White Camellia - WIP Corner - SOLD

"White Camellia"
(Nuccio's Gem)

6"x 8" Oil on gessoed board.

I took a photo of this beautiful camellia at a friends home and have shown the cropped photo below. You'll see the progression of how I approached the painting as follows. The challenge was to paint this flower that had perfect petals in a looser technique, seeing the shapes and not the petals. I can tell you that flowers are a struggle for me in that I forget to see them as shapes. I'm getting better but not there yet.

The painting was done in one sitting and wet into wet.

I've been honored by "tags" and blog "awards"

I've been very bad and have failed to continue my blog "tags" and "awards" from the last few months. I can't possibly catch up if I "play" by all the rules so I'm going to make up my own. It is about time I share a few things about me and then I'll list a few wonderful artists who have honored me and just give them all a thank you and a link to their blogs.

Stuff about me:

1. I find it difficult to write my blog entries due to writing in general being a struggle for me. I'm the world's worst speller and have to use the dictionary constantly. Math was my strongest subject which makes me very analytical. Since I began my blog in February 2008 I've improved my writing and typing skills as much as painting!

2. I married my high school sweetheart and we are still happily married 37 years later. We have two cats, a dog and a rabbit. No human kids.

3. I've always been a Southern girl. Born in Augusta, Ga., grew up in Charleston, S.C. and moved to metro Atlanta, Ga. in 1965.

4. My husband and I own and operate a residential cleaning service. So I clean houses full time during the week and paint in the evenings and on the weekends. We were both in commercial art for over 20 years and this part time "supplement" to my illustration work turned into a prosperous business.

5. The first art competition that I entered was when I was in first grade. I won the prize for the best poster for our Halloween Carnival in the first through third grade category. When I was called to the principle's office to receive the prize of a silver dollar, I wouldn't accept it. "My mom said to never accept money from strangers."

6. I received a Bachelor's of Visual Arts from Georgia State University with a major in illustration. Painting instruction was non-existent when I was there in the mid 70's. Abstract art was the big thing then and acrylics the medium of choice in the fine art courses.

7. I'm a practicing Christian and a member of a PCA ( Presbyterian Church of America ) church. I believe my artistic strengths are a gift from God and I'm blessed to have the opportunity to develop them.

Things I love:

A- Hugs

B- Selling a painting to someone who will love it!

C- The internet!!!

D- Pastry. Especially Krispy Kreme glazed donuts.

E- The way Shad-O ( our dog ) greets me when we come home.

F- New art supplies.

G- The fragrance of my new lemon tree in bloom.

Here are five wonderful artists that mean a lot to me. Most of them have recently tagged or awarded me and I hope you will visit their blogs. Thanks you guys! (notice I didn't say "ya'll")

1- Jennifer Young
2- Edward Burton
3- Amanda Carder
4- Debbie Becks Cooper
5- Rick Nilson
6- Margaret Mayer
7- Vern Schwarz

Girl and her dog at the beach - SOLD

"Come!!"

Click on images to enlarge.

8"x 6" Oil on Raymar canvas

board.

sold

This is the latest DSDF challenge from Karin Jurick's blog. This was a fun challenge in that I rarely paint figures anymore. Karin sure gives us a variety of subjects and keeps us on our toes! Meeting these challenges encourages me to paint subjects that I would not usually be drawn to or not have the opportunity to try. Thanks, Karin for sharing your photos with us!

Onions-SOLD

Click on image to enlarge.

"Onions"

5"x 7" Oil on board.

sold

"Onions" began as a loose and simplified painting but just did not cooperate! Early in the process I had some really nice loose strokes in the onion and after one too many changes, it lost that fresh clean look.

I could have wiped it but instead just kept painting until I was satisfied with it, settling back into a more realistic and traditional style that I feel more comfortable with. I do like that "Old World" look so I developed it into that style with dramatic lighting.

Daffodil and Blue Vase - SOLD

"Daffodil and Blue Vase"

5"x 7" Oil on board.

sold

detail

detail

When daffodils bloom it's the first sign that spring is near. This painting is my celebration of the coming of this beautiful season of new life and warm weather.
Here in the southeast of the US we now have the peach and pear blossoms in full bloom and I'm seeing tulips and crocus coming up as well.

I WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH!!!!

Sushi and Chop Sticks - SOLD

"Sushi and Chop Sticks"

5"x 7" Oil on board.

sold

detail

detail

It 's another painting for the DSFDF challenge. Many artists paint from the same photo posted twice a month on Karin Jurick's blog. It is always such fun to see the many different interpretations of the same image. Check out her blog to see all the other paintings and the original photo provided.
This still life was just what I love to paint. I've never painted sushi and have only eaten it once, but I've always thought I would choose it as a subject to paint some day. The colors and textures make for a bright and appealing image to have lots of fun with. I've added the chop sticks for additional compositional balance and interest.

Thought for the day: Why are "chop sticks" named that? You can't chop with them and I've never seen anyone eat pork chops with them either!

Two Red Pears

detail

detail

"Two Red Pears"

5"x 7" oil on board

Click to purchase on ebay. $99.00

Art is all about decisions and one that I am constantly considering is whether to paint loosely or not loosely and to what degree of looseness.

When I began my goal was to learn "loose". My work was really tight and detailed and I was so inspired by other artists I’d seen who practiced the philosophy of "less is more". I began studying ( gazing at ) other’s work that I liked and bought a few books. Kevin MacPherson’s "Oil Paintings with Light and Color" was one of them. I tried to achieve that direct and simplified style but it just would not come.

I started selling detailed and tighter art on ebay and became sidetracked from the really "loose" goal. Lately I have wanted to get back to that first goal and have been looking at several artists for inspiration and to focus on my goal. I’ve been reading Richard Schmid’s Book "Alla Prima" and rereading Kevin’s book. Other artists I’ve been reviewing are Scott Burdick and Qiang Huang.

When I painted the pears I tried to keep all these recent examples in mind and I kept my time to an hour. As a result and by my definition, this is the first painting of mine that I can say is genuinely loose and simplified and works( it's taken a year and a half! ). I used thick paint and no under painting, just a yellow ochre paint sketch on white gessoed board. I then blocked in the major shapes, the dark ones first, middle tones and lighter ones last. I simplified the shapes to flat local color. Then I went back and made smaller shapes within the larger to add the variations of the color found within.

This constant struggle for me on how to paint today is kind of like a pendulum which swings in a wide arc at first from one extreme to the other back and forth. As time passes the pendulum begins to swing less and with time it starts to find the center. I think that is a large part of the artist’s journey. It just takes time and consistent work for things to naturally fall in place. There are times when it seems a difficult journey.

en sillier. It is All this last week I just couldn’t make myself get to the easel. I did everything "art" but paint! I was just "afraid" to tackle the pears because I wanted to paint them the way I could see them –– in the direct and loose and simplified style that I haven’t yet achieved. In the end, I know that the time away from the easel to study and feed my vision was beneficial but the hesitancy to paint is just silly. It is not like I had an assignment. I just didn’t want to let myself down which is even sillier. Just paint!eBut I’m thrilled with the result . . .