Dandelion Puff II

sketchbook

Geez, these things are tricky. Just a little bit of leftover summer for you, this lovely, rainy Sunday morning :)

#748

Bottle Cap

sketchbook

More doodling. Spent a lot of the day out at the Eno River taking pictures.... lots of pretties and good idea. Rocks and tree trunks and such, mostly. Baby loved it- lots of colors and shapes and sounds, of course, but also a lot of people out enjoying the 60-degree weather after that dratted cold spell!

Purple Calla

sketchbook

Just a doodle :) Spent most of the day on a larger project.... ought to be done with that by the end of the month, though...

#746

Cloud Study VII

sketchbook

Just a church spire against high, thin clouds.... this ridiculous cold weather is finally starting to crack! Soon we'll be back to typical NC winter conditions of alternating pretty sunny days and 45 degree rain.

Also wanting to share a link- http://rautiola.blogspot.com/ - Antti Rautiola's blog- she has a really amazing way with color. I especially love Blue Dream, posted December 28th :)

#745

White Tulips IV - Windowlight

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard
Same restricted palette thing again, totally different scale. You know how Duane Keiser will do pretty little vases of flowers against a big tall expanse of wall somtimes? Well, I wanted to try something a little bit like that....

#744

White Tulip III - Gradation

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

'Nother white tulip :) Yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow are all being done with just three colors! Now you know I'm not one for the whole limited palette thing, but an experiment is always interesting... Prussian Blue, Medium Magenta, and Hansa Yellow. And white, of course.

And our little Wuggins is 3 months old today :)

#743

White Tulip II

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Not sure how I feel about this one.... so I expect I'll leave it set in a corner till I decide how to make it perfect, or decide to paint over it :-/ The white tulip/ white background could be lovely, I'm sure....

Half a Tangerine

sketchbook

... and then half of it :) I am really loving this Cadmium Orange color, I have to say. And Prussian Blue, too. Oh, well, I love all colors, don't I? Silly me....

#741

Tangerine

sketchbook

Orange and blue are wonderful together, aren't they? Happies :)
#740

Tea and Spoon - Payne's Grey

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

.... and it's a 5 day auction starting at like 10 tonight. I was trying for harmony, but something to really make the tea "pop" too, so there's some paynes grey in everything- which was particularly great with the spoon. Lots of fun. Maybe I should do more flatware? Anyways, I'm posting with a naked almost-3-month-old on my lap, so I probably ought to go... :)

#739

Marbles Sketch

sketchbook

#738

Early Spring Sketch

sketchbook

From some photos from Duke Gardens about a week ago, I believe. I imagine they're all frost-bitten now :( The blue is Primary Cyan and Titanium White... I tend to overlook Cyan, I don't know why, but it's a lovely mixer for so many colors....

#737

Daylily II - Gold

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Little bit of summer time here in the middle of this crazy freakin' cold front. Truly Crazy. I mean the weather lady said the last time it got like this was in '77.... since I wasn't born till '82, I'm allowed to think that's a long time, right?

#736

Calla Lily

sketchbook

Wow, isn't this just an amazing background color? Not entirely sure how I wound up at a purple-blue background for a mostly green-gold flower, but I think it works! Now I want to try the same thing larger... but that's the idea with all of the sketches, I know. Like yesterday's apricot, seeing what something would look like set against the super-dark background, all high and kind of to one side. And here saying hm, weird colors, but maybe.... and then huh, that worked!
I'm not making any sense this evening, am I? Can I blame it on the Monday thing? Post holidays something or another?
#735

Apricot V

sketchbook

More about the composition than anything else, here. Enjoying the tinkering... and still having trouble believing it's already "next year", honestly. 2010 sounds so sci-fi, doesn't it?

#734

Red Pansy

sketchbook

The colors came out kind of violent, didn't they? But I like them. Purple shadows are always interesting.

#733

Cedar Sketch

sketchbook

Just a doodle from Duke Gardens, an interesting tree.... I really simplified the background, though. Wondered how it would look with just the tree there, I guess.

#732

Glasses Sketch

#731

Nautilus IV: Recognition

12x12 acrylic on hardboard panel

Thrilled to pieces with this one, but I don't have any great insights or anything to go with it, I'm afraid. Well, maybe that with pearlescent stuff like this shell you really want to go overboard with the colors in really thin layers... and then tone it back again with greys and whites. And then go overboard again. And then tone it back. And then- but you get the idea. Or at least that's how I have to work on stuff like this, for the texture and for that touchable look, you know? How do you do it?

And it's the end of the year.... I'm 27 today, and the Small Serious Creature, the Tiny Perfect One, is 11 weeks and two days. It's almost 2010. And on Friday this blog will be two years old. I'm feeling a smidge overwhelmed, thinking about all of this, but I'm sure I'll be fine once I'm through posting and back to painting :)

#730

The Front Door

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

... and now something cooler, old fashioned, peaceful.... but mostly painted for the challenge of trying to represent the metal. Lots of fun :)

#729

Golden Rose

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

Little bit of sunshine, here in the middle of winter.

#728

Red Plum

sketchbook

Hello! Sooooo soory about the interruption... it's funny. most bloggers seem to be posting more regularly for Christmas.... I have no idea how they manage it! Maybe as a sort of pre-New Year's resolution? Hm.... anywho, I'm all caught up now and ready to be back in the groove! Hugs and happies all around :)

#727

Hershey's Kiss

#726

Little Apple

#725

Three Acorns

#724

Lotus

#723

Orange Segments II

5x7 acrylic on panel

This is a reworking, actually... much improved, much brighter. And oranges are kind of a Christmas-y thing too, aren't they? Bah humbug :)

#722

Naomi Sketch V

#721

Portrait Sketch

#720

Camellias: Red and White

collection of Wesley Fisher

A commision that I thoroughly enjoyed :) Apparently Mr. Fisher grows these prize-winning camellias down in Charleston SC, and his lovely daughter Michelle commissioned a painting of a couple of them. Don't they just jump right off the canvas at you? *happies*

#719

Naomi

Love how her little ear and her visible eye turned out... but I'm not happy with it overall. Oh, well- win some, lose some, right?
#718

Eggplant V

6x6 acrylic on hardboard panel

Silver Mug Sketch

#716

Pear and Windowsill

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

'nother pear. Love these guys :)

#715

Fuzzy

sketchbook

.... one of the many cuddlies belonging to The Small Pink One.

#714

Prickly

sketchbook

What the devil are these things called, anyways? Not fun to step on barefooted, surprisingly fun to draw.

#713

Paint Tube

sketchbook

Ok, the brain just isn't working today at all, but I had to do something, right? And what does an artist always seem to have on hand? You guessed it :)

#712

Rose and Wine Sketch

sketchbook

... just an idea for a proper painting, I suppose.

#711

Cherry Shot II

5x7 acrylic on panel

Can't chat much, Her Royal Cuteness is going to need my hand back here in a second. Hugs all around!

#710

Toffee

sketchbook

Just having fun :) Shiny, bright orange, wrapped around something sweet.... how can you resist?

#709

Radishes II

sketchbook

#708

Diner Coffee

6x6 acrylic on panel

... and this is a re-working of "Coffee?", and it is ever so much better now. I love it when other artists have those wonderful all-high-key or all-low-key paintings that really just glow.... but I need contrast when I work. Like I absolutely love other artists who just have that marvelous virtuoso brushwork, it seems so spontaneous and fresh... and then it never feels right if I try it. I just need layers and cross-hatchies and more layers. But it's a good thing, you know? I love my style. And I can buy work from other artists who are wonderful at what they do, and then I can have it to admire, too. Best of all worlds.

#707

Lilies II

8x10 acrylic on canvas

Back to those gorgeous lilies from Duke Gardens, trying out a composition I guess based more on an arc, as opposed to last time where I really played up the squareness of the composition... is it weird that I don't like one concept decisively more than the other? Well, it's just about sunlight on flowers anyways, and I believe I got that. Do you see the shadows from the pistils and stamen cast across the petal on that topmost flower? Surprising little details like that are so much fun :)

#706

Egg XII

6"x6" acrylic on board

on display at the NC Specialty Hospital

#705

Egg XI

6"x6" acrylic on board

on display at the NC Specialty Hospital

#704

Egg X

6"x6" acrylic on board
On display at the NC Specialty Hospital

#703

Leaves

sketchbook

#702

Iron

sketchbook

note to self: yellow backgrounds are fun!

#701