Quick Study

At the end of our session last night I had just enough time for a quick study.

Orange Scoops

After seeing the paintings of oranges by Ed Cooper I was determined to try and paint an orange. I have never painted one to my satisfaction. After 2 wipe offs and feeling like I had forgotten how to paint during Christmas holidays I came up with this. Not the best painting of oranges I have seen, but not my worst attempt. (Ed you make it look effortless.)

Christmas Coffee

Happy Holidays everyone. Thanks for all the kind words this past year!

DSDF Portrait Challenge

This is my submission for the DSDF Portrait Challenge. I really tried to concentrate on the eyes in this painting and figuring out the structure of this fellow's face.

Blue Ornaments

There is a touch of snow on the ground here, but it still does not seem like Christmas yet so I thought I would try and get in the mood.

Study of limes on stripes

This is a study for the larger still life I am working on. I am trying to work out how best to tackle the striped background. It has a black stripe in the pattern. I mix my black from ultramarine blue and raw umber. Does anyone else mix their own black or do you use it straight from a tube? Thoughts?

Black, White and Violet

And the last one.

Fresh from the Tree

Another demo.

Peter's Pear

This is the second demo I did this weekend. Peter Schlotthauer's studio was my host studio this past weekend and this is Peter's pear. He had just picked it from the neighbour's tree and was about to eat it when I got a hold of it to paint. Please check out Peter's work, he is a really talented artist.

Pink Mums

The studio tour was a lot of fun. I did not sell anything, but I did get a commission for a painting. A lovely lady provided me with a photo of the street she grew up on in Germany and asked me to do a painting of it. I am very excited to get started on the painting and see her reaction when she receives it.

The painting of mums, above, was the first demo painting I did this weekend. I did 5 all together. I will post 4 - the last painting I gave to my host studio, it was of their front door.

Defeated?

One last lipstick painting. These have been fun, I think I will come back to this subject matter again.

One Down

And this is the lipstick painting I did last night. One Down - I thought it was a great title for this, but now that my son is sick I hope it is not foreshadowing. My husband never gets sick, so it will be me if Evan is going to pass it on to someone.

Best Friends

I meant to upload this painting with the previous one, but got a call from the school to pick up my son. It seems the flu may have hit our home. He is resting now in bed with a bucket and his favorite cartoon. Poor little fella. So much for traveling this Thanksgiving. Oh well, I nice quiet weekend at home won't be that bad.

Lipsticks and Dots

Takeout

This is takeout from my friends wedding on the weekend. I put it straight in the freezer when I got home so I could paint it. Mary, if you are reading this - it was a fantastic wedding and you looked like a princess to quote Evan.

On Top

I want to thank Catherine Jeffrey for giving me the Bella Sinclair award. The award is for friendship, sisterhood, caring and sharing. I am going to pass this award on to six others that have either encouraged or inspired me through their kind comments or amazing work. Being that this is award is for sisterhood I am not sure if I am breaking protocol here, but two of the artists I have chosen are men - so shhh! in case I get in trouble.

1. Edward Burton (Edward was the first follower on my blog)

2. Aaron Lifferth

3. Martha Marshall (Martha inspired me with a great article on how to get a body of work and with very kind words of encouragement)

4. Barbara Muir

5. Karen Appleton

6. Halima Washington

Friends

Cone Flower

The first cone flower to bloom in my garden. Looks like there are lots more just getting ready, although it seems they bloomed earlier last year.

The Ringbearer

I did this painting from a photo I took of my son a few weeks ago. What I learned:

- 6 x 6 inches is tiny when it comes to painting figures

- Painting using a photo reference is way different than painting from life

- I am more comfortable painting from life

- It is good to go outside your comfort zone