Pitchers and Lemons

I painted this in response to the challenge on Rookie Painter.   Like several others, I rearranged the vases---primarily because I had a square panel, and I didn't think the original version would fit very well.  I'm okay with the red pitcher, but not too pleased with the blue one.  I kept re-doing it.  But at some point, I have to quit for the day!   The red pitcher was primarily cadmium red light, which I darkened with alizarin crimson and burnt sienna.  I lightened it with cadmium yellow, as I had done with the plums.

This painting is very tight.  The more time I have to paint, the tighter and fussier I get.  I keep talking to myself about it, but I seem to ignore myself.  

 That reminds me of a song from Alice in Wonderland called "Good Advice".    I always thought it was so cute!

8 inch X 8 inch oil on canvas panel

Re-use/ Recycle

I found this little creamer at the thrift store--my prop supply store.  I like finding little treasures that someone else no longer wants.  I wander up and down the aisles looking not for function, but for form.   I loved the form of this wide-mouthed little creamer.   I think it has lots more use in it as a prop.

I have been meaning to paint it since before Christmas but somehow it kept getting moved to the end of the line.  I didn't know what else to pair up with it.  Today I decided to put it on a linen napkin, and a lemon from the fridge seemed to fit with it nicely.

Today I was playing around with color.  One of my prior art teachers would be incensed--"there's no purple in that shadow!"  I know, but I like it like that.

I painted this on a recycled panel.  I do that a lot.  Since I'm getting a lot  of practice paintings lying around, I've been dividing them into "keepers" and ugh.   At the end of the day, I use the leftover paint on my palette to cover the uglies, put them in the garage to dry, and reuse the panel.

Lots of them are from when I first started to paint.  Not always.   But lately I have been keeping more of them than I did in the beginning.  It's funny too that as I gain more experience, paintings that I thought were pretty good get moved out of the "keepers" pile.