Floating Lemon Stripes

Floating Lemon Stripes   6" x 6" oil on board

I was rereading my book on Sergei Bongart by Mary N.

Balcomb.  He thought that still life was a great learning tool.

One of his students that contributed to the book said he

challenged her to paint lemons floating in a bowl

of water.  It inspired me to give it a try.  The

distortion of the stripes beneith the glass bowl

was complicated and it was a big

challenge to try to keep it simple-

but still fun!

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Purple Striped Pepper

Purple Striped Pepper  6 x 6  oil on board

I loved this orange pepper.  I chose a split complementary color scheme

and went with orange, blue violet and blue green.

The stripes look pretty blue but they were

mixed with quinacridone violet,

 ultramarine blue and white with a bit of orange

to gray it down a bit.

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Green Striped Cherry Tomatoes

Green Striped Cherry Tomatoes  6 x 6 oil on board

One of the really nice things about living in Malta is that

Italy is only a ferry ride away.  And of course the

whole world knows that Italy has the most

AWESOME

tomatoes on the planet.

If you don't believe me just ask my buddy

Francesco Fontana

he'll back me up on this.

Agree or disagree?

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Magenta Striped Lemons

Magenta Striped Lemons  6" x 6" oil on board

Still striping away. 

I mentioned before that I do all these with the same

blue and white striped towel and make up the colors except for

the fruit.

About the process:

I've been asked about how I change the colors so

I thought I've give you a little more detail.

Basically I just use my imagination and/or pick an Analogous or Complementary color

combo from either the tradition or Munsell color wheel.

Then I make up a darker and lighter color for

each stripe. Sometimes I have to

play around a bit to get it to read "right".

A lot of the decision making is intuitive and about what appeals to me

aesthetically.

I don't think we need to be enslaved by the subject and simply copy

what's in front of us.

How do you feel about this topic?

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Blue Striped Oranges

Blue Striped Oranges 6" x 6"  oil on board

The stripes are so much fun to paint this theme

continues to hold my interest!

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Purple Striped Apples

Purple Striped Apples  6"x 6" oil on board

and the striping continues......

I've used the same blue and white cloth in all of these

but come up with different color combinations

that I like depending on the fruit.

It does get a little more complicated when you're

making something up.

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Striped Watermelon Slice

Striped Watermelon Slice  6"x 6" oil on board

I'm having so much fun with these stripes I feel I need to

keep on painting them. I dream up these

different combinations literally

while I'm asleep.

Does anyone else do that?

Sometimes if I'm having a problem with a painting

I'll wake up with a solution.

Pretty cool!

Where I get asked a question and don't know how I

feel about it I always say-

"let me sleep on it"!

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Striped Cantaloupe Slice

Striped Cantaloupe Slice  6" x 6" oil on board

I'm hooked on stripes.  It's just so much fun to paint

this tea cloth with different color combinations!

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Summer Read

Summer Read   9" x 12"  oil on board

I don't think there anything much better than summer

weather and a good book.

Lately I've been reading Game of Thrones.

It's better than the TV show!

Any good book suggestions?

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Striped Cherry Cup

Striped Cherry Cup  6" x 6" oil on board

This was inspired by the Daily Paintworks striped challenge.

I've painted this cloth before and this was a good excuse to paint it again.

It's lots of fun!

If you'd like to view the other entries

click here

Cherry Tea

Cherry Tea  6"x 6" oil on board

This was a demo I did for a group. I was trying to

stress holding the lights and darks together

by softening the edges and subtle

changes of color within the values.

I used the cherries to help lead

your eye through the painting.

Good fun!

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Spot of Shade

Spot of Shade  18 x 24  oil on canvas

Things are starting to heat up hear in Malta.  This will be

typical of what I'll see for the next few months.  People will be hiding in bits of

shade where ever they can find it -

or create it!

BTW- I don't always work small, I like to vary the

sizes of my paintings.