" Vintage Glass Insulators "

Oil

6" x 6"

Well, Christmas is over, I can now refocus on my daily paintings. I thought I would be able to continue my commitment painting each day. However, my son is home on college break and I found myself cooking and too busy with all the things I love doing for my family at this time of year.

Here's today's painting of 3 old glass insulators. I loved looking for all the little patches of color. Just received 3 clear insulators as a Christmas present, so will do painting of them soon.

SOLD

" Tea Time "

Oil

6" x 6"

A little old Fiesta ware teapot. To get the feeling of transparency of the tea I painted all the shapes I saw a bit lighter in value. When dry I then applied a glaze of ultramarine and alizarin until I got the illusion I was after. You paint the shapes of value/color that you see, the illusion will follow. Value first, color second! The value of bright color is tricky as it sometimes seems lighter in value than it is. Like reds, an intense red is quite dark in value. Try squinting at an American flag to see the correct values of the red and blue.

SOLD

" Still Life with Apples "

Oil

6" x 8"

Available

With little paintings like this it is hard to remember to get up off my seat and back up to see how the values are reading. When I do it what ever is giving me trouble is obvious, and its clear what needs to be corrected, too. I should stand up and paint all the time!

" Jacks "

Oil

6" x 6"

Available

I bought this vintage 1950's Ball and Jacks set last week on eBay. It came in the original box with a $.25 price tag! So many memories playing Jacks with my cousin Karen (she always won) and other games like 7-UP, Hop Scotch,

Four Square, Tag, Hide & Seek. Sure beats video games!

" Aussie Oranges II "

Oil

6" x 6"

This little Buffalo China bowl has been in many of my still life paintings. I love its simple shape. Today's set-up was a challenge to keep the bowl standing out from the bold stripes of the dish towel, arranging the stripes and folds to lead the eye.

SOLD

" Pomegranates "

Oil on gesso board

8" x 10"

Available

I just learned this nifty way to peel a pomegranate: Fill a large bowl with water. Cut top off pomegranate and hold under water to peel. Seeds will sink, pulp/skin floats. So easy, fast and no red juice everywhere!

" Red Yellow Blue "

Oil

8" x 8"

I skied today with an old friend so didn't have time or energy left to paint. I painted this study last winter with a focus on primary colors. Bold and bright!

Available: $425 framed

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" Oranges & Antique Heinz Jar "

Oil

6" x 8"

Two very orange oranges separated by an antique Heinz jar, tall and octagonal in shape. Maybe it held pickles? We have a good friend visiting so I will be doing some skiing this week with him...hope to get my paintings done, too.

SOLD

Shiny Brite Christmas Ornaments

" Shiny Brite "

Oil

6" x 6"

I painted this set-up with natural light coming through my studio windows. I guess it could be considered a self-portrait as I painted what I saw reflected.... so that's me in the center.

NFS

" Meyer Lemons III "

Oil

7" x 7"

I was going for some drama in this composition using a black table top. I began the painting yesterday so it would be dry enough today to glaze over the underpainting colors adding depth and richness to the background.

SOLD

" Red & Yellow Apples on Rooster Plate "

Oil

6" x 6"

I spent some time arranging the fabric folds to lead the eye through the composition. I like how the roosters on the plate edge create motion, too.

SOLD

Antique Japanese Demitasse, Teacup

" Japanese Teacup "

Oil on gesso board

9" x 9"

This week is a busy one, seems my daily paintings will be more like a day and a half paintings. So I will fill in with a few paintings like this one. My goal with this painting was to have a bold simple composition to set off the detailed cup & saucer. This old teacup is small, more of a demitasse style. The cup is very translucent and I hope I achieved an impression of that.

Private Collection

" Bartlett Pears "

Oil

6" x 6"

This was a study in how much light from the right could I bounce into the shadow side of the pears and still have enough of a value change to render the pears. I used orange paper on the right wall to warm up the shadow side of the pears and they in turn reflected their yellow light onto the bright turquoise paper creating green in the cast shadows.

SOLD