Pine Tree.....Mini

Pine Tree.....Mini  2.5 x 3.5 pastel
Yes, it really is that small. Very fun to do, can be matted in a wide mat or sealed in a crystal clear bag and displayed on a small easel. Great gifts or if you only have a small space work great on a shelf.
If you want more information on supplies etc. you can check out . Needless to say I had  more trouble taking the photo than I did doing the painting. For more information on these small pastels, go to Karen Margulis blog and U-tube video. Thanks for all the info Karen

Sunnys in the Garden

Sunnys in the Garden   Oil on canvas   12X12
A few gloomy days and winter on the horizon, just had to get in a bright cheerful painting. I used some new brushes on this, different feel while painting. They are made by Rosemary's Brushes and are called Ivory Flats, very interesting and will use them many more times. I am used to Bristle brushes and this was fun to feel the difference in paint application.
No changes , no growth so am constantly trying new items I suggest you challenge yourself and your painting in some way each time you pick up a brush or pastel.

Sweet and Sour

Sweet and Sour 12 x 12 oil on linen panel   SOLD
This is another in my nest series, the name infers the hummingbird being sweet to build it's next in the sour lemon tree. In the actual painting the nest does not show up so clearly, more camoflaged
This was quite a challenge to sort through the massive amount of lemons in the photo but am happy with the finished painting design. Nature never ceases to amaze and delight me.

In the Morning When I Rise

In The Morning When I Rise  oil on panel 5 x 7
We live between two lakes and  each morning can see the sunrise on one. I also teach at a Retreat Center located on a lake and this is actually a composite of the pinkish glow in the morning sky, has an ethereal quality, small painting that seems to have a big impact on me. It is a place I would like to be, how about You?

Sunflower Burst

Sunflower Burst 14 x 11 oil on canvas
Several weeks ago I went to Farmers Market to get cucumbers and saw these gorgeous sunflowers, ordinarily sunflowers don't call to me to be painted, but these DID and I rushed home , forgot about the cucumbers and painted this to almost completion while the flowers were fresh, these are different colors than I usually use and a bit looser style but had a blast and as the title tells you the Sunflower Blast made my day.
Needless to say, some of us artists are easily entertained.

Circle of Life

Circle of Life  Oil on linen panel, 12 x 12 Sold
This is a Mallard Duck nest, created by the female whose colors blend in perfectly with the dried leaves and grasses. She was a very patient and good egg sitter in my neighbors flower bed. Nothing seemed to frazzle  her. A small tap on her wing and she stepped off long enough for me to snap two photos and then gracefully back and hunkered down over her clutch of 15 eggs.
I titled this Circle of Life because about two days before these were to hatch the nest was raided by a raccoon or skunk giving them food for themselves and young and denying the birth of the next generation of ducklings.
This is the third  in a nest series and I will say to capture the egg color was a challenge, the photo is not quite accurate but the best I could get, they are a bit more greenish.
This was an awesome experience to see and to paint, I feel blessed to have preserved this beauty in a painting.

Winter Nest

Winter Nest 7 x 5 oil on panel
The stillness of winter and snow seem desolate but the nest waits for Spring and hopefully with a bit of refurbishing a new bird family will fill it with eggs and new life.
This is a subtle, moody painting, for me, very thought provoking....what do you think?

The Feathered Nest

Feathered Nest oil on linen panel 12 x 12
I have long had a love affair with nests and feathers and have been playing around with mixing some different techniques. This piece was begun with the background completed and the nest left only drawn in. When I was satisfied with  the abstract nature of  the background I used transparent red oxide and ultramarine blue, it ( makes a very rich dark) applied to the nest Then I used Q-tips, cloth and old brushes to lift out the different values of the twigs. I used :Liquin with my paint in the background and with the colors in the nest. When all was dry (the next day) I used thinned down transparent red oxide and ultra blue in varying mixtures mixed with Liquin thinned down with about 50% Gamsol.and applied the juicy mixture for the branches and then tilted and let it run in the direction I wanted, sometimes guiding the drip with a brush full of my thinned down Liquin.
I was very slow in developing the branches, doing only a few at a time. Then when that was dry painted the detail necessary to tell my story, many areas of the nest remain the wiped out beginnings. This is fun and challenging.

In the Wild

In the Wild  6 x 6 oil on panel
I love flowers but the wild ones are my favorites, they grow in unexpected places and bring a sparkle of color. These were on the grounds of Mt. Carmel where I teach painting most of the summer. I walk the path along Lake Carlos where it is located  and each of the nine years I have been there give me new delights.
This is a small painting with big impact.
I began using the grisaille  method described in my Strutten post. I used sap green and a bit of dioxanine purple covering the panel with those oil colors and liquin. when that was done I used rag, Q-tips and dry brushes to lift out the color where the flowers, lighter leaves and grasses would be. Then when that was dry I used my oil colors with a touch of liquin to give the color you see. This is an almost magical way of having the painting almost paint itself and simply "appear".

Path of the Morning Rays

Path of the Morning Rays  6x8 oil on canvas panel
This is the view I see each morning out my front window, the sun's rays at sunrise sneak through openings in the houses and landscape and illuminate with a delicate light  the joy of sun in the morning.
Yes, this is snow and no, we don't have snow today, but heavy rain and unseasonably cold for Spring.
However, this scene makes me feel warm and happy.
Enjoy the moment.

Strutten His Stuff

Strutten His Stuff   16 x 20 oil on canvas
This handsome devil is going to steal the hearts of some young chicks. The technique on this oil is a bit different from what I usually do in oils.
To begin color is rubbed all over the canvas, in this case yellow ochre and burnt sienna and in the lower two thirds burnt umber.The oil color is mixed with a medium, I used Liquin. You then carefully lift away the areas you want light and medium in value and leave the darks as is. This was a technique used by the old masters and is called a grisaille (gree' zay). Originally done in gray or in all umber tones, this is a fun little variation.
The lights of the canvas show through wherever you wipe away the paint. Then I chose to embellish the painting when the wipe out layer was dry. More fun than I care to admit.

Llit by Sunlight

Lit by Sunlight 12 x 12 in Oil on Canvas
This painting was inspired by sunlight coming in the front window illuminating the yellow begonias I had received as a get well gift. How lucky am I to enjoy the plant twice once in my house and once trying to capture it in paint.

Frosted Morning

Frosted Morning 10 x 18 pastel on board
I am posting this painting after hours of trying to get the color better, the actual painting is softer in color, really showing the delicate color of this scene in early morning fall near our home.Just the edges of trees and grass were touched with frost giving an almost feather like appearance.We see frost in winter but very seldom see it in this venue early in the morning.

Beauty on the Pond

Beauty on the Pond 6x6 oil on panel
The warm lilies against the cool lily pads and water seem to glow. These have always intrigued me and always are the center of attention in any pond. This is one variation of two that I have done, I will post the other painting as well in days to come.

Fat Butt

Fat Butt Squirrel  5x7 in. oil on panel
You may think this a not so nice title but am sure the squirrel would be happy with the fact that he has eaten his way into a fat butt  and thereby survived the winter with a little weight to spare I am sure. We have been entertained outside our kitchen window by three of these squirrels for the last several months and they have been more than a hoot in their antics.  Enjoy! and smile with me.

Go on In!

Go On In! 6 x 8 oil on panel
The door is open, go on in.What would you find, remnants of the past life of perhaps several families or just the current residents of critters? Time has past and so have these lives, moved on or gone. But it gives me pause to think that even though this is abandoned property it should be respected. Another part of area history. I hope you will knock before you enter, who knows who or what may answer.

Window into the Past

Window into the Past 6 x 8 inches oil on panel
Windows and doors of abandoned buildings hold me in a quiet trance. I am always wondering of the lives that were here, the sounds of a family in a daily routine of chores and family needs. I can't help but wonder if this was a pioneer family and if so how many generations lived here. Perhaps you will have other ponderings as you look at this... let me know your thoughts

Winter Mood

Winter Mood 5 x 7 in. pastel
I love the  simplicity of  the all over pattern of the trees and background foliage . In spite of the overall pattern I felt I could walk into this woods and be lost, all the random negative shapes would keep me hidden. Our Minnesota climate can be harsh and the fall-winters here can appear colorless and brutal but looking beyond that we have the Mood of the Season.

Sophie

Sophie 6x6 oil on panel
Sophie is our neighbors yellow lab, a real sweetheart. I see her from my studio window out playing and when visiting with our neighbors she comes over to me for an ear or chin scratch. This painting was done as a surprise thank you gift to her owners who clean the snow from our driveway and are just plain exceptional neighbors which I am sure they have an exceptional dog like Sophie. Here in Minnesota the winter especially throws curves at us with severe weather changes , sometimes bringing more snow than our little machine can handle and our good neighbor steps in at the crack of dawn to make sure we can get in and out. So we have two pleasures from these good people, a blown out driveway and a delightful dog to enjoy as well.
How lucky can we get?