It started when shopping for fruits and veggies. I saw a bunch of large tangerines in the center of the fruit display. They had large gnarly green leaves attached. I would include them as they would add a special touch to the bowl of fruit I’d create. I tilted the bottom of my support to change the point of view just a little to add additional interest. Primarily, I used a palette knife but not for everything. Always a challenge but I enjoyed creating this colorful energetic painting.
I haven’t painted with a palette knife in quite a long time. I loved doing so. Of course the grapes were the most fun. Including grapes just popped into my head and I went with it. I can just hear you now. Don’t worry, I will do more – I love all of this texture!
That’s what a friend said when she saw this painting. Perhaps she was referring to the light hitting the peony petals, but for me it has two meanings, as we hopefully we soon move toward the end of this election – and hopefully with Trump gone!
I created another peony painting this past week – below – but it no longer exist.
I broke the panel and threw it away. I have a bit of regret, I must say. I think I should take a couple days at least before I do these impulsive things – but I won’t dwell on it. One really cannot SEE a painting clearly if it is completed in a day. One is far too close to it at that time. I couldn’t see fully the merits or the faults. It’s pretty amazing what one does see a couple days later – or perhaps a week later when you’ve moved a bit past the “touchup” and “fix it” mode. It’s a very different experience – but at the time – I felt the need to break something!! The peonies in this painting are actually pretty well done. So I will make this a rule for myself – WAIT.
Obviously flowers are my subject matter of choice. I didn’t know this would be the case when I began to paint. The fact is that flowers are colorful and joyful. Who doesn’t like to receive a bouquet of flowers! I’m painting happiness and given so many of the policies and practices in this country – I need it! Hope you’re having a good week. May MY candidates win!! Winifred
I’ve seen so many paintings of potted geraniums. Most often the plant is in a clay pot with a watering can next to it, perhaps in front of an old shed. You’ve seen those. Now I’ve painted my version with a simple background. In addition to the bright red geraniums, I love the accent of the Bacopa with it’s tiny white cluster of petals. Many people don’t know this plant but it is a wonderful, profusely blooming water loving plant that does well in containers, hanging baskets and even as a ground cover. There’s always some growing in my containers and one always finds it in bloom. I skipped using a clay pot, though I do love them. It’s a classic image item. I decided to use a ceramic pot instead. I’ve had this pot for a while but couldn’t plant in it because it didn’t have a drainage hole. Finally I saw a YouTube video that showed how to drill holes in glass, ceramic or clay pots. I immediately purchased diamond drill bits and put holes in all kind of glass containers. Anyway, this allowed me to grow a geranium in my pot. By the way, I propagated 14 new geraniums, last fall and they’re are all currently in bloom. The geranium I propagated is a different kind of geranium from this one with a very different color and petals. You’ll see it at some point.
Have a wonderful week and I hope this brings you cheer. I know – it kind of feels like Christmas. Winifred
I felt compelled to create a painting which reflected some aspect of the pandemic which largely dominates our lives. I chose to focus on the loss of life. The elements of this painting were born in my imagination – scary huh!! I have never painted a story from imagination before. It’s a visual story which you may describe in any way you want. It has to stand on it’s on. I’m discovering more about my mind all the time. I’m pleased. There may be those who are horrified. That’s okay too. I have flowers for you. In the above painting, I am particularly pleased with the movement, design and flow, the color palette and the mood established. Painting this was quite an experience. My objective is not just to do pretty or happy paintings.
I make products to mix with my oil paints to give texture to my paintings, when that’s what I want. For this floral painting, I used a mixture I’ve not used before and I like the results. The vase is so luminous. There will be more.
Well my containers are growing well – lots of strawberries, kale – and for the first time cherry tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, parsley, mustard greens, and more – easy stuff. Of course there are lots of flowers also. I hope you’re having a good week, it whatever form it takes. Nothing is like it use to be. My biggest news is I returned my worms to the worm farmer I got them from. She was happy to have them back. Vermicomposting was a great experience. I found myself sad the following day – I missed my red wigglers.
Firstly – Happy Mother’s Day!! I hope it is an enjoyable day no matter how you spend it. Finally back to normal sized paintings! I painted a vintage tapestry background for this painting – initially. I loved it. It had been challenging to do but ultimately I didn’t love it any more. Mainly the colors weren’t working and because it was complex, it would not be an easy fix to correct, so I decided to paint a drape instead – it was fun to paint a drape. I’m going to keep comments short today. Have a great day. Hugs to all. Winifred
The photo reference for this painting was taken in my kitchen with the vase sitting on a counter facing the window. The refrigerator and more counters were behind me. When I looked at the photo, I noticed interesting shapes. Honey colored cabinets were upper right and formed a shape – another shape was formed by the area under the cabinets extending down to the back counter. The stainless refrigerator was upper left and formed a shape. Then there is the counter the vase rest on and the lower triangle is the side of the counter which extends to the floor. I could combine some shapes and leave others separate. I knew I could work these shapes into the overall design if the painting. The vase was ceramic with stripes of color. I tried to work with the stripes this but It didn’t work. It’s interesting how simplifying the color of the vase and creating highlights give it the illusion of a gold/bronze colored metal. The design of the flowers and the design on the dark background just showed up in my head. I welcome these creative visions whenever they wish to enter and guide me. Below – roses.
I’m glad I spent so much time and effort this past year, making roses a friendlier subject to paint. The softness of this painting comes from using a “mop brush” on the painting before it is dry to soften and blur edges. This brush can be used selectively or all over – depending on the look I want to give. I enjoy the feeling of the the heat and sun on these roses.
Lots of intense color. I love that I can create “gold metallic” where none exist. This painting took way to much time, but it captures a certain space in my home which I see everyday. The orange strip on the right is the edge of a bookcase full of art books.
I love texture but there’s really not this much texture in this painting. This texture only reflects the way the light hit the texture and exaggerated it. I should have rephotographed it – but I didn’t. Just think of it smoother. The vase was a cream color – and it did work but decided I an intense blue would be more interesting. You know what VanGogh said about blue, orange and yellow. It’s true – those colors are beautiful together.
I’ve referred many times to “cradle box” past couple of weeks and I’ve been ask – “what is a cradle box”. Above – you can see what it is. I’ve now begun to paint the edges. There seems to be no more small cradle boxes remaining on the planet!! I’ve looked everywhere I know to look – mine were purchased more than 2 years ago. Sizes now seem to start at 8×8 inches.
Hope you’re enjoying this small painting series with me. Only 2 cradle boxes remain blank, which I will paint this week. I could conceivably repaint a larger painting from any painting in this series because I have worked out the color palette and design. Many artist do this so as not to have to experiment with design and color in a large painting. Certainly this makes a lot of sense. I will take this under consideration. (: Hope you’re staying safe.
It’s been nearly 2 years since I created both the paintings I’m sharing today. I found this painting a bit odd and it probably is, hence I hesitated to share it. But for me it has stood the test of time and I have no desire to toss it and I toss paintings pretty easily if I cannot enjoy them. In the above painting, I enjoyed the process of creating the vine foliage form, dimension, texture, color and movement. I find it interesting to view. Still, It’s a bit unusual but I think it has merit. Below, I primarily painted foliage again:
For some reason I think I wrongly consider foliage insufficient as painting content – though in fact there are many other elements included in this still life. It’s just the mind attempting to undermine my efforts, as it does sometimes, but I held onto this painting because in fact, I know better.
I’ve been working on a new painting from a Venice reference. It’s 16×20 which takes more effort to paint and to resolve it’s issues. Perhaps I can share it next week. Please stay safe as we navigate through this Coronavirus event.
The painting was completely from imagination – except for the cat! I couldn’t sufficiently visualize cat anatomy in the curled sleeping position. I found a photo and loosely sketched it’s form and then painted it. The flowers didn’t start out as tulips. My sketch had bulbous shapes at the end of a stem. That would have been fine also, but I began to see tulips, so tulips they became.
This still life painting was as much fun to paint as it appears. I made a sketch from imagination and then painted it. My surface is a very textured panel I created, then painted with a thin rich yellow underpainting. I mixed my other paint colors with a medium I made to thicken and strengthen the paint layer I would apply. This product would also isolate the paint layers to keep addition paint application from readily mixing thereby keeping the paint colors very rich. I could brush various colors over the underpainting and the new paint would attach only to the peaks of the panel texture – depending on brush pressure.
Another thing different about this painting is the brushes I used to create addition texture variability. Notice the kitty and the fringed rug the kitty is lying on. Normal brushes don’t easily make marks like those. I took otherwise perfectly good bristle brushes and cut/chopped the bristles to create irregular configurations. This made a big difference in brush marks throughout. I have created a whole set of these strange brushes in varying sizes and shapes.
I don’t normally spend so much time talking about my paintings on my blog but I’ve done so because I find this to be such a fun joyful painting with a different kind of look. Hope you enjoy!