"Organized Breakfast" - SOLD

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With any luck we are in the air this minute, almost back to Texas (I am preposting this). I had a lot of fun with this setup. I've always loved organizing things into rows and stacks. For some reason the stack of oranges especially makes me smile. Don't ask me why.

Happy New Year!!

"Dazzled by Light" - SOLD

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Today we are in Stuttgart, in a hotel before our early flight tomorrow. This is another painting I did before I left. I was really intrigued by the strong bit of light in the one spot on the cloth and in front of of the cups/apple. Also I love this fabric. I think it's a kind of sheer shawl I found forever ago in a thrift store. I've painted it many times.

"Plum Journey" - SOLD

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Tomorrow my son and I begin the long journey home. If nothing goes wrong (I hope I hope) we will be home late Friday night. Then a few days to recover from jet lag, then back to painting. I did get to paint some this trip, but my light broke mid-visit and we weren't able to get another one in time. All in all it has been a really lovely, needed vacation.

"Got Your Back" - SOLD

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And now a simple one with just 2 objects and fabric. I really liked the color combination.

Here in Germany we continue to enjoy the snow. We spent yesterday in beautiful Freiberg. We didn't anticipate the after-Christmas sales and huge crowds seeking them, but had fun anyway.

"Life in White" - SOLD

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This is my last painting of cherries in white (a nice combination, I think). I want to point out here that I used a softer, whiter light than usual (not the "daylight" spotlight I generally use), as I find it works better for cherries in some situations. Cherries and flowers both.

Merry Christmas from snowy Germany!

"Mine?"

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I love these birds because they are so expressive. In my other paintings with them, I've had them stealing whatever they're with. This one is simply asking - "mine?" Appropriate, I think.

So with this cherry I painted the stem in last. I decided this worked best when the cherry (and stem) were small. In yesterday's painting the cherries were more prominent and if I had put the stems on last, over the white, they would have gone chalky fast. And if I had left a space for them, there would have been a small space between them and the white, which wouldn't have been as interesting. Works for me anyway.

"A Fork in the Road" - SOLD

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When I painted these cherries, I did a little series of them. And one of the things I was experimenting with was different ways of painting the stems. In this one I painted them first, and the background last. I will point out the ones where I did the stems last, and where and when I preferred one over the other.

"Romeo & Juliet" - SOLD

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More cherries AND a picture of the German market I wrote about yesterday. There was a hill nearby that we climbed (slippery) and at the top of it we had this view. Then Jacob (5) and I slid down in a very small fraction of the time it took to get up. Veil spas! (Much fun!)

"Hiding Red" - SOLD

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Here is another painting from before I left for Germany. I am always up for painting something peeking out from behind glass - always fun. And here today we ventured out into the cold and snow to an outdoor Weihnachten (Christmas) Market. It was under a beautiful old bridge and everything was so spectacular it was unreal. Prima!

"Joined at the Hip" - SOLD

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So I painted today, and it was good (to paint). To be honest, I was getting pretty tired of reading, sudoku and german tv. I set up in the kitchen and painted some trucks in Arizona from photos. If I had my shadow box, enough light and enough space, I would paint a still life. But I don't. So I chose a painting I did before I left home, which happens to be a scene similar to what I see out the window here - lots of white!

"Reflecting Orange" - SOLD

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Good news - the airline delivered our bag today! So now I have everything I need to paint. But did I paint today? No, I enjoyed another day of blissful relaxation. Not that I won't be itching to paint very soon, but it has been nice to recover from jet lag with no pressure to work. When I do finally paint, I will have to set up in one of the 3 rooms that are heated by the wood stove - probably the kitchen. We will have very close quarters and I'm sure everyone will be tripping over me. Ah well.

"Orange Stacks" - SOLD

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We have arrived! It took us 2 days to get here to Schluchsee, Germany - 13 hours on airplanes, 4 hours on trains and a few minutes in a taxi (with large, unexpected breaks inbetween). Literally planes, trains & automobiles! Is it any wonder we slept for for 13 hours straight once we got here?! Unfortunately the one bag we checked is lost (hopefully not for good), and that was the bag with my paint in it. Of course. So, while we wait, here is a recent favorite of mine. It was tough getting the orange glow - I had to put quite a bit of orange into everything to make it read, but then when I REALLY squinted I saw - it was really there.

"Spoon First, Cups Last" - SOLD

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We are off to Germany tomorrow - back on the 31st. Unfortunately I won't be able to ship anything until after I get back and I apologize for the inconvenience! This will be my very first white Christmas (and my son's as well) and we are very excited about that and the trip in general. We'll take pictures and I'll be painting (inside) as well, plus I am ahead by a few, so expect a post in a few days, once I've recovered a bit from 15 hours in airplanes, 4 hours on trains and a 7 hour time difference. Argh.

"Apple Boats" & workshop photos - SOLD

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We finished up the workshop here today in Louisiana. I usually only post photos of my kids working so I decided to post a couple of happy shots (they'll tell you I threatened them to smile "or else" but don't beleive a word they say). Debbie's glasses broke so she used an earring to weigh one side down ... "it's not a fashion statement" ...

Below are a couple more demos. One of my kids, Jerry, brought in this beautifully wrapped gift specifically for me to paint. It was a real challenge, but my favorite from the week.

At one point Anne grabbed my camera and insisted on a photo of me making my rounds, so here I am helping Martha with her 10-minute apples.

And here's my entire group of kids from this week. Can you tell it was cold? I suppose I can forgive them for all their whining and complaining since they took me out to dinner and generally treated me nice ... and of course there was wine. But really, they became like family and I was sad to see them go. Thanks ya'll!!

"Stampede" - SOLD

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The workshop is going GREAT, here in Louisiana. Of course, they are complaining already, on the second day, that I am working them like slaves. But I keep telling them, it's for their own good. Just wipe those tears away and start again. Here are a couple of the sweeter (looking) ones working on value studies.



And here is a horrible photo of my demos from today and yesterday. What am I going to paint tomorrow? - not another plate, I'll tell you that. : )

"Plum Suicide" - SOLD

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I'll post quick because I've got to get a good night sleep for teaching tomorrow. But I wanted to post these plums I painted last month and then completely forgot about! One of my favorites and I forgot ... how did that happen!? I'd wanted to paint something inside a plastic bag for a while and finally did it. A friend said the title is a bit morbid, and another said it's more like "Assisted Plum Suicide." Dark humor - gotta love it.

"Color Hog" - SOLD

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My buddy Mary sent me a cow creamer to paint recently. I tried setting it up all alone several times but finally decided it needed some company. More fiddling and here it is as a supporting character (right side).

I'm off tomorrow for a 5-day workshop in Louisiana. As usual, I'll try to post as I go, but no promises.

"Floating on Blue"

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I decided to get a bit loose with this one. Sometimes I feel too restrained by reality and have to switch things up a little. I was also going for some strong color. I particularly like green and turquoise together, balanced by the red apple.

"Egg in a Corner" - SOLD

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Today I was searching back through my old posts and found this really great quote by Steve Martin. It was great to read it again so I thought I'd repost it: "Consistent work enhanced my act. I learned a lesson: it was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occuring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the circumstances." Same with painting.

"Cherry Christmas" - SOLD

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This one just worked out. I really like so many things about it. So much, I even managed to get it in my book. One of my "kids" asked me once, a couple of years ago, how to paint gold. I said "gold is hard - but just paint what you see." She said "don't get cheeky with me" or something to that effect. Here's a better, updated answer:

Painting metal is often about contrast. There are usually large value jumps between the darks and lights (ex. top edge of gift). A look into metal is basically a very compressed view of what's around it. It's best to squint a lot, and compare each value to everything else - not just what's right next to it.