Thrift store treasure

I found this little pitcher at a thrift shop.  I loved its sturdy little shape.  My challenge in painting this was the white interior.  I thought I had the interior shadow too dark, so I lightened it.  Now that I've taken a picture, I can see its too light.  I'll have to try painting it again.

6" X 8" oil on canvas panel

Red gala apple

After I practiced the apple studies, I painted an apple without a time limit.

I've learned several things since I've been painting and posting small paintings.  One is that I can't paint such small studies with a big brush.  All my painting instructors have insisted we use a large brush, and that's ok on a larger canvas. But it doesn't work for me on a small painting.

Another thing is that  even though I have spotlights and a room with lots of natural light, my colors look different when I take them outside to photograph them.  I'd love to paint outdoors, but it's too hot and humid in San Antonio in July to enjoy being outdoors.  Give me my air conditioning!

Apple studies

Today I decided that I'd practice something we did at a Carol Marine workshop.  I set my timer and tried to paint an apple within five minutes.  I taped off sections on a large sheet of paper.  Each area is about 6" X 6".   I used a very large brush in order to get the paint on the paper in five minutes.

My husband asked what I was doing, and I explained it's sort of like practicing the scales for someone learning  piano.

Not a red apple

I struggled so much with the reds of the apples in my prior post, and then this one just seemed to glide off the brush.  Painting was fun today.

This mug came from the mother lode--Goodwill Thrift Store.  I love to poke around to find things there to paint.  And I can get a sack full for just a few dollars.  Two thrills in one--stuff to paint and a bargain!


8" X 8" oil on canvas panel  

Windfall apples

Windfall apples are those that fall from the tree without having to be picked.

Someone gave my son in law a large box of apples, which he brought to me. So you could say they were a windfall.

I made apple pies, apple cakes, apple sauce, put them in salads--anything I could think of to use them up! These last three I saved to paint.

I haven't painted in a good while, and I worked over these apples too much. I even wiped it off once and started over again. If I'd worked any harder, they'd be applesauce!

August 15th is the last day to file Income Taxes!

I've been working on tax returns, and I won't let myself paint until I finish! It's both punishment and incentive!

Let's paint bananas, she said!

I inwardly groaned.  I can barely paint a lemon.  "Bananas are HAAARD", I whined.

"Come on Mom,  I've been wanting to paint bananas."  I had just been to HEB, and there was a beautiful bunch of pale yellow, perfect bananas sitting on my kitchen island.

"All right", I sighed.  So I put the bananas into my canvas art supply bag, and off my daughter and I went to our art class.  When we took them out to put on the set up table, they had broken out with brown speckles during the ride!

Our instructor was puzzled at why we had brought brown bananas to paint.  We were laughing and trying to assure him that they were beautiful when we left the house.

So we painted them without the spots.  I guess that's artistic license.

11" X 14" oil on canvas
(Click on the picture to see larger.)

Lemons, silver pitcher, green grapes

I painted this morning.  I like that this is much looser than my last painting.   I just have to make myself stop, even though I continue to look at the painting and see things that I need to "fix".  I could fix it forever, but then I get tighter and tighter.

The reflection of the lemon really was that elongated.

11" X 14" oil on canvas

(Click on the picture to see larger.)

Blue bottle, lemons, red apple

I'm not fond of this, but since it's what I've been painting, I'm posting it.  Part of having a blog is to post my progress.

I'm painting much tighter than I'd like--the lemons and apples especially.  I used a large brush for the bottle, and then I switched to a smaller brush on the fruit.  That's when it go so tight.  Oh well, on to another canvas.


8" X 10" inch oil on canvas panel

(Click on the picture to see larger.)

Making a run for it

I bought a box of these little yellow tomatoes. We had most of them for dinner last night.  I cut up 1/2 an eggplant into small cubes, drizzled the tomatoes and eggplant with olive oil, added salt and pepper and roasted them for an half hour.  Yum!

I saved these tomatoes to paint.  I loved the contrast between this bowl and the yellow of the tomatoes, but the bowl was too large.  So I leaned it against the wall and let the tomatoes spill out.  It looks to me like the two on the table are trying to organize an escape.  It didn't work though.  They were salad tonight.

The color of my photo isn't quite right.  I usually take my painting outside on a sunny day to photograph, but we've had rain for three days now.   So this is an indoor shot.

(Click on the painting to view larger)