In The Weeds

In The Weeds  6x6 oil on board

All that blogging I did yesterday about Burgundy and

all the delicious specialties they serve there

made me kinda hungry.

And we all know where this delicious food is created don't we?

Out of all the paintings I've done for the recent challenge on

Leslie's blog

this is probably my favorite.

Maybe it's because I had the most fun painting it.

Pity it's the last day,

I feel like I was just getting warmed up.

No pun intended!

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Burgundy Friends

 

Burgundy Friends 6x6 oil on board

 

These are the famous Charolais cows that surround

my country french house in Burgundy.

Some of the other specialities of the region

include snails, mushrooms, and of course the famous

Burgundy wines.

And did I forget to mention cheese?

Our house is just ten minutes from the  historic

Rues des Grands Crus

with hundreds of vintners, a delightful gastronomic adventure!

 

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, cows.  They are always so

cute and curoius. They just look at you with their big brown

eyes and sweet expressions, chewing and chewing,

constantly chewing when they're not mooing that is.

 

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Bahama Mama

Bahama Mama  6 x 6 oil on board

This was a pleasure to paint.  I like to continue down

this path and see where it leads. I've attempted to

not overwork the paint and be bolder

and less fussy with my mark making.

Something I do before I lay on the color is to

decide what harmony I'm going for.

In this case it was a Tetrad with the primary being blue-violet

and yellow-orange and the secondary red-orange and

blue-green.  I have all the colors laid out on my

palette and will use them as well to bend the color bias with.

I do this intuitively once I've made set my original 

intention so it gets a bit sloppy sometimes,

But for the most part I think the colors worked out OK.

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Al Fresco

Al Fresco  6x6   oil on board

There are usually two sides to every story or a couple of ways

to look at the same thing. Painting is like that for me.

It's awesome because I'm on an endless adventure

and there's always more to learn.

So that's exciting and frustrating at the same time!

It's exciting to make progress and frustrating because

I never actually arrive, I'm always

looking forward to the next painting.

The actual act of painting is also a push/pull.  I'd like to

say more with less, so it's a game of adding and subtracting.  

Did I say too much or not enough?

Sometimes, if I'm really lucky it feel just right!

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First Cup

First Cup  6x6 oil on board

I really had fun with this little oil painting.  One

of my goals is to be as loose as possible but

still be representational.

Hopefully you'll enjoy viewing these painterly

qualities as much as I enjoyed

the process.

 

to purchase for $100 click here
sold

 

Mixed Cherry Bowl

Mixed Cherry Bowl  7 x 9 mixed media

It's always been one of my painting goals to be

as loose as possible but still to represent something.

If possible I like the paint to do it's own thing

and create some unexpected surprises

that I find interesting.

My adventure into watercolors has been free

and loose but I don't know how to create

as many beautiful colors as I can in oils.  In fact

I'm not even sure you can create as many

colors in watercolor as you can with oils.

If anyone knows please fill me in!

This painting is mixed media and I'm trying to

figure out how I can create the same

type of effect in oil.

Painting is such a wonderful, never ending, exploration!

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Glass Gerber Daisy

 Glass Gerber Daisy

 

I love painting this checked cloth. When I started

this painting I had the checked cloth as the

entire background.  I loved

painting it but at the end of the day I stood back,

took a good look and decided it was way too much!

It also had the problem of having the white space in the

cloth right up against the white daisy, which always

causes me problems.

I scraped it down in the evening and this morning

added a blue cloth and limited the

crazy wild checked cloth.

I like the distortion of the cloth under in the glass vase.

Sigh of relief, I feel so much better now!

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Secret Garden

Secret Garden  9 x 7  watercolor

You'd never guess from the street that my house has a beautiful, secret garden.  It's my own private paradise with lemon, orange, and olive trees. There are palms, bougainvillea, cactus and a fish pond! Surprise!

I wanted to take things outside today in this beautiful Maltese sunshine.  It was

quite pleasant in a sheltered area away from the wind off the sea.

This watercolor adventure is turning into lots of fun!

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Green Glass Rose

Green Glass Rose  6 x 6  oil on board

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This is one of those paintings that evolved. Like most of us

when we take a step forward,

it's often about returning to basics.

I started out with this set up in my shadow box.

I was excited about the colors and thought I could make it work.

 I started my initial lay in:

Added more:

I felt like I was merrily painting away until it made

absolutely no sense at all!

See?

 So I scraped it off and painted it again.  It was too dark to

take a photo of it and I was tired and decided to sleep on

it and hoped I liked the make over (not shown)

better in the morning.

I didn't.

So I decided to take the crazy striped fabric out because

I did like some things happening in the bottle

and the rose.  Sometimes that happens, I see something that I 

think would be exciting to paint and it may not always

turn out.

So two scrapings and a day and a half later :

lesson learned, less is more.

Coconut Cocktails

Coconut Cocktails   4 x 6  watercolor

This was another watercolor experiment that I started

last week.  It got too dark to finish but when I

looked at it the next day I thought it had potential.

So I decided to I finish it off today

and keep it as loose as possible because that

was the quality I liked most about it.

What do you think, too much, not enough?

More Plane Green Tea

More Plane Green Tea  6x6  oil on board

This is the still life I had in my Still Life Stage when

we had the black out in Malta.

I really like to let a painting sit and then come 

back to it later. 

I just oil over it with medium and go back in.

Waiting gives me a fresh eye and I can

correct my drawing errors more easily.

I just love painting this silly little plane!

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The Park

The Park  4x6 watercolor

This is the park I walk through with my buddy Robi

everyday.  It's one of the few places with trees

in Malta. It's also a place that's loaded with cats

and Robi finds that very exciting!

When the lights went out in Malta my set up in my

still life stage went dark, my monitor

was off too, so no more photo reference.

It was too late to pack up my stuff and go outside,

so I decided to pull out some photos and

my dusty watercolor set and play around.

I got cozy in the fading light by my studio window.

Then I had to start pulling out the candles.

I felt like a pilgrim.

It was quite pleasant with no distractions but the problem

is that you can't see any thing very well either.

I figured out early on that watercolor is very easy to over work.

Not easy for an oil painter who likes to pile on the paint to

cover whatever is underneath that I don't like. 

I think I peaked in my watercolor stage at about eleven, but

I can see how it would be easy to get hooked again.

This one of the park turned out OK.

In case you don't know who Robi is:

photo of me and Robi

we go to the same hair stylist!

Hip Hop

Hip Hop  6 x 6  oil on board

This was a painting I was supposed to finish yesterday,

but just as I got started the whole country

of Malta had a black out!

My computer has two monitors, one of which

I keep right beside my easel so that

when I work from photos I

see much better colors.

I enjoyed doing these motion paintings

and I wanted to get one more

done to post before the challenge ends tomorrow.

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Sold

 

Jump!

Jump! 6 x 6 oil on board

I've always wanted to try to paint motion, so when my buddy 

Francesco Fontana

posted the 'paint movement' challenge

on DailyPaintworks

I thought it was a good excuse to try!

My plans for posting remotely didn't go as well as

I hoped so I've been MIA. The internet was out

where we stayed while we were abroad, which I

didn't expect.  I also didn't expect to land with

a flu virus. I haven't been sick in ages

and it really bites.

Not that I'm making excuses......

I'm just sayin'

life happens.

Glad to be gettin' back in the groove.

to purchase for $100 click here

Plane Green Tea

Plane Green Tea 6 x 6  oil on board

We've been on a green tea binge over the holidays. My

husband visited a tea shop in Hong Kong and 

spent a bunch of Hong Kong dollars

on this 'special' brew. 

It's supposed to be the answer to all that

ails you , short of making you immortal-

that's what 'they' said anyway...

This is an appropriate post for me since I'll be

'leaving on a jet plane'

very early in the morning for a visit stateside.

I haven't posted remotely before but I have

so many great trips planned this year I

hope I can figure it out!

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Box of Cherries

Box of Cherries 6x6 oil on board

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you that have followed and checked out

my blog.  Sharing my paintings with you is a 

pleasure and a great privilege.

I very much appreciate your encouragement 

and support!

This painting was done for the Daily Paintworks

challenge to paint fabric.  It just

happens to be one of my favorite things to do!

I have a fantastic year planned with some

wonderful painting trips that I'm very excited about.

I'll try to figure out how to post remotely so

that I can take you along with me to share in the fun:))))

to purchase for $100 click here