Candy Apple

6x6 oil on panel click HERE to bid

 I've wanted to paint a candy apple since I saw one painted by fellow artist Kelley MacDonald some time ago.  We have a number of fruit trees on our property and this is the first year we took great pains to spray for bugs and blight and we were rewarded with a great crop of apples.  When I saw the candy apple making kit in the store I had to buy it.  Here's my photo reference, feel free to use it if you've always wanted to paint one too.

Wild Girl

6x6 oil on panel Click HERE to bid. Bidding starts at $30

I wanted to try to paint a wine bottle today, lord knows I have enough of them around from my glass fusing/slumping days, and of course drinking it now and again, so I thought Wild Girl would be fun....well.....I probably shouldn't have thrown in the lipstick and red wine glass to complicate things........I'll definately try the wine bottle again, perhaps with something simpler.  I had a difficult time with the cast shadows too, perhaps a clear wine glass would help. ;)  This one reminds me of my good buddy Laurie Mueller from the Aurora workshop....Cheers!

Red Barns

8x10 oil on panel click here to bid (starts at $60)

This summer I'm going to be doing a few art shows, and I realized that I need to start painting a few larger paintings or I'm going to have to figure out a way to display 6x6 unframed paintings....little easels are ok for some of them, but then i'm at the mercy of the weather.  I can frame some, but that gets expensive and people like to frame their own works anyway.  I have lots of nice wood frames for 8x10 though, so I'm going to start to do more paintings in that size, and maybe a really big one every couple weeks since those tend to draw a crowd to your booth,  but don't sell very often.

 Today I painted a farm from down the road.  I love this grouping of red barns so you will likely see it again, but I wanted to see if I could pull it off with the clear blue sky and still make it interesting.  There was not a cloud in the sky that day so it was a crystal clear flat blue.  I figured the palette knife always makes it interesting, so here is Ohio red barns on an autumn day.

Difference of a Day

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid

What a difference a day makes!  I went out to the studio to tackle the White on White challenge again.  This time I decided to ignore my attempt from last night and start fresh with the photo provided by Ann Feldman for the challenge.  I whipped right through it AND did the best I could to correct the error of my ways from last night's disaster.  I may even have time for one more painting today!   Maybe one with color!

Wheely Willy and Dreama

6x6 oil on panel SOLD

I "found" this little fella in my Mom's basement, she tends to hoard a lot of stuff down there, it's an artists still life dream.  Wall to wall shelves of stuff like this.....mostly antiques.  She keeps saying she's going to sell it on Ebay when she retires next year, but I think she likes her wall of stuff.  Whenever I go home to visit, I I like to browse  in her basement.  Last time I was there she threatened to lock it, but I managed to smuggle a few things out.  Tee Hee. (Hope she doesn't follow my blog)   I painted this for this weeks DPW challenge, paint something with wheels.  Wheels are harder than I thought, if you don't get them just right it's easy to see.  He has a cloth scarf that is really a checkerboard pattern  but I wasn't about to tackle that challenge.  He also has a string to pull him and when you do, his little cloth legs go up and down.  The rest is shiny wood.  I wish I knew his name.  I'll call him Wheely Willy

as for Dreama....I can't believe I haven't shared the best news yet!  I just signed up for Dreama Tolle-Perry's Nashville Tennessee workshop in April.  (yes it's my birthday gift from my fiance....Carol Marine for Christmas, Dreama for birthday....perhaps when we get married it will be Saeta for anniversary?  one can only dream...)  Now the only thing that would make it better is if my new bff  Laurie Mueller from Carol's workshop got off the waiting list and got in....it will be a road trip to remember!!! (normally I would link her blog, but she hasn't set one up yet. hint hint)  hint. 

Tulip Tango

6x6 oil on panel SOLD

I'm having a bit of fun with the Pantone color of the year "Tangerine Tango" It works well with lime green and white. The tulip was a bit of a bear though...took me all day. Perhaps something simpler tomorrow......

A Good Egg.

6x6 oil on panel NFS

Ever wonder what people mean when they say, "He's a good egg?" I think I do. Here is the last painting of the eggs and spoons....for now ;) I actually painted it yesterday, but in honor of Jason and his family, I wanted to leave "Coming Home" as my main post yesterday. Jason is resting peacefully with his family, and from what I understand is enjoying visitors of family and friends, and joking and laughing....What a strong brave man. The idea of joking when you are at the end of your final earthly days leads one to contemplate just how much this man loves his family to set them at ease before he makes his journey home..... I'll be sending the painting to Michaele and the boys tomorrow if it is dry enough, there's another part of the photo that I used as a reference for "Coming Home" that I have yet to paint, but couldn't bear it today. You will see it soon, I promise. Here's an egg instead, and remember, whatever you are, be a good one.

Painterly Pear

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid

I gave myself a little break today on the tough compositions, I may try one later on but I had a visiter in the studio today! Erika is a new daily painter, she started at the first of this year and came over to paint with me today. I showed her some of the little tricks I've learned at workshops or on my own since I've been painting everyday. I'll post one at the end of my daily rant. Actually this post is going to be chock full of little tidbits so buckle up and enjoy the ride!

So Erika mentioned that she wants to try to not blend as much and wasn't sure how to do it, so I showed her the exercise that helped break me of the habit, it's also one of the dpw weekly challenges, the one color per stroke challenge. . It's an exercise I go back to alot when I feel like I've been noodling around too much with my paintings. I'm going to try it with the spoon and eggs and see if it helps. (and no I don't own stock in dpw, nor am I trying to suck up to the Marine's, I have just learned a lot from doing the weekly challenges. for real.)

First tip, I had a blogger ask me if I lined up my paintings so I could see my progress, so I thought I'd post a pic of my wall of fame :) It's full, no room for new ones so I better get on the ball selling them. I actually put these shelves up myself ladies! no man required, he was busy watching football. I bought moulding at Menards, the kind that has ridges so it holds the little dears very nicely and if I have to put one in front of the other, they stay separate and don't stick. I screwed the l brackets to the boards first, then screwed them to the wall. I left lots of space thinking I might paint larger someday, who was I kidding? (word of warning: If you use your signifigant other's cordless screwdriver and forget to return it to it's proper spot, you MIGHT be in a bit of trouble when he goes to use it and it's not there)

Second tip, here is a pic of my easel and jury rigged still life setup. I had been sitting for the past week but it was really hurting my back, so I decided to stand. I had to get my still life up higher, note the tote with cardboard on top. I am still in search of an adjustable height table that is affordable but for now, this works just fine. I bought the white display thingy at Hobby Lobby for $5, the light at Menards for a couple bucks (actually I might have stolen it from my fiance's garage, but that's neither here nor there, he hasn't noticed yet) I have lovely North light compliments of the prior owners who built their barn like all barns are built so the west to east wind blows through to keep the animals cool. Also, not shown in the pic, but also available at menards is the "fatigue" mat? not sure if that's the name but it's a thick rubber mat to keep your legs from getting tired while standing. (you might also find them in your husband's garage, but again, just don't get caught)

Ok, enough about me, here is a pic of Erika with her pear. Feel free to visit her blog,(remember when you all just started your blog and how excited you were everytime you saw a new follower?( Ok, I'll be straight with you, I still get excited ;) But she's new, so give her a hand up......




FINAL USEFUL TIP One of the tips I learned from Carol at the workshop and I forgot to share with all my blog followers so Ill share it now, but it's only useful if you have an iphone (although there are similar apps for other smartphones.) There's an app called Value Viewer. It's $5, but it's invaluable! Basically, you take a picture of what you're painting with your phone and it breaks it down into three values so you can make sure your compostion "works" in terms of balancing value. Usually you should have a large amount of one value, a small amount of another, and just a smidge of the third. I use the app on almost every composition and I have a feeling it will be especially good for plein air and landscapes where it's a bit harder to judge value. Here's a pic on my phone of it in use. This is the pear I painted today.

That's all for today, hope I haven't bored you to tears, I would have saved some tips for tomorrow but I would have forgotten by then.

Trapped!

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid.

The last of the oranges for this week (I think! I'm kind of in a nice little comfort zone now, I hate the idea of starting something new :) This little orange is trapped under a square glass, it was very difficult to paint it so it looked like it was inside....

Boston Wharf and Learning to Simplify

6x6 oil on panel

This was a tough one, and I still need to do some work on it, but I need to learn to simplify a scene like this with lots of detail. I'm posting the reference photo as well as the painting, constructive criticism welcome.

Boston Harbor and 6 squared show

6x6 oil on panel

This is the first of a Boston Harbor series I am doing from my recent trip to New England. I have been debating entering the Higbee 6x6 show, but am not sure if my artwork is "good enough" for the show, and I also am not sure how to price for that show. The cost of framing and then the entry fee is more than my asking price for a painting, so not sure if it is worth it but am wondering from other artists who have entered this in the past if the exposure makes it worth the price and potential rejection? Let me know your thoughts!

Hidden Pepper

I went out to take pictures of the rapidly fading flowers and gardens and I found this red ripe pepper hiding among the otherwise empty garden....I had to paint it, of course. I think I'll pick it and put it in a still life with lighter objects, this one just isn't working for me! However, If it works for you, it can be yours for the low low price of $30. 6x6 oil on panel, click here to purchase. The frame is a Randy Higbee frame and can be purchased separately by going to his website