OK. Not my most successful painting. But it was fun. I’ll probably use the board again for something else. The poor line quality is what I am the most unsatisfied with. (EhhhK. I hate dangling prepositions!) And, as Paul points out, the smashed paint can is just too weird to be included. Oh well. There’s always tomorrow!

Zen blossoms

I really needed to paint today. I used an old board, with another unresolved painting underneath. I used quinacridone red, a truly remarkable vivid pink color, with medium to help it dry faster, to lay in the drawing. I will cover most of the drawing tomorrow (hopefully) with darks but leaving a bit of pink to “rose-up” the reddish stems. The grey object to the left of the vase is an old paint can Paul found flattened in the road, wonderful shape with great texture. It’s strange, I know, (does it look like grey men’s underpants?) but I like it and it was fun to paint. It has a funny handle which I’ll add next time. Thank you Oak Hill Farm, Stacy, David and Chuy for the lovely flowers!

Little Sister

My little sister sent me these images of paintings of mine that she has been collecting over the years.

I don’t even remember this first one, apricots? Watercolor? That has to be the earliest of these works.

The Garden from Above painting is certainly reminiscent of my meticulous past, painting each crop a little too carefully to create the quilt-like pattern. I painted this maybe 8 years ago (?). What is most interesting to me is that now that we are farming on our own, this is the exact land we continue to farm. As I work on a logo for “Paul’s Produce” this image will influence me.

Gold Vineyard was painted in Old Hill Vineyard, obviously fall, leaves turning gold and red. I have certainly improved in my ability to create distance with color. But it does describe this place well and the undulation of the ground.

Three Onions was the last time I pushed the realism boundary. Somehow, my favorite part was the background! And the stems.

The two Lilac paintings I really love. I used a wax medium, mixed with paint, applied with a palette knife to create a super-flat, smooth background which is a nice contrast to the way the subject is treated.

Thanks Nanc! It’s nice looking back and I’m getting inspired!

Bold Poppies

I am enjoying these flowers, using lots of paint and color. But I’m not getting the sense of light coming through the petals that I am seeing, so I’m not happy with them. Is it the values are wrong? Or the color? Parts read well, then other parts don’t. Oh what to do?

I think it’s best to just paint more.

Poppies

I worked on these poppies, inspired by several flower painters at the Huff Harrington Gallery; Nancy Franke, Liz Barber and Andree Thobaty. I am rather happy with this one so far. I’ll have to live with it for a few days to know if I should do anything else.

As I finished off of this dog portrait, I remembered why I don’t like to do portraits. Too fussy. The dog, by the way, has had an updated diagnosis and does not have cancer. Thank god.

Inspired by Roudneff and Poortvliet

These tulips are weak and need more darks. I am inspired by George Roudneff so I will keep fussing. Maybe the tulips need to be as dark as the leaves. I’ll try that. Though, I want to try to consolodate the darks and the flowers run diagonally across the top 1/3 of the picture. Can I connect them without losing their flowerness?

Our tai chi teacher’s wonderful dog Ti, 1/2 rotweiller, 1/2 ridgeback has a cancer diagnosis. I have always admired his muscular build and happy-go-lucky goofiness. I hope he’ll be OK. This painting was inspired by the great animal painter, Rien Poortvliet. His book The Farm Book, was my very favorite to read with Quinten when he was young. The long-hand text is charming and the illustrations are loose, descriptive and are certainly the work of a master draftsman. My painting pales in comparison.

Tulips

We had some extra at the Farmers’ Market on Friday. I brought these indulgent beauties home and have been busy exploring them.