Black Gouache

"Orchids"
gouache and colored pencil
8" x 14"

I like the dramatic look that a black background can give a drawing or painting. One of the drawbacks to colored pencil, though, is the time and effort that goes into creating a really dark background. This is my first effort at using gouache and colored pencil together. I first drew my composition in lightly with graphite. Then I painted the background with black gouache. Finally, I used colored pencil to "paint" in the orchids. This was done on illustration board. I really liked the richness that the gouache gave to the black background and the time-saving. (It went much, much faster than colored pencil would have.) The only thing that I didn't like was trying to draw with colored pencil on the illustration board. It just didn't handle as well as the Stonehenge paper that I'm accustomed to drawing on. Next time, I might just get brave enough to do the entire painting in gouache...

More Pansies

"Pansy Bud 3"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pansy 4"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Consequences of Success

"Pansy Bud"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
5" x 7"

"Pansy Bud II"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
6" x 6"

I painted the first painting shown here earlier this week. The second one was painted yesterday. When I got finished with it, I was saying to myself "Wow! Did I just do that?" Apparently, the stars lined up right - I chose the right background color and got the colors and contrast right, capturing the sense of brilliant light on the flower bud. In case you can't tell, I'm very pleased with this last one! Yes, my reference photo was good, but trust me, the painting ended up being better than the photo.

I suspect that I'm not alone in my initial reaction to success. Whether it's producing a better-than-my-average piece of art or winning an award, my first thought is "Yay!", but the second thought usually is "Will I be able to repeat this, or better yet, top it?" As artists, we want to believe that our best work has yet to be created. It's a paradox - we strive to produce our very best painting and always hope that the particular piece we just completed wasn't it.

Success can sometimes make you feel that you are at a good stopping point. I must admit, I haven't picked up my paint brushes today, choosing instead to putter around some and do some housework that was easy enough to ignore earlier this week. But, I know that I'll be back at it - I must, it's what I do. And I think for the moment sadly on the death of Steve Jobs this week. Now there was a man who never let past success keep him from pursuing future successes! Thank you, Steve, for your example to us all.

Return to the Dark

"Quince"

oil on linen panel
7" x 5"

I came across this quince fruit at my local Wal-Mart supercenter. I really liked the bright yellow-green color of it and thought "This will look great on a pink background." I was so wrong... It didn't look good with any of the pastel colored backgrounds that I've been using lately for my small fruit paintings. So I returned to the use of a dark backdrop and that worked to make the color of the fruit really stand out. I had fun with the box as well - see the nail head on top? That was my favorite part of the whole painting to do!

More Fruit, Including Pluots!

"Flavor Grenade"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pluots on the Block"
oil on linen panel
5" x 7"

"Gala Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

I've fallen behind in my posting - here's some work from this past week. The fruit in the first two paintings are two varieties of pluots. "What is a pluot?", you may be asking. According to Wikapedia, pluot is the tradename for complex hybrid crosses of plums and apricots. (They are more like plums than apricots - the crosses which result in fruit more similar to apricots are naturally referred to apriums.) And yes, the variety name for the first one is "Flavor Grenade". I didn't think that I could improve on that one, so I used it as the title. You can now rest easy today - you've probably learned something new even if it is rather useless info!

More Fruit

"Granny Smith Half"

oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my newest fruit painting...

Coffee Break

"Coffee Break"
oil on canvas
10" x 10"

My newest painting - I had a lot of fun painting this one. I've painted donuts before, but the spoon was a new experience for me as well as the overhead view of the coffee cup. I was particularly proud of the subtle cast shadow on the surface of the coffee. Can you see it?