Daffodil on Gold

The daffodils are blooming like crazy even though we've had rainy cool weather.  I like how sculptural these flowers are and how lovely and translucent the light struck areas.  This was painted with lots of juicy medium - I wiped out a lot of the lights so the whites are thinly painted.  I try to put each color down once, but I always wind up going back into areas, wiping out  and repainting.

Yellow Cup and Yellow Peppers on Yellow

I was kind of carried away with the intense yellow theme.  But yellows are fun to paint - how do you make a dark yellow? If you add black pigment, yellow turns green.  You can add the complement, purple, and that makes a warm brown.  So somewhere between the two is where I aimed.  I may try this one again only using less saturated color.

Single Camellia

This painting  is from last year when the camellias were blooming.  (We've had a late cold spring so no spring camellias so far).  I like the stiff leaves and the waxy petals, and I enjoy the odd stiff composition created by those stiff leaves.  I also enjoyed the flower color; dark enough to suggest the deep center, but light enough to show translucency.  

Yellow Cup, Red Peppers on Red

This painting is full of saturated color.  The sweet red peppers on top of a red tabletop threw a lot of red tone into the yellow cup.  It was a lot of fun going for strong colors.  The painting to look at when you need a cheery color to wake you up.

Vinegar and Saffron

The small bottle contains a pinch of very expensive saffron.  It contains more air than spice, but it's sealed with a nice cork and some gold twine and looks very impressive.  When I arranged this composition, I cropped the fork and spoon and vinegar bottle to create some interesting negative shapes.

Salt Shaker and Spoon on Brown

This salt shaker with its shiny silver top has lots of sparkle and reflection.  So when I added the shiny spoon I decided to simplify the background to keep the composition from being too busy.

Yellow Cup, Red Peppers on Gray

These colors really sing against a neutral gray background.  I like the spots of reflected red in the cup. Cropping the cup in the top of the painting puts the viewer closer to the subject and creates interesting shapes. 

Orange Slices on Lavender and Gold

Another view of my favorite green plate. It's just the right size to hold three orange slices and it's such a great color.
Orange slices are always a challenge; they're translucent, they have strong saturated color, and they have lights, darks, and cast shadows.

Gold Topped Vinegar Bottle

This bottle keeps showing up in my still life paintings.  I like the shape and size and really enjoy the color in the cap and label. Plus it's shiny, and paired with a shiny fork and spoon the painting sparkles.

Five Red Apples on Gray

I painted this in a workshop taught by Carol Marine.  Apples are one of her favorite subjects so I thought I'd give it a try. I chose delicious apples because they have a wonderful even red color.  When you paint  an apple that is multicolored red and green stripes it's hard to describe the red and green colors without suggesting planes of light and shadow.