Sneaking Away

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As I set this one up, the strawberries just seemed to want to sneak away. Although I think the cup was complicit. The fork definitely suspected something, but the knife was taking a nap.

Fresh Breakfast

 

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One of the suggestions my OT (occupational therapist) made for my work environment was pretty simple - take more regular breaks. When I get into a zone I will work for many hours without even realizing it, so that's a problem. I thought about setting a timer, but that's so disruptive, so I decided instead to break at more natural moments. It goes something like this for a small painting:

come up with the composition - break - draw it on my panel and lately I've been mapping out the values somewhat - break - paint for a while, and when I run out of tea - break - finish painting - break - repeat

During breaks I stretch or rest or get more tea or love on my dog. It's a very complicated system, I know. But it's working, and I think it's helping. At the very least I feel a little more balanced and sane.

Fruit Cocktail

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Here is one more strawberry painting before switching gears. And also, four of my little abstracts (excited!). Instead of doing one a day I've been doing several. What's nice about that is if one or more is ... eh, I don't mind. Actually there's a LOT of stuff I have to say about this whole process, so I'll keep notes and write something comprehensive at the end. Also, I'm thinking I might devote next month to something new - maybe watercolor! And keep going like that, all year? We'll see. So far I'm really enjoying it.

Totes Adorbs Strawbs

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I got out my big sheet of glass for this one. And in the middle of setting up the scene, I walked away for a minute to get more tea. While I was walking back I noticed my setup from an angle I hadn't been considering. I realized that if I pointed my light back behind the strawberries, I got these awesome reflections. Fortunately the light sort of raked the top of the take-out container, which provided some lovely contrast. This reminds me to experiment with my lights more often.

Super Delicious

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When I was in Texas over the holidays, I had dinner with some good friends who told me they were committing to an abstract a day for the month of January. This sounded interesting to me, so on the spur of the moment, I said I was in too. Yesterday I set up a spot in my studio for it, got out all my supplies, and then thought of nothing else until ... this morning I did my first one. It was super fun, but I'm going to hold back on posting images until I have something I'm super excited about. Because what else is the point of doing something for a month if not to slowly improve.

Meanwhile, strawberries that I AM super excited about! Yes, I am still going to paint my regular stuff.

Strawberries and Milk

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I did some work last year for Chinet, the paper plate company. I wasn't able to say much about it at the time, but I put the 4 paintings I did for them down below. I painted food, on paper plates (they added the edges of the plates around the food in photoshop). It was interesting. One of the things I painted was a fruit salad. We went around and around before hand about how it should look, and I finally cut the strawberries and they looked so cool! Anyway ... so I cut them for this painting and ... that's why? heh heh

Sweet Enough?

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I had this same sugar bowl before the fire. I have found it again, many times over. I love it. David finished one set of studio shelves yesterday and amazingly I've already collected enough to fill the entire thing! I'll post a picture soon.

Picky Pig

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I borrowed this very cool pig from my little friend Ellie. Ellie is 2, and honestly I'm not sure she understood why I was taking her piggy bank, or if she even noticed. Do you suppose that is terribly ethical of me? Would it make things any better if I add a few coins to the bank before I give it back? Or does that just add insult to injury?! Thank you, Ellie!

Follow the Leader

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This reminds me of those lines in weddings where everyone holds the hips of the person in front of them, and they all dance around the room kicking their legs out. Fun times!

Pile of Goodness

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Today is the first day of painting for me here in Germany! It has been a nice break, but it is also a relief to get back to it. I haven't been terribly motivated to get outside and paint landscapes, so we found a new light (after my old one broke at Christmas) and I am now installed in the kitchen with my easel and computer (painting from photos). Today I painted a small "still life" I photographed outside a store in St. Blasien when we were there last week. I will post it soon.

Strawberries & Cream

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Coincidentally, this is what I had for dessert tonight, except the cream was whipped. But you have never seen real strawberries if you haven't seen German ones. They are RED. And I mean red all the way through. And beautiful. I have never seen such PERFECT strawberries! And yummy too. : )

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Tom und Erdbeeren

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My son's Oma here in Germany got him 2 rabbits: Tom (black) and Jerry (gray). She thought they were both boys but, WOOPS, one is a girl. So, not wanting more rabbits, she had one fixed. I showed her this painting and she said "Tom und erdbeeren!" (Tom and strawberries). Hence the title.