Carribean Memory

Oil on linen    14" X 20                                                                      Buy it Now

This is another painting done from memory. I am just as interested in the

abstract qualities of the piece as I am in trying to reproduce reality. I am

also trying to create some subtle color harmonies, which is always an

absorbing challenge.

Thanks for visiting.

Model Back and Colors revisited

FOR SALE SOLD

I decided to re-post this painting tonight, because last

night's image was photographed, and did not do it justice -

I couldn't stand the way the image looked in the end.

So, after using a quick-drying varnish this morning before

going to teach my class, I scanned it in my printer tonight,

and here is the painting the way it really looks. The true

colors, and minus the strange blue glare/glow of yesterday!

Model Back and Colors

Oil on Wallis sanded pastel paper, 7" x 12" SOLD

This painting is much more luminous and lovely than it looks

in this photograph. It is not matte, but rather quite glossy.

It might seem strange to be painting on pastel paper, but quite

a few people do it, because it is an impervious surface, and also

archival. -- To tell the truth, this actually started out as a pastel

drawing, but halfway through, I just got the urge to use oils. There

was something about the light, and the color of the drape that

she is sitting on. I felt like doing a loose, sort of bravura study

and nothing lends itself to that like oil paint!

Jaclin Posing in a Kimono

Oil on Board, 5" x 7 1/2" , $100.00 SOLD

This is another composition that I have played

around with several times. I took a series of

photos of this model in various positions quite

a while ago. I was so captivated with her long

torso and legs, and her white skin, which really

was pale like this. She owned the kimono, and

the colors weren't anything like this, but I have

fun making up the colors each time I paint her.

Creating color harmonies is one of the things

I enjoy most about painting.

When my husband and I lived in Boston in the

80's and part of the 90's, we had an architecture

and interior design business. I am not an architect -

he is - although he also went to art school... but I really

enjoyed the interior design part of it; particularly

when we had interesting, imaginative clients who

weren't afraid to experiment with color and pattern.

My own taste does not lean toward the modern in

interior design, so it was fairly easy to get along with

our clients, most of whom had a "Beacon Hill" mentality.

We got one job just because, when the woman said,

"I'm thinking of a specific color for my library", I piped

up with "Pompeiian Red?". That just happened to be it,

and we began a job that lasted two years, and included

our designing everything in her residence down to the

bookshelves, the rugs, the tiles in her bathroom, and

a mural in her dining room. That was something.

A lot of work. But, I learned a lot as well.

Thanks for visiting today.

Back Pose of Nude Female Posing in Life Class

Oil on gessoed linen canas, 12" x 16" $100.00

SOLD

This figure sketch was done in a combination of

three colors of paint that worked remarkably well

for the skin tones of this model: Van Dyke Brown,

Burnt Umber, and Winsor Newton Naples Yellow.

I stress Winsor Newton Naples Yellow, because I

feel that it is one of the few companies that manu-

factures a true Naples Yellow color. Also, notice

this is painted on a gessoed linen that has first been

toned with gray. That is one of the reasons that it

works so well.

Gray tends to take on the complement

of whatever color is placed against it. It's called

"optical grays", and in this case, it's picking up the

orange that is suggested by the mixture of the burnt

umber (a very orangey brown) and the Naples Yellow.

The medium that I used was Liquin. I also "oiled up" my

canvas (put an extremely thin layer of Liquin on the

surface) before I started painting, to make the paint

glide while I was sketching. Because Liquin dries com-

pletely in 24 hours, you don't have to worry about the

"fat over lean" rule. I know this is true. I've been doing

it for 30 years. This kind of painting is really fun.

Now I could use this painting for a grisaille underpainting

if I want, and go over it with transparent and opaque color, or,

I could just leave it as is. Painting is great, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting today.

Pink Peonies in a Tarnished Silver Beaker

9" x 12", Oil on Board, $100.00 SOLD

I really had a lot of fun doing this painting. Peonies

are one of my favorite flowers, and I look forward

to their coming out every year. We have a couple

of plants in front of our house, but they don't get

enough sun. I treasured the few blooms we got,

but these I got at the supermarket. They were

surprisingly affordable.

I did this over a sketch, but I took a lot of liberties

with the flowers. I had to be a bit tighter with the

cup, just because of the structure. Sometimes I

think I must have been a manuscript illuminator

in another lifetime, because for some reason I really

get a bang out of painting things like those tiny dots

of light, light yellow on the cup rim and base. Maybe

because it reminds me of early Renaissance art, which

I adore.

It was was fun, because the rest of the painting got

to be kind of slapdash, and painting lines of trans-

parent, very brilliant colors through passages of

thick white. You never know what's going to happen...

I think I may do some more peonies tomorrow.

Danielle in Front of a Japanese Print

Oil on board, 9" x 14", NFS

This painting was obviously not done in

one day, as a matter of fact, it took me

about two weeks to paint, but, I had so

many family obligations today that I

didn't have the time to paint, so I decided

to post an example of the type of work I

used to show in galleries.

I do love this painting - it is a painting of a

friend of my daughter's, but I didn't love the

amount of time it took, the intense detail it

involved, or what it did to my right hand.

I ended up with no cartiledge between the

bones of my thumb from painting so much

with my fingers pinced together to create

the detail.

I absolutely love color! And, I think what I

am facing now is a way to achieve the coloristic

complexity of this work while doing it in a looser,

quicker manner, which is more enjoyable and

certainly more relaxed. Right now I am experi-

menting - proving that one is never too old to

experiment!

This is painted over a grisaille underpainting

(a black and white underpainting). This actually

makes painting easier, but it is a long, drawn-out

process which I seem to have lost the patience for.

Daily painting has changed my attitude towards a

lot of things...

Thanks for visiting today.

Gourd, Pepper, and Giotto

Oil on Gessoed hotpress WC paper, 6" x 8" $60.00

Oil Sketch of a Mexican Girl in Polka Dot Scarf

Oil on Gessoed Hotpress WC Paper,
4" x 4 3/4" $60.00 go to eBay

Even though I absolutely love doing those pastel
drawings of classical images, it felt really good
getting back to oil painting today. It was slow
going at first - I feel kind of like the way a cat
or dog will circle around and around before they
find the right place to sit down. But I got some
much-needed encouraging words from a far-away
guardian angel that made a tremendous difference
in my day. I am very lucky.

I loved this image of this girl. While she is rather
melancholy in appearance, she has the most beautiful
eyes, and I loved the colors in her scarf. The polka dots
weren't there. I made them up, because I thought it would
liven up the composition, and counteract the pensive
look on her face.

When I was showing my work in New York, I was bascially
required to make the most detailed paintings I could. Now,
I don't really have anything against this (although it did
completely destroy the cartiledge in my right hand after five
years of day in and day out painting), but you can't do those
kinds of paintings in a day. So I have had to switch the way I
paint, and it has been a difficult journey for me.

It's funny, I have no trouble doing a twenty-minute gestural
painting of a figure model in class, but when I know I have
to publish it on a blog I think I get hung up about it. I need to
relax!!!! I love to paint. What's the worry?!?

Anyway, this is my offering for today.
Thanks for visiting. I am going to be painting
for the entire month of June, just oils - I've made
that commitment to myself....well. I may do an
acrylic underpainting.... or an occasional
pastel drawing......

Tiny Pre-Raphaelite Sophie l

Oil on Board, 4" x 4" $50.00 SOLD

This tiny painting of my daughter was done from a

photo I took of her quite a few years ago. I manipulated

the photo in Photoshop - something I love to do - using

the lighting options, so that I vignetted her into this

circle. I just thought it had an unusual, "times past"

look. With her flowing hair, pensive expression, and

colorful kimono, she struck me as very similar to some

of the models used by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who

seemed to favor extremely pale, long haired, pensive

women. My daughter is actually bright and and happy -

she's just a good model. I've done many paintings and

prints of her. She wanted to be an actress for a while,

and can be quite dramatic, which makes her a great

person to draw and paint!

This is just a quickly-done

painting, but there are things about it that I like.

A Lazy Pear and a Turquoise Background

Oil on gessoed rag board, 6 1/2" x 5 3/4" $100.00
SOLD
I had fun painting these pears. I actually started them
yesterday, so I was able to use some glazes, which deeped
and enriched the colors in the way that I like. There aren't
many shadows, because that is just the way it was set up.

I use bosc pears to teach in my painting class. We do
a really fun exercise, because the class is one in indirect
painting (like they did in the Renaissance and in the early
days of oil painting). The students first paint a grisaille,
which is a black and white underpainting, and comes from
the French word for "gray".

After that dries, they cover that with a very, very thin
layer of a glaze made up of Liquin and Gamblin's Transparent
Red Earth. Voila. Pears! Well, not exactly. They blot the
glaze off here and there, because they have to keep painting,
using a limited palette, and painting into the pears and
background with opaque paint, using little or no medium.
It's amazing the results they come up with, though. Pretty
sophisticated - and some of these people have really never
painted before.

Indirect painting - that's what Jeff Hayes does, if you're
familiar with his blog and all his excellent sequential photos
of his paintings - is really the easiest way to paint. You
basically separate the drawing from the painting part.

Well, it's not quite that simple, but if you're a beginner,
it's worth a try. I'll be teaching it next year at The Art League
School in Alexandria, Virginia, if you happen to live near there.

Sunset over a Russet Field

Oil on Gessoed 100% Rag Board, 4" x 5" $100.00

Blue Ridge Mountain View

Oil on Gessoed Wood Panel, 3" x 5" $90.00

I felt like doing a landscape today, but I didn't have time
to drive out to the Shenandoah, so I dug through my box of
photographs and found one I found inspiring. I never tire of
making up pictures of that place, and never tire of going there.

Early Spring Window View

Oil on Gessoed Masonite, 4" x 4"
SOLD

This was the view out my studio window at the beginnig
of March when I first started doing a painting a day.
I just love the colors in the sky, and how they seem to be
reflected into the bark of the tree. The little branches also
seem to be dancing, and seem to be awfully happy.
This is a great time of year. So much to look forward to!