back yard

This was painted from my back porch on Mother's Day. The last time this corinthian capital showed up in a painting was a couple of years ago while my Mom was visiting. This was a way for me to honor her in my heart that day. I have bowling balls in my yard, close to a dozen of them most in shades of blue and purple, though there is a dark red and a gold in the lot. A white soccer ball joined the bowling balls showing up in my lawn back in January. This week I noticed that some of the balls were getting lost in the grass. Today's post is to celebrate the fact that I just finished mowing the lawn. All balls are again in view.

8" x 8" oil on board

three vases

This is what I painted today. It's not all I've done since posting last, but there is always some reason for not posting. Not liking the the quality of the photos is my current excuse. Posting this gets something up before another day or night goes by.

These three vases happen to be on the table near my easel. I would need to find a place to put them if I wanted there space for another subject. I liked the style contrast of the three of them. The ribbed green and yellow vase; a piece of Catalina Pottery with a hairline crack – all space age and modern in design, 3 ribs extending down for support. The blue green vase in the foreground; thicker and less refined in construction juxtaposed with the sphere of thin yellow glass set askew on it's lip. The largest of the three, a deep cobalt blue with a glaze dripping in shades of light brown around it's shoulders is adorned with an art nouveau floral motif hand applied in gold. (Once half of a pair, it's twin now reduced to shards on a box)

10" x 8" oil on board

 

R.O.B.

This is: R.O.B. Robotic Operating Buddy. It is a Nintendo robot from 1985, it is hard to believe that is so long ago. I've had it for a while but haven't painted it before. I think it should be incorporated in a composition with other objects. It usually sits on a table holding a stack of bowls over a larger bowl, much like a chip and dip ensemble. Maybe now that he stands alone, he will be joined with other objects. I refer to it as "he" but gender if any is unknown.

8" x 8" oil on board

fruit and flowers

It been a while since I had boards to paint on. I ran out a few weeks back, found a couple here and there but they were few and far between. I did have some canvases but not the 8x8 or 8x10 panels I was used to painting on. I had to have some panels cut, I no longer have access to a table saw myself. I now have a stack almost 2 feet tall. Alas, they all needed to be gessoed, this set me back almost another two weeks. I don't enjoy applying gesso, I always end up wearing some of it. I did get some of them primed and ready to be painted on. I used two already, neither shown on this post. These paintings were products of the last of the boards I cut myself. The roses above and the papaya below both have a large Poppytrails platter as the subject's base. I like the green color of this dish with the oranges of the flowers and fruit. Actually, I selected this one for the fruit, it had not been put away when I was setting up the roses. I probably have a dozen large platters in shades of green, most are subtle shades between chartreuse and turquoise, that is not counting the very dark green one. Seems I also collect platters, at least they stack well. I realise the scale of the papaya is hard to judge. The fruit was close to a foot long, the platter a couple of inches larger. I seldom spend time with papayas, but knew the color of there flesh was something I wanted to paint.

both 8" x 8" oil on board

The camellias in the bottom painting were the last off the bush in front of my house. When I first moved here I felt lucky to have one or two flowers a year on this shrub. Who knew that if you water it once in a while it may decide to flower. It was covered with blossoms this year. This painting and the roses above share the same vase. I've had it for quite a while, it seems to have resurfaced, I can't recall when I used it last in a painting. I did open a few boxes (10) that were stored in my basement recently. I did not think it was out of action for nine years, but that may be the case. Time goes speeding by...

10" x 8" oil on canvas

Paint Devil & apple

Here are two more images that I painted while teaching at the senior center. I wanted to show a simple subject can have enough interest to stand alone. I walked into the center with no idea of what I would paint. I borrowed the apple from a student, set it on the nearest table top and started painting. The overhead florescent lights coming from every direction gave me (for lack of a better word) interesting shadows on the dull aluminum tabletop. I tried to show how casually I slapped down color, building up layers to create the effect that expressed the apple. I was not taking the painting to seriously while working on it, walking away often to see how everyone was doing.

The following week; again I walk in not knowing what I would paint. After spending time with each student to help them with there paintings. I started to look for something to paint. I found there was a lending library across the room. I selected these three books and started painting. Setting up the composition I kept in mind the advice I was giving my students. I wanted to be sure my painting did not have awkward indiscretions I just advised then to be aware of. The titles of the books were not an issue when I selected my subjects, colors, scale of image and patterns were my criteria. I did not notice what the bottom book said till after I was painting it. The words; PAINT DEVIL was all that showed, I found the juxtaposition of these word segments amusing enough to be sure they were readable. Seems right that muse and amusing are so similar. I like to keep things light hearted when I'm teaching.

both images are 8" x 10" oil on panel