Blue Buddies

"Blue Buddies"

9 x 12 inches, oil on panel

$400

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 My video workshop, Oil Painting Boot Camp is on special-quarantine sale! Was $119, now $99. Check it out here!

My demo painting in the video includes the very same silver pitcher that's in "Blue Buddies." :)

Chocolate Eggs

"Chocolate Eggs"

12 x 19 inches, oil on canvas

$600

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Low key, or overall dark compositions are rather rare for me. I wanted to explore the brown-on-brown, and I do like the velvety darkness of that background.

Nest

"Nest"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

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 I've been painting a lot and having a great time. Hope your August is off to a wonderful start as well!

Thanks for reading.

Dart

"Dart" 

18 x 24 inches, oil on canvas

$1500

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A new one, which is actually an older one, reworked. I'm glad I took the risk to experiment with altering it. Here's the before and after:

Orange and Cream

"Orange and Cream"

10 x 10 inches, oil on panel

$350

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I've been hosting a week of daily painting on Instagram, and this was my effort for Day 4! Check out the hashtag #sarahsedwickseveninseven to see what others have been up to. Great stuff!

Halved Plum

 "Halved Plum"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas on panel

$350

Available Here

I painted this one with a slightly wacky limited palette: cadmium orange, alizarin crimson, and phthalo green! 

If you're wondering how on earth that works, perhaps you'd like to join me for an "Oil Painting Boot Camp" workshop and find out! My next one is in beautiful Tubac, Arizona, December 6-8th, and registration just opened! More info here. 

 

Pears en Rose

"Pears en Rose"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$450

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I've been getting some painting in before I head to my next workshop, in Sacramento, CA. There are still a few spots open, at the fabulous Patris Studio and Gallery, if you know anyone in the area who'd love some Oil Painting Boot Camp! 

Boot Camp is a three-day workshop with an emphasis on loosening up your brushwork - and using a limited palette of three colors and white. Looking forward to it! More info here.

Linked

 "Linked" 

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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Underpainting to finish! I always begin my alla prima works with a tonal underpainting, which I then paint over immediately in color - not waiting for it to dry. Here's a short video of me talking more about it! 

Winter

"Winter"

9 x 12 inches, oil on linen panel
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Thinking looseness, and a cool, wintry color scheme in this one. The warmth in the spoons and in the white mug reminds me of late afternoon sunlight on snow...

The Fishing Hole

 "The Fishing Hole"

8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

$250

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Sometimes I struggle with title ideas ("Orange slices no. 64," anyone?), but this one came to me while I was working on the sketch!

The Fish Dish

 "The Fish Dish"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

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Here's the value study for this one. Kind of fun to get back to ballpoint pen and sharpie! My forays into digital drawing have taken me away from sketches like these lately. 

And wow, here's the first time I ever painted this dish, in April 2008! Reminding me that this fish once had a buddy. But he got broken. 

 "Fish Dishes no. 1"

6x6" oil on gessobord

2008

Cup and Ladle

 "Cup and Ladle"

8 x 13 inches, oil on canvas panel

$250

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When I hear the words "canvas panel," I think of those cheap cardboard things - which are great for studies - but not so great for being durable, archival, or really nice to paint on. 

But! I got some canvas panels from Masterpiece recently - they've taken my favorite painting surface and applied it to a masonite panel instead of stretched on wooden bars. Thin, light, and strong. It's the surface I love, but without the bounce. A nice bit of variety for my studio life!

Constellation

 "Constellation"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$600

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Three Spoons

"Three Spoons"

10 x 20 inches, oil on canvas

$500

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How did I ever live without digital painting? Making quick color studies with the Procreate app is helping my finished paintings more than I ever imagined it would. Click here to watch a time-lapse of this digital painting-in-progress, and click on the image below if you'd like to scrutinize it more closely for the differences between the virtual and the real deal!

 

("Real deal" being the one on the bottom, of course. 😉)

Tomato Time Machine

"Spilled Spoons"

9 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

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We all have one: that thing we just CAN'T seem to paint. And mine is tomatoes. Or, at least, that's what I've been saying to myself, and plenty of other people, for years!  But! After watching my students create amazing tomato paintings in a workshop I taught last weekend, I thought - maybe I'll give it another try....

So this is my first big red tomato since... 2008! I love getting in the painting time machine. Definitely an argument in favor of keeping an archive of ALL your old work!

"Heirloom Tomato No. 3"
5 x 7 inches, oil on ...hmm, I can't remember. Maybe Raymar canvas panel?
2008

Peaches with Two Spoons

 

"Peaches with Two Spoons"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas

$350

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It must be summer, because I picked peaches! I love being able to paint them with the branches and leaves still on.

A Plein Air Still Life on Whidbey Island

 "Five Lemons"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas

$350

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In my last post, I shared pictures from my recent opening at Brackenwood Gallery on Whidbey Island. It was a fantastic opening, and the fun didn't end there! The next day, I did a plein air still life demonstration outside the gallery doors, enjoying the cool island weather, and the gallery-goers who stopped to chat. I even had a canine audience, as you can see!

The light was a little strange, as it was cloudy and hazy with smoke from nearby wildfires - a kind of grainy, golden light. Not bad, but not as dramatic as the stunning summer sunlight I got for my demo afternoon last year!

Here's a look at my process: a simple black and white oil sketch (in a sketchbook) to plan the value pattern and composition, an underpainting on the canvas in sepia tones, and color laid directly over that, alla prima.

Boundary

 "Boundary"

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Framed, $500

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 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!

Green Olives and Tea

 "Green Olives and Tea"

12 x 12 inches, oil on canvas
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Here is my thumbnail sketch for this painting:

And here is a studio shot with my work-in-progress - the still life, my thumbnail sketch on the floor, for reference, and my easel cuddled up close to all of it, for a bird's eye view. In the background, by the window, you can see the still life setup for "The Pattern Beneath All Things," which I was painting at the same time as this one, in the afternoons, with the blinds open.  I had tape marks on the floor, and I just shifted the easel over.  

The thumbnail sketch for this piece snuck into this random shot of my studio desk as well - along with some objects from the painting - the garlic, the blue-rimmed plate. The olives are even hiding in this shot. (Hint: they're in their jar.) I think my motive for taking this picture was to document the excessive number of sketchbooks in play at once. Or maybe I just found the overall scene pleasing. I do love a good jumble of objects.

Lighthouse

"Lighthouse"

10 x 10 inches, oil on canvas
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Learning to see a complete spectrum of colors in an arrangement that at first seems to only contain yellow, blue, and white - and showing it to you! Just one tiny part of my answer to the big question: "Why paint?"