Her Majesty

(oil on gessobord; 6"x6")

I've always wanted to paint the Golden Gate, and found a great reference photo picturing the bridge from this interesting angle.

"Cuban Dancer at Rehearsal"

(oil on gessobord; 8"x8")

I painted this from a photo I took in Cuba.  It is a dancer who was sitting on the edge of the stage at a rehearsal I was watching and he was listening intently to the choreographer's instructions.  With all the talk about Cuba opening up, I was reminiscing about my 2013 art trip and started looking through my photos.   It's really difficult to paint figures from life so I am practicing using photos, but my rule is that it has to be from a photo I took myself.

"Temptation"

(oil on gessobord; 6"x6")


This painting explains why I am now on a post holiday healthy eating program:)

Sunnyside

(oil on gessobord; 6"x6")

I am really loving these little still life exercises.  They are challenging but so satisfying!

Jenny

(oil on gessoboard; 8"x 8")


I always said I would not paint pets - too cliche.  But I broke down and painted Jenny as a present for Jake.  He loves Jenny!   This is a typical pose of him carrying Jenny around on his shoulder.

Holiday Ladies

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")


This is from a photo I took of a downtown Mill Valley holiday window.  I liked the way the sun was partially lighting up the 'ladies' and making them glow. 

Pom Pom

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

This started out as a realistic value study, but half way through I started pushing the boundaries and having more fun with it.  This painting style is more characteristic of the way I generally paint with acrylics rather than oils.  For some reason I think of oils as serious and acrylics as fun, so it was interesting to cross over.

Pre-Scramble

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

Love the colors in this one! 

Fig March

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

Another exercise in using fewer brushstrokes.

So Corny

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I bought this colorful harvest corn at the farmer's market and decided to try and paint it.  The under-painting is orange, so I did the little strings by scraping off the paint.

Lemony Tea

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I started collecting items for still life, and found this lacy cup and saucer in a local shop.  It cast such an interesting shadow with the sunlight shining through the saucer and the raised scroll work casting light back onto the cup. 

Red Hills

(oil on archival board; 6"x 6")

I had some paint left on my palette after I finished a painting and didn't want to waste it so I painted this abstract landscape just for fun.  Most of my favorite brushes were already soaking so I used stuff from my kitchen junk drawer to apply some of the paint. 

Life is Bowl of Cherry Tomatoes

(oil on archival board; 6"x 6")

This was very frustrating to paint and I wasn't happy with it, but then my daughter Rebecca really liked it so I decided to post it and quit being so self-critical.  I did learn a lot painting it.  One day I will try again.

Lonely Pepper

(oil on archival board; 6"x 6")

I like the shadow cast by this twisted pepper and the way the tail lifts up and helps to fill the frame.   I 'posed' it in sunlight to get the sharp but long shadow. 

Garlic Grouping

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

In retrospect, I probably should have tried this in watercolor - the papery garlic leaves did not lend themselves to oil, but overall I like it.  It photographed with more vivid colors than the original - in the actual painting the garlic is more white than yellow.  I'm still working on the photography, experimenting with camera settings and photo editing.  That is more difficult than painting! 

Pineapple Portrait

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I set up this little "portrait" on the edge of a table.  This was challenging to paint but I tried not to get too caught up in detail and I'm happy with the way it came out, especially the shadow.  It's so easy to overwork a painting of an object that has a lot of detail, but I was feeling very relaxed when painting this - it was a Sunday afternoon and Jake was doing his homework and I was painting and we were just chatting, and it all came together. 

Blue Espresso

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I absolutely love this little espresso cup, and this painting!   I used to have a set of four cups, but I'm now down to two unbroken ones.  I like the shadow cast by the uneven edge of the cup, which I exaggerated.  To get the shadow in sharp relief I set up the still life in sunlight in early morning when the shadows are long, and I got that great shadow above the cup as well as the shadow of the handle on the apple.  I was having trouble with the coffee looking a little dull, until I added blue and it worked!

Nestling Plums

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I think I may have to break out my Nikon SLR for photographing because with my small camera I'm really having trouble getting the color on screen to reflect the original.  Or, maybe it's my computer. I like this one better in real life than here; sometimes it's the opposite.  The colors are a bit more muted in the original.  I was working on getting that bluish-white look on the skin of very ripe plums.

Snuggling Lemons

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

My sister gave me the beautiful, thick glass bowl in this picture.  I had been wanting to paint it for a while, so one day I collected some Meyer lemons from my backyard tree and set up this still life.  It's painted with a thicker layer of paint than usual, which usually means I'm having trouble, and that is true here, but there are some elements that work.  Overall, the values are all too close to each other, so not enough contrast. 

Rebecca's Apples

(oil on gessoboard; 6"x 6")

I decided to paint the apples again, but with more detail on the plate.  I like this plate with the little raised dots, which I had simplified for the first apple painting. 
One apple painting is for Anna and one for Rebecca - my two best supporters, fellow artists, and amazing daughters.