Red Red Radishes

 "Red Red Radishes"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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Why are so many artists drawn to radishes as a subject? Is it the complementary color scheme? The texture contrast between the smooth radishes and their feathery leaves? The challenge of capturing something that is literally wilting before your eyes? The movement in those twisting root threads? Or just the inviting, saturated reds?

Check, check, check! I resonate with all of it.

Here's the palette I used for this piece - a before and after:

 

And here's my model, my work-in-progress, and the finished piece. You can see more images like this on my Instagram page. It's like an ongoing mini-blog, with lots of behind-the-scenes stuff - and even a few selfies!

Oh, one more thing! I snuck an unblogged painting onto DPW auctions - it's starting at $100, you can check it out here. :)

Boundary

 "Boundary"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Framed, $500

Click to buy

 This is about as close as I have to a work-in-progress for this one - it's also an artist's-residency-in-progress shot - from my time at Playa back in February of this year. I've almost finished posting all twenty of those paintings here - but I still have a couple up my sleeve! 

Here's the finished painting. No clip lamp in sight -  I used only window light on my subject, making this a pretty rare piece for me. If you click on the picture for a larger view, you'll see my clamps and screwdriver sitting there on the easel - the unsung supporting cast of painting tools. The only one missing is the pliers. For opening stubborn paint tubes.

...And here's "Boundary" in its truly finished state. All framed up and hanging out with his friends. All four of these paintings are available, framed or unframed. Visit my Etsy shop or send me an email anytime. 

Thanks for reading!

Three-And-A-Half Lemons

 

"Three-And-A-Half Lemons"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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 I'm able to bust out these little black-and-white oil sketches so quickly because I keep a pre-mixed value scale palette on hand at all times - in my freezer. Oil paint will develop a dry "skin" after a day or two when left out on the palette, but frozen it will keep for weeks. 

I also find it incredibly helpful in my color work, not to have to start from scratch each time I set out to paint. If the thought of all the preparation involved has ever stopped you from heading into the studio, consider keeping a pre-mixed palette on ice!

 

So many tips and tricks stored (like palettes in a freezer) in the recesses of my brain... I'll be unpacking lots more of them this weekend at my still life painting workshop, here in Eugene. Spaces are still available - click here for info! 

Four Elements

 "Four Elements"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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This still life was not originally intended to be an allegory of the four elements - it got its name because it has, literally, four elements. Looking at it just now, however, it came to me that they could be symbols - the fish dish for water, the orange ribbon for fire...the blue cup for air, and the white for....earth? It's "feet" are on the ground, anyway. 

I recently visited an astrologer, and was told that I have a lot of the Air element in my birth chart. One interesting thing about that: air signs are connected to birds and their feathers. Go figure!

A black and white oil sketch for this piece. Paint in my sketchbook - something I've been doing a lot lately!

Propagation

 "Propagation"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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Before I became a full-time artist, I was a plant lady - watering plants in office buildings, mainly. That was a decade ago, but my personal plant collection, though it's constantly evolving (along with everything else in life), remains a thing. A pretty big thing. Sometimes people even give me plants! That's how I came by this one, which broke as I was moving it back and forth from my studio, and spawned this cutting... And this painting! 

Propagation.

Here's my underpainting, alongside the finished piece:

And the model: 

 

Thanks for reading!

Green Onions on Blue - And Thoughts on Using Black Paint

 

"Green Onions on Blue" 

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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 Here's are the colors I used for this painting. You'll notice that I have black in there - in fact, I almost always have black on my palette. Rather than using it to paint black things, or to darken other colors, I treat it like a blue - a very dark, desaturated blue. Usually, I mix dark greens with it. 

 

I also used it to whip up that little preliminary value study, right in my sketchbook. Ten minutes of planning makes a huge difference in the finished product - oil sketches are a practice I highly recommend!

The Blue Jay Feather

 

 "The Blue Jay Feather"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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This feather is actually from a Steller's Jay, which just might be my spirit animal. They seem to hang around me in flocks, and I've been lucky enough to find two of their feathers. Feathers have been a recurring theme in my life these past two years, symbolizing many things - among them presence of mind and awareness - both of myself and of the small things around me - the beautiful gifts life offers when our eyes are open.