canvas on panel

$350

 

Available here

I'm loving this little cream pitcher lately. The reflections in metal are so satisfying to paint. I think I'm going to have to go on a mission to find more silver inspiration!

Orange and Cream

"Orange and Cream"

10 x 10 inches, oil on panel

$350

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I've been hosting a week of daily painting on Instagram, and this was my effort for Day 4! Check out the hashtag #sarahsedwickseveninseven to see what others have been up to. Great stuff!

Greensward

"Greensward"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Hello, it's been a while! I've been teaching a lot lately - both workshops and online - and having a blast. My studio panting time has been falling into two categories - quick studies and oil sketches, both for personal research and as teaching tools - many of which can be seen and purchased directly through Instagram -- and larger works, of which this is one. 

Thanks for looking!

The Fish Dish

 "The Fish Dish"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

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Here's the value study for this one. Kind of fun to get back to ballpoint pen and sharpie! My forays into digital drawing have taken me away from sketches like these lately. 

And wow, here's the first time I ever painted this dish, in April 2008! Reminding me that this fish once had a buddy. But he got broken. 

 "Fish Dishes no. 1"

6x6" oil on gessobord

2008

Pool Party

 "Pool Party"

8 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

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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!

Sluiced

"Sluiced"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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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!

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. ;)

Room For Two

 

 "Room For Two"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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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. 

Color Swoon

"Color Swoon"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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My eyes pretty much want to live inside the color of this ribbon all the time. It's like the feeling of exhaling a deep breath - your body relaxes. 

That's how my eyes feel when they're full of this color.

Golden Ring (Ace of Pentacles) and #30in30!

 "Golden Ring (Ace of Pentacles)"

7 x 11 inches, oil on Arches oil paper

$250

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Here's how this one came together. I can't believe how long these little oranges have lasted in my studio. It must be cold in there or something.....! Spring is on the way, though - I saw Camellias on my favorite camellia-stealing bush yesterday, so, good things ahead! 

And speaking of things ahead - I've decided to try my hand at a 30 in 30 day painting challenge. Gulp! Anyone else doing this one?

Tangerine Tumble

 

"Tangerine Tumble"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$350 

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Here's this one in-progress, from sketchbook to underpainting to color. The sketch was fun - ballpoint pen, black sharpie, and white Pitt pen on tan paper! Here's the sketchbook I used. 

 

I recently did a little interview for the blog #artcrushxo. Kim shares so many diverse and interesting artists, it was an honor to be invited to contribute! 

 

(Read the interview here)

Simple is Best

"A Small Bowl of Oranges"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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This little painting makes me happy. Sometimes simple is best.

Purple Coil

 

"Purple Coil"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$400

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When I posted this color scheme on Instagram, a friend in Louisiana shouted, "Mardi Gras!" I'm fascinated by the psychology of color - especially color combinations, and why some appeal to us and others don't. Purple and green is one of my favorite combos - and orange completes the triad of secondary colors.  

 💜💚🧡

Fun fact: did you know that in ancient Rome, purple dye was made from snails? 

 

Sketch for "Purple Coil"

oil paint on Arches oil paper

approx. 8 x 8 inches, unframed

$100

Blue Diamond

"Blue Diamond"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$500

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I've been getting a lot of questions about my Tarot series paintings - mostly, are there more of them? For now, no - there are only the three. But who knows what this weekend will bring in the studio?

I really want to insert a pun here about whatever's 'in the cards,' but nothing's coming to me. Stay tuned!

Six Cuties, and Stages of the Painting Process

 

 "Six Cuties"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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Here are the stages this painting went through: still life setup, underpainting, and color application. My favorite phase of the painting process is definitely the underpainting. Still life setup is the hardest part, and the finishing touches are so agonizing...but the end stage can be fascinating.

What's your favorite stage of a painting?

(Click the link to tell me!)

"Tangerines on Turquoise"....and Tons of Teaching!

 

 "Tangerines on Turquoise"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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July was a whirlwind month, busy and full. This painting was a demo I did for students in Portland, over a two-day period. Here's my palette - heavy on the red-oranges. I really wanted to emphasize the red glow that reflects back and forth when oranges cuddle up together, and those saturated contrasting colors on the oranges and the plate.

 

...And this, believe it or not, is some of the student work from that class! What a talented bunch - not beginners. They did great. 

The Pattern Beneath All Things

 

 "The Pattern Beneath All Things"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Click to buy

I am amazed that I have no work-in-progress pictures of this one. It just kind of snuck out while I wasn't looking. 

So, here's a picture of a cow:

 

I passed this girl and her buddies every day on my post-studio decompression run. Running by the side of the highway sounds pretty dismal, but as you can see, it was anything but. And pretty peaceful - not much traffic - just me and the cows and the huge changing sky. 

Two and Two....and Two!

 

 "Couples"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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At first, I thought this was a painting of two couples - the oranges and the pitchers, but no, there's a third pair in there: the colored papers. Ha! I even slipped that one by myself. Let's hear it for my subconscious; making artistic decisions, doing its thing.

Here's a work-in-progress:

And here's a mirror selfie that just happens to have this painting in the background - I won't lie to you and say that I snapped this pic to check my work in the mirror. I was taking a selfie to document the stunning fact that I actually took a shower and put on makeup that day. Because, you know, artist's residency. 

  

(Though I do actually find having a mirror in my studio helpful for checking my work - when I get that nagging feeling that something's not quite right with a painting, I look at it in a mirror. The problem will leap out at me. And bonus: I get reminded about personal hygiene.)

Change and Experimentation

 "Two Oranges (Blue Scrap)"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Click to bid in the online auction!

The last of my 8x8 orange paintings from Playa, and the only piece I made there that I'll be auctioning online. 

It felt good to have familiar subject matter to fall back on during my first week at the residency - in an unfamiliar studio, in an unfamiliar landscape...an unfamiliar landscape with schizophrenic weather, I might add! One morning, I wake up to a rainbow, the next, SNOW! These pictures were taken from the same spot - I was just reluctant to venture all the way out to the railing to take the second one. Can you blame me? (By the way, both shots were taken between 7 and 8 am.)

With nature in such a blatantly experimental mood, I felt inspired to try some new things myself. Here's a pencil sketch on Arches oil paper that I painted over - from memory. It's amazing how having the sketch underneath helped my recall of color details, even with the still life itself dismantled. 

I did spray-fix the graphite before painting on top. 

"Playa Vessels"

6 x 12 inches, graphite and oil paint on Arches oil paper

collection of the artist ;)