Plate of Figs

When figs first appeared in the market last month, I thought $7.98 a pound was too much to pay.   Now they are more abundant and the price has been reduced, so I bought some to paint.   After I finished painting, I ate them with honey.  Yum.

I used a different brush today, a bright, very stiff.  My usual go-to brush is a filbert, very smooth, and the paint goes on like butter.  But I'm trying to paint more loosely, so I changed my brush.  I liked some of the effects I got, but I found it very difficult to mix paint with the brush.

Tomato Medley

I painted these tomatoes as a response to the "Paint Your Vegetables!" challenge on the Daily PaintWorks website.

I bought a small container of tomatoes at the market, and when I opened it I found that there was a variety of shapes and colors in the box.   My favorites were the small, brownish-red ones.  They were almost maroon.   It's a good thing I painted them quickly,  because I left the plate on the kitchen island and they were quickly eaten as snacks.  Every time someone walked by, they'd pop a tomato in their mouths.

Pot of Geraniums

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm posting this again.  Blogger deleted it yesterday.  If they add the orginal  back, I'll just delete the duplicate.

I managed to make the time for myself to go to my painting class this week.  I had worked on this for several weeks in class.  The hardest part was the leaves.  I couldn't make them look like geranium leaves, and I kept wiping and painting again.  I'm mostly satisfied with these.

I did several small sketches before I painted this larger one, so I'm a little tired of geraniums.  I have started my next painting for class, which will be some hydrangeas.  They are cluster flowers like geraniums, but at least I'll get to use some different colors.

Click on the painting to view larger.  12 inch X 16 inch oil on stretched canvas.

Red Pears on Red Stripes

These are red Bartlett pears that I bought yesterday at the market.  The color is amazing.  They are almost the color of cordovan leather.  Two of them have a touch of pale green on them.

I put them on a red striped tea towel that I picked up at Tuesday Morning to add to my hodge-podge collection of things to paint.   This was my first attempt to paint stripes.

I really enjoyed painting this.  None of that kicking myself around the room feeling.  I am slowing letting go of the feeling that every daily painting needs to be a finished painting.   Trying to relax and enjoy the journey.

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel.

Summer breeze

My mother used to hang laundry outdoors on a clothesline in our back yard.  We lived on the Texas coastal  plains, so we had coastal breezes every day in the summer.  Sometimes a summer shower would come up, and we'd run outdoors to gather in the clothes before they got wet.  Nothing smells fresher than sheets that have been dried outdoors.

On the downside, every single stitch I owned had to be ironed.  The clothes smelled good, but I didn't enjoy ironing.  I had to sprinkle the clothes with water so that they'd be damp and then iron them dry.    It was the only way to get all the wrinkles out.   Nowadays I enjoy having a drier and not having to iron!

I painted this for the April challenge on Daily Painters International.  The theme is The Wind.  The artist can choose any subject that evokes wind.  I decided on this scene of clothes drying in the breeze.

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel

Color of White Challenge

Today is the first day in several weeks that I have felt well enough to paint.  I decided to try the challenge on the Daily Paintworks website called the Color of White Challenge.  The idea was to paint a white object on a patterned fabric.  Only white and primary and secondary colors could be used.  No black, brown, burnt sienna, burnt umber, etc.   A reference photo was provided, or you could use your own set up.  I decided to use the reference photo.

My biggest challenge in this was trying to paint the fabric!  I've never painted a patterned background before.  It was trial and error.  I couldn't figure out if I should put in a color first, or the white background first.  I started in one corner, and finally liked the results better when I put down a light background and then painted the pattern on that.  I also wanted to keep this to about an hour, but that was too optimistic!

I'm not lovin' it.  But hey, I painted!

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel

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

Painting Challenge

I painted this in response to the painting challenge on Rookie Painter.   When I saw this challenge , I thought, oh boy apples!   I didn't really complete the vase as I ran out of time and I was trying to complete this in one afternoon.

 I didn't try to paint the old car that Carol Marine had posted for her Daily Paintworks challenge.   Somehow cars don't give me the same happy feeling that apples do.

8 inch X 8 inch oil on canvas panel.

Whatcha Doing?

I thought these apples looked like they are carrying on a conversation.

This is my first post in over a week.  I managed to produce two paintings while I was in Houston last week. However, I didn't get any pictures of them, as my daughter wanted to keep both of them to hang in her kitchen.

I really like the center apple in this one, but I'm not happy with the bowl.  I'll have to let it rest a bit to figure out what's wrong.  I think the reflected light at the bottom is too bright.   There's quite a glare on the photo also, but I just wanted to get something posted.

Golden Apples

This is a little different from my last few posts.  Less fussy.  I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going.  Guess it will just evolve.

8 " X 8" 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.

Apple Trio

I thought I'd have another go at the green apples.  I think the colors are better on this one.  I started out with a cadmium-yellow-medium mixture this time so the paint wasn't transparent.  I'm still not happy with  the painting though.  Too monochrome.  So I guess I'll have to do it again.

This is on an 8 inch by 8 inch canvas panel, my favorite size.  I got a new supply this week, so I'm set!

Green apples and pumpkin pie

I had these apples in a bowl on the kitchen counter, and I thought I'd channel my inner Carol Marine and paint apples.  She had such beautiful apple paintings in her show.

I really climbed the learning curve on this one.  Because the apples are such a light yellow green, I used my lightest yellow--cadmium yellow pale is the name.  That turned out to be a mistake, because it is a transparent yellow, and everything I tried mixing with it made a transparent color.  I was mushing paint around on the canvas for a couple of hours.  Finally I added cadmium yellow medium to the mix.  It is an opaque color, and even though it is a darker yellow, it made the apples brighter.  Go figure.


So I made a pumpkin pie.  It's my son-in-law's favorite.   I got some brownie points for the pie, as well as the satisfaction of success (unlike my apple painting).  When my SIL was about six or seven, he lived across the street from an elderly, white-haired lady.  She used to bake pumpkin pies for him, and he'd go visit and eat pie.  One of his favorite childhood memories.

Sweet Success! 

Apple and mug

I spent the last two days of painting time in my class working on a larger painting.  Usually I go only once a week, but I had a make-up class this week, so I got to go twice.  I'm not posting that yet.  It's still a WIP.  

This painting is a daily painting.  I needed to get back into the grove again after wiping off my last painting.  I'm not crazy about this one.  It's too tight, even though I was trying for a looser effect.  On the plus side, I managed to get the ellipse on the cup!  Ellipses are another thing I struggle with--along with values, colors, brush strokes, etc.  LOL!  

Tonight I am going to a CAROL MARINE gallery showing here in San Antonio.  My daughter, who is an art teacher, and I are going together.  She and I took a class from Carol about two summers ago.  I am excited about getting to see some of her work in person and not online.  I'm taking my camera, so if I get any good pictures, I'll post them.  

This is an 8 " X 8 " oil on canvas panel. 

Nestled All Snug

I thought these lemons look as if they are snuggled all down in the towel. I painted this as a companion for the painting I did about three days ago.  My friend said that she would love to have one of my paintings, so I plan to give the pair to her to hang in her kitchen.

So I've improved enough over the past six months that I've attained one goal.  I always said I'd like to paint well enough that people would like to have my paintings.    At this point, at least now I can GIVE them away!  LOL.   It makes me happy to share them.

Wine Bottles

It's dreary and rainy here today, so I had to dodge raindrops as I took this outside to take a photo.

I liked this one.  I've painted these bottles once before here, but I like this one better.  The perspective was more of a challenge.  It actually isn't quite finished.  I didn't put the words on the label because I was afraid I'd mess it up!  So when it's really dry, I'll go back and try to finish the label.  Kim Rempel painted wine bottles too, and I like how she handled the label.

Melon Slices

This is one that doesn't make me happy, but I'm not sure what's wrong.  I think that it's because I don't have enough lighter values.  Everything seems sort of mid-range.  I wasn't able to rescue it, but I didn't want to wipe it off, either.  There's a lesson in here somewhere.  Maybe in a few months I'll look at it and be able to "see".

I have been loving everyone's New Year's posts.  Carrie Waller, Crystal Cook, and Kim Rempel all posted their favorite ten paintings for 2010.  Pretty impressive, all three of them.  Carrie posted her goals for 2011--specific and written down, just as the experts say you should!

I started my blog in June 2010, and I noticed that I made 68 posts for those seven months.  That's about ten per month.  I didn't really have a goal when I started, other than a vague one that I wanted to learn to paint.  I've realized how much these studies have helped me improve, so I'm setting a goal of painting four times a week.  That would be over 200 paintings in 2011.  Kind of scares me to put it in writing!

Lemon Trio

I wanted to explore painting fabric, so I laid these three lemons on a white tea towel.  The background is the dark gray of my light box.

Claire Christinel said that in a workshop she learned that she should look at values not just relative to the object, but also relative to the values in the rest of the composition.  (You can click on her name to see her blog.)  

I was thinking about that today as I was painting.  The edges of the lemons looked very dark against the white cloth.   I also thought some of the shadows of the cloth looked almost as dark as the background.

I've painted lots of lemons (there are usually always some in the refrigerator).  When I compare this painting to the others, I realized that I painted all the lemons differently, with different colors of shadows and highlights.  They all look like lemons, though.   The values are more important than the colors.  People say that all the time, but when I lined up my lemon paintings I could really see it.

Lemons and pitcher

Arrrgh!  I haven't painted in several weeks, and I can tell!  I made mud in a couple of spots in this one.

I am beginning to learn something about values.  I have a tendency never to make my darks dark enough. Then I have to go back and adjust.  I did that on the grapes here.  Since they are pale green grapes, not the dark purple ones I painted last time,  I laid down what I thought was a dark color.  But then when I started painting in the lighter body colors, they were too close in value to each other.  Lesson learned.

I just dabbed on some highlights and quit.  I have to go out of town today, so I'm posting this.  I hope to get back to a regular schedule of painting now that most of the festivities are over.

Thanks to everyone who has visited me and commented over the Christmas holidays.  It is so great to see the generous comments from some really terrific painters out there.  Thanks again!  You guys rock!

I'm saying this one is finished.

Yesterday afternoon I worked on my painting in my art class. This morning I tweaked it a little, but I think it's done.    This is my attempt to paint sort of like David  Leffel.  It's not a copy, but my interpretation, as Lorraine called it.  There's a lot more of me in this than there is of him!

I'm happy with it, though.    My little camera doesn't show the richness of the paint colors, but you can get some idea of it.  I hope some of the looseness carries over into my paintings.

I think next I'm going to paint a snowman.  I've been enjoying everyone's Christmas paintings.  Since it never snows here, I'll have to use artistic license!

Click on the painting to view larger.

12" x 16" oil on canvas