Pink Ring

"Pink Ring"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas on panel

$350

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Experimenting with color in this one - Burnt Sienna and Sap Green, plus white! Proving once again that everything in painting is relative - a tube of "brown" creates gorgeous pinks when offset by its complement, green. 

One Plus Three

"One Plus Three"

8 x 10 x 1.5 inches, oil on canvas

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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

White Hydrangeas

 

  "White Hydrangeas"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

$700

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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!

 

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!

Clarity in Black and White

"Clarity (Black and White)"

11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas
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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.

Radiate

 

 "Radiate"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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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

Available through Tvedten Fine Art

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

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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.

Three In, Three Out

 

 "Three In, Three Out"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

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!

 

Thirsty

"Thirsty"

8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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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.

Long Shadows

 "Long Shadows"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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The 30 in 30 painting challenge I'm doing this month is already giving me a lot of food for thought - and not just because I'm painting apples and oranges! 

I wanted to revisit daily painting because it's how I got my start with this blog - ten years ago this month. The concept was incredibly freeing to me, that every painting didn't have to be a precious investment of time and materials, that tomorrow could be a new day. 

I'm hugely grateful to artists like Carol Marine and Duane Keiser, who inspired me early on - and continue to. Before I discovered daily painting, I had been out of art school for almost seven years, and was starting to believe that I might never actually get back into painting. Today, I plan to paint for the rest of my life. Maybe not EVERY day, but on the good ones!

Here's my setup and sketch:

A lot of people on Instagram have been curious about these black-and-white sketches. They are made with ballpoint pen (mine's from the Marriott, fancy), black sharpie, and white Pitt Pen, which is a permanent India ink marker made by Faber Castell. The sketchbook is Strathmore Toned Tan, 6x8 inches. You can check out some of my favorite materials here. 

And, as always, thank you for reading!