Wildflower photos

Turk's Cap  -  Hummingbirds love this flower! 

The yellow flower is a Huisache daisy (pronounced wee-satch) 

The red and yellow flower is a gaillardia, called Indian blanket.  The purple is Horsemint. 

Since I haven't been painting, I thought I'd share a few wildflower photos.  These are on a vacant lot on our block.  I stopped my car one morning and took some pictures.  I was amazed to see anything blooming, as we are in a fierce drought.  

I'm so busy trying to move--we have to clear out the house we sold and move into our new house next weekend.  My only painting time has been my weekly class.  I'll make time for that no matter what!  I'm not ready to post that one yet. 

We are scheduled to move on Saturday, June 4.  Just a few more days!  

My first cat painting

And it may be the last!  I painted this in response to the Daily Paintworks challenge.  I started out wanting this to look like the cat in the reference photo, but I ended up just hoping it looked like a cat!

I have a new-found respect for those artists who paint animals.  I thought portrait painting was difficult, but I think this is just as difficult.

I had to smile at myself that Carol Marine wouldn't be pleased at the number of brushstrokes in this painting.   There are hundreds.  I had no idea how to paint fur.  I started out with a number eight filbert, but it makes such smooth strokes I couldn't get any indication of  "furry-ness".   At the end, I switched to a small bright brush.    Well, this was my adventure for today.   Now I'm going out to dinner with my husband.  Probably even enjoy a glass of white wine.

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.

I'm still here

I'm so busy!  We are building a new house and selling the one we are living in.  Both transactions are going to be completed this month.  I have had so much paperwork and meetings and inspections that I seem to meet myself coming in and going out the door.

I sometimes have to go to the new house several times a day to look at how the lights are being installed, or what the color of the grout looks like with the tile, etc.  So many decisions!  After the kitchen tile was about half done, we all agree we didn't like it and couldn't live with it.  So that came down, and we had other meetings to choose new tiles.

But we are getting close.  The flooring is going to be installed this week.  That will really make it look finished.  After that it should just be touch up work inside and the landscaping.

We will have to move out of my daughter's house, and all my stuff is in storage in Austin.  So we'll have the time consuming chore of unpacking and finding places to put things.

With all this, I haven't painted in days.  I did make my weekly class, but that painting is still unfinished. We are all so looking forward to living in the new house.  Particularly, I am looking forward to having a space of my own in which to paint!

Thanks to everyone who has come by and commented.  I really appreciate each and every one of you. I'm so looking forward to painting and posting regularly again.

Geraniums, Too

Another practice painting for the larger painting I want to do next week.  I think I did much better on the blooms this time.  However, I still can't paint leaves!

I think I need to practice painting nothing but leaves for a few days.

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel

Geraniums and shadows

I mentioned that I want to learn to paint flowers, and I want to thank Janice Warriner for suggesting that I look at Helen Van Wyk's work and lessons.  I found a copy of Van Wyk's book "Color Recipes" online, and I'm loving it!  She gives actual mixtures to use for a painting.

This sketch is a practice for a larger painting I want to do in my weekly class.  It's from an illustration in the book.  She tells step by step what she mixed for the painting.

I don't have some of the colors she used.  Van Wyk says that Grumbacher Red is the closet tubed red to true spectrum red.  I don't have that color, I have cad red medium.  She used cadmium red light, but that's the only cadmium red she used.  She said cad red medium doesn't mix as well with white.

Something about this sketch isn't quite right, and I think it's values.   I was concentrating on trying to mix colors and make it look like a geranium, and I neglected values.  So much to think about!   Rather than try to tweak it,  I'm going to try another sketch.   I need to practice on leaves, too.   But I was pleased with the shadow on the wall.

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel.
Click on photo to view larger.

Poppies in Vase

I finished this in my class this week.  I posted the start of this painting last week.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  The colors are even more intense than they show in this photo.

I wanted to keep it loose (for me).  My fear was that I would work and work on it until I lost that feeling of spontaneity.   It is so hard for me not to get bogged down in details.  That's why I always make myself paint with a large brush, even in the small daily paintings.  I painted this primarily with a number 8 filbert.

This is a 12 " by 16 " oil on stretched canvas.
Click on the picture to view larger.

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.

Tulips and apples

When I first started this blog, I mostly painted fruit.  That was a big enough challenge for me.  I avoided more complex subjects, because I didn't think I could paint them.  I kept telling myself that I can't paint flowers, but that when I become a better painter, I'd try.

So something shifted in my brain this week.   If I want to learn to paint flowers, I need to start trying to paint them!  Doh.

I realized a couple of things while I was painting this:

1.  It's really too large for a small canvas.  I should just try to paint a couple of flowers instead of a large vase full of them.   Next time I'll do that.

2.  I spent 90% of my time on this painting on the tulips, trying to make them have volume and "read" as tulips.   I painted the apples and fabric in less than five minutes.  That was an eye opener to me.  I knew how to paint them!   All that practice.  Maybe after another six months I'll know how to paint flowers!

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

Work in Progress -- Poppies in Vase

This is a work in progress from my painting class last week.   This is the underpainting.  I blocked in the colors and will work on adding detail this week.  I hope I don't overwork it.  I always start out  thinking big strokes, keep it loose.  But my own personality kicks in and I overwork the details.  

I am in love with cadmium orange light!   I haven't used it before.  I always use a limited palette, because that's what my instructors told me when I first started painting.  

And they wouldn't let me use black, either. I sometimes cheat a little by using black, though.  Not in this painting.  But a couple of paintings with lots of dark background just needed black. 

12 inch by 16 inch oil on stretched canvas 

Pear study

I wanted to try something different with the background, here.  I wasn't able to achieve what was in my head, but I like this blue and yellow together.  

This is a picture of my latest purchase.  I'm always buying something that I "need" for painting--new brushes, new books, etc.  This is a tabletop lighting studio.  It's a white nylon box, and came with two spotlights that I shine on the sides of the box.  The fabric diffuses the light, so I don't have the problem with glare that I have with a flash.  There's enough light that the flash on the camera doesn't even go off.   It's 16 inches square, so it won't work for large canvases, but it's great for daily painting.  Now I don't have to wait for a sunny day.  It was $45 on Ebay. 

This wasn't even my own idea, but now I can't remember who recommended it to me!  My apologies that I can't give the credit where credit is due.  

Apricots and pitcher

At long last.... I finally have started painting again.  I have really missed painting, and especially my class. We have about six women in the class, which meets weekly in Boerne, TX.  They are all so supportive of each other, and I enjoy the laughter and fun we have together.

I went to my class yesterday and finished this painting I started almost two months ago.   My reference was a David Leffel painting from Oil Painting Secrets from a Master.   My favorite part was trying to figure out how he made his background.  I'm not sure what he did, but I eventually used a palette knife to get the texture.

I should know better than to varnish the painting before trying to photograph it!  There's quite a glare, and the colors aren't really true.  However, this was the best photo I could get.

11 inch X 14 inch oil on stretched canvas  (Click on the painting to enlarge.)

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

Apple study

For this study, I was trying to do something that is foreign to my soul---mix each stroke separately.  So hard for me to do.  I usually blend on the painting. I actually cheated a little on this, but not on purpose.  I'd just catch myself blending a stroke into paint already on the canvas.  Habits are hard to break.

To all those blogging comrades who came by and offered kind wishes during my husband's recuperation from heart surgery, I want to extend my heartfelt thank you!  All those thoughtful notes meant a lot.  Both of us contracted some wretched virus after he'd been home about two weeks, so we were both in bed with chills and fever, feeling very weak and sickly!  I was reading and cruising your blogs, but not feeling up to commenting much.

We are both much improved now.  He has been checked out by his doctors and cleared to drive again!  So first thing this morning, he took his car to fill it up and get it washed.  We are ready for the weekend!

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I am so looking forward to getting in some painting time.

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

Red Plum Studies

I haven't painted in almost two weeks.  When I squeezed the paints out onto my palette, I had a feeling of greeting old friends.

I decided that since I'm so rusty, I'd try painting some quick studies of a red plum that was in my fruit bowl.   One thing I learned was that I didn't like the effect of lightening the reds with white.  I started using yellow to lighten the reds, and I like that much better.

I really want to thank everyone for all their kind comments while I've been out of the loop.  My husband is getting better each day.  Both of us are still pretty tired, though.

What a week!

Last Thursday I drove my husband to the hospital for what we thought would be an overnight stay. He was scheduled to have a stent inserted into a coronary artery.  However, the procedure was not successful.  The cardiologist wasn't able to insert the stent because of all the plaque in the artery.  His artery closed down, and he suddenly had to have an emergency bypass surgery.

So his overnight stay became his (and my) five day stay.  Thank goodness for family and friends who supported us during this scary and tiring event.  I'm happy to say that we are home now, and he is recovering nicely.  We are both still tired, but sooo happy to be home.

I hope to start painting and posting soon.  Thanks for stopping by.   You guys are awesome!

Stacked Mugs

I would have wiped this one off, but I already wiped it off once.  Today was one of those days when the voices in my head kept asking me whatever made me think I could learn to paint.  I made every mistake that I have ever made, and I felt like I just couldn't do anything right.  This painting beat me up!

So I quit painting, and I feel better already.  I don't like THIS painting.  But I like some of the ones I have done before this one.    So although I may have lost the round today, I'll be back in the ring tomorrow to give it another go.   But right now, I have to go tend to my black eye!

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel.

Lets Par-tay!

I thought these limes looked like they are trying to organize a party.  Maybe for the Super Bowl.

The weather in San Antonio is back to normal.  It's up to about 60 degrees and all the snow has melted.  We had a rare snowfall that closed all the freeways through the city.  Actually, it drizzled first, then snowed, leaving a treacherous sheet of ice on the streets.   The neighborhood kids loved having the day off from school.  There is a small hill in front of our house, and they had fun sliding down the hill on makeshift sleds like plastic garbage can lids and even a laundry basket.   They didn't seem to mind that it was only about 20 degrees.  Yikes.  I stayed indoors and made hot chocolate and baked sweet rolls.

8 inch by 8 inch oil on canvas panel

New Painting Value Study

This is a value study for a new painting  for my weekly class.  My instructor's teaching method is that we make a value study for every painting before we can start painting with color.  It's helpful to me for the drawing part.  I wiped off and redrew the nectarines twice before I got the placement right.  It's much easier to wipe off a value study than part of a painting, at least for me.  I don't have as much invested in it emotionally at that point.

Brr, it's cold.  I don't have enough clothes for this kind of weather.  My heavy sweaters are in a box somewhere in the garage because we are living with my daughter and in the process of building a house.  I didn't want to go out there and rummage around to find them.  I have on more layers than a street person!   Stay warm!

11" by 14" oil on canvas

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.

No Posts This Week

I'm in Houston this week with my daughter and her two children.  Her husband has a meeting in Chicago all week.  (Who was the scheduler for that?!!)  Since my daughter works, I help get the children off to school, help with homework, and do a little cooking.  They all love coming home to a house that smells of dinner on the table. 

I did bring my painting supplies, so I hope to be able to paint a little.  I'll still be visiting all your blogs though to see what you are doing.  Have a great week! 

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! 

Can You Say Fabulous?

My daughter and I attended Carol Marine's reception at the Nueva Street Gallery here in San Antonio last night.  Carol's works are fabulous.  Pictures don't begin to capture the luminous quality of her paintings.  The subject matter is relatively simple, but the paintings are beautifully complex.  She uses a large brush on these large canvases, and it looks as if each stroke was individually mixed and laid down.  I could have looked for hours.

I asked her permission to take some photos, and she graciously agreed.  Here are a few shots.

Carol in front of four of her paintings.

This is Susan Carlin, the owner of Nueva Street Gallery, talking with Carol.

The painting on the left had already sold that afternoon, before the reception.  It was my favorite.

The painting on the right is toned with a bright pink.  Carol allowed it to show through in many areas of the painting, particularly in the teapot.  It has an amazing glow.  The photo just doesn't show it off.

And of course, the obligatory photo of my daughter and me with Carol.   I hope we didn't invade her space too much.  If you aren't familiar with Carol's blog it's really worth a visit.