Peonies and Pears (large)

30"x24" oil on 1.5" deep gallery wrapped canvas

For more information, or to purchase, click here.

The peonies have been heavenly this year! My only 'beef' is that they don't last long enough...especially if it rains! Right after they first opened, we had several days of rain...so of course I started cutting bouquets (trying to save them). Umm, yeah, several bouquets. Well, perhaps more than several. My husband was sure I had lost my mind. A neighbor kid coming around to get a petition signed, saw the table full of bouquets and asked, "Wow, are you a florist"? 

Okay, it's official - I am obsessed with peonies! Is there a support group?

Grand Tulips! (or- Forever Spring!)

 

36"x36"x2.5" contemporary deep profile canvas

To purchase, or for more information, click here.

So far, "Forever Spring" is in the lead for 'name this painting' (a poll I was taking on FB & Twitter).  Usually the name of a painting evolves in my head as I'm working on a painting. Sometimes the name comes first and the painting follows. 

Here's how this one began, on a chilly Spring day, when I brought a load of fresh tulips into the studio, and I had this wonderful canvas that I was saving just for a big batch of flowers like this: 

I adjust my lights, and place everything how I'd like it. Then I just sit and look at it, and consider how I'd like these shapes I'm seeing to fit into that large square shaped canvas. I squint down...which helps to eliminate color, so that you can see 'value'- the darkness vs. the lightness of each area of your design & how it relates to each other. As I'm looking at these items, I'm also considering the main colors I want in this composition. I decide that instead of these red delicious apples, they are going to be Granny Smith apples, as I'm thinking I want that particular green.  I've chosen green to be the dominant color in this composition with fuchsia red tulips as my focal point, particularly the one with the bit of orange-yellow on the stem...which is just enough of a contrast against all those blue flowers  for a nice spark. One thing that I've brought into my paintings over the years is the avoidance of 'rendering'. I prefer more of an 'interpretation' so that I might control color and design rather than be slave to what I see in front of me. Arranging a still life to work from has become the 'jumping off point' from which my paintings progress. 

Anyway, once I draw in (with paint) the basic placement of each element in the painting, I being the under-painting. 

I lay in these shapes loosely with thin transparent colors.  Usually with a brush, sometimes with a knife on this layer.  When working large, I set aside large blocks of time, so that I can continue to work wet into wet for as long as possible. As soon as the entire canvas is covered, then I keep the layering going, adding those subsequent layers with a palette knife.

Before I add these final layers, I'll use a rubber squeegee straight edge to break up the edges of hard items in the composition. Building up the layers as I go, I end up with this as my final result:

 If you're a painter, and would like to learn some more of these methods, consider joining in on my "Mentoring Mondays" during the month of March.  I'll talk more about them in detail in the next blog post. I have a limited space in my studio for students, so it's definitely first dibs gets the space!  Right now there is room for YOU! 

Here are some additional closeup details from "Forever Spring" (and yes, to bring this in even closer, press the control button  (on the left) and scroll up!)

Peegee Hydrangeas ACEO Floral Original Oil Painting

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to complete a commission for a "few more of these hydrangeas". I tickled pink- because I just LOVE these flowers! Can you tell I'm missing summer and having all these blossoms in my yard? Well, "Yes Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus....AND you can have flowers all winter long!"  That's the joy of having art- that wonderful reminder that winter won't last forever, and that wonderful sense of the joy of flowers is hard to resist! 

The other pieces that I completed for the commission were these 2 below, both hydrangeas, some of the blue variety in our yard, as well as Limelight hydrangeas (cuttings from my neighbor)

 

Which brings to mind another thought - if you have a particular flower you enjoy- I'm currently taking commissions for ACEOs - starting at $20. Here's the link to sign up!
 
It has been several years since I have used eBay as a place to sell, but I did enjoy it back in its 'heyday'.  I've begun a new series of ACEOs,  so far all florals - and I knew eBay would be the perfect place to highlight these! These little gems make a perfect gift idea! 

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!