Spiral Repeated

Orange Spiral II

colored pencil

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

Here's a colored pencil that I finished a few days ago. I did this half peeled orange in oil about a month ago. I had taken reference photos of it with a linen cloth as well as just sitting on top of a chest of drawers. The oil painting did not have the cloth in it. I decided to do it bigger and with the cloth for the colored pencil drawing. I used lots of colors in shading the cloth - blues and purples, yellows, and reds. I really liked how this one turned out.

51st Painting

Orange Spiced Tea

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

SOLD

Bosc Pears

6" x 6"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

Orange Spiral

7" x 5"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

Autumn Gourds

6" x 6"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

Here's four more of my latest paintings. I counted up yesterday and found that I had just completed my 51st painting for this year, 32 of those since August when I started this blog. I'm enjoying the immediacy of the oil paint. I've spent years doing colored pencil drawings where just a monotone background color involved five, six or more layers of pencil. It's quite refreshing to mix paint, think "that's the color I want", and then paint it in one layer and be done. All of these oils that I've been doing have been alla prima. The spontaneity of putting down one layer of paint and having a finished painting is such a change from the colored pencil work. (At least the way I do colored pencil.)

With the new year approaching, I'm conscious of the need to look down the road and decide where I want to be a year from now. I'm a realist at heart and the paintings of other artists that really cause me to swoon are not spontaneous alla prima paintings. Nope, it's those meticulously done works involving underpaintings and layers of color. So, I'll still do some small daily paintings, but I think that it's time to start some larger paintings and explore the challenge of building up a painting in layers. How much different can it be from layered colored pencil drawings? I guess I'll find out.

Pink Ladies with Parasols

"Fish with Lemon"

6" x 6"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

"Pink Lady with Parasol"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

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Here's the latest two paintings. The "Fish with Lemon" painting is the last one of six that I needed for a holiday gallery sale in Oklahoma. It's at the framer's now, going into a sweet little shadowbox frame this week. I picked up the first four paintings from the framer last week. These small paintings look great in little black shadowbox frames. The cost was a pleasant surprise also! After years of having graphite and colored pencil drawings framed, it's nice to be able to pay just for the frame - not extra on glass and matting.

The apple painting is now on ebay. I had the idea of parasols and pink lady apples last summer. I searched all over our little town looking for drink parasols and found none. That could be because I live in a "dry county". "Dry county" is a term which causes some confusion among folks who move here from out west or up north. It doesn't mean that we get little rainfall but rather that the sales of alcoholic beverages are banned. I finally thought to go to ebay in my search for drink parasols and was able to purchase one gross (yep - 144) of the little umbrellas for about $8 including shipping. 144 is excessive - I could have gotten just a dozen for around $4 including shipping, but I've never been able to resist a bargain... To continue the story, I finally had my little parasols and guess what? The local grocery store no longer had pink lady apples. Finally, two months later, they're back in the stores and my Pink Lady with Parasol idea has finally come to fruition (yes - that was meant as a lame pun). By the way - anyone need a drink parasol???

Still Painting

"One Was Green"

oil 5" x 7"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

"Peaches and Raspberry Tea"

oil 5" x 7"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

"Gardenias in a Sake Cup II"

oil 7" x 5"

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

Goodness ! It's been over a month since I posted anything. I didn't stop painting - just stopped posting (shame on me). Above are a sampling of what I've been up to. I've gotten the opportunity to show my small paintings in two different galleries and also one holiday sale, so I've been very busy this last month - I've painted at least a dozen small still lifes. I'm having a lot of fun and can see myself improving so I'll stay at it. I've only shown three of my latest paintings up above - more are on my website if you'd like to see them. I'm going to try to get back in the routine of posting new paintings here. If you visit this blog and enjoy seeing these paintings, then please drop me an email or leave a comment. I must confess, one reason why I haven't posted in a month is that I feel a bit like I'm talking to myself...

Peeled Orange

Peeled Orange

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

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Mature Nectarines

Three Nectarines

Copyright 2007 Sheila Cantrell

SOLD

Here's the latest daily painting. These three nectarines (bless their hearts) have been patiently waiting around in the frig for better than a week. There was a fourth which my daughter sampled the other day. She threw it out after a couple of bites because it was too mushy. Fortunately, these three still looked good even if they are past the crisp stage. I keep buying fruit to paint and then getting distracted with other subject matter. The fruit bin in the refrigerator has been slowly filling up with an assortment of fruits in various stages of ripeness/decay. My family is well-trained after all the years that I have been doing still lifes. They pretty much always ask before they eat whether or not the fruit is for consumption or art. Who could ask for more consideration than that?

Playing Around with Water

Lotus Flower

4" x 5" colored pencil & wax pastel on paper

SOLD

About a month ago, I ordered a set of Neocolor II wax pastels as well as some colourfix paper, neither of which I had worked on before. The Neocolor II pastels are watersoluble wax crayons and colourfix (for those who don't already know) is a pastel and "multimedia Artist's paper". Anyway, what with going out-of-town 6 times in the last 5 weeks, I just now got around to playing with the new materials. It's going to take some more getting used to, but I do love how the Neocolors "pop" when you add water. I guess it is fitting that my first subject with the watersoluble colors is a water scene.