Sunflowers with Pears

18" x 14"
Oil on Linen
$400.00
Click Here to Purchase

After working on a few paintings from photos, I have decided to get back to painting from life. In this painting, I tried to capture the strong sunlight coming in from the window, which illuminated the still life from behind. In the end, I am fond of a few areas in the painting, but not sure it all comes together as a finished piece. The composition was a challenge, along with harmonizing the colors. A friend suggested that I add something blue, hence the little vase, which turned out to be my favorite part of the painting.Thanks - E!
Tomorrow I head outdoors again for some more plein air painting!!

To-do List

6" x 6"
Oil on Panel
SOLD

I am notorious for creating too many to-do lists on little pieces of paper and then losing them! Thankfully, I now use my ipad for organizing all of my lists, which makes it harder to lose - it's a great tool, unless one of your kids deletes the app you were using to maintain the lists (this really did happen). Sigh....
I had a long list of to-do's today, so I thought I would focus on painting from life, in timed segments, and force myself to limit the number of strokes. I like the result, it is more painterly, and fresh.

Rainy Day Monday

6" x 6"
  Oil on Arches Paper
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$60.00

"Interior Views" is my theme for the month of February.

This is the view from my living room window on a rainy Monday; it really is a reflection of my mood for the day.

On Saturday, a box of art supplies arrived, including a pad of Arches paper made for oil painting. I have been wanting to try this paper for a while, but I think it will take some getting used to....

View this painting in my DPW Gallery.

Day 12 - "L" is for Le Sueur - Sold

5" x 7"
Oil on Panel
Sold

Maybe this is a stretch for "L", but I couldn't find any good reference photos of a landscape in my files - I really need to get out more.
"Le Sueur" is a brand of canned peas that my children love to eat. I happened to use the can as a vase for this beautiful Hydrangea and took a photo because I thought it would make a great painting. I will have to revisit this subject in a larger format, and paint from life instead of a photo.

FYI - The peas are not french as the name implies, Le Sueur is a town in Minnesota where the Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded. Gotta love Google and Wikipedia.

Day 4 - "D" is for Dishes

6" x 6"
Oil on Panel
$60.00
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It is only day 4 of the 30 day challenge and I am getting tired already, but having fun in the process. I have a whole new respect for those artists that have been producing daily paintings for a while.

Kitchen Window - Sold

8" x 10"
Oil on Hardbord

This is the view from my kitchen window, painted for this week's DPW challenge, "The Outside Your Window Challenge." I did not use a photograph this time - just set up my easel in the kitchen and got to work. My time was limited since I needed to finish before the kids woke up, which probably helped in keeping me from overworking the painting. I have to admit, I much rather paint the kitchen sink than clean it.