Apples and Pottery

This will be my last post for a few days as I start nights tomorrow.  I am always glad to go back to work after I have been off for a week but I really miss having time to paint.  It's just working all night and sleeping all day and I don't have the energy to paint.  I am going to try and do a bit of drawing, though, during some of my breaks at work.

Turquoise and Red

Today I went to a luncheon with 7 other artists to honour one of our group, Sharon Sullivan, who is moving from her house on the Ottawa River to an adorable apartment in Ottawa.  She is looking forward to spending more time with her family and will be closer to shopping, groups of like-minded individuals and in the city mix.  She is a very fun person to be with and I know she will liven up her new apartment building.  The painting is one I did last week before my 12 hour day shift.  It took me until now to get it photographed and ready to post.  I love the combination of red and turquoise - very soothing and exciting at the same time.

Pears

This painting was done a few weeks ago and I am finally posting it today.  I have been very busy with my new job and I am suffering from "spring fever". Both previously mentioned conditions have reduced my time at the easel and computer.  At least that is my excuse.

Orange Slices

Wow! Spring is finally here, at least for a few days. It has been above freezing for a couple of days in a row.  There were lots of new challenges with this painting - the glass plate, the orange slices, and I really had to fiddle with the edge between the pink and the pale grey on the background, so it wasn't so hard.

Turquoise vase

The days are getting longer, the sun is brighter, and I can feel the energy increasing in the environment.  But the last days of winter are bittersweet - I love the crisp beautiful winter landscape and being out in it - on the other hand shovelling snow, driving on icy roads, cleaning snow and ice off the car after work at midnight after an evening shift are getting real old!  So spring, come on in.

Statue Challenge

This weeks Daily Paintworks challenge was to paint a statue.  I used a Royal Doulton figurine that my Mom gave me a few years ago.  Her name is " Mary, Countess Howe".  Hmmmm?  It was a great challenge making me do a figure, I always shy away from doing people - They require such a great deal of skill with drawing and proportions - Not my forte.

February Brights

This will be my last post for a few days as I now change from my artist mode to my nurse mode .  I'm working the next few days so will not have time to paint.

Pink Callas

More cloudy, snowy February days.  Flowers are needed!  The same flowers as the last post but I made the paint thicker and juicy.

Calla Lilies

I worked very hard on this painting to get the shadows the right value.  Matching values from life and mixing them is a challenge central to representational art, but darned hard if you ask me!

Green Glass and Apples

I spent most of today inside, it was another grey day in Ontario.  I enjoyed using lots of bright colour which actually brightened my mood and inspired me to go for a walk in the woods near our house after my painting session.  Yay colour.

Lemons and Daisies

Today I thought I would experiment  a little bit with some different colour harmonies using the same setup I used a few days ago.  It was very interesting to see what worked and what didn't as I moved things around and used different objects.  I was happy with the final result in the painting but I failed to capture the subtle whites of the daisies in the photograph.   It seems to be an art itself, that of taking digital photographs of paintings and presenting them.

Lemons and Lilies

It has been cold and cloudy for weeks so I thought it was time to bring on the colour.

Apple and Cup

This little painting I did in response to the non-dominant hand challenge on Daily Paintworks.  It was more fun than I ever could have imagined.  Using my left hand to paint really slowed me down but made me look hard at what I was doing.  My hand was a little shaky and weak but somehow the brush strokes came off strong looking.  I will definitely try this technique again.  I have been painting and drawing quite a lot during January but have not posted much - due to the winter blahs I think.  Now that spring is much closer I intend to share more of my work.

Green Cup

This was last week's sketch with Marina.  At first I wasn't happy with the painting, then I realized that the sense of light was really quite pretty, so with a little judicious cropping the image is not too bad.  The drawing could be better and the shadow is missing from the apple but I love the green/pink colour harmony and decided to post it on the strength of that.

Doodle # 3

I have had a great week searching Google, Pintrest, and lots of blogs, finding the most amazing drawings.  It has opened up a whole world of artists whose works are so creative and enchanting.  Thanks to Carol Marine who suggested the challenge and who mentioned Zentangle which was the beginning of my new obsession.

Doodle # 2

Another flight of fancy.  I am enjoying Carol's challenge of doing something new for 2013 - Drawing with black ink on white paper with no direction in mind is so enjoyable - the hand, heart, and mind mingle freely and go were they will.

Doodles

This is my entry to this week's Daily Paintworks challenge.  The challenge was to try something different and new for 2013.  Carol Marine mentioned Zentangles in the challenge so I went to Google and looked it up and found a whole world of people who do this fabulous doodle art.  I had a great time just 'doodlin'.

Tangerines and Blue glass

This painting started out featuring a new honey pot I received for Christmas: unwittingly as I moved things around setting up the composition I moved the honey pot completely out of the picture!  I am enjoying getting back into the studio a couple of days a week now that the holidays are over.

Apples in Marina's Green Bowl

I was inspired by the painting Marina did yesterday of apples in some bowls and decided it would be right for today.  We had such a great afternoon of painting.  I enjoyed the shiny brilliance of  the red apples and the reflecting surface of the bowl.  It was also a great inspiration to see all of the artists on Leslie's blog - especially those of the "Smartists".

Red Pears

These pears were too beautiful to leave in the grocery store in Ottawa last week when Phil and I went shopping.  It took me a few days to get to painting them but I enjoyed the time spent very much.  The shadow of the bowl on the plate was the most tricky part of the painting - getting the colour and the value as close as I could to what I was seeing.

Three Apples

Apples are quickly becoming my favorite subject.  I am attracted to the colour and the shiny skin.  I guess I am also enjoying the fact that they are large, bold objects and are much easier to produce a pleasing design, than smaller more intricate objects.

Salsa and Jalapenos

On Friday, my first day off I attempted the jars of Salsa that Connie gave me to paint.  It ended up being a wiper that day but I repeated the painting with a few minor changes to the design the next day and was pretty happy with the result.  I hope Connie likes the paintings I have done of her preserves.  I know my paintings will last longer than the preserves - Connie is legendary for making delicious dill pickles, hot crab apple jelly, salsa and jams.  Not to mention that she is a great cook and fabulous baker, a woman to know and love.

Connie's Pickles

I am continuing to have a good time painting jars of my friend Connie's pickles and preserves.  The photo of this one is not as true to the original colour as I would like, it seems a little washed out.

Connie's Crabapples

My friend Connie who made the crabapple jelly from my previous post brought me these little apples to paint.  They have a beautiful bloom on the skin which is a real challenge.  I have a few in the refrigerator and when I finish my evening shifts over the weekend I am going to try these little beauties again.

Connie's Hot Crabapple Jelly

This beautiful jar of red crabapple jelly was made by my friend Connie, a nurse I work with.  The biggest challenge in my setup was getting the light positioned so that it shone through the jelly revealing the gorgeous red colour.  It was fun to paint and Connie has supplied me with several jars of her home preserves which I am really looking forward to painting.