Apple Blossoms and Jelly Jar SOLD

Actually I think these are crabapple blossoms; they're a little early for apples, and the flowers are smaller and more abundant on the stem.  These were a gift - a few of my apple trees have started to bloom, but I hesitate to trim any of my flowers because that means less fruit in the fall.  I like how the flowers are suggested rather than individually painted.  And I like the quilted design in the jelly jar.   On my ETSY store

White Camellia Bouquet

The camelllia sasanqua is still blooming though we have snow and rain in the forecast for tomorrow.  It has a lovely tropical fragrance at odds with the cold weather.  I like the stiff leathery leaves against the soft white flowers. 

Boouquet of Dahlias SOLD

Summer is ending but the dahlias continue to bloom.  These luscious flowers are from a friend's garden.    Most of the flowers were in shadow in this set up; the light was in a small arc in the upper left hand corner of the painting.  To make this painting work I actually painted just a few petals; mostly I massed the values and suggest the colors. The very dark red flowers were like a black hole in the painting and I wound up lightening those flowers and limiting the amount of really dark paint.The fun was trying to make the whole bouquet read together as one thing with light and dark and volume.

Roses, Short Glass Jar SOLD

Another painting of my favorite roses.  The glass jar is almost as wide as it is tall, but it makes a nice shaped container for these short-stemmed roses.  When I set up a still life, I position the light to get the maximum drama; that means light from the side or from the back, and not from the front which flattens things out.  The side light filters through the petals and leaves, and there is just a bit of highlight on the rim of the petals.   Painted from a still life I set up in my studio. 

Purple Chives

Two tall white globe allium are towering over a patch of purple chives in my flower garden.  Since these are perennial, they are among the first flowers of spring.  Painted from photos I took in my garden.  This one is large-ish -  24" x 30".

White Allium

The flower garden around the house is wide.  This allows me to scrunch up next to the house and get views of the sunlight coming through the tall white flowering alliums.  These early summer flowers have thick stems and stand three to four feet tall, towering over the chives and mountain bluet growing beneath.  I picked several of the alliums for an indoor bouquet and they have a pungent smell, a hint of onions and garlic.  This is a larger painting 24" x 30."

Opening Daffodils

Spring has been early and this is the last of the field daffodils from the supermarket, though we still have many other varieties in our yard.  I can't resist these, they are so inexpensive and such a glorious riot of yellow.  I painted this with a cool dark gray background, but when it was done I added yellow ochre to the still wet gray to warm it up and make it all more harmonious. 

Jonquil Bouquet on Blue and Blue SOLD

This spring I painted many gray backgrounds; but this one is a little more lively.  I put this bouquet of white jonquils on blue and blue and blue.  These are early jonquils, some of the many bulbs that my daughter planted last fall.  The orange centered ones are small and have multiple flowers on each stem.  I really like the large area of blue and the strong contrasting whites and oranges.
On my ETSY Store

Yellow Daffodil, Square Glass Jar, on Blue

These were tiny yellow daffodils, multiple flowers on a single stem.  I'm really enjoying seeing all the varieties bloom; we planted so many last fall that we lost track of what was what, and now we've got surprises in white and yellow and orange.  I like the spring colors. 

Pink Camellia on the Table

Spring has come early to Puget Sound.  The camellias are putting on a show.   The flowers remind me of roses (but no scent) and the leaves are waxy and stiff.  When the weather gets wet, as it often does in spring, the petals turn brown almost instantly.  12" x 12" On my ETSY store

Two Carnations in a Glass Jar

The carnations lasted beautifully and I managed to get several paintings.  This is the last for a while; now I have flowers in the yard clamoring for my brush.   The painting is a closeup of a simple bouquet with only part of the glass jar visible. I like the bright stiff red flowers against the gray background. I like the dark gray and how it contrasts dramatically with the light green of the flowers and stems. Painted from a still life I set up in my studio.
On my Etsy store

Red Carnations with Green Wall

A painting of red carnations with a bit of green in the against the wall.  I've kept the colors minimal; red and green are complements and when you mix them together you get gray.  I like the light striking the flowers. 

Three Red Carnations in Square Glass Jar

Bright red carnations in a square glass jar.  I like the saturated reds against the dark grays. 
 On my ETSY store

Sunflower and Salvia on Gray

A painting from last fall when the Italian white sunflowers were blooming in the garden.  They lasted until late in the fall.  I had meant to paint them for months and finally at the last possible opportunity I picked a bouquet of late summer flowers.  There are salvia and catmint, some flowers from the broccoli which had bolted, and even a bachelor button from the previous year's volunteers.  12" x 12" oil on panel.
On my ETSY store

Yellow Sunflowers on Blue

This painting was originally Yellow Sunflowers on Gold, but I was looking at it last week and decided the Gold had to go.  Now I have a turquoise background and blue/lavender shadows which I like better.  I think the colors express the idea of "sunniness" that sunflowers imply. Here's a link to the previous version.

Prize Winner!

I won second prize in the Daily Paintworks November contest.  "Daisies and Bachelor's Buttons" is 10" x 10" oil on panel.  Painted this summer when my daughter's cutting garden was in full flower.  (Thanks, Annie!) I painted the front daisy with detail, but tried just to suggest the rest of the flowers.   I also liked how the background colors work with the limited palette of the bouquet.  So even though the colors are cool, the composition seems light and lively.
 Click here to see this one in my Etsy store

Cosmos and Zinnia

Although it's getting cooler, the flowers in the garden are still going strong and the sweet autumn clematis has just started to bloom.  So I picked a red zinnia, some deep pink cosmos and some white clematis for this fall bouquet.  I worked hard to keep it loose - the flowers are suggested, but I did paint the zinnia with a little more detail.

10" x 10" oil on panel

Yellow Sunflowers on Gold

How much more of this gorgeous weather can we take?  The sunflowers are begging me to paint them.  And the dahlias and cosmos and bachelors buttons and calendulas.  Thank goodness, the daisies are spent!

10" x 10" oil on panel
to purchase

Daisies and Bachelor's Buttons SOLD

These are from my daughter's cutting garden.  I like how loose I managed to leave the flowers - most of the flowers are just suggested except for the center daisy which is painted fully.  I also like the colors; blue and white are so summery.
10" x 10" oil on panel

Plum Tree in Bloom

At the far end of the yard is an Italian prune plum tree that we planted many years ago.  It managed to survive years of neglect and predation by deer and now is producing a fine crop of plums.  This view was from spring when the plum was one of our early flowering trees.