“Cobalt Bowl and Delicata” 5×7″ SOLD
After painting the oranges sitting in bowls I thought it would be interesting to experiment with a glass bowl, and so I pulled out the smallest of a set of cobalt blue pyrex mixing bowls. Here’s a picture of my little table with various items waiting to become the subject of another painting.
“Mandarin Bowl II” 5×7in
This is the same bowl and orange that I posted yesterday, but from a different perspective. I really liked the back-lit orange, but I’m not as happy with my rendering of the overall shape of the bowl. After doing mostly landscape for so long, I’m finding the perfect ellipse of circular objects in perspective to be rather challenging.
“Mandarin Bowl” 5×7″ oil/panel. SOLD.
After painting apples, pears and mandarin oranges on their own for the last few days, I wanted to change it up a bit and pulled out one of my Japanese bowls. I really like the shadows and reflections in the bowl, but I can’t seem to take a photograph that reproduces the colors in the shadows to the right of the bowl accurately. They aren’t as inky black as the photo implies, but have a lot of subtle color in them.
“Three Mandarins” 5×7″ oil on canvas SOLD
These little mandarins are proving to be very interesting subjects. I really like how they reflect light on each other, and each one has it’s own character. I’ve also been pulling out different fabrics to use as backdrops, and it’s been interesting to see how the colors in the fabric interacts with the oranges.
“Thanksgiving Mandarins” 5×7″ buy now at my Etsy store
At Thanksgiving dinner, I met a couple that grow mandarins, and they gave us a bag to take home. So of course after eating a half dozen of them, they became the focus of some new still lifes.
“Two Pears” 5×7″ contact me to purchase.
This is the second painting from my pear still life set up. For this painting I used the natural light from the window. The pear lying down gave me no end of grief, and I’m still not sure it looks like a real pear.
“Red Pear”, 5×7″ oil on canvas board. SOLD.
I did two little paintings this morning, and this is the first. I love these red pears. They have very thin skins and wonderful flavor. And their color is spectacular. I set this one up with a studio light to get a strong cast shadow, and I really liked how the reflected light bounced around to the back of the pear.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth this past weekend at Ft. Mason. It was a pretty slow show, but I talked to a lot of very nice people. I spent a fair amount of time sketching the network of girders supporting the roof, which was an interesting exercise in perspective and composition.
“Pink Lady Apples” 5×7″ SOLD
It was too wet today to paint outside, so I set up a couple of apples in the studio and did a still life. I forgot how gratifying it can be to work with a subject where the light isn’t changing every minute.
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I find framing work to be fraught with difficult choices. But after playing around in the shop (otherwise known as the garage) last weekend, I put together some frames for the little paintings that I’m really happy with. They’re made from reclaimed oak flooring that has some beautiful character, and they seem to complement the paintings without overwhelming them, which is always a delicate balance.
If you’re in the SF Bay Area, I hope you’ll be stopping by the Serendipity show this weekend at Ft. Mason to see some of these paintings in person. I’ll have a number of the small paintings from my painting a day project, as well as woodcuts and larger paintings. In other words, something for everyone.
“Long Shadows” oil on canvas 5×7in.
I love this painting. It’s a wonderful feeling when a painting comes together almost by magic. These two barns are the same location as this painting.
“Barns” oil on canvas, 5×7″
What a relief to be painting again. After all the rain last night, the air was clear and brilliant. I painted this one on my way home in the afternoon. I did a little wandering and found a dead-end road that was amazingly peaceful considering the traffic I’d left behind. But all I could hear were the sparrows and phoebes calling. The sun was just sinking behind the hills as I was working, and it lit up the ends of the barns and the new green grass, but I could have used another half hour of light for this one.
Available for purchase: $75 plus shipping. Contact me for more information.