The Jungle

"The Jungle"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$400

Click to buy

I gave my online students a challenge this month to paint interiors....and then, I had to try it myself! Proving that my green thumb is not just stray Pthalo, (though it is that too), here are just a few representatives of my plant collection.

Lemon Light, and Black and White

"Lemon Light"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

 

This is the third time I've painted this little green glass. I found it in a labyrinthine antique mall in Oklahoma City the last time I taught there, and it's rapidly becoming a favorite still life object. 

I like it for its form and color, but most of all for the light patterns it casts into its shadow.

There's a time-lapse video of the beginning stages of this painting on Instagram. Check it out!

The black and white sketch for this piece is a fun one - but I'm biased. I think all my black and white sketches are fun!

$100 (unframed)

 

Painting by Window Light

 "Playa Tea"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas
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As I mentioned yesterday, in the first post about my Playa residency, one of my goals was to paint with natural light on my still lives. For the past two years, I've been in a studio with very little window light - which has its advantages, but is limiting as well. Although I really enjoy composing with the dramatic shadows cast by clip-lamps, and exploring all the warm glowing colors created by halogen light bulbs, there's just something so serene about sunlight. So window light vs. artificial light is not an either-or proposition for me - I enjoy both - but having the choice? Love it! 

 Here's my setup, on a nice little ledge built above the studio heater, next to a north-facing window. I painted this one in morning light, switching to the feather painting I posted yesterday in the afternoons - an A.M. and a P.M. painting! How very impressionist of me.

Here's how this painting got started. See those gridlines on the canvas? It's a product from Masterpiece I've been trying out, and I like it! 

Of course, I was also moving onward with my daily self-portrait sketches, in the evenings when I was too tired to do much else. This one was done in a combo of water-soluble graphite and white gouache. 

 In between my morning and afternoon painting sessions, I hiked! The weather at Playa changed constantly - and rainbows were an almost-daily occurrence - though not all of them as glorious as this one. Nothing makes me feel like I'm right where I'm supposed to be than seeing something like this: