Shelter

"Shelter"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas on panel

$400

Click to buy

....Or should I say, "Shell-ter?" 

At least I didn't say shelter in place. 

Hope you are all well!

-Sarah

Floating Colors

"Floating Colors"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

I love painting these glass floats! Especially all the crazy things that happen in their cast shadows. This colorful composition, painted under halogen lights in my home studio, is a far cry from the muted, window-lit compositions I came up with when I painted these floats on the coast!

(You can read all about my last painting trip to the coast here.)

One More Coastal Still Life:

 "Tea by the Sea"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

This piece ends my week of coastal still lives. I loved immersing myself in the natural light of the beautiful studio I rented in Toledo. It's so incredible to take yourself out of your natural habitat once in a while. 

Here are all of the paintings I brought home:

I Planned on Painting Fish....

 "Louis (the Fish)"

11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

Well, I thought it would be a no-brainer. Oregon coast...fishing boats everywhere....I should paint some fish, right?! Turns out, it's harder to procure a whole fish, on the coast, than I thought. 

Since I didn't arrive prepared to catch my own, there wasn't much available that wasn't filleted. I did have an interesting encounter with an enormous tuna in a walk-in freezer on highway 101 just south of Newport, but I balked at buying - mostly because that fish was large. Damn large.

I hate to tell you this, but I bought this sad little guy at Safeway. He's a Tilapia.

He gets his name from a favorite childrens book of mine, Louis the Fish. 

And here's a work-in-progress:

Float On!

"Float On"

12 x 9 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

These glass floats are an Oregon coast antique shop staple. I didn't head to my Toledo residency with these in mind to paint - in fact, I thought I'd be painting fish all week - but that was not in the cards, as I'll tell you much more about tomorrow.

Here's how this painting developed. I sketched in the underpainting with a mix of Cadmium yellow and red, dulled with a tiny bit of Ultramarine blue. I like the warmth peeking through, even though the dominant colors of the piece are cool coastal blues and greens. 

Another Coast Still Life, and Excitement in the Mail!

 "Stone, Shell, Glass, Metal"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

Conveying various textures is something I talk about a lot in my workshops. The trick to differentiating a rough rock from a smooth blown-glass ball is all in the transitions between values, which sounds ridiculously simple, but it isn't. Really, it's all about observing. The transition from a highlight to a midtone is what shows our eyes whether they're looking at a piece of velvet or a shiny metal pot. Is it a smooth, gradual transition, or a sharp juxtaposition of bright light next to dark? 

Speaking of painting tips....I just cracked open a very exciting envelope from Random House: my friend Carol Marine's new book!

 I was lucky enough to receive my copy early because I'm included in the book! Carol used this funny picture from last year's Bad Art Destruction Party:

Plus, she included one of my paintings as an example of using perspective in a still life.

What an honor! Really, if you paint, or know someone who does, this book is a must-own. Go buy it!

Beachy Still Life

 "Sand Dollars and Floats"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

Sold

I went to Toledo last week planning to paint still life, but I decided to take nothing with me. No props. Ok, yes, I took some of my favorite backdrop papers, but I wanted to paint whatever came my way. There was nothing at the studio, though! It was a blank canvas. 

Luckily, there's a bustling antique and beach-mobilia industry at the coast, and I was able to get my hands on some beautiful, simple stuff. Sand Dollars and floats.

Here's a progression for this piece: