"Wicker Vase and Obi"

graphite

18" x 15"

Well I continue to not be timely on this blogging thing... but this is the graphite that I've been intending to post.

"Storm Clouds at Dawn"

oil on canvas

12" x 12"

Above is my latest cloudscape painting. I wanted to do a simple cropped view of these storm clouds that would give the painting an abstract feel. Or at least I started out thinking that it was simple. After three tries, I finally got the colors and texture that I was after. I'll euphemistically refer to the first two tries as underpaintings...

Meanwhile, on the drawing board, I'm close to finishing a larger graphite still life. I'll post that one later this week.

Looking Up

"Lines in the Sky"

11" x 14"

oil on canvas

As I stated in my last post, although I have a renewed interest in working in graphite, I am still painting.  One thing that I've always wanted to do is to explore painting cloudscapes. I have a small canon camera that basically goes everywhere I do, and my favorite thing to photography is the ever changing skies here in Arkansas. It's quite possible that I have more cloud reference photos than any other still life artist!

So, I've decided that this is as good a time as any to start painting some cloudscapes. I feel that it will give me a balance of sorts with the graphite still lifes that I am also creating.  Above is one of my first cloud paintings.  For the present, I plan on offering these sky studies on eBay.

Happy New Year

 Winter Gourd

12" x 18"

graphite

Happy New Year! Yes, I am about a week late with the holiday wishes, but considering the fact that I haven't blogged in over a year, I don't think a week late is anything to worry about. Although I wasn't blogging, I was still drawing and painting this past year. Winter Gourd, pictured above, is my favorite drawing from 2013.  I enjoyed capturing the different textures of wood, pottery, gourds, and drapery. This one was accepted into the 2013 International Guild of Realism's juried show which was on exhibit in Tempe, AZ this past fall.

 Westward Shell                 Eastward Shell

Here's two more smaller graphite drawings from this past year.  Each one is 8" x 5".  I started out as a graphite artist and stayed in that medium for a number of years before I ever progressed to colored pencils and then to oil paints. This past year, I have developed an interest in focusing in on graphite and exploring just how far I personally can take this medium within the realms of realism.

With that said, I am still painting as well... More about that in my next post which I promise will be sometime this year!

Grey Matters

 "Mango on Blue Cloth II"

5" x 7"

oil on canvas

Sold

"Pear Duo"

6" x 6"

oil on canvas

Sold

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"

sold

"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"

click here to bid

  

"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!

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?

More Fruit, More Color

"Plum Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Peach Half"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Here's my two newest fruit paintings. I am really enjoying playing around with the different colored backgrounds. I'm not sure what else to say... so, I'm off to paint some more...