Three Cherries on Blue SOLD

It's cherry season again.  I like the black cherries because they're sweet, but I find it is easier to paint the red cherries because there's more middle value to exploit.   That's what painting is--rearranging the facts to suit the art. 

Pink Wall

Passengers and reflections on the Vashon-Fauntleroy ferry.  I just entered this painting in the Bold Brush painting competition which is a monthly online Art Competition.  Those of you who use facebook can vote for a favorite painting (the favorites get valuable free PUBLICITY)  To see all the entries go to  http://canvoo.com/boldbrush/paintings
and to vote for MY painting go to      http://canvoo.com/boldbrush/painting/11659  and then "like" the painting.     If you are not a facebook user, you do have to sign up with facebook in order to cast a vote.  That's all, it's free.  And thank you to all the facebook users who participate.

Five Red Cipollini

These little red onions have the flattened shape of a cippolini.  Maybe a recipe for sweet & sour onions (cipollini agrodolce) would be good. 

Eglantine on Gray and Orange

The Eglantine Rose is the Sweetbriar Rose of Shakespeare.  It has wicked thorns and makes an impenetrable hedge with long arching canes.  These are the last of the flowers but in a month or two I'll be getting red rose hips to paint. 

Orange and Blue Variations

I like those reflected lights.  Oranges and a blue cup, a theme that I return to again and again, as long as I can find oranges for sale. And I like those lost edges on the cup rim, in the plate rim, between the oranges slices, etc.   

Slice of Lime

The pulp of a lime is a very delicate color- hard to describe.  Sometimes its just a very pale green.  Sometimes, when it's backlit, there's a little yellow in the green. Sometimes when it's in shadow there's a bit of lavender.  Cool but summery. 

Oranges, Glass Bowl, Blue Cloth SOLD

A clear glass bowl is exciting to paint because you have to analyze what it is that you're looking at.  Is it the oranges seen through the glass or a bit of color reflected from the background or the tablecloth?   And I had fun with the oranges - getting the shadows and reflections without overworking.

Bowl of Red Grapes

The idea for this painting was the translucence of the grapes so I set the light slightly behind as well as above the grapes, so the light would shine through the grapes.  But then, the light made these wonderful strong reflected highlights on the sides of the bowl. The challenge of the painting became those paired highlights.  How to make the bowl seem round while in silhouette.

"Right Leaning Madronas" SOLD

Another painting of the Madrona forest on the south end of Maury Island where I live.  These trees all grew at the same time and competed fiercely with one another.  They lean out over the hillside catch more sunlight.  (I subtitled this painting "Republican Madronas.")  This painting will be in the annual art auction to benefit Vashon Allied Arts in September.

Red Cherries on Gray SOLD

It's cherry season again.  And I have twenty five pounds of cherries in the refrigerator.   To pit or to paint?
I like the colors of this painting.  Black and red are so chic! Those blue purple reflections make the light struck areas seem yellower and warmer

Red Onion with Jaunty Stem

The word "jaunty" makes me think of the comic book villain "Arms Akimbo" who was forced (by his evil parents) to become a model as a child.  He spend so many years posing with his arms bent at a jaunty angle that his arms became permanently stuck in that pose.

Madronas and Distant Water SOLD

I live on the edge of a Madrona Forest in Puget Sound. There was a forest fire here about 60 years ago and all the Madrona trees date from that time.  As they grew they twisted out over the hill to catch the light.   They have both rough and smooth bark.  The rough bark is a lavender gray.  The smooth bark is usually a greenish gold, but in the summer the smooth bark turns dark brick red, splits and reveals a new green-gold bark underneath.