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.