Smith Figs in Cool Light

"Family Heirlooms"

6"x 12"x 7/8" Oil on Gessobord

$230. 

Available on Ebay

A kind neighbor shared her Mom's garden figs with us and off to the studio they went before making it to the kitchen!! The bowl is the one piece left of my childhood dining set used many years by our family. I set the figs in a natural cool morning light and tried my best to keep my colors and value contrasts subtle. Super happy with this one!

Blue Creamer with Plums

"Three for Tea"

6"x 8"x 7/8" oil on cradled board

$148.50 available on Ebay

The creamer was a treasure spotted at a local antique shop, inexpensive but so much character and that color!! I collect so many objects ( common to all still life painters ) and some become favorites. Because this is "my" color it will undoubtedly reappear.

Last Day at the Beach ( Garden City Beach, SC )

"Last Day at the Beach"

8"x 10" Oil on linen panel

$157.50

available on Ebay

On our last walk on the beach last week I caught a shot of these two girls playing in the sand. None of us knew that the next day our SC beaches would be closed to all until the quarantine is over. Because of that this scene had to be painted!! I'm in the mood to paint the beach, maybe more to come!!

Grapes, Strawberries and Pottery

"Study in Grays Plus Strawberries" 

6"x 8" Oil on Gessobord

$195. available on Ebay

I have a desire to tone down my color palettes and achieve more neutral and grayed colors. This was a study to that end. I'm loving how this approach creates a vivid focal point when adding an intense color. 

Stay safe and be well. Enhance your quarantined environment with beautiful art. :-)

Plums Still Life With Old Bottles

"Plum Tonic" 

9"x 12" on wood mounted linen panel

$328.50 purchase on Ebay

I love these antique tonic bottles found among my family's things many years ago. I finally incorporated them with these gorgeous plums. I don't often see them with the blue surface intact, usually being washed and rubbed off.  Still life painters sure get excited about the most average day things! We hope to share that excitement with our viewers. 

Atlantic Avenue in Garden City Beach, SC

"Garden City Fireworks"

10"x 8" Oil on Gessobord
$112.50

purchase here ebay

After painting and ditching several recent works I finally finished one suitable to post. I don't usually go through such a long string of false starts, so moving beyond that is so refreshing. This painting is of a small avenue my husband and I take several times a week to visit our local pier and walk on the beach. Often the clouds build up, may yield a short shower and then the bright sun bursts forth again. I've always been moved by the strong warm light casting warmth on the landscape with the gray clouds still remaining in the sky. Thankfully I think I captured that moment.

Wild Pears and Pottery- Sold

"For the Picking"

9"x 12" Oil on Gessobord

sold

I find myself looking for fruit trees and certain flowers everywhere I go. Once I find a fruit tree such as a peach, apple or pear I remember where it is and go to borrow leaves or maybe fruit sometimes.  Often I'll use store bought fruit with the leaves of a certain tree for that freshly harvested illusion. On this occasion I hit the jackpot as this pear tree was in front of an abandoned house and the fruit was there for the picking. 

Sunny Day Roses

"Sunny Day Roses"

6"x 8" oil on Gessobord

$99 + S&H

at marilynmking@yahoo.com

It was a good day in the studio and it started my week off with great expectations. I’m developing a passion for floral art as a result of studying other great paintings and also as a result of my last commission. As I’m being influenced by the gorgeous, loose and painterly styles that I so admire in other artists’ work, I’m moving away from my very precise still life paintings for a while. It is so freeing and so much fun!!! I think my favorite part of this little piece is the blue bits on the petals reflecting the sky. What marvelous color in God’s creation!!! Please enlarge and enjoy the luscious brush strokes of pure color!!!

I’m including some progression shots for those interested.

Peeled Orange - SOLD

"A Hundred Ways to Peel an Orange"

6"x 8" Oil on Gessobord 

SOLD

I had a great day in the studio with this little painting. It just seemed to paint itself probably due to the great subject and the interesting glow from the backlighting. Orange paintings are favorites with my collectors and I feel this one may be a hit. 

Bartlett Pear and Bean Pot -SOLD

"Bartlett Pear and Bean Pot"

5"x 7'x 1/8" oil on linen mounted on board

sold

I did mention before that I love painting pears! This one looks happy next to the little Heinz 57 bean pot from the 60's. I picked it up at a flea market in Blairsville, Ga a few years ago. Note that the color is not exact in this photo. The original is more light lime green than yellow on the right side of the pear.

Click below to navigate to the eBay auction.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F282770435603

Boston Terrier and Dominos Still Life

"Boston Terrier and Dominos"

5"x 7" oil on gessobord
$100 +s&h
available by email, marilynmking@yahoo.com

Another small painting in my dog figurine series is just off the easel. Well actually it was completed two weeks ago but I was either too busy to post or too sick with the dreaded flu. I seemed to have missed the bug last December when everyone I knew was sick but it attacked me when no one else was ill. A mystery....

In this set up is a wooden box of dominos that my mom used to play with as a child. I and my siblings played with them each summer when we visited my grandmother in Auburn, Alabama. Oh, the simple things we had fun with back then when you actually had to interact with others. I love the juxtaposition of the black and white boston terrier and the ivory playing tiles.

I'm Back...What a Year! ART SALE

My last post being the mandarin oranges in February of 2012 was the temporary end to painting while  my family and I began the process of caring for my folks. My Dad was scheduled to have a heart valve transplant in April and my Mom with Parkinson's needed to be placed in an assisted living facility. Little did I know that after Dad’s surgery and rehab that I would be thrown into a year of major changes and health issues.

In May I discovered a lump on a rib and after many tests, Xrays, CT's, oncologist, bone scans, MRI's and biopsies, a diagnosis was found. Large bone tumors on two ribs ( growing toward the inner chest cavity ) which only after months of testing were found to be benign. However, in the process I did discover by surprise that I had stage one breast cancer in the left breast. The two conditions were not connected, thank the Lord! I had to put a lot of time into insurance appeals ( pre-exiting conditions ) as well as have 4 surgeries before the end of 2012. In January I had a case of the flu and during that illness I began having mini strokes and spent a week in the hospital, the next week having my right carotid artery cleared of blockage through surgery. Then in April this year I’ve had the biggest and most difficult surgery to remove the rib tumors along with the removal of four ribs. The two tumors were the size of a baseball and a softball! Six surgeries so far and another mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgeries to be preformed before the year is out. I’m so thankful to be alive! If you are into this sort of thing I began a blog last year at the onset of my journey–A Story of Survival by Marilyn M King–and have continued with updates on my medical and spiritual journey.

As a result of the surgeries and non stop trips to doctor’s and hospital, I could no longer work in our family business of house cleaning. Our finance situation became critical and we moved last November to my folk’s empty home in another city and closed our business. This left both Kenn and me without an income. I tried to paint some but with the tough move and surgeries it was too stressful and at times too painful to accomplish much of anything. I believe that now I have the worst behind me feeling human again, and just beginning to finish setting up my studio. I’m looking forward to a couple of months of painting before my next round of surgeries.

I have a commission ( that is a year over due ) that will start me off and then maybe finish up or enhance some abandoned paintings to get back into the swing of things. It is always hard to have the confidence to pick up a brush after a long time away and a little over a year is an eternity! So I have to put on my "big girl" pants and get to work! I’ve missed you fellow artists and being a part of this fabulous artist network and look forward to being inspired again by your work and friendship.

I’m going through my art inventory and placing some discounted works on this site for quick sales to pay some bills. All paintings are in oil and dimensions in inches. Thanks for looking!

Sorry these "Buy Now" buttons are not cooperating! And the image layout is also rebelling! I’ve been  away tooooo long: (  Please find the buy now button either under the image or on the page as labeled. Or email me at marilynmking@yahoo.com for a computer invoice. Thanks.

favorite pie

scooby

apple debut

wanna dance?

two red pears

5x7 on board
cow creamer and camellias
$75
sold

7x8 on cardboard
garden reprieve
sold

 

5x7 on board
favorite pie
$90

5x7 on board
cut pear and peach
$90
sold

7x5 on board
roses from the heart
$75

8x6 on board
 Sue at the corn dog joint
$85
sold

6x9 on stretched canvas
veggies
$75

sold

8x6 on mounted canvas
tea cup and pink roses
$70
sold

6x8 on mounted canvas
Scooby
$50

7 3/8x5 3/8 on mounted canvas
beach boy
sold

6x9 on stretch canvas
three cupcakes
$50
sold

5x7 on stretched canvas
apple debut
$50

5x7 on board
two red pears
$50

5x7 on board
wanna dance?
$75

8x8 on cardboard
blue tea pot
sold

Apple Pie and New Puppy

"Favorite Pie"

5"x 7" Oil on board.
$100. + $8 s&h

I baked this pie before Thanksgiving! And I painted it from a photo that was taken before it was gobbled up! It seems like months ago that I had the time to spend in the kitchen since our new addition has arrived. I'm a new mom with our happy little puppy picked up on Thanksgiving weekend. The last two weeks have been consumed by puppy training, feeding, pooping and peeing. He is much more of a handful than I remember from our now seven year old Shad-0. Reilly is a very strong willed and dominant pup––almost 9 weeks now.

Pears,Cherries and Chrome Punch Cup - WIP

"Pears, Cherries and Chrome Punch Cup"

5 5/8"x 7 3/4" Oil on linen mounted on board.
$125. + $8 s&h
click on image to enlarge

I've given you some shots of my work-in-progress to give an idea of how this painting developed. I drew the image with paint and brush just to lay out the composition and then began laying in local color in blocks of shapes. As I painted in smaller and smaller shapes I also began adding the subtle color shifts from light sources and reflected light. Painted edges were varied with some being crisp and others being blurred in an attempt to move the eye to areas of interest. The loose stem in the foreground was a final addition to the composition to add interest and visual movement. That stem is an important element because it stops the eye from following the blue stripes down and out of the painting.

My favorite part of this piece is the cloth napkin. I hoped that I could capture the glow of the light striking the area to the right of the pears and behind the cup. I think I was successful and I also like how the pears seem to settle into the fabric. I'm still working on improving backgrounds in my paintings. I had painted a pink wash on the linen hoping to have bits of that color peaking through in the background. I seem to just forget and start right in with thick paint not taking enough care in placement of brushstrokes and placement. Then I have to go back in and just add more and more paint. I'll keep experimenting and working on it. :-)