Plate of Persimmons

6" x 6"
Oil on Panel

This one makes me happy and might turn into a series. 

All of these current, smaller paintings will be for sale at a local Christmas Home Tour on Sunday, December 8th. I will be posting the details of this event in the next few days on my blog and Facebook. 

Pomegranate with Blue pot

Oil on Panel
6"x 6"

I have always been fascinated by the inside of a Pomegranate; the seeds look like little gems. In addition to being a beautiful fruit, they are the most powerful anti-oxidant of all fruits. If you have never tried one, they are delicious, but can be time consuming to eat if you don't know how to properly peel it. However, I just came across a YouTube video that shows the correct way to peel and eat a pomegranate. There are too many powerful health benefits to pass on eating them, with their ability to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and other cardiac risk factors. I'll be eating many more now that I know how to peel them. This one was so much fun paint, I'll be painting them more too.

Sweet Taste of Summer

12" x 12"
Oil on Panel
$250.00
Click Here to Purchase

Nothing is more refreshing than a slice of cold watermelon in the middle of summer; I love painting fruit, but watermelon is one of my favorites. I spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging this still life trying to create variety in the color, value, and texture. I love when a painting has mostly light, or middle value tones with one dark object like the brown, glass bottle in this one. I was glad to paint my favorite salt shaker too, but the question is - to salt, or not to salt?

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.

Peaches in Green

8" x 8"
Oil on Canvas

I set up this still life after a trip to the local Farmer's Market this summer; however, I never got around to painting it, so this was done from a photo.

$65.00 - Click here to purchase

Strawberry Shortcake

6" x 8"
Oil on Hardboard

I did this painting a couple of weeks ago as a part of my "stacked" series, but didn't post it because I had planned on fixing a few details. Today, I decided that I was not going to fret over the little things and be happy with the "big picture" - so here it is . This past weekend, my family and I were in a terrible car accident. I am happy to report that we all walked away with minor injuries. So what better way to celebrate life, than with dessert. Enjoy!
I will be donating 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this painting to "The Help the Children of Africa Challenge". Daily Paintworks has organized this fundraiser to help the children starving in the Horn of Africa due to the devastating drought.

Click here to bid on this painting

Watermelon Reflections

6" x 6"
Oil on Masonite
Sold

Carol Marine posted this week's DPW Challenge titled, "The Upside Down Challenge". 
Carol wrote:
 "Often when we are trying to render a subject we SEE one thing but our BRAIN tells us something different. And too often we trust our brains when we shouldn’t, and our art ends up looking awkward. There are several “tricks” for getting past what our brain is telling us. Chief among these is SQUINTING! But another way to practice is painting upside down. Unfortunately the only practical way to do this is from a photo."