Gathering Safely In

 

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This is the last of the orange slices for now. The title is a line from a song I like. 10 points if you can guess it without looking it up online. : )

Orange Pals

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately, old and new, and specifically friend groups, and all their dynamics. I think I subconsciously pour my feelings about these kinds of things into my paintings. You can see it in all the groupings of objects. Some get along better than others.

Guarding Plates

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I found this purple-ish glass recently at the thrift store. It was quite a challenge to make the colors read right since you can see through to the white plates and the green background in different places. And then of course the glass gets thicker and thinner, and add reflections on top of that! Whew.

A Juicy Snack

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

A few more orange slices. You can see that little white cup again, sneaking around, trying to get closer.

I painted the silly little white cup by itself below to illustrate what I was talking about in this post. The bottom image is the bottom of my palette, beneath which is a simple value scale I made with acrylic paint. You can't see it perfectly because of my photos, but I mixed each color for the cup above the value it corresponded with. This helps me keep them all straight in my mind. I only used the lightest value for the highlights.

And before someone asks how I mixed these colors, I used red, blue, yellow, and white. : )

BTW, I painted it on a little Richeson 4x4in. panel that I got a free sample of years ago. The surface was smoother than the gessobord I'm used to, and the paint application was very different. It seemed to kind of soak up and dry the paint super fast. Weird. Anyone else use Richeson panels?

Orange Delights

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Here's another one with orange slices. I try not to cut them up the same way every time, although this is my favorite. I think the cups like it too. Especially this white one keeps sneaking over to spend time with them. I get it - they're cute.

A Loose Line

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I used my smaller, zoomable light for this one, and focused it in on the larger cup and a few of the orange slices, like a spotlight. This made it much more challenging as I had to capture the subtle differences between each slice as they moved away from the light. Not to mention the rest of the scene. But man I just revel in this kind of challenge!

Organized Orange

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x8in. - oil on panel

I got an email today from a gal who says that she "struggles with the middle values." And I can honestly say - me too! Recently I added a new thing to my studio that has helped. I painted a simple little value scale (with acrylic paint) that I put under my palette so that the values peek out along the bottom.

When I'm having trouble, I mix colors with corresponding values right above each value. This helps especially with all the white cups and plates I paint. I also think to myself, when I'm looking at the plate, for example, what like value can I find? Is there a value in the cup that is similar? And every time I mix a new color, I look for like values to compare it too (as opposed to looking at only the colors right next to the thing). I might even put a little dab (on my palette) of the new color next to a color with a similar value just to compare.

I will try and post a photo with paint on the palette to show more of what I mean. Hopefully this all makes sense, but feel free to email me with questions!

Special Tomatoes

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

These tomatoes were so special they required a fancy tablecloth. They would not sit for me otherwise.

Just Tomatoes Please

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Here's another little still life with tomatoes. I usually shop at the Albertsons at the bottom of our hill for produce, but I found another store, a little further away, that has prettier produce. It's worth looking around.

Ruth's Trailer

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x8in. - starts at $100

At my recent workshop from Randy Sexton in Bisbee AZ, most of the class stayed at a very cool place called The Shady Dell (a vintage trailer court). Unfortunately by the time I signed up all the trailers were claimed, so my friends and I stayed elsewhere. But we painted at the motor court a couple of times. I painted this scene from life, but decided to do a second version at home (this one), because the first had some unsolvable issues. I wish I could have painted there more in better weather conditions.

Elevensies

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Never before have I had a tiny little head go so well as this! And it only took one try. Man oh man that feels good. : )

Settling In

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Here's a little scene from France. I thought this guy was going to be easy to paint, but I had to redo his face probably 5 times. Unfortunately I also couldn't seem to get a picture without some glare on that top, right corner. I will try again.

French Bench

sold.

This was a little scene at our chateau in France that I passed by daily. I never had time to stand and paint it, so I took a picture and painted it at home. I realized the other day that I never showed a group picture of my kids in France, so I'll do that now. Almost everyone is in this one... (click image to see larger) What a fabulous group!!

Cozy Kitchen

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I took the picture for this in my friend Bren's house in Maine, last time I was there. I have very fond memories of this house and my friend in it. She sat in the nearest chair last spring and let me henna her whole head. This is when the henna was still basically mud. ->

Cozy Spot

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This is a little scene from a hotel my husband and I stayed at in San Francisco last year.

A friend of mine sent me a link for some interesting frames for paintings on panels. They look pretty neat, and VERY inexpensive. If anyone gets them, please let me know what you think! If the quality is good, I'd like to recommend them on a regular basis.

The Red Bucket

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This was a little moment in front of a cafe in NYC. What is the purpose of the red bucket? I have no clue, but it looks good there.

I am still painting away in Germany, but have wiped off half my landscapes so far. Plein air is HARD! This morning, after a particularly terrible attempt, I had to sit down and cry a little before I could go on. I think I'll do that more often, as the next two paintings weren't half bad. : )

To the right is a quick little bonus study that I'm starting at $1.

sold

Hotel Lobby

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This is my dear husband, checking his email in our San Francisco hotel lobby, next to the giant lamp. I really love the glow from the lamp. It makes me want to paint more interiors. Next time I'll spend more time in hotel lobbies!

Good news - I finally ported my first three books over to Magcloud! So now they are all (4) available again.

A Quiet Room

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The picture for this one came from a B&B I stayed at last fall in Massachusetts. Every room was incredibly simple, which made it perfect for photographing!

Tomorrow, early I am flying to Santa Fe for an advanced workshop with some old kids ... ok, when I say that, I mean they were kids ... errr, of mine, well, anyway, uhhhh, so I'm teaching in Santa Fe next week. That's all. : )

Coffee Break

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This is a scene I happened across in San Francisco last weekend. Part of my visit was a reconnaissance of the area where I will be teaching next year. It is just this kind of scene we will be looking for and painting.

WORKSHOP: Speaking of teaching, I am doing a workshop at the Coppini, in San Antonio, TX, next January (2013) 7-11th. Check the Coppini website to register.

Before the Crowd

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I took the picture for this painting with my iphone. Technology is awesome these days, isn't it?!