Green Shadows and Zorn Palette Portraits

"Green Shadows"

10 x 10 inches, oil on panel

$400

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It's been awhile since I've painted my glass float collection, but I'm back in love! You can see a couple more new float paintings on Instagram.

Also - I'm really excited for my newest video workshop! It's being released tomorrow, August 5th, and I'm super proud of it. Are you interested in exploring the Zorn palette? (Or, as I like to call it, "training wheels for flesh tones?") Join me!

Watch the trailer here!

Simple is Best

"A Small Bowl of Oranges"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

Click to buy

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

Red Ribbon

 

 "Red Ribbon"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Click to buy

 Well, I got some new ribbon. I'm not going to go so far as to call it an obsession, but it's now officially a phase. It's just so - flexible! As a compositional element, I mean. In this painting, I'm loving the little arrows of light pointing to the "kiss" where the ribbon and apple meet. The longer I paint, the more I realize that I'm not painting objects - or even colors, but simply light and the effects of light.

The sketch for this one was a quickie - ballpoint pen! 

Do you ever sketch in ballpoint pen? There always seems to be one handy.

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

Emerald Orb - and Workshop Announcements!

"Emerald Orb"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

Available via Brackenwood Gallery, click to inquire

My strange little offering from Still Life Open Studio last week. It's always such an adventure - I never know what I will come home with, even though I bring all the objects and set up the still life! 

This painting may be strange, but I love it. It just lingers in my eye.

I want to give you all a last-minute heads up about two still life workshops I'll be teaching soon - one in Park City, Utah later this month, and the other in Oklahoma City in October.  Spaces are still available in both, and I'd love to have you join me!

Green Flash

"Green Flash" 

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$500

Available, click to buy

My latest! Here it is, on the easel:

I did a black and white oil sketch for this piece, as I often do before beginning larger works. This time I actually managed to stick to the plan! If you squint, the values between the grayscale and the color painting match up well. That's the goal! 

The black and white piece is 6 x 12" on Arches oil paper, and it's available. Click here to bid on it.

Thanks, as always, for looking!

Golden Delicious

 "Golden Delicious"

12 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

Available at Brackenwood Gallery

Here's a new still life, with some fairly serious - at least for this painter - palette knife action. It's an analogous color scheme, and a transition along the spectrum: blue-green-->green-->yellow-green-->yellow. I did a series like this years ago. Bonus points if you remember!

Taking a Trip

 

 "Lemon Tea on Whidbey"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Click to buy

Last weekend, I drove up to the Seattle area for a visit with my friends at Brackenwood Gallery. Eight years in the Pacific Northwest, and this was my first time in Seattle! It was also my first time meeting the proprietors, Jason Waskey and Mary Jo Reynolds, in person, though Jason and I have been art-blogging buddies for many years.

 On Saturday afternoon I set up my easel and painted in the gorgeous, watery window light. Many friendly gallery-goers stopped to chat with me.

Here's the finished product, with my subjects. You may recognize some of them from my First Friday demo in Eugene two weeks ago!

 

It was an honor to visit - and paint at - this beautiful gallery. Pictured below: Fiorella, me, Mary Jo, and Jason. 

Another highlight of the weekend was getting to visit Jason's studio and see some of his works-in-progress. He and I will be having a two-person show at Brackenwood in October. So I guess I'm just going to HAVE to go back!

 

 Twist my arm, right? Whidbey Island is such a beautiful place! And did I mention, there are wild bunnies? On the left is the morning view from my hosts' kitchen, and on the right, offering the bunnies a snack. Heading back to the mainland on the ferry,  the views only got better: 

An Opening, A Painting...and A Video!

 

 "Summer Tea"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Last Friday was the opening reception for my show at Oregon Art Supply. It was also First Friday Artwalk, and I had lots of company while I worked on this painting in the gallery.

I love doing painting demos. People ask the greatest questions. Sometimes I forget why I do things the way I do...but there's nothing like having to explain it out loud to remind me!

 I also got to give a little talk about my work....this clip is only two minutes, but if you'd like to watch the other eight (I know, don't give me a microphone, it's trouble!), you can do that here.

Detecting a Theme?

 

 "Hoya"

16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

 Available

Loyal readers of this blog may be detecting a theme around here lately. I'm working on a series of paintings of plants for an upcoming show I've decided to call "Floats and Flora." If you think that's a stupid name, don't tell me! It was hard to come up with - but I give myself credit. Last time I had to name a show I went with the yawn-inducing "New and Selected Works." I call that progress.

Speaking of progress, here's a work-in:

And here's my patient model. Holding very still. 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

I'm Kind of a Plant Lady

 "Floats and Flora"
12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas
click to buy

As I've shared with you before, I'm kind of a plant lady. I did actually once work as a professional plant waterer in office buildings, but my houseplant obsession was already well established by then. It's the kind of thing where, even though you know you have no where to put them, you can't resist buying more. Then they get bigger, and you have to prune them....but you can't throw those pieces away!?! Hence, lots of baby plants. Like the one in this painting. It's a Peperomia Jayde, and I bought the parent plant back in the Cleveland days, so over eight years ago now.

Here are some plant paintings of mine from years past.

Splatter Paint!

"The Speckled Dish" 

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$300

Click to buy

To achieve the speckled effect on this little ceramic dish, I first modeled the form, including the highlights, then I loaded up my brush with runny paint, hauled off and flicked it at the canvas. You can see how it looked at that point here.

Of course, I had to take care of all that before painting anything else, going against my usual method of bringing the whole painting together at once, never finishing any one area before moving on.

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.)

A Coast Memory

 "A Coast Memory"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

Available here

Back in the studio, feeling excited about painting! Working hard on the concept that if you nail the value, you can really use any color you like. And using contrast to reinforce my focal point. Notice how that little triangle of purple next to the bright yellow slash ever-so-subtly keeps your eye on the glass float, front and center? That's a complementary color contrast at work!

Speaking of work: I've got a portrait workshop next weekend, Feb 20-22nd, at Oregon Art Supply with two spots open. Sign up if you feel like working with me - and having fun too!

One More Coastal Still Life:

 "Tea by the Sea"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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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

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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

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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. 

Floats and Tea: An Oregon Coast Still Life

 "Floats and Tea"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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I'm posting a series of still lives this week, painted on the Oregon coast in the amazing studio owned by Michael Gibbons. Click on the home tab above and scroll down to see more of them!

Here's an in-progress shot of this one:

Another Coast Still Life, and Excitement in the Mail!

 "Stone, Shell, Glass, Metal"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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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!