"Bit of Orange" --- SOLD

This was so much fun to paint. I am feeling much more confident about what I need to put down first, second, etc. For this one, I put down the blue shadow first, then a bit of of the shadowed parts of the vase. Then I put in the darkest of the flowers parts, then lighter and lighter to the lightest of the flower parts. Then I put in the background, again from darkest to lightest, cutting into the flowers with that nice blue-gray. Ok, so the vase is leaning just a bit - and that's what I get for not getting the drawing right first! In real life, the orange flowers just pop - more subdued in this picture.

"Peekaboo" --- SOLD

Every once in a while I finish a painting, step back, and can't believe I did it. This is one. It's funny too because when I was framing it with my viewfinder, I wasn't crazy about the composition. I'm glad I painted it anyway. I'm really happy with it. It seems - sophisticated, though I'm not sure why I feel that way.

Speaking of viewfinders - I highly recommend using them. Mine are just small peices of cardboard with holes cut in them. It's important to get the proportions right, and the holes should be relatively small (my 6x8 is a couple inches wide) so you can get exactly what you want framed in it. It REALLY helps with composing, and really cripples your process if you don't - you end up guessing where things go instead of planning it out. I'm all for planning.

"Green Cabbage" --- n/a

It turns out cabbage is a real challenge to paint. I didn't think it would be easy, but I didn't think it would be this hard either. My husband says there's a big difference between what I think is fun and interesting to paint, and what other people want to buy and hang in their house. I guess that's something, as business-people, all us artists have to think about. That is, if we want to eat. But every once in a while I just have to paint something challenging for me, and hope someone else appreciates it as an image.

"Red Delicious" --- SOLD

With this one I wanted to experiment with: 1. a composition with just one thing in it, 2. the edges of that thing, and 3. the variation in color of the background. What, me, pick just one thing? -Never- I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though the apple seems kind of lonely.

So, what I learned is: 1. having one thing in a composition leaves that thing kind of lonely, 2. if I paint past the edges with one color (red, in this example) and then cut back in with the other color (green-ish here) it produces this kind of edge, and 3. As long as the value is correct and the color is relatively close, I can put all kinds of color bits in with another (as with the bits of purple and yellow and blue in the green).