"Tears" --- SOLD

This was a fun one. And easy, I must admit. It's a great feeling when that happens.

"Peeling" --- SOLD

I broke another of my rules today - I painted an onion. It's not a rule so much as just a ... ok, so awhile back I painted a string of onion paintings, and none of them sold in auction. I was frustrated, and my husband suggested that onions weren't terribly pleasing subject matter, and that maybe I shouldn't paint them anymore. But, apparently I couldn't resist. And just to prepare you, I painted an extra one today, and, you guessed it, it's an onion also. :)

"Crazy Hot" --- SOLD

Ok, so what I learned from this one is that if you're going for a painting with a white background, it might be best not to put down a ground at all. OR, to let the ground dry before you start painting. Otherwise the ground really gets mixed in with the white. I was trying to push the background a little towards purple, but it didn't happen because the ground was phthalo, and phthalo is a wee bit strong! All-in-all though, I think it turned out ok. I especially had fun with the highlights.

"Watermelon 2" --- SOLD

My goal for this one was to be a little more 3-dimensional. I exaggerated the perspective of the plate a little and stood the slices up against each other (tough to do in this case - they kept falling down). I also really wanted to get the stripes on the outside of the melon, and it just so happened that including the peice on the right really balanced the composition. I'm really happy with this one. It's one of those that just fell off my brush.

"Watermelon" --- SOLD

One of my students in Santa Fe painted some great cut watermelon, and it inspired me to try it. I must admit, I broke a cardinal rule here - I made something up. This was a seedless watermelon! There was one errant seed, and it had this nice little highlight, so I decided to use that and add more. Otherwise it was a fairly lifeless setup. Not that I noticed before I started painting! Argh.

"Trial" --- n/a

The photo of this one isn't great, but I'm not crazy about the painting anyway, so I'm not putting it on ebay. In hindsight I should have lightened up the apples a bit. Oh well. We've all got our oops days.

"Babysitter" --- n/a

I just got home from a late meeting and am so tired I can't think. Any thoughts I had while I was painting this have left me. : ) Thanks for all your comments on yesterday's post - I promise I'll post some larger stuff soon AND talk about scaling up. Night.

"Photo Finish" --- SOLD

I've said this before, but I feel I've grown more as an artist in the (almost) year I've been daily painting than I did in the 5 years before. I've gotten to a point with my painting where I'm very confident and no longer rely (so much) on happy accidents. This has made it very hard for me to accept the fact that every time I try to scale up my small paintings into something larger, it's a dismal failure. But, this is changing, finally. I have been working on some larger work in the last few weeks that I am very happy with. I finally found an angle I like, and somehow my compositions are coming together with great ease (knock on wood). So where are they? I promise I'll post some soon. I guess I want to make sure this isn't a fluke. I've ordered some frames, and when they get here I'll take them to the gallery and see what kind of reception they get there. Meanwhile, here's another 6x6 of apples, probably my favorite-all-time-subject.

"Stack of Cups" --- SOLD

I've stacked cups, ready to paint, many times, but somehow it just never seemed right. But one of my students did it (well) and it motivated me to go for it. I really liked the view from above (surprise, surprise). But actually, after I got done, I set it up from the side and liked it that way too ... so you may see this setup again soon, from another angle.

"Rose of Sharon 2" --- SOLD

This is a little different from what I usually do. I think making the whole painting relatively dark is still a challenge for me. But ... my Rose of Sharon tree is still putting out these lovely flowers, and I just couldn't pass it up. I was really intrigued by the leaf off to the right that was slightly darker than the background color. I tried to really only suggest the rest of the leaves.

"Riding High" --- SOLD

Sometimes you can't tell your cup is crooked until you take a picture of it and look at it small on your computer screen. I should really do that every time BEFORE I'm done with the painting. But, despite the crooked cup, I really liked the colors here, and the single flower hanging out above it. My flower bed is just about done with - this orange flower was one of the few left.

"Line-Up" --- SOLD

This was a fun one. I tend to like the simplest compositions. I like to glance at an image and get it right away. No explanation necessary.

"Peering Pears" --- SOLD

I love painting glass. I especially like it when I can show how things get distorted behind it. And this one was especially fun with the water at the bottom. The background color, especially from this side-on view, is generally slightly darker when viewed through the glass. It gets more complicated when you get to the water. Glass can look so boring until you paint in the highlights. Then suddenly - bam - it looks like glass.

Last of the workshop photos ...

The last few days in Santa Fe were busy, and I was too tired to post in the evenings, so here is the last of it. Above are some of the last paintings by this wonderful group. They were an enthousiastic bunch, and we had a great time together. Thank you guys!!! Below is a picture of the whole group.

More Workshop ...

Another fantastic day, and more student photos. We have had such a blast in this class. Today we worked on color, and even had a contest to see who could mix the best neutral gray. It was great. And the school invited us to join the founder for champagne and chocolate after class, which was lovely.

More workshop ...

My demo piece from today sold as well, so I'll post more student photos. I had a comment on yesterday's post praising the banana painting - it's by Bernard, the guy on the right. He's an illustrator - check out his website - he also does amazing drawings!

Santa Fe Workshop

Well, I would have today's demo painting to post, but one of my students bought it right after I painted it, which was very flattering. And I must admit - I completely forgot to get a picture before I handed it over. Here are some of my students all about to participate in a group critique we had at the end of the day today.

The workshop is going great! I have the best bunch of students. We all hit it off right away and are having such a fun time. There was a farmers market across town this morning and 2 students collected a fund and bought a TON of fresh produce before class for everyone to paint. Santa Fe is such a great place - the food is good, the weather is perfect and so many galleries is like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one! Here is a random selection of some of the student work from the last couple of days.

"Cool Tomatoes" --- SOLD

I loved the little bit of green here on the corner in shadow. I've got to run and finish packing for my Santa Fe workshop/trip. I'll try to finish my demo's this go round so I can post them at the end of the day. I'll also get some pictures of the class. Toodles.

"Cantelope" --- n/a

Orange and blue as compliments may always be my favorite. I loved the way this cantelope seemed to glow and the seeds appeared kind of blue-green. Cantelope is my son's current favorite fruit, so you may see this as a subject again soon.

For My Salad --- SOLD

I had a dilemna with this one. I usually eat my lunch right before I paint, and it's usually a salad. I bought 3 tomatoes at the store this morning, but I wanted to use some for my salad. So I cut some off one, and painted the rest, as you see here. I'm so glad I did - I really enjoyed painting the inside of the tomato.

"Takeout Box" --- SOLD

I love these cute little take-out boxes. You can buy them now to hold gifts. I painted this one last night. I think it might be leaning a bit too far to the left, but oh well. I was entranced by the white inside, and the bit on the right that's light because the cardboard is thin.

This next one is a larger commission. 9"x12". This is actually my second attempt. The first one was much busier and the lemons choppy. I started over completely, smoothing it out a bit. I'm much happier with it.

"One Across" --- SOLD

Ever have one of those days where absolutely nothing goes right and you just want to shoot yourself? Ok, maybe that's a little extreme with the shooting and all, but really ... some days just go all wrong. I suppose everyone has those days. Right? Please say you do!!! Today I started and wiped 3, count 'em, 3 paintings. I felt like I had forgotten everything I ever knew about painting. I was afraid I would have nothing for today, but then I remembered this old painting from a few months ago that I never got around to posting.

This evening I tried again and managed to regain my composure and remember how to paint. Ahhhh. Sometimes I find I need to speed up to get a flow going, but today I needed to slow down and really think about what I was doing. I'll post tonight's tomorrow.