Thursday, January 31, 2013

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
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!






Wednesday, January 30, 2013

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
And did I forget to mention cheese?
Our house is just ten minutes from the  historic
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.
 
 
 
 
 


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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.





Monday, January 28, 2013

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!



Sunday, January 27, 2013

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.
 



Saturday, January 26, 2013

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!



Friday, January 25, 2013

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!





Thursday, January 24, 2013

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!

 
 


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Green Glass Rose

Green Glass Rose  6 x 6  oil on board


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.





Tuesday, January 22, 2013

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?





Monday, January 21, 2013

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!







Sunday, January 20, 2013

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!




Saturday, January 19, 2013

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.


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Jump!

Jump! 6 x 6 oil on board

I've always wanted to try to paint motion, so when my buddy 
posted the 'paint movement' challenge
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.





Thursday, January 3, 2013

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!



Tuesday, January 1, 2013

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:))))