Day 22 - "Farm in Provence"

"Farm in Provence"

8" x 6" Oil on Canvas

This is a study I did for a larger painting,

but it needed some touching up.

I just read "Lisette's List" a novel that takes place in southern France

and it's easy to fall in love with the beauty there. 

And check out Julian Merrow-Smith, an Englishman who

lives and paints there. You will fall in love with his work!

Purchase

Day 21 - "Spots"

"Spots"

6" x 8" Oil on Canvas

I painted this bird last January but 

it was too wet to put on the spots.

I love how they're highlighted by a lighter color, 

it makes them almost dimensional.

I never fail to be amazed at the richness of nature.

Day 20 - "Octopus Vase Finished"

"Octopus Vase Finished"

6" x 6," Oil on Wood

I saw this vase in a museum and fell in love with it.

Of course I kept no record so I have no idea who, where or when.

My vote goes with some Greek Island in the seventh century.

Of course it could be contemporary! 

Anyway my way of absorbing it is to paint it.

I like thinking about the anonymous artist who designed the octopus.

Day 19 "Lemon Quarters"

"Lemon Quarters"

7" x 5" Oil on Canvas 

I am really getting into how lemons are backlit from outside my kitchen window.

It's a painter-thing most people don't notice.

: )

Hmm..wondering if it's okay to use sideway smiley things on a blog!

Day 18 - "Zinnias from the Garden"

  "Zinnias from the Garden"

6" x 8" - Oil on Canvas

I've done zinnias a handful of times but I'm happier 

with these. I do think I'll darken the background later and will repost.

I'm having a show with Lavinia Wiggins and Peg Taylor,

both of whom are taking on this challenge. 

So this means on September 30th I am to deliver 30 framed and catalogued

pieces. Paint faster! Today I framed 11 paintings.

"Goose Off-Balance," 8" x 10"

Oil on Canvas

I should live in the country, I love animals! Check out Ginny Butcher's amazing cow

portraits, they are so beautiful. A highlight of my childhood was spending several weeks a year

on my dear aunt's farm. I remember there was this one awful cow I was afraid of...

until I found out she was the friendliest and just wanted a good scratching.

Click to Buy

Day 16 "Lemon and Slices"

"Lemon and Slices," 8" x 6"

Oil on Canvas

It's Saturday and I finished painting this morning wishing in time to make it to yoga

but that didn't happen. It was worth it though, I'll excercise later.

For now it's a beautiful day and I'llbrainy again later!

Day 15, finally halfway! - Bird"

"Bird," 6" x 6"

Oil on Board

I don't know what kind of bird this is...well, I just did a search and it has to be a

red-bellied woodpecker. Thanks google! I got the photo from morguefile.com.

I love that site.

Day 14 - "Sliced Lemon in Light"

"Sliced Lemon in Light"

7" x 5," Oil on Canvas

So this painting was looking dead and until I 

realized there needed to be more light and reflection

on the cut plane. Now I'm very happy with it!

Day 13 "House on the Hudson, Peekskill, NY"

"House on the Hudson, Peekskill, NY"

 10" x 8"

Oil on Canvas

  

I've said this before, I love houses with water behind them. They just seem so peaceful.

I'm lucky to live by the Hudson River so I see a lot of beautiful water views.

If the light is right I stop and take a picture.

Day 12 - "Six Eggs in a Deco Bowl"

"Six Eggs in a Deco Bowl"

8" x 10," oil on canvas.

Painting one egg is hard because they're just so darn perfect. 

Why did I paint six?? but they turned out fine.

So did the bowl with its in and out rim. I bought it at a tag sale in Peekskill from a warehouse

that stores stuff to rent to filmmakers. Maybe this bowl was in an Oscar winning movie!

Guess Art Deco bowls aren't in demand by set designers anymore.

Day 11 - "Lemon on a French Dishcloth"

"Lemon on a French Dishcloth"

6" x 6," oil on board

 I painted first thing this morning, before breakfast. 

I always think that's a great time to work, but it doesn't happen often!

Eggs are next, but more lemons are soon to come.

Day 10, "Lemons & a Slice"

"Lemon & a Slice," 8" x 6"

I'm not done with lemons yet.

This is such a small painting and yet so intricate - it was like putting together

a jigsaw puzzle - still, I wanted to keep it simple.

Funny when finished painting for the day, I look at everything in paint.

 My black cat Maxi just jumped on my lap, and I saw the highlights 

on his fur as light gray paint strokes!

Day 8 - "Seagull"

"Seagull," 8" x 8"

Oil on Masonite

Well, here he is. Birds are so cute. Until you paint them. Then their  eyes get beady, 

and their weird bony skulls look more like velociraptors then anything 

you'd want as a pet. But they are beautiful wonderful creatures. 

This guy looks a little on the small side, maybe he's a juvenile.

Day 7...already? "Seagull"

"Seagull," - underpainting  8" x 8"

Oil on Masonite

So this is my post, it's not finished.

But there is often something magical about an underpainting.

Maybe it's something to do with the edges. The best finished paintings have the muscularity 

of nice thick paint with the gorgeous sensitivity of a thin wash.

Day six - "The Shell, III"

"The Shell, III"

6" x 8" Oil on Canvas

This will probably be my last painting of this shell for now.

I wanted a dark background for the drama, especially to highlight

the gorgeous white edge of the cavernous entrance to this creature's domicile.

I'm sure that the creators of the film "Alien" got some of their inspiration 

from shells, a movie that my husband still has scars on his hand from when I scratched

him in mortal terror.   or so he says ;)

"Shell II," 6" x 6"

Oil on Wood

I decided to paint this again, I love when I do that! I'm usually happier

the second time though not always, and it's interesting

how different they often are. This one's looser and I'm looking

more at the way he light falls rather than the idea of a shell.

Shell

"Shell," 8" x 6" 

Oil on canvas

This shell is kind of sinewy and organic. What a mystery it is

that a slug-like creature constructs this strange, protective abode.

Home Sweet Home!

Day 3 of the 30 day challenge "Apple & a Half"

I can get waay too fussy with apples. But the nice thing about doing a painting-a-day 

is that it's hard to beat a painting to death when you just need to get it done!

"Apple and a Half," 8" x 6."

oil on canvas

"Flock,"

8" x 6" - Oil on Canvas

I like to paint birds. But I also love things man made. So it was cool to run into this group of decoys or bird statues or whatever they are, and I just couldn't resist painting them! I guess my painting could be added to my dear old friend Avory's collection of things that are copies of things that are copies of things.

"Vase with Octopus," 6" x 6."

Here is the first post for 30 Paintings in 30 Days, September 2017!

Thanks Leslie Saeta for hosting this. It really gets me beyond myself with the constant challenge to post daily. Painting becomes more demanding but guess what?...it becomes more fun!

Ok, where's the octopus? It's just too late and the painting should dry first so...later! I think the pottery is gorgeous without the decoration too.

"Brook Street, Croton," 12" x 9," Oil on Canvas

Okay, I like this painting. It is my second shot at the subject.

(My first try hasn't seen the light of day.)

However, I would really like the hill just past the street to glow!

I may try it yet one more time.

But I do like the way the sky plays with all those trees.

Purchase

"Venice," 8" x 6," Oil on Board

Well...this isn't done. See the right side where it's too orange 

and the left greenery which shouldn't really be white in the sun!

But I got the water just right, and I needed 

another piece for "Wish You Were Here," especially one from Venice!

Look for this in my 30 paintings in 30 days September,

finished.

Rooftops in Provence," 8" x 6," Oil on Board

We took a trip to Provence several years ago where I shot many many pictures.

Now I am reading Lisette's List for book group, which takes place in Rousillon, France.

How cool! We visited that town and I have a painting to prove it.

Well, it doesn't really prove it, I painted Venice and have never been but I did visit Rousillon!

I have yet to upload this picture, I have to shoot it tomorrow. But it's called:

""Monastery in Provence," Oil on Board, 6" x 6"

This is a small little 8" x 6," Oil on Board.

It's called "House on the Ocean, Block Island."

I would like to live there!

"Farm in Provence," 16" x 12"

Oil on Canvas

My husband and I went to Provence and had a glorious trip with lavender and sunshine. I was raised in a Chicago suburb, but was lucky enough as a kid to spend several weeks a year at my dear aunt and uncle's farm in South Dakota. I saw a cow give birth, rode in a cattle drive, prowled the pond for frogs, watched the chickens and just kicked around a lot. I always grow wistful when I see gorgeous fields and vistas.

The lavender was a struggle til I figured it out, isn't that always the case?

Purchase

This was the third painting in the "Wish You Were Here" show at the J. C. Hart Memorial Library.

""Harbor at Monhegan Island."

Oil on canvas, 12" x 9."

I had to paint this twice in order to capture the lovely, subdued quality of the houses with the calm waters beyond. Not available for sale.

This is a painting after:

"Forcing a Passage of the Hudson River, 9 October 1776" by Thomas Mitchell. 

Since I was doing a 'postcards' show, and this postcard was kicking around the library promoting a lecture, I thought it'd be fun to copy it. (I have a better photograph I'll post sometime.)

Apparently the artist Mitchell copied the painting, so this is a copy of a copy!

8" x 6" on board.

More paintings to follow, which will be all mine.

"On the Croton River"

12" x 9", oil on canvas

This is the first of eighteen posts documenting the show that I had with Lavinia Wiggins

at the John C. Hart Memorial Library in June. What a great opening we had! Music by John Fiscella and his son Eddie, really fantastic jazz and then their friend showed up to round out the performance. 

Some of the paintings (like this one) have already appeared on my blog, and some of the paintings are completely new for the show. "Wish You Were Here," was the show title and it's all about postcards. The places we've been and, at least in my case, the places I want to have been.

(For example, coming up is "Venice." I have never been there. Yet.)

Anyway back to Croton, I was bicycling and saw this guy kayaking and threw down the bike, grabbed my phone and shot this sunset picture of his quiet journey.

That's the Croton Train Station in the background.