Raspberry Jumble, glass plate, summer fruit, red

" Raspberry Jumble "

Oil

6"x6"

My first intention was to have the berries very large on the picture plane. But, I love this old clear glass plate and got carried away wanting to show more of it. Now the painting is more about the dark/light contrast of berries against the white napkin and the strong diagonal line of cloth and table top. Second time I've painted raspberries. What I've learned is that it takes patience to keep layering the various reds and a very light touch with sable brushes to lay wet over wet. And lastly, going back and redefining the edges of each berry. I wasn't nit-picky about each berry's little bumps, just a suggestion of them...not enough room or patience to do that. A scientific illustrator I'm not.

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"Raspberry Delight", berries in Buffalo China bowl

" Rasberry Delight "

Oil

6" x 6
It was a delight and a challenge to paint these raspberries. A new subject for me. I want to do a single blow up of one so that I can really get in the detail of the translucence, like painting a grape. That translucence is a warm orange-red about a value 7. So much information to interpret. After the single large detailed study I would then venture to try a more abstract approach.

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Squash Blossoms, zuchinni squash

" Squash Blossoms "

Oil

6"x8"

Last Monday I had a very nice group of 10 women (whose husbands are members of the NSSGA (National Stone Sand Gravel Assoc. & here for a conference at Sun Valley Resort) visit my studio to see what a "Day in the Life of a Working Artist" was like. I did a demo painting in my garden so they could see what Plein Air painting was all about. I don't have distant views of the surrounding mountains because our conifers are 70' tall surrounding our property. So, this view of zuchinni squash is what I painted.

This spring I planted my son's Flexi Flyer red wagon with a tomato plant and the zuchinni. I pull it around the yard where ever the sun is. I built a box about 16" high inside the wagon to hold the soil. Works great. Nice reminder, too, of all the fun my son had with this wagon that his godparents gave him at age 3 (he'll be 20 next month!) For many years I used it to haul my garden tools in, too.

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Chorus Line, cherries in oil

" Chorus Line "

Oil

6"x8"

Idaho cherries were in the store this week and most of the cherries were in groups of two or three which makes for nice stem action.

These five reminded me of a chorus line. I'm usually not very good at titles but sometimes the paintings name themselves.

$475 framed

Available: Email me

Arrangement with Orange & Lemon, oil on canvas

" Arrangement with Orange & Lemon "

Oil

24" x 24"

I like this size canvas and as I've said before the square format is becoming my favorite. This painting is very symetrical except for the strong shadow shapes and the fruit ( while round are different in color). I did a little 6x6 of this design some time ago with the intention of painting it larger, too. I used size 8 & 10 brights for most of the painting.

$4,000

Available: Email me

Summer Berries, oil on gessoboard

" Summer Berries "

Oil

6"x6"

This little painting "painted itself". Every now and then a painting is effortless, it just flows. I took time this week to drive 80 miles to a stawberry farm. Eight gallons of berries later..10 batches of freezer jam and freezing whole berries for smoothies and all the fresh berries my son could eat! That's enough domestic bliss for the summer for me. Back to painting...

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