A Plum Among Them

                                    6x6

This may be the most items I've ever included in a  composition. I remember awhile ago Carol Marine did a number of them from much more distant perspective. The simplification required grows enormously the further away you get. Now that's a challenge! This was hard enough....well, maybe I'll try backing off further.......

Hellebore and Bottles

                                  No longer available
My husband asked if I had any use for this little jar before he threw it away and I said "no"- and then I thought YES! It needs to be painted! I am out of town until May 25, so any purchases will have to wait to be shipped

Don't Be Blue

                                 6x6 $90
I'm back "on the bottle(s)" again. This time it looks like the red bottle is trying to spread its influence over the blue surrounding it. It "got" the fork. Lucky Fork. That was another title possibility- "Lucky Fork". Hmmm...

Two on a Plate

SOLD

Dwarfed By the Big Guy

6x6 $90

I painted 4 panels with variations on these bottles, and this may be my favorite. I love all the deep rich colors in the upper third juxtaposed with the bright yellow.The bottle on the right is a beautiful shape and a rich amber color, but it's big enough that I'm not sure if it will ever show up "whole" in my little compositions.

Thanks to all of you well wishers for my trip. It's getting exciting as the date draws near. The challenge is packing, as it's recommended your pack weighs no more than 10% of your body weight. For once, I'm glad I don't weigh 120. Tough enough as it is. I'm sure I will be glad later that I stuck to the limit.

For anybody who doesn't know, Daily Paintworks Challenge is raising money for Japan with an art auction. I donated "Sorting Seaweed" and it's up to $111. I hope it goes even higher; those disaster victims need every nickel! Check out the challenge- they're almost up to 200 donated pieces!

You Can Call Me Red

6x6 $90

Today was a red day. I primed a couple panels with red acrylic and went to town. I'm trying to accumulate some paintings to post while I'm gone in April and May. My husband and I are going to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago- 500 miles! We'll also spend a little time in Portugal. I'd like to have enough paintings to post ahead every 3 days or so. That may be overly optimistic. We'll see....

Let the Light Shine

                                  6x6 $90
Enough of Rome. It's back to the still lifes for the moment. I have made a few changes to my Rome paintings (I tend to "go back in" quite often), and I'll replace the images on my postings as they evolve. So this is another "colored water" painting. The teal bottle actually is that color, but the yellow is colored water in a clear bottle. I love the way the egg picks up the color around it.

Too Close for Comfort

                         6x6 $90

The flower looks concerned that it's being stalked by the bottle in the back, doesn't it? I love painting glass bottles because they makes these crazy distortions that are fun to paint I'm also quite fond of this relatively monochromatic palette. 

Today has been a fabulous painting day. I have 3 red onions, one of which is sprouting. I painted one setup on a black primed panel (dry), the same setup on a green primed panel (wet), then a whimsical setup using one of the onions and a complementary color scheme, and finally a setup using multiple colors that I tried to tie together by working a little of each into the other. On the first 2, I really tried to do the DPW Challenge of laying down a different color with each stroke. On the second 2, that fell apart a bit, but I was still mindful of the principle. Whew! What a day! I'll be posting these over the next few days.

Bottled Belles

                                     6x6 $90
I have some more 12x12's to post, but I'm taking a break from that. I don't often paint flowers, but that could change. I really like this painting. I also did the Carol Marine challenge but it's not dry enough to photograph. Somebody- I don't remember who- said that she was exhausted at the end of this challenge. Man, so was I!!!! It took a lot of concentration. It was magical, though. When I got the shapes and the values (nearly) right, it took only a couple strokes and highlights to make the object  (a cup in this case) real!