Single Mum and Round Vase SOLD

This is a simple painting of a single flower in a small round vase, but the close values and color harmonies make it interesting.  Most of the painting is a light middle value with a very small splash of pure white highlights and an even smaller splash of dark darks.  Both the flower and the vase dissolve into the background in places.  I like the saturated gold and the cool pink - they make a nice contrast for the white flower.  On my ETSY store

Silver Pot and Oranges in Side Light SOLD

This shiny silver pot is such a good subject for reflections.  I used a shield to throw a shadow across the left side of the still life. The shadows add more drama and make the highlights more exciting.  I especially like the red reflection on the rim of the lid.  This painting will be in the Vashon Art Studio Tour the first two weekends in May.  Link to map of Vashon Spring Art Tour  I will be showing my paintings at Stop # 23 in Dockton.  See you there!  In the meantime, this painting is at my ETSY store

Camellias in a Pewter Pot

The camellia sasanqua is blooming just outside the front door and cries to be painted.  It has large white single flowers with stunning yellow centers and a tropical fragrance.  I like the stiff dark green leaves against the soft white flowers.  In our garden,  the most fragrant flowers are from this time of year.  Sort of a bonus to offset the short days and rain.

Sweet Cherries and Gold Background

I like this simple compositions, it presents plenty of challenges for me.  I especially like the color of the reflections in the cherries.  I mixed white into the dark cherry color to get a lovely purple tone which my brain interprets as a white reflection.  I like the poses of the stems, they seem conversational.  Painted from a still life I set up in my studio. 

Three Cherries on Gray with Reflections SOLD

Three cherries lined up in a row, but with a little bit of variation; a wider space on the right, a taller stem on the left.  I like the soft edges where the reflections on the cherries are close to the values in the background.  I deliberately lost and painted out parts of the stems so that they would disappear into the background.  It makes the stems look like they are curved toward the viewer.  The cherries cast a shadow to the right, but reflected vertically.  Where the reflection and the shadow intersect is the darkest area beneath the cherries. 

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. 

White Jonquils, Square Glass Jar on Gold

More spring flowers.   These jonquils have small clusters of flowers on single stems.  Picked from my garden.  I like the brushwork in the vase. On my ETSY store.

Six White Jonquil on Blue

The bulbs that were planted last fall have started to bloom and I have to paint them while the opportunity is here.  This jonquil has a small flower with multiple flowers on a single stem.  I like the blue against the white. 

Misty Day and Pushki

Another small  painting of pushki.  These large plants have white umbrella shaped clusters of flowers and are common in Alaska.  This painting will be in a show at Artique Ltd gallery in Anchorage in September.

Two Tangerines on Brown

Tangerines are a favorite subject, especially when I'm in the grocery store looking at the gorgeous contrast between the fresh leathery green leaves and the bumpy orange skin.  I always have good intentions when I buy them, but somehow it takes me days to get around to painting them, and by that time the leaves are starting to brown and curl up.  These were fortunately painted within the first day or two of acquisition.  A lot of the lights in the tabletop were done by wiping out.  I use a smooth gessoboard from Ampersand which allows me to work back into painted areas and lighten and remove pigment. 

Two Vashon Ferries SOLD

Two ferries at the Vashon north end ferry dock.  The sky is dark, and leaves the hillside in shadow, but sunlight hits the two ferries at the end of the dock.  12" x 24" oil on panel.  This one will be in the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour, #9 on the map at Plum Lodge BnB, 14210 SW Reddings Beach Road.  Click here for map  Hope to see you there

Smokey Ferry with Pale Blue Hills SOLD

Another painting of the Vashon-Fauntleroy-Southworth Ferry.  Afternoon sun makes the hills dissolve, and turns the white ferry to blue.  Painted from photographs I took while on the sister ferry that runs the same route. 

Sunset Trees and Snow

Another painting that will be in my show at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts starting September 5.  I like the gradation in the trees from light at the bottom to dark at the top.  The touch of light on the snow seems to glow. 18" x 36"

Westport Marsh View South

A scene near Westport, WA - one of many inlets and sloughs on the south side of Gray's Harbor.  I like the many different shades of greens.  The colors are cool and soft, and show it was a hazy day near the ocean.  This will be in a show at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery in September. 

Daisies - Just Opening

Daisies again - these are just opening and the petals still bend upwards.  I like the glass jar and the way it disappears against the tabletop. 

Silver Bowl Lemons Lavender

Another painting of a bowl of lemons, this time on a lavender tabletop.  I placed the bowl on a piece of glass on top of a sheet of paper.  There are some lovely reflections in the silver bowl.
On my ETSY store.

Yellow Daffodils on Gold

A bouquet of spring daffodils to mark the season.  Rather than paint each individual flower I tried to paint the whole bouquet with light values, middle values, and dark values grouped together, to give a better sense of the volume of the bouquet.  It is hard to make a dark yellow - if you add black to yellow, it turns green, the secret is to add a bit of purple which is the complement of yellow.
On my ETSY store

Green Onions on Gray

Scallions on a light gray tabletop with a darker gray shadow across.  Even though the tabletop is gray, I see green and purple and gold in the neutral grays.  When arranging the scallions I try to come up with a good division of space and some interesting shapes.  
On my ETSY store.

Silver Cup Green Grapes on Gold and Purple

I like the translucence of green grapes, they can be such fun to paint.  And I love the brown shadow in between the tabletop and the wall.  What is that color?  It just works.
On my Etsy store

Yakima View II

A scene painted from photos I took near Yakima Washington.  The flat valleys are irrigated and intensely farmed and the surrounding hills are dry and bare.  The hillsides turn blue and purple in the bright sunshine. 
On my ETSY store