Taking a Shine to Each Other (13 x 19 watercolor on paper) reserved
And here’s the completed painting.
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still lifes
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November 15, 2011 5:27 pm
October 30, 2011 3:48 pm
Brass at Rest (8 x 8 watercolor on clayboard) $65.00
Trumpet and trombone share fabric space on a mirror. This little painting in currently part of the Mini Treasures Show at Art in the Valley. Prints available through my shop at Fine Art America.
October 29, 2011 11:14 am
Ringing in the Brass (8 x8 watercolor on clayboard) SOLD
Trombone bell resting on the bells and facing a flute. My daughter says this one has a Christmasy feel to it and I think she is right. In any case, I like the red and gold.
This painting has sold, but prints available through my print shop and Fine Art America.
October 28, 2011 4:14 pm
Brass and Silver Keys (8 x 8 watercolor on clayboard) $65.00
I painted this little baby yesterday at the gallery. I like the contrast between the silver and gold, but I wasn’t really happy with it until the shadows went in.
Available through my Etsy Shop. Prints available through my print shop at Fine Art America.com.
4:01 pm
Reeds Between Sets II (watercolor 8 x 8 ) SOLD
This is a second and slightly larger version of Reeds Between Sets which sold before I could get it posted. Like most of the rest of my instrument series it will be on display at Art In the Valley beginning November 1st.
October 20, 2011 5:03 pm
New Orleans Reeds, (12 x 15 watercolor on paper) reserved
A brighter version of Bouquet of Reeds. Painted a little larger–this time on paper.
Prints available through my FAA shop.
October 11, 2011 4:16 pm
This is another painting resulting from my photo shoot at Weathers Music. I brought a number of things with me including table cloths, flowers, and fruit. In the end though I mostly limited my fruit use to grapes and pears. The pears are my favorite. I think the shapes of the pears have something to say the bells of the horns, don’t you? I hope so, because the pears are repeated over and over in the horn.
Mounted on a black wooden cradle frame and finished with clear polymer varnish, this painting may be hung as is or framed.
Or purchase a print through Fine Art America.com.
October 8, 2011 5:01 pm
The Glow of Brass (16 x 18 watercolor on paper) Reserved
For this painting I used the very same reference photos that I used for Three Horns. In repainting this image, I’ve made several changes besides the obvious change from canvas to paper. This time I’ve kept the background quite light and emphasized the shadows and the reflected light from the horns into the the shadows. I’ve also bumped up the contrast by leaving more white and taking the darks much darker.
Prints available through Fine Art America.
September 14, 2011 11:37 am
Electric Reeds (16 x 20 watercolor on clayboard) $400
This is another painting competed at the Oregon State Fair. I began it on the first day of the fair intending it to include a lot of shadow in the design much like Jazz Buddies and The Color of Music. But the shadows actually competed with the instruments no matter how much I tried to knock them back by greying them down. On the last night of the fair I got bold and simply did away with the shadows altogether substituting an almost black back ground. This changed the feeling of the painting entirely.
The result is not subtle, but it certain grabs your attention. And while it’s not what I was aiming for, I like it.
This painting is currently available through Art in the Valley, Corvallis, Oregon.
Prints are available through my shop at Fineartamerica.com. See more jazzy art here: jazz art.
September 9, 2011 1:41 pm
Silvery Night Music (11 x 14 watercolor on aquabord) $250
I began this painting at the Silverton Art Festival and finished it up at the Oregon State Fair. My photo reference is from the same group of photos I took for Silver and Glass make music. But I wanted this painting to be more dramatic, so I darkened the background to make the light more obviously artificial indirect lighting.
Painting outside in the heat on aquabord was an challenging experience. Most of the time I was painting the temperature was over 90 degrees and it was very dry. The challenge was to keep the board wet enough to work with. I brought in a spray mister the second day which helped considerably. I used cardboard pieces as a shield to keep from misting the parts I didn’t want wet.
Painted on clayboard and finished with a clear acrylic matte varnish and mounted on a black cradle frame, this painting is ready to hang. Alternatively, it can be framed like an acrylic or oil painting.
Prints are available through Fine Art America.com.
August 19, 2011 8:46 pm
Little Big Boy (watercolor on clay board 8 x 10) $100
Today I set up my booth for the Silverton Fine Arts Festival. It will be the first showing of my instrument paintings in mass and only the second time any of them has been shown in public. It’s fun to see them all hanging together. I’m in booth #71 right next to the information booth.
The fair runs Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.
The tuba painting pictured is not Big Boy. It is still big, but this painting is smaller. Painted from the same photo as “Big Boy.” “Little Big Boy” is currently available through Art in the Valley, Corvallis, Oregon.
August 16, 2011 2:28 pm
Pear Roadie (6 x 6 watercolor on clayboard) $50
This is another little painting, completed during my Southwestern vacation. I started in a little Victorian Hotel in Durango and completed it poolside in Cortez.
Finished with clear acrylic and mounted on a black cradle frame, this painting is ready to hang. Available through my Etsy shop. Or purchase a print through Fine Art America.com.
August 14, 2011 2:56 pm
Some Assembly Required (8 x 10 watercolor on aquabord) $100
We’ve been traveling in Southwest Colorado and New Mexico the past few weeks. I have tons of photos for Southwestern paintings. But while I was gone, I went right on painting instruments. I did this one at my Father’s just outside of Albuquerque.
Painted on clayboard, finished with clear acrylic, and set on a black cradle frame, this painting is ready to hang.
For sale through my Etsy shop, or purchase a print.
July 26, 2011 9:22 am
The Color of Music (16 x 20 watercolor on paper) reserved
This is a larger and more colorful version of “Brass, Winds, and Shadows.” I liked the first version, but I like this one better. Besides enlarging the painting and bumping up the color, I expanded the field of view to include more of the flute. I also made the shadows more transparent. I think all of the changes are improvements.
Prints available through my shop at Fine Art America.
July 25, 2011 1:52 pm
Saxy Trio (13 x 22 watercolor on paper) $375
Three saxophones I captured at my Weathers Music photo-shoot. I liked this particular arrangement because they look so social, like they are singing together. I tried to emphasize that cozy feeling in the painting.
The composition is a new one for me. I’ve been told that just about any letter makes a good composition. “S” is very commonly used in landscapes with roads or rivers snaking in the the interior. “O” is often used to frame landscapes. “X” pops up all over particularly in figurative work. I’ve seen trees form “W,” but I”ve never done it. This is the first “W” I’ve ever done and it’s so obviously a “W” that it makes me smile.
Prints available through my website at Fine Art America. See more saxophone artwork here: saxophone art
July 13, 2011 9:39 am
Purple Sax (8 x 10 watercolor on clayboard) $100.00
Painted in Florida, from a moody shadow shot. Once more I’m having fun with the keys.
Like the other Florida paintings, this one is a little smaller, only 8 x 10. It is painted on aquabord and finished with a clear coat of acrylic, and mounted on a black cradle frame. Ready to hang. Original available in November at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Or purchase a print through my Shop at Fine Art America.
July 12, 2011 7:40 am
Silver and Glass Music (11 x 14 watercolor on claybord) $300
I painted this in my usual palette of cobalt blue, phthalo blue, ceruleun blue, hasna yellow, new gamgee, burnt siena and dioxian purple plus a new addition, phtalo green. Like phthalo blue, phthalo green is extremely staining and very transparent. Even on clayboard and canvas it’s hard to lift. Typically, I mix my greens rather than pour them out of the tube, but there’s something metalic about phtalo green that can’t be mixed and it’s the perfect color for depression glass.
When I finish this one, my mother-in-law commented that she admired anyone who could paint glass. I will tell you the secret about painting and drawing glass. There’s nothing any difficult about glass than any other subject. The only trouble is psychological. If you just paint the shapes you see, no matter how abstract, when you step back, it will look like glass. It’s only when you worry about making it look like glass that it doesn’t. The same thing is true of metal.
Painted on aquabord and finished with a clear coat of acrylic, and mounted on a black cradle frame.
Or purchase a print through my Shop at Fine Art America.
July 11, 2011 12:32 pm
I'm Still Painting on the Keys (8 x 10 watercolor on clayboard) $100.00
While painting this instrument series, I have been fascinated by the keys. So this time that’s just about all I painted. I like it so well, that I’ll probably do a few more, just keys paintings.
Another painting on clay board, this painting is finished with a clear coat of acrylic, and mounted on a black wooden cradle.
Available through my Etsy Shop. Or purchase a print through my Shop at Fine Art America. See more flute artwork here: flute art.
July 10, 2011 1:55 pm
Duet for a Pear (watercolor on clay board 8 x 10) $100.00
The is another painting from my photo session at Weathers Music, but I painted it on the patio of a beach house just outside Sarasota on the Gulf of Mexico. Painting under an umbrella with the ocean just yards away–what could be finer? We spent the last week there getting our fill of salt and sun. After the long wet cold spring here in Oregon the sun sure felt fine. But my is it hot and humid there. I spent the afternoons painting in the cool. I have five new paintings to post over the next few days.
This is the first one I did. I really like the greeny black of the clarinet and piccolo in contrast to the greeny yellow of the pear. The pear and clarinet bell shapes echo each other nicely too.
Another painting on clay board, the painting is finished with a clear coat of acrylic and mounted on a black wooden cradle. Original available through Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Or purchase a print through my Shop at Fine Art America.
June 27, 2011 4:36 pm
Dances With Pears (11 x 14 watercolor on clayboard) $200
No, it isn’t more instruments, but I’ll get back to those shortly. I painted this one at the gallery just after finishing “Jazz Buddies.” I love painting all the keys fittings on the sax, but it tiring work and I was no fit state to start another complex instrument painting full of reflections and reflections of reflections. So I painted nice simple fruit instead.
I took the reference photo while I had the mirror out for instrument photos. The pears and daisies were intended to be co-stars (and they probably will be in later paintings) but the looked so nice and fresh that I took a few photos of them by themselves too. I’m glad I did.
Painted on claybord and mounted on a black wooden cradle. Ready to hang.
Available through my Esty shop or purchase a print through Fine Art America.com.
June 9, 2011 11:53 am
Having traded my trombone, flute and trumpet for a saxaphone, I’m now painting all the lovely keys. There’s something industrial looking about a sax. It’s hardware in a way the brass are not.
I took the reference photo for this first painting in the sun. It was so bright that day that the difficulty was not over exposing the pictures. I took the photo for the second painting inside with studio lights. The difference is day and night.
Jazz Buddies (watercolor on Aquabord) $300
Portrait of a Sax (11 x 14 watercolor on aquabord) $250
Both paintings include a black cradle frame and my be hung as is or framed. Originals available in November at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. or purchase a print through Fine Art America.
June 2, 2011 4:05 pm
Bouquet of Reeds (11 x 14 watercolor on Aquabord) $300
This is my first painting of my brand new rental toy, the saxophone. Actually, my sax is far from new, but for my purposes, it’s just fine. I’ve paired it with what is turning out to be most painted instrument, the clarinet. The clarinet itself is hard to compose with because it’s so long and skinny. It isn’t metal, it’s lacquered wood; so it does have the shine that drew me to painting instruments in the first place. But it’s black body is the perfect foil for brass. So here it is as co-star to the sax.
The painting’s name is thanks to my best friend and critique, who also lent me her daughter’s clarinet. So I owe a double thanks to Terrie for this one.
Painted on cradled aquabord. May be framed or hung as is.
Original available at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Prints available though FineArtAmerica.com.
May 29, 2011 8:54 am
Brass Winds and Shadow (11 x 14 watercolor on clayboard) $300
Another instrument still life painting. I did this one mostly at the gallery yesterday working on little details between customers. I love the way the shiny brass pops in this painting, when I finished it yesterday morning I was both vaguely dissatisfied with it and puzzled over where to put a signature. You see, I had planned the painting to be hung horizontally with the big trombone horn at the bottom, and the so the whole bottom edge was busy and full. Then it occurred to me that since the view was straight down, it could just as logically be hung upside down. So I tried all four angles. I like this upright view much better than the horizontal view I planned. It has more visual energy, and the eye enters from the bottom left hand corner, which is the most natural entry point.
Once again painted on Ampersand’s aquabord. This time I painted on cradled board which mean that the clayboard rests on a two inch thick wooden frame which I have painted black. The painting may either be framed like an oil or acrylic without glass or, for a sleek modern look, hung as is.
Original available through my Etsy Shop. Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com. See more trumpet artwork here: trumpet art
May 28, 2011 2:12 pm
Daisies, Bold as Brass (11 x 14 watercolor on clayboard) $250
Another painting from my instrument shoot, though in this case the daisies steal the show. Painted on Ampersand’s aquabord, coated with clear acrylic, and mounted on a black wooden cradle. Ready to hang.
Original available at at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Or purchase a print from FineArtAmerica.com. See more trombone paintings here: trombone art
May 19, 2011 2:22 pm
Triumphant Daisies (watercolor 10 x 10) $200
This is the second painting from my mirror and instrument shoot, this time from a more conventional angle. The color choice is rather more conventional too, a complementary scheme of yellow and purple with a little bit of the neighboring complements, blue and orange.
Or purchase a print from fineartamerica.com.
7:47 am
Musical Reflections (11 x 14 watercolor on clay board) $300
This is the first in what I hope will be a series. It all began a couple weekends ago when I was taking pictures in Corvallis. The instruments in the window of Gracewind Music caught my eye and I snapped a few pictures inside. All of that shiny brass made me want to paint. After wondering around admiring a little, it occurred to me that the bread and butter of many music stores is student rentals and that I might not have to buy the instruments to paint them.
After some negotiation I left the shop with three instruments of dubious music merit, a trombone, a flute and a trumpet which had been marked “for display only.” None of the instruments is is great condition, but they are all pretty and shiny. And a month’s rental of all three cost me less than what a single month’s rental of just one playable instrument might come to.
I have since borrowed a clarinet and a bells from a friend’s daughter.
Last week I took a whole series of photos of the instruments on a 42 x 64 inch mirror we had down for a remodeling project. Spread out across the floor it added an intriguing double take on the instruments. I got out some of my blown glassware, a couple of silver vases, some fabric from my quilting collection, and mat boards for background a and began shooting. The guys doing the remodeling must have thought I was losing my mind, but I had fun.
I painted this first one looking down at the instruments from above. However, the white ceiling reflected in the mirror did not provide the best background, so I painted in a dark reddish brown to set off the lighter instrument.
Mounted on a black wooden cradle and ready to hang.
Prints available through Fine Art America.com. See more clarinet artwork here: clarinet art
January 10, 2011 6:58 pm
Three Choppers (9 x 12 watercolor) $150
A couple of Sundays ago I spotted a group of perhaps a dozen RUBs (Rich Urban Bikers) haveing coffee at Starbucks. The parked bikes obscured some but not all of the leather clad men. The image is grand, but I expect it will be difficult to paint the men, the men seen through the chopper windshields, and choppers all at once and still get it right. So started with just three of the bikes and Starbuck’s window.
I hardly ever paint real black black black. I find it makes a dead spot in my paintings so I always use dark blue, purple, maroon, or green instead. This time I opted for dark purple and dark blue. Having painted purple bikes, I decided to use the wall to make it a complementary color scheme.
I like it. My preteen girls hate it. They hate the subject, the colors, and everything else. I think they are thinking of the Hell’s Angels and drug gangs, but I’m not sure.
Or purchase a print.
November 19, 2010 11:25 am
I’m still playing with Aqua Board. The more I paint on it, the more I like it. These are painted on 6 x 6 inch cradled Aqua Board. I’ve protected the paintings with clear polymer varnish and painted the cradle frames flat black. They my be hung as is or framed with or without glazing.
Red Onion with Squash (6 x 6 watercolor on Aqua Board) $50.00
Red Onions and Garlic (6 x 6 watercolor on Aqua Board) $50.00
Salsa (6 x 6 watercolor on Aqua Board) $50.00
These paintings are currently on display at Art in the Valley, but they may still be purchased by mail provided they have not sold. Use the contact page in this blog to contact me if you are interested.
November 11, 2010 10:26 am
Pearcial to Grapes (watercolor on clayboard 6 x 6) $50.00
Pearcial to Grapes as Finished
These are a continuation of my experiments with Ampersand’s Aquaboard. This time I used cradled board, i.e., board mounted on two inch deep wooded frame. After I completed the paintings, I painted the wooden frames black and finished the watercolors with two coats of Krylon’s UV Archival Varnish, and three coats of Golden’s Polymer Varnish with UVLS (satin). The result is that the paintings may be hung without a frame or glass. The coating is not only protective, but archival and removable for conservation purposes.
This first painting, I painted almost the way I ordinarily use paper, except that I lifted the highlights rather than reserving them.
Meeting over Grapes (watercolor on clayboard 6 x 6) $50.00
Pearshall to Grapes as Finished
For the second painting I wet each section of the painting with clear water first and then offered the tip of a pigment loaded brush to the damp surface. I hardly used any actual brush strokes at all. I like the way this technique lets the pigments spread out into the painting. This technique could be used on paper too. It isn’t limited to clay-board. However, this technique is easier on clay-board because the damp surface turns taupe until is dries, making it easier to see where the paint is going to go.
Blushing Pears (watercolor on clayboard 6 x 6) $50.00
Blushing Pears as Finished
This third painting I did on aquaboard that I had used previously. I scrubbed off the first painting resulting in a clean, but much smoother working surface than the virgin board, more like gessoed paper or Yuppo to work on than unused aquaboard. I worked wet on dry without any layering letting the water carry the color from one section of the pears to the other.
These painting are currently for sale on line at my Etsy shop.
October 23, 2010 2:22 pm
Little Garlic I ( 6" x 6" watercolor on clayboard) $40.00
I did these three little paintings at the Gallery on Wednesday. My primary purpose was to continue learning to handle clayboard. I had taken the reference photos some time ago and they seemed perfect for the little six by six inch panels I had to work with and they were great subjects for learning technique as they have soft and sharp edges and a full value scale from black to white.
I used the same palette for all three paintings: burnt sienna, red brown madder (much the same color as burnt sienna but much less sedimentary and brighter), cobalt blue, phthalo blue, new gamgee , raw sienna, and because both reds are really orange, dioxion violet. This gave me a highly sedimentary pigment, and transparent pigment for each primary. The transparents, new gamgee, red madder and especially phthalo and dioxion violet are difficult to lift from paper.
Little Garlic II (6" x 6" watercolor on clayboard) $40.00
I emphasized different pigments in each painting. Little Garlic I is all about blues and greens with a little orange-red and orange for punch, i.e. two analogous colors with a touch of each compliment. Little Garlic II is a complimentary color scheme, violet and yellow. Garlic III is simply the reverse of Garlic I; orange-red and yellow predominate and blue-violet and green provide the punch.
I mixed the colors almost entirely on the clay-board, laying down the warmer colors first and dropping in the cooler ones. Primarily, I mixed sedimentary colors with sedimentary colors and transparents with transparents. Mixing transparents with transparents and translucents with translucents is another trick I learned from Karen Vernon. Droped into thier own kind, they spread out nicely. Otherwise sedimentary colors tend to push everything else aside.
Little Garlic III (6" x 6" watercolor on clayboard) $40.00
Because of the ease of lifting from clay-board, I didn’t use mask. The very whitest whites are reserved through negative painting but most of the whites are lifted. All of the soft edged lights in the garlic roots are lifted.
After I completed the paintings, I fixed the surface with two coats of Krylon’s UV Archival Varnish, and three coats of Golden’s Polymer Varnish with UVLS (satin). The result is that the paintings may be framed without glass. The coating is not only protective, but archival and removable for conservation purposes.
These paintings are currently for sale on line at my Etsy shop.
Prints of all three paintings are available through Fine Art America.
October 17, 2010 1:25 pm
Mangos and Pears (watercolor on clayboard 11 x 14) $150
I started this painting in Karen Vernon’s workshop this October. The photo I worked from is hers. The photo showed two mangos and a pear. I broke up the trio by moving one to the mangos to the wall.
We spent one of the five days working on color. The lessons aren’t unique, but certainly useful. Color has several properties, hue, intensity, value, temperature. Hue is the actual color. Intensity is the brightness or dullness of the color. Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Temperature is the warmth or coldness of a color. Blue is the coldest color and yellow the warmest.
We spent one one morning working on changing color value without changing any of the other properties. This is not as straight forward as it appears as some colors de-intensify or intensify as they are diluted with water. Adding a bright and warmer hue of the same color will re-intensify a color.
Then we de-intesified the colors at each value. As I discussed earlier in a blog about gray, the way to deintensify a color is to add it’s compliment. Red and green deintensify each other as do purple and yellow and blue and orange.
Colors will appear brighter next to their compliment and next to deintensified color.
In the afternoon we discussed the color of shadows. Shadows are generally the deintensified compliment of the color of the object casting them as altered by the color of the surface they fall on.
Light will bounce from surface to surface. Thus one object will affect the color of the object next too it.
This little painting is a lesson in color begun in the workshop. I rarely work from other people’s photos, but this painting began with one of Karen’s photos. The photo showed two mangos and a pear. I moved the second mango onto the wall.
The bright fruit works well for playing with the color concepts we discussed in class. The green pear and the red mango are compliments. Therefore the shadow of each is the color of the other. The red of the mango reflects onto the green of the pear. The deintesified floor helps make the relatively intensified color of the fruit pop. The background is almost as bright as the fruit, but it’s darker and much cooler in temperature. Both dark values and cooler colors tend to recede.
This painting is protected with a polymer varnish and may be framed with or without glass.
April 29, 2010 9:53 pm
Mothers' Day Daffodils (watercolor 5 x 7) $25.00
[This painting is currently on display at Art in the Valley, Corvallis, Oregon.]
I’ve spent my gallery shifts this month making postcard sized paintings for the OSU Mom’s Day Weekend Craft Fair. It’s a fun fair to do. Where else do you get to see a crowd of college boys with their moms?
As part of the Mom’s weekend celebration I’ll be at the gallery demonstrating polymer clay cane-making on Friday from 1:00 to 2:30 at Art in the Valley, 209 2nd Street, downtown Corvallis. The craft fair will be on campus in the Memorial Union Quad. The fair runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday.
Three Tulips (watercolor 5 x 7) $25.00
April 3, 2010 9:11 pm
Little Green Mister (5 x 7 watercolor)
Here are the last two watercolors for my one woman mini-show at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon. Both are much smaller versions of recent paintings. Both paintings were painted at Art in the Valley in late March.
I hang the show this Monday. It will hang until Tuesday, May 4th. During the show, I will be painting in the gallery on Wednesday April 14th, Wednesday, April 21, and Wednesday, April 28th.
Single Lily (5 x 7 watercolor) SOLD
March 16, 2010 10:32 am
The Green Mister (watercolor 10 x 14) $150.00
This is probably the last watercolor for my one woman mini show this coming April at Art in the Valley, Corvallis Oregon.
I’m using a new technique to replace liquid mask when reserving soft edged areas of white paper in many of my latest still lifes. Puddles of clear water on the paper will resist paint. In this painting I made little lines of water along the reflected light from the mister and silver vase before painting the window sill. The result is a soft sliver of white paper remaining after my washes.
To use the water resist technique use as much water as you can without running outside the area you wish to reserve. You may need to renew the water fairly frequently too.
The water resist technique is more trouble than either masking whites or carefully painting around them, but it has the advantage of creating a much softer edge. This technique is not suitable for fine detail.
Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.
March 12, 2010 5:43 pm
Apples and Oranges (13 x 18 inch watercolor) $250.00
I had to watch my youngest daughter like a hawk to get this one painted. She loves the sweet miniature Clementine oranges and kept threatening to eat my still life before I had it painted. I don’t blame her much. Clemetines are so very sweet and so small you can eat three or four of them and have had less than a full sized orange.
The palette is raw sienna, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, french blue, phthalo blue, quinacridone magenta and hansa yellow. The magenta and the new hansa make a perfect orange colored orange.
Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.
March 10, 2010 6:52 pm
Cherry Blossoms in a Blue Pitcher (watercolor 12 x 19) $250
We planted a two ornamental cherry trees the year we moved into this house. Five years later the trees put on quite a show each Spring. The branches I take inside don’t make a dent in the abundance of blooms.
I made two fundamental design decisions in painting this image. Both help make the blossoms pop. First, rather than paint the blue gray evergreens in the actual background, I added an abstract green background to compliment the pink blossoms. Second I painted my white window blue. I also moved the branches around to improve the composition.
I began by masking the blossoms. Then I painted the background and window casing. The blossoms and branches came last.
The palette was raw sienna, new gamgee (yellow), phthalo blue, quinacridone magenta, opera pink, dioxazine purple, and burnt sienna. The background is raw sienna and phthato blue painted wet into wet. The casing is phthalo blue and burnt siena. The blossoms are magenta and opera pink grayed with phthalo blue or diaxazine purple. The leaves are a wash of new gamgee and magenta washed over with dioxazine purple.
This painting is currently for sale on-line at my Etsy shop.
March 6, 2010 2:29 pm
Jade and Tulips II (watercolor 11 x 14) $250
This is much the same composition and color scheme as Jade and Tulips I. I lowered the tulips which causes them to stand out more than in the original version, but makes the upper line of the composition less interesting. Including more of the jewelry box increased it’s three dimensionality as did opening thing lower drawer.
The palette and work methods are the same as Jade and Tulips I.
Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.
March 5, 2010 6:04 pm
Tulips, Jade, and Books (watercolor 8 x 11) $100.00
Our house is covered in floor to ceiling book shelves. So it was really only a matter of time before the shelves showed up in one of my still lifes. This time they feature only as a reflection.
Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com. See more still paintings at: still life paintings
March 3, 2010 1:06 pm
Jade and Tulips (watercolor 11 x 14) $250
Years ago I celebrated a new job by purchasing a jewelry box I had coveted for several years. I love oriental furniture with it’s brass hinges and inset jade and soapstone. I find a whole room full of such furniture much too heavy. But the jewelry box was everything I loved about the furniture in miniature. And despite it’s exoticness, it looks perfectly at home on my plain pine dressers. And it has the added advantage of actually looking better half open with the jewelry hanging out than it does closed.
It took me some time to compose a picture with my jewelry box at the center. The problem is that the box’s shape is really just that, a vertical rectangular box. Compositions with the complete box were brought to a complete and boring full stop by the edge of the box. In the end, I subordinated the box to the tulips and cropped it along one edge. The dark open door of the box makes a beautiful foil for the bright tulips.
Once composed, painting the picture was relatively straight forward. I masked the highlights and then began with the tulips painting them in a various combinations of hansa yellow, hansa gold, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, and cadmium red. The leaves are combinations of the same yellows with cobalt and phthalo blue. I used the same colors for the jade necklace and insets as I did for the foliage.
I went on to painting vase and metal hinges using primarily yellow ochre, raw sienna and burnt sienna dulled with cobalt blue and cerulean blue. I added the box in combinations of burnt sienna, quinacridone magenta, and dioxazine purple.
The dresser top is layered washes of burnt sienna, raw sienna, and burnt umber. The wall yellow ochre and dulled with dioxazine purple. Layed the wall on very heavily to allow the tulips to pop.
Or purchase a print from Fine Art America.com.
February 28, 2010 2:54 pm
Nautilus with Marble (10 x 13 watercolor) $175
Same nautilus, new angle, new colors–after several attempts to paint the nautilus in it’s true colors, I think I understand why I keep changing them. The shell’s shadows are warmer colors than it’s highlights. Most real world objects have cooler shadows and warmer highlights. But the standards of the shell have warm local color while the base of the shell has cooler local color. Painting apricot shadows with cool blue and green highlights simply goes against the grain.
This time I ignored the natural color of the shell entirely and simply painted the colors I felt like painting focusing entirely on value. I painted the marble to echo the center of the shell.
I reserved the highlights with mask. The palette is phthalo blue, dioxazine purple, new gamgee, a little quinacridone magenta, and burnt sienna to dull the blues and greens. The background is a wash of burnt sienna which I chose to contrast with the cooler shell. I mixed the colors in multiple transparent washes. I dropped some of the softer shadows wet into wet paint.
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