Blue Thread

5" x 5" Oil on Canvas

$75

What a weekend!  The 2011 Studio Tour has just ended.  The weather was stupendous and the turnout even more so.  The image above was the demo I worked on during the tour days and I finished today.  As I enjoy sewing, I had been meaning to start a needlearts theme and so this is the first of a series.

Music for a rainy day....

 Ballade pour Adelina by shadinio

End of Summer Lillies

Well the lillies ended a short while ago and I promised myself not to let them slip by without capturing them on canvas.  As much as I'm happy with this one, I need to let loose....still working on that.  I see

here that my photo is slightly blurry and a bit on the dark side.  I'll return to fix that with my next photo session.

The local studio tour is approaching fast (September 23 and 24) and I'm determined not to get stressed.

I do enjoy having people over and discussing techniques and new skills.  

Summer's Last Daylilly

6"x6"x1.5" Oil on wood panel

$85

A Painting for the Children of Africa

Over at the Daily Paintworks website they have started a "Children of Africa" challenge and this is my entry for this auction.  Bidding started today and will run for a week.  It's nice to know that there are ways we can help (if only in small ways) and DPW is making this happen.

I've been working on my smaller format paintings again but haven't been posting.  So here is my latest. (sorry about the glare)  His name is Kodi.   The painting is a wedding gift to a friend of my son's whose wedding took place a few weeks ago.   I've tackled a few cat portraits but this is only my second dog.  Fur is still a challenge especially with the short haired variety.  I wish I could do my two miniature dachshunds but they are both predominantly black and unless I get lucky with the lighting, they may never get their portrait painted.  A Yorkie may be next.  Lots of long hair and beautiful brushstrokes to describe it.

Kodi

6" x 6" x 2" Oil

Wood cradled panel

I love to paint but I like to cook too.....

Woohoo!  They Draw and Cook just posted my entry to their fabulous website.  I'm so excited!

I started out without a clear plan other than I knew I would do some watercolor illustrations of the main ingredients which is when I discovered a plan is exactly what I needed.  This is a combination of watercolor and digital art.   A fair bit of time playing with the layers in Photoshop adding shadows and
tweaking the artwork and I finished anxious to start more.  Great fun!

So Far, So Good

Still working on my small format paintings.  Except for a few weeks where I switched to watercolors as you have probably noticed from previous blog entries, I have been working on more of the 6" x 6"'s in oil.  The list is growing for all the ideas that evolve from this endeavour and I'm pretty much busy for the rest of 2011.  But I'll always make room for the next great idea.  At this point, I'm collecting ideas for themes with 9 in each category.  Animals are my current theme and seasons were another as you might have noticed from the fruits and vegetables pictured above.  Cherries have been photographed and so have plums and I still want to do something with watermelons....and on and on!  And I did want to do a series of landscapes.....

Catching Up

I've been anxious to get back to my small format paintings.   The summer weather slowed me down a bit but although I didn't work oils I did quite a few watercolors in the last two weeks.  

The painting I'm posting today was 98% finished several weeks ago but I did need to tweak a few things about it and I still might.  It is a study for a larger vertical format painting that I would like to do of a tall vase of white gladiolas and I wasn't sure about the color palette but now that I've done this smaller version, I think I like it enough to continue.

White Jug, Green Apple

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil on wood panel

Fun with Flowers and Photoshop

I've been painting with watercolors for the past two weeks because of some illustration work that I'm doing. I forget how much I enjoy it.  These two florals are painted from single flowers that I      photographed for reference from my garden and then assembled in Photoshop......just playing. I'll try and do more while the garden has this variety available to me.  There are the Hosta flowers, yellow Rudbeckia's, Dahlias and Cosmos with a few nasturtium too.  I must get some lillies in there next time.

The grouping on the left was simply assembled in various layers playing with the hue, saturation, rotation and scale.  The same flowers were grouped differently on the right and had some additional filters applied which seemed to enhance the water-colour effect.

So Many Lillies So Little Time

Yellow Daylilly

6" x 6" Oil on 1.5" wood panel

This is the month for it.  I like the orange daylillies as much as the cultivated ones that I've purchased from garden nurseries and may try to do one of those and if it's not too late, I may still have some damask lilies to paint as well.  They're a lovely burgundy color and look more substantial than the usual ones.  Wasn't sure if I wanted to leave in the solar garden light in the image above but I figured it blended in with the background so well that I decided to keep it in.

Spring back.......

Red Tulips

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil on wood cradled panel

This really should be in the Spring lineup but I really felt like painting something red.  I find it difficult to paint anything red because it is so vibrant.  On the up side you really get to know your paints a little better while searching for whatever it takes to bring up that vibrancy.  Primary red, permanent rose and here's where I had a bit of difficulty and that was to have found a very cool red, a magenta that tinted to almost a blue for some of the cooler hilites.  

My posts have slowed down a bit but that doesn't mean I'm not painting.  An illustration job that segued into a series in water-colour that I've been wanting to do for a long time now has been wrestling for my attention to these little small format oils.  So I may just sprinkle a few of these other mediums in among my postings.

I did warn you in previous posts that my titles are terrible.  I couldn't resist the reference to harkening back to a spring theme by calling this post "Spring back....." ok, I think I'll move on now.....

subject

Green Apple on Blue Gingham

I guess I do enjoy painting in the little squares on this blue gingham cloth since this is my "go to" set up fabric.  There is something pleasant about the blue/green combination too that looks fresh.

Green Apples on Blue Gingham

6" x 6" x 1.5"

Oil on wood panel

You may see this little set up repeated in the near future because it is the lower part of a composition I photographed a year or two ago that includes a vase with hydrangeas and a blue bottle.  At first the little florets of the hydrangea seemed daunting but I've done it before and was happy with the results so I'm encouraged to do this flower again.

A Little Departure....

6"x 6" collage

wood cradled panel

Last year I spent some time doing small format collages (a prelude I guess to the 6"x 6" oils I've been doing lately).  I will probably return to making more of these.  It's a nice blend of photography, hand painting the papers, textures and interesting materials.  This has that little band of copper at the base, and since I enjoy creating jewellery, I get to use my metalsmithing skills too.

At My Back Door

At My Back Door

8" x 8" Oil

stretched canvas

SOLD

This was inspired by a recent challenge over at DPW (Daily Painter's Website).  Although I am quite far behind in following the challenges, I do intend on doing a few more from past weeks.  In between I am painting subjects that I have photographed through the season from Spring into Summer as well as doing some illustration work that I have been commissioned for.

Radishes.....

I really should find more backgrounds.   I seem to always reach for the gingham fabrics.  They do seem to set off the more organic lines of the subjects.   But I recently painted a silver spoon on a damask fabric and I just may stay with the ginghams!  I'll post that one later.  Until then, here are some radishes.....

Radishes on Green Gingham

6" x 6" x 1.5"

Planted.......and Painted

Unbelievably, it is already the 13th of June and my first blog of the month.  So I'm making up for it by posting three.  There have been other subjects painted this month but I thought it was in keeping with my last post.  I have no illusions about painting each of the flowers in my garden as they come into season but some I must try at this smaller format for my daily paintings.  I love peonies but they are somewhat similar to the colors of these Dahlias so I will pass in favor of doing some lillies and I've been photographing them as they bloom.   All three measure 6 x 6 x 1.5 inches on wood cradled panels.

Dahlias and Wicker

6" x 6" x 1.5" Oil

Dahlia I

6" x 6" on masonite

Dahlia II

6" x 6" x 1.5"

Couldn't plant them ... so I painted them

On the last of the gloomy rainy days I painted this 10" square painting of Dahlias still in the flat that I bought them in at the garden centre.   Finally the sun is out now and I have no excuse for not planting.

I hope this flat of Dahlias will give me many more flowers to paint this summer. (Just finished a 6" square of the single pink flower this morning too)

Before I move on...

The second image (the rectangular one measuring 6" x 8") was the first of the series of paintings of our cat.  I just returned to the finishing touches on this one this afternoon.  The photo below is my favorite, although the tuft of fur in her right ear is bothering me as I look at it here.  I may do something about that.  I find it distracting.  Otherwise I am happy with the likeness.

This one is so dramatic with the black background as she looks into the light.  My paintings can only be as good as my references.  Thanks to my daughter for taking the photo that provided me with this one.

A Cat Named Ribbon

Don't know why we named her Ribbon.  Having three children under the age of 6 probably had something to do with it.  My children are 23, 25 and 28 and we only this past Fall had Ribbon put down.  She was so achingly beautiful but the last year and a half we watched her literally disintegrate into a skinny little thing until we realized we had to do the right thing and have her put down.   She was no longer able to take care of herself and we fooled ourselves into thinking we could but she wasn't doing very well.  So now it's Spring and this week I've been doing these little paintings of her.  

6" x 6" Oil

Dreama's Cat

This is my entry to the Daily Painters Challenge.  Once a week on Saturdays a new image is posted.  It's interesting to see how the same photo can be interpreted by many different artists using their preferred media.  This past week I had also painted several paintings of my own cats so I was happy to see this week's subject was also a cat and a very pretty one too.  The light falling across the kitten and the chair

provided the most challenge for me.  The rendering is a little tighter than I wanted but all in all I'm happy with the result.

I'll post more cat paintings this week...

6" x 6" Oil on Masonite panel

Sold

Chickadee

Right outside my window, waiting for the feeder to be filled....I loved the little ruffle in the feathers.

6" x 6"

Oil on masonite panel

$75

My new favorite fruit......to paint

I love the range of color when painting grapes.  The muted hilites on the exterior and the semi translucent interior that absorbs the light seemed daunting at first but I found it enjoyable.  Would like to do more soon but I have a few new subjects to explore first.

6" x 6" on wood cradled panel

Oil

$80

Three Pears in a Bowl

I love the coloring of this one; the pale gray blue background and the yellow pears.   Could've used more impasto brushwork though since that is what I had set out to do originally but for the time being I may just move on to new subjects and possibly go back and work on this one in the future.

Three Pears in a Bowl

6" x 6"

Oil on Masonite  $70

Looking for Spring

Hope everyone had a nice Easter....Baked ham, Potato Salad, Pineapple Cheesecake and Coffee Pie were on the menu and now it's back to counting calories.  I did manage to paint early Sunday morning which I will post later in the week.  For now, I thought I'd post this image I did this past week as I try to capture the various flowers that become available as we move along into Spring.  This little porcelain rabbit has been featured in three paintings so far.  In fact one of them now resides in Australia!

6" x 6" Oil on masonite

Daffodil II

Encouraged by the end result of the first painting of daffodils, I started this one and was surprised at how

differently it turned out.  My discovery from the last one had more to do with toning the brilliance of the yellow with grays so that was foremost in my mind.   I do like the brilliance of the first one but this one

seems to show the delicacy of the tissue papery thinness of the petals.  This one still has a bit of brush work to indicate the glass vase.

The following pic is a close up of the lower left hand side.  I wish I could have captured the entire image with the clarity of this photo.  Not quite the broad brushstrokes I was looking for, but I do like the resulting texture.

Daffodils

In case you haven't noticed, I'm terrible with titles, with my blog entries as well as the paintings themselves.   Some people can be so clever with naming their work.  Lyrics from songs are an interesting source, although I can't recall any songs about daffodils??

I knew working with yellows would be a challenge.  A third of the way through I thought ... "Okay, remember to stay away from anything predominantly yellow.  But once I figured out how to subdue this vibrant color to create the contrasts, it started to pull together and I quite liked it.

Working with this small format (6" x 6") though, I actually felt confident enough to do another one.  Only this time I would simplify the group and remove the flower on the right and enlarge the huddled group.  Tomorrow I'll post the newer version.

....."And the Daffodils Look Lovely Today"!!!!  There...I did it.  I looked up lyrics with "daffodils"

in it.  And that is what I found.   I guess this works.   Song by the Cranberries.

And the Daffodils Look Lovely Today
6" x 6" Oil
SOLD

Not the most organized palette but it did look lovely too with the sun streaking across the brilliant yellows.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink

6" x 6" Oil

SOLD

My favorite from the last series of these 6" x 6" paintings was this one.  The challenge being the multi-faceted creases in the paper, but what a joy to paint.....

Davidson Farm

I don't do landscapes as often as florals but this is a scene I pass by nearly everyday and had to do one as part of my "daily" paintings.  These smaller formats are like "thumbnail" sketches towards larger formats.  This will be at the exhibition this weekend.

Peaches & Jam

My latest painting featuring my favorite bit of cloth that I've used in several paintings now.  This painting is for the exhibition this weekend (april 15th through 17th) at the Stephen Shaar Community Centre along with the 6" x 6" wall blocks that I posted about earlier......Looking forward to it!

Peaches & Jam

Oil 10 x 20

A Collection of spring themed small format paintings.....

Next weekend I will be participating in a group show with the Hudson Artist's Association (April 15 through 17) at the Stephen Shaar Community Center.  I am showing a preview here of a collection of the 6" x 6" x 2" wall blocks that I will be showing.  All are painted in oils and each are completed on a daily basis.

...and back to the small format paintings

A little grouping with two of the vases I purchased at the local Library that holds a rummage sale every Saturday morning.  Similar to one of my recent postings but this time with a pear.  These two paintings were my breakthrough paintings as far as loosening up with the brushstrokes but I have since returned to my tighter style.  Having said that I do like the end results.  I will simply have to focus choosing subject matter that I don't feel compelled to work too much detail into.

5" x 7"

Oil on Masonite

A little Segue....

I have to admit, this is a little guilty pleasure....I've been at the sewing machine again.  The potential for creativity when making fabric bags is endless.  I've started with a few simple ones and plan on making a few more with embellishments in the weeks to come (just to get this out of my system!).  The wool bag is so late in the season that I'm early.  But I had planned on making a bag out of a wool sweater for some time now and it just seemed to come together now.  I particularly enjoyed doing the embroidery.  The other two are just basic bags for going to the market (in style).
Almost forgot to mention they are available at the shop on Main Road, here in Hudson called
Seconde Main.

Almost daily....

This one was done on a 1/4" birch faced panel.  I do like these wood surfaces rather than the stretched canvases when painting this smaller size (6x6).  This one was also done alla prima (wet into wet)  but needs the energy of the juicier brushstrokes.

Green Apple Teal Bowl
6 x 6 Oil

Me and My Shadow

I might do more of these simple paintings using the beautiful papers that are available.  Yes, that's right, the background pattern is collaged onto the wood substrate, sealed and then the painting added.  I prefer not to think of it as cheating as much as being clever.  I think it just adds a bit of complexity to an otherwise simple image.

Me & My Shadow
6" x 6" x 1 1/2" cradled wood
SOLD

On the way to something good...

....a salad maybe?   

Eventually I will be organized enough to actually paint a food group that alludes to what was being made...

Encouraged by the looseness of the last one I launched into this next painting but even I can see that I began to tighten up again.  But that's okay.  I really like this one and I'm developing a sense of how to start to achieve the desired results.  This is also a "fact finding" mission!

The Start to Something Good
6" x 6" Oil on Wood Cradled Panel

                             

Getting There...

Okay, now that I've started my third small format painting,  I'm curious to try different substrates to see what effects I can achieve.  Stretched canvases I already had on hand, but I hadn't painted on the wood

cradled panels with oils before (only acrylics for mixed media pieces).  I'm liking this!  This is more like what I've been trying to achieve.  But at this stage, I'm not yet in my comfort zone.  Pre-mixing my key colors also helps with the spontaneous brushstrokes.

Chrysanthemum and Green Apple
6" x 8" Oil on Wood Cradled Panel
$80.00

In search of a brushtroke....

Another little 6x6 oil painting of tangerines in a silver footed bowl.  Would you believe the reason behind

these little 6x6 canvases is so that I can explore methods and hopefully loosen up a little bit.  Eventually I would like to learn to stop the blending and "nitpicking" in favor of gestural brush strokes (as much as one can gesture within a 6" x 6" space!)  But for now this is like my safety net.....More to come in the days ahead.

Tangerine in Silver Footed Bowl
6" x 6" Oil        

Back to painting......

I'm never very far away from my easel anyway but I haven't posted new paintings for awhile so here is a little 6x6 oil painting...  Seeing it here, I can see there is a little tweaking to do here and there....

Blue Pot with Tangerines
6x6 Oil on canvas

More silver core beads...

I've added some new copper and brass beads to my new silver core glass beads and assembled them into a bracelet.  The possibilities are expanding!  The addition of embossed bead caps provides more opportunity to add embellishments to the already beautiful colors of the glass.  In the photo you can see two of the brass beads with the addition of a sterling silver (ss) divider that I have faceted to catch the light.  To the left is a silver bead with three free spinning sterling rings and to the right is a section of silver tubing with an overlay of fine silver that also moves freely.  Although the glass beads look beautiful on their own, the addition of these spacers adds to the uniqueness....and they all work with Pandora and Chamilia line of

bracelets too.