Grey Matters

 "Mango on Blue Cloth II"

5" x 7"

oil on canvas

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"Pear Duo"

6" x 6"

oil on canvas

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I've been remiss on posting to my blog.  Here are two small oils that I've done recently. I've taken a break from large works for a little while and have been honing my oil painting skills on these smaller canvases.  I normally use palette paper when I oil paint, probably because I'm too lazy to clean a wooden palette.  I have a wooden palette - I just tape my palette paper to it.  A couple of weeks ago I was at Hobby Lobby and noticed that grey palette paper is now available.  It may have been around for awhile - I don't get into an art supply store very often! Anyway, this paper is made by Jack Richeson Co. and is called "Grey Matters".  I like it a lot - I think that my color mixes have improved since I started using it. It just makes it easier to see the real color of your paint when it is on a neutral background instead of on white.  I guess that's my free tip of the week!

A Shot of Cherries

 

"Cherry Shot"

oil on linen panel

7" x 5"

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"Still Life with Persimmons"

colored pencil

12" x 8"

Here are a couple of new pieces.  The little shot glass in the first painting was a yard sale find. I haven't painted glass very much, so it was a bit of a challenge to capture the glass pattern and how it refracted the light and distorted the cherries.  For the persimmon drawing, I used some reference photos that I had taken last winter when I found these persimmons at the grocery store. They really were that intense red-orange color. They rather overwhelm the drawing, but I think that the greater quantity of less-intense blue (background and pitcher) balances out the drawing. Or at least that's what I told myself when I finished...

Plein Aire Frames

 "Donut Stack"

oil on canvas

10" x 10"

"Wall Flower IV"

oil on panel

7" x 5"

I forgot that I had promised to show off one of the plein aire style frames that I found on the Jerry's Artarama site. The frames have a width of 3", so they look really nice in this small (5 x 7) size. Above is another donut painting which I finished recently.

More Wall Flowers

 

"Wall Flower IV"

oil on panel

7" x 5"

 

"Wall Flower V"

oil on panel

7" x 5"

I'm excited to be in a show at Greg Thompson Fine Art called "Women in the Arts". The show opens next week and runs through Sept 15th.  I've just finished two more of these little trompe l'oeil pansy paintings for the show.  Several of my large colored pencil works will be on display as well. "Wall Flower IV" pictured at the top is my favorite of the ones that I've painted lately - the wallpaper pattern was certainly a pain to paint, but I really like the purple and yellow on purple color scheme. 

I've also found the perfect frame for these little guys - Jerry's Artarama has these great looking wood frames on sale for a really great price right now. I hate to put mediocre frames on my work, so I usually spend a small fortune getting artwork framed.  I'll try to get a picture posted tomorrow of one of these framed.

I Think I Like Blue

Wall Flower III

oil on linen panel

7" x 5"

Light Post

oil on canvas

6" x 6"
sold

Here are two new small paintings, fresh off the easel this week.  As you can tell from the title, this is my third little "wall flower" painting.  My pansies from this spring are long since dead in this heat, but I have a lot of reference photos of them.  I had fun coming up with a wallpaper pattern to use in this painting. I'm really enjoying the challenge of painting the semi-transparent masking tape. I believe I'll be painting a few more of these in the near future.

The light post painting is one that I've been intending to do for a while. I took the reference photo while stopped at a traffic light one afternoon.  I believe that I may quite possibly have more cloud reference photos than any other still life artist!  This one was fun to do, although a little nerve-racking to paint in the straight wires at the end! All went smoothly though and I was pleased with the result.

I seem to be painting with a lot of blue lately.  I should have some new donut paintings to post next week. I've got two underway and - yep - they both have blue backgrounds.

Horsing Around

"Palomino Roper"

oil on canvas

12" x 24"

My daughter, Allison, is a western artist - horses and cowboys and all that. Sometimes she just makes it look like so much fun that I want to join in, especially when she's willing to share reference photos! Here's an oil that I finished up on Sunday.  I'm hoping that it, along with my little indian boy drawing (see earlier post) will both get into the Bosque Art Classic this fall.  Allison and I have both been in that show a few times and we always have a great time at the opening reception.

Pansies and Donuts

 

"Wall Flower II"

oil on Gessobord

7" x 5"

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"Powdered Donuts and Cocoa"

oil on canvas

8" x 16"

The top painting is a little pansy painting that I did this week.  It is available through the Daily Paintworks website. I now have a gallery on the Daily Paintworks site and will be offering small paintings and drawings for sale through that website. 

The second painting shown is a still life from earlier this year.  I had a  lot of fun painting this one. Over the years, I've painted quite a few donut paintings.  (They say you should paint what you know!)  I will be painting many more donuts this summer, getting ready for a donut and coffee themed show that will be at Artifacts Gallery in Eureka Springs in October.  I'm really excited about this show! 

Surprise!

"Little Aztec Dancer"

graphite

14" X 14"

Surprise! I've been un-blogging for quite a while now, but I have returned.  I have actually painted quite a bit since my last blog post (we won't talk about how long that's been!).  I'll post some of my more recent paintings in the next week or so.  However, a few weeks back, I felt like doing a graphite drawing and this is the result. 

 

I took the reference photos for this drawing way back in 2006.  We were visiting my sister in New Mexico and we went to the New Mexico State Fair.  There was a group of Aztec Indians from Mexico City performing and this little tike was there with his family.  He was only around 20 months old at the time, so I guess he's about 7 years old now.  I always meant to do this one - started it once in colored pencil, but didn't care for how it was looking. I had a great time drawing it in graphite!