Framing

...Nestled In...

oil on canvas on panel - 6" x 6"

Today was damp and cold, so I stayed in and framed paintings. I have a show coming up at the end of the month, and need to get everything ready. It's amazing how much more complete the paintings look in frames! This one is in a floater frame which shows the artwork all the way to the edges. You can see the pink underpainting.

Back to Still Life

...Round on Round...
oil on canvas - 6" x 6"

Sometimes my paintings surprise me...

I had been wanting to paint something on this polka-dotted fabric. These mushrooms seemed perfect because their round shapes repeated the round of the dots, and their neutral color seemed a good contrast to the bright pink. Now that I look at it, an alternate title might be "Floating on a Psychedelic Sea."

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Reflections in Glass

...Pansy...
oil on canvas - 6" x 6"

I wonder how many artists have gone insane trying to paint reflections in glass? I thought it would be a fun challenge, and it was! But these are daily paintings, meaning they are supposed to be simple subjects that don't take very long to paint. I remember taking a workshop with Don Eddy, who made a name for himself painting reflections in glass--row upon row of glasses, in display windows, in a photo-realistic style. Now that he is older, he says he was showing off when he did it, trying to impress other artists. (I know it sure impressed me!) It made him one of 5 living artists included in Jansen's History of Art (4th ed), the standard introductory college art history text. However, he feels that art should have a deeper meaning, and of course that is good too. But there's nothing wrong with showing off, in my opinion. Just shout, "Hey world! Look at this! Isn't it great!" After all, athletes do it all the time.

Anyway, after all this talking, I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Reflections in glass sure are hard," without sounding like I'm whining...

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"Forsythia in the Window"

8" x 6" - oil on canvas

This one was harder than the average painting (to paraphrase Yogi Bear). The little antique bottle is glass, but frosted on the inside in some areas. Like all my paintings, it's really all about the light.

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"Grandmother's Baby Shoes"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

These don't look very comfortable, but they were the fashion, back around 1910. They have patent leather bottoms, kid leather tops, tassels in front, and buttons on the side. Styling! The buttons required a button hook. I wonder what people in 100 years will think of our children's shoes?

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"Apple"

6" x 6" - oil on panel

This was an experiment. I used a gessobord panel by Ampersand instead of my usual canvas Raymar panels. This surface is very smooth, and as with doing a watercolor on smooth hot-pressed paper, all the brushstrokes show. Also it is very absorbent, so the paint dries faster. As you can see, it looks different than my usual style. (Probably 5000 more brushstrokes than usual! It took a long time.)

I had not done any still-life painting till I started the daily painting routine, but I like it. Still-life has been called the "celebration of everyday objects." Here, a simple apple, sitting on top of the microwave, has become an iconic object. I loved the subtle color changes.

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"Flower in a Bottle"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

Extra points if you can identify the beer bottle...

This painting is framed in a black floater frame. Shipped for free!

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"Nestled In"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

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I just adopted a cat from the animal shelter. He is an adult neutered male, about 1 1/2 years old. Of course, with an animal from the shelter, you wonder about their past history, and what happened that they ended up there. Well, at first, "Oscar" acted afraid of me, but he got over that very quickly and has now nestled in. (And I bet you were wondering why I was talking about the cat, when this painting is obviously an apple!) Well, the apple has a gesture of being completely relaxed, leaning up against the side of the bowel.

And here is Oscar, completely relaxed on my desk, head leaning on a sketchbook...

"Standing Together"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

We don't usually think of plants as particularly fast moving creatures, but this one sure was! Maybe because I gave it a big drink of water before putting it in the light, but I had to chase it a bit as it rearranged its leaves. The petals started popping up as I was finishing, but I didn't put that in.

I'm not sure if I will be able to post to this blog for the next two days. I am going on a painting trip to Valley Head, WV, near Snowshoe Resort. But I will resume the blog on my return, along with some "show and tell" from the trip!

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"Pink Grapefruit" SOLD

6"x 6" - oil on canvas

Recently, we had high winds, and the power was out all night. Next morning, as I was taking a shower in a cold bathroom, by flashlight, I was thinking, "What will I paint today?" which became, "How will I paint today?" No lights or heat, this will be like outdoor painting indoors. Then I thought... the artists in the old days didn't have electric lights, and they did some wonderful art! So, I decided to do a still-life by the natural light coming in the windows. (Most still-lives nowadays are lit by carefully controlled artificial light, that's part of the creativity in a still-life.) Luckily, the power came back on that morning, so I had heat. Here is the painting, with wild uncontrolled natural light, reflecting all over the place!

Sometimes My Sense of Humor Gets the Best of Me...

Cupid's Wisdom
Oil on canvas - 6x6"

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I hope the writing on the purple heart is large enough to read on your monitor. I did it with a 3 haired brush.
This is sort of an "in joke" with some crazy artists I was painting with last week, in Texas, at Andreeva Academy. One morning, one of the guys wore an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt with the words DUMP HER on the front.

Then, one of the women, deciding it can work both ways, wrote DUMP HIM on the front of her shirt. This kind of started a mock feud between them.
So, the painting was my way of weighing-in on the subject. But wouldn't it be funny if the candy hearts were as off-the-wall as T-shirts? At least paintings of them can be!