7/12/2008

A Yellow Pear


Oil on Board, 4 3/4" x 6", $85.00 Go to eBay


I really love the yellows in this pear, and the contrast
with the blue background. Overall, I was pretty happy
with this painting. It was a nice break from some more
complicated paintings that I've been working on lately.

7/11/2008

Sunset over St. John II


Oil on Board, 1o" x 7" SOLD
This is another view that I am obsessed with. Probably because
I haven't been there in three years. I love the Caribbean. If someone
were to ask me where I would rather go right now than anywhere on
earth, and I could choose any place, it would be the Caribbean. It i
a magical, beautiful place.

The colors in this painting did not come out well in this photograph.
They were much more luminous. The yellow was yellower, and the
pink was pinker.

I had a strange experience today. I get Chris Bolmeier's blog post.
She's a fascinating character. Does good art, can write up a storm,
has a fantastic voice - multi-talented. Well, she suggested watching a YouTube
video with Karin Jurik laying out her palette. I love those
things, so I did watch it.

It was uncanny. One by one, I watched her lay out every single
color I use on my own palette!! I should have had Twilight Zone
music playing in my head. Our work is nothing alike. (I admire
hers very much.) But, we obviously both love to have a lot of color
to work with, because she had about fifty, just like I do, and just
about the same, exact colors! Weird....but interesting.

Thanks for visiting today, and have a nice weekend.

7/09/2008

Portrait of Mary-Elizabeth


Pastel & Carbon Pencil on Drawing Paper,
9" x 16", NFS

I love drawing Mary Elizabeth, her high,
round forehead would have been the envy
of every woman in the Renaissance. I did
this is an open life class, and was very happy
with the results. Usually I find it hard to
concentrate.

Mary is also a swimming coach, so she
is a very graceful and imaginative model,
and just wonderful to draw.

7/08/2008

The Eastern Shore at Midday


Oil Pastel w/ Van Eyck Painting Medium on White Acrylic-
Sized Paper, 9" x 7 7/8", $100.00 Bid Here
I have a set of Sennelier oil pastels - actually I have two - one that
I have never touched because it is so beautiful I can't bare to touch
it, and another that was bought over time; piece by piece, also a Holbein
here, a Sakura there, that's been used and used.
I just love this image,
and thought I would play around with it using oil pastels. The Senneliers
are so soft, they are literally like lipstick. The Holbeins - and I forgot to
mention the Caran d'Ache, are somewhat firmer, but still incredibly
smooth and satisfying to work with.
I will put some color down, and take a deerfoot brush ( these are
brushes that I used for blending in oil painting) and dip it into a
tube of Sennelier Van Eyck Painting Medium (gelatinous but delicate),
and you can push the oil pastel around with this, and blend it together.
It is really fun.
Sometimes I feel really serious about my work, and sometimes I think
it brings out my (caution: over-used word alert - ) "inner child". I'm
planning on doing a series of figure paintings next, and they are very
demanding, so that is probably why I am doing this, and why I did the
pears yesterday. Just something light, and.....entertaining.
Thanks so much for visiting today.

7/06/2008

Two Bosc Pears in a Blue Light


Oil on Gessoed Rag Board, 8" x 7 3/8", $100.00 Bid Here
These pears were painted on a piece of rag board that had been
covered with pink gesso. I love the slight irridescent appearance
caused by laying the blue glaze over the pink. I think one of the
reasons I love oil paint so much is that it is so versatile, and you
can do so many different things with it: use it thickly, smoothly,
tranluscently (called a "half-paste" - see Titian), transparently
(a glaze), or whatever else you can think of. As long as you are
careful with your mediums and solvents and drying times, you're
OK. It's really fun, and challenging too.
Thank you for visiting today.