Yellow Roses In Vase

Oil on Telati Board, 11x14

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There are times when we are stuck in a not-so-good spot to paint a live model, we have to be more inventive and selective to move object(s) around in our mind for better composition. In this painting, I was looking at three objects evenly spaced with no overlapping whatsoever. I elected to paint the vase with roses and a little brown bottle next to it. Bad choice! I forgot about the magic of threesomes (or odd numbers). 

So, I took out the little bottles and in its place I put a rose petal, instead. I think it worked better.

"Red IV"

Oil on Canvas, 20"X20"  Sold

This painting grew from an idea of doing a painting in red.

I started by putting down alizarine straight from the tube as the darkest dark to anchor the painting. Next was to do the red by adding white, cadmium red light, or yellow to the alizarine and brushed over most of the canvas while leaving some parts untouched. At this stage, knowing when to stop and to evaluate is  the most important part of the work. From here, one can let the imagination go to work.

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A Land to Love

Oil on Ampersand Gessoed Panel, 18x24  Sold

It's been a while since I posted here. So far this year, I've taken three workshops, one from Kim English, another from Camille Przewodek and, lastly, from Marc Hanson two weeks ago. The quick pace of the workshops was the best way to learn what I didn't know. The part that I've learned is now being digested at home by painting, and painting. But along the way, husband Mark sent an excerpt of an article by George Inness about art. In it it says:

"...Art aims is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion of love, pity, veneration, of hate, of pleasure, of pain, but it must be a single emotion if the work has unity, as every such work should have...."

All of a sudden I realized that years of taking up workshops and classes to brush up my skill have made me forget the joy that I used to have when i picked up the brush to paint, when everything then was purely acts of love and passion. Now I'm going to combine the two, the skill and love. I'm in a fog right now, and I know that only by painting a lot will it reveal where it's going to take me.

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Please come visit my new web site here.
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Green Bench and Pots

Oil on Linen, 11x14

It's been so pleasant outside lately. My friends and I decided to paint a still life outdoor in my back yard yesterday. In doing this painting, I discovered that in order to show the sunniness, shadows have to be darker and the values needs to be stretched. But I also remember when I painted in the desert in the sun, everything was kind of golden, even shadows were not as dark. Then, we got into the debate about High Key or Low Key. Is this high or low key? I don't know.

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Or email me if you have any comments or suggestions.

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Girl in Yellow Dress

Oil on Panel, 9x12

About two weeks ago I took a five-day plein air workshop with Kim English, a brilliant painter from Colorado. The workshop was grueling as the models were instructed to change post every 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes. So we painted, wiped off, changed supports quickly, trying to compose, block-in, mixed the right colors and values as best and as fast as we could. Most people got to do a lot in each painting but I could only come up with just the figures mostly, like the one above, which Kim was very fond of. It's the most valuable workshop I've attended so far and I've got nothing but admiration and respect for Kim.

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"Plum blossoms in Vase"

Oil on gessoed masonite, 11.5"x11.5"

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Once we remember how forgiving oil is when we paint, we can load up the color and have fun painting! It won't be fun if we use thin, little bits of color because it doesn't blend well with the rest and will look not as juicy and rich; the richness which inspires artists like us to use oil as a medium.

Thank you for visiting! You're welcome to contact me via my email, or go to my web site to see more paintings.

"Napa Cabbage"

Oil on Gessoed Masonite, 12"x12"

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Lately, I've been spending a little extra time setting up still life, concentrating on creating a bit of atmosphere, or feeling. As a result, I'm enjoying painting again like I used to when I started. Instead of painting what looks right, I'm painting what I like. There's such a big difference! When I stated going to the Scottsdale Art School, I learned to paint right. Now with that, I can go back to paint what made me want to paint in the beginning, something that makes the heart warm and sing.

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Please come visit my web site or contact me via my email.

Thanks for visiting!