quad

I typically paint still life's from live set ups but I just made this one up.  I have painted enough pears in my lifetime to have a pretty good knowledge of them.  I love painting the colors and shapes of pears but my VERY favorite part to paint is the stem. I love making that little swoosh mark that turns the shape into a pear.  These could just be greenish eggs without the magical stem.  Wondering if any other pear painters out there share my enthusiasm for this inedible part of the fruit. 

 This is painted on a 6 x 8 x 2" canvas.sold

sprouts

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 Crazy weather going on around our area.  A "huge" snow storm (2") hit our area by surprise.  It may not sound like much but we Southeners are not used to driving on icy roads. The roads were not prepped with anything so the result was "winter gridlock 2014"!  Fun for us but not for a whole lots of folks that were stranded away from their homes. Temperatures in the very low teens. My husband walked eight miles home from his work.  He said it was very invigorating. Have to love that attitude considering a few miles of it were on the interstate.  He made better time than most of the emergency vehicles.

I have spent some of the last few days preparing to do a show in Nashville next weekend.  I have painted some small still lifes and "sprouts" are one example.  It is painted on a 6 x 6 x 2" gallery wrapped canvas.  The show is the "Art Event at Lipscomb Academy".  The show runs from February 7-9.  Would love to see you if you are in the area.

The view out of my studio window after it snowed. The picture below is the partially frozen creek below our house.  Never painted our creek before.  On the list.

retreat

I think my workshop may have helped me more than anyone.  I guess it reinforced and reminded me of things that I think are important to creating successful art work. I tried to share tools that all of my teachers felt were necessary to produce stimulating paintings.  I have had the good fortune to take lessons from many very talented artists and I have appropriated bits and pieces from all of them that have helped my work mature.
This is painted on a 12 x 16 x 2" canvas.sold

putting two and two and two together

That is a long title but that is what I noticed about the painting.  This was the still life demo I did at my workshop.  Towards the end of the painting I noticed that everything was falling off the bottom left corner so I scrubbed that area out and reworked it. This is painted on an 8 x 10" linen canvas.

windswept

The students in my workshop were so accomplished that we were able to paint two paintings on Sunday.  I demoed (that is a cool word for demonstrated) "amy" in the morning and "windswept" in the early afternoon.  I was glad that both paintings turned out.  I touched up the paintings a little bit after the workshop.  I did not get up and move back from my paintings much until after I was finished.  If I had I would have caught some of the issues.  So important!  

The first day we did still lifes and I scrubbed out part of my painting at the end of my demonstration.  That gave them lots of confidence in my abilities.  I will post it tomorrow.  

I did not get to photograph the paintings the class did of "windswept" because some folks had to leave a little early and well....I forgot.  They did a great job.

I painted my version on an 8 x 10 x 2" canvas. Sold

amy

My studio is lonely today.  It enjoyed having nine lovely ladies over the weekend.  It was" fulled up".  We painted still life set ups on Saturday and we worked from two of my photographs on Sunday. "amy" the cow was named so because my sister in law, Amy, provided delicious lunches both days.  We meant this to be a compliment.  Amy looks nothing like this cow.

This was my first time to conduct a workshop and it was a good experience for me and I think the students.  Everybody seemed to enjoy each other and they did a great job.  There were a couple that were very new to painting but you can see from the work below that they all did great.  It was so fun to see their paintings come to life.  "amy" was the demo I did before they painted their cows and my amy is a little jealous of some of these amys.  I am a proud mama.  Thank you to this great group !sold

two and two eighths

I am digging deep for these titles.  Still practicing still life for the weekend workshop.  This is painted on an 8 x 10" linen panel.

back to basics

I am teaching a workshop this weekend so I am experimenting with set ups.  Some of my favorite paintings are of pears.  The colors and shapes always draw me in. I have been having a hard time focusing this week because I have a lot going on in my life.  Pears always make me happier. This is painted on an 8 x 10" linen panel.

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lemony

One of my husband's co workers gave him this lemon with the leaves still intact.  It is such a treat to get to paint fruit fresh off the tree.  I am going to concentrate on still life for the next couple of days because we are going to do still life work the first day of my workshop.  I feel a little rusty after spending so much time doing commissions from photographs around the holidays.  I started my painting career doing still life and feel it is an integral part of the painting journey.  A great way to learn about drawing, value and color. This is painted on an 8 x 10" linen panel.sold

tail end

I started this rooster painting a couple of weeks ago and finally had a chance to finish him.  He is painted on an 18 x 36" gallery wrap canvas.  The long tail roosters are quite beautiful but very camera shy.

I am preparing and looking forward to the first workshop that I am having at my home next weekend.  Hopefully it will be the first of many.  Sold