"Sunflowers on Hot Summer Day" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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No other flowers say "summer" as loudly as sunflowers.  In the depth of winter, or on a cool summer day like today, if I want to feel the hot summer sun in my heart, I just have to think of these big, bold, in-your-face, flowers.

By the way, I am back to painting oils.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums.  Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I created during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  Enjoy!

Collage of my Yupo Paintings created in July 2013!

"Luscious Yellow Roses" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

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I have painted these yellow roses before from a photo. Is that bad of me?  This time I tried to apply a year's worth of learning to the new painting.  The lighting was a cool, natural light.  So the highlights were painted cool; shadows, warm.  I also used more paints and colors.  Someday I will create a painting of roses so powerful that it will cause the viewer's heart to skip a beat.  In the meanwhile, this will do.

"Yellow and Peach Roses" (oil, 8" x 10")
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"Can't Wait For Christmas!" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

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Now that my "still-life-painting-a-day" project is in full swing, I am constantly thinking about what to paint next.  I dug up a red-enameled silver bowl from a drawer-full of the wrapped, rarely-used, and tarnished silverware.  Hum.  A light bulb went off.  Once I get this baby cleaned up, it, along with a couple of silver Christmas balls and a Christmasy ribbon, will make a perfect still life setup!  Ah, endless possibilities!

"Still Life with Yellow Sand Pail" (oil on canvas; 14" x 18") sold

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Still life setup

Last Thursday evening, my still-life teacher, John Murray, decided to make us do a one-color exercise, the color of choice being yellow.  Since it is one of my favorite colors, I was initially happy with the day's challenge.  Unfortunately, I soon felt my enthusiasm dissipate, as I couldn't figure out what colors were the shadow side of the yellow bucket (I loved it though!), lemons, golden delicious apple, or bananas.

If you can name a color, you can mix it.  If it simply looks like a dull, darker version of the color in the light, you are in trouble.  Oy!  John eventually came around to the rescue.  He helped me with the bucket, which was giving me the most trouble.  The class turned out to be an exercise in humility.  I was perhaps becoming too confident as I breezed through the two previous classes.  John's mantra is: "paint as if you have never painted before."  Yes, sir!  I will do that from now on.

"Golden Delicious and Lemon" (oil on stretched linen; 14" x 18")

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Last night, I went to John Murray's still life class, feeling refreshed and ready to paint.  But I didn't like the setup John was arranging for my corner of the studio.  Red apples on yucky green fabrics--not my cup of tea.  I looked back to see the above setup, of which I forgot to take a picture.  Wow!  I persuaded two classmates to move a bit to make space for me.  John told us to wait for the night's lesson.  I couldn't.  I started painting right away.

By the time the teacher gave us the instructions (mass the apples in one color, then separate them into individual fruits), I was done blocking in my golden delicious.  John shook his head, saying something about "nobody listens to me."  Oops.  I was unstoppable, putting down one color after another, without hesitation.  He came around occasionally to help me modify small aspects of the setup to help the design.  Other than that, he loved the painting; so did I.  I was channeling Paul Cezanne, John's hero, for the first time in his class.  I was fearless.  The painting is not quite in my style, but who cares!

"Bumble Bee in a Blue Garden" (oil on linen; 10" x 8") sold

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Reference photo

This painting was a challenge to pull off.  It was hard to contrast the bumble bee enough against the busy background and, at the same time, keep it blended into the same busy background!  I like the complementary vibrations of blue violets and yellows throughout the painting and want the viewer to translate viscerally the visual confusion into the buzzing sound of the bee.  Does it make any sense?

"Sunflowers and Happy Bee" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") sold

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Reference photo

On to way to Lancaster, PA to pick up our daughter at camp, my husband and I stopped by at the rest area in York.  Instead of going in to use the facilities, I dawdled, captivated by these sunflowers.  I was the only person taking pictures of these cheerful flowers; other people were obviously more sensible than I!  Sensible or not, I was as happy as the bee on the flower on the right.  Whenever I find the reference material for future painting projects, I feel like I hit the jackpot.  How small things in life please me!

On the technical note, compare the photo above with my painting.  The photo's colors are predominantly cool yellows and greens; my painting is dominated by warm yellows and violets.  I did that on purpose, pushing the yellows toward the sun and contrasting the yellows with the complementary violets so that the painting would pulsate.  Besides, I love using pure colors out of the tubes: cadmium lemon, yellow light, and yellow medium.  They are toxic--never to be touched or, god forbid, digested--but no other synthetic paints can replace them.  They simply glow.

"Pears and Pebbles" (watercolor on Yupo; 9" x 12")

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This is one of the first paintings I did on a slick, synthetic support called Yupo.  Paints dry to jewel-like vivid colors because Yupo is not absorbent.  For the same reason, you can wipe off paints back to the original pure white of Yupo, as you can see on the cut surface of the pear in the center.  Fun!

Adding another layer of paint on the already dry part of the painting requires a gentle touch, since if you press the brush hard, you end up lifting off the first layer.  Oops.  Drawing with a graphite pencil also needs to be done with an uttermost care, because Yupo doesn't take paints where you erased the pencil lines.  Sounds like too much trouble?  Try Yupo if you haven't yet.  It's worth the effort.  The painting was juried into the Art League show in Alexandria, VA in 2000.

"Miss Daisy and Lambs" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota is a historic working farm that grows oats, hay, sorghum, and animals.  We saw oxen, horses, Miss Daily (one-year-old heifer), chickens, lambs, three piglets, and their mom.  On this hot, hot August day, Miss Daisy and two lambs were huddled together trying to find shade, although there wasn't much.  The scene was so funny that I just had to paint it.

I have a thing for animals; my favorites are sheep and giraffes.  I have painted cows, sheep, elephants, giraffes, polar bears, zebras, pandas, ostriches, ducks, geese, etc., although I don't consider myself an animal painter.  It must be their endlessly beautiful forms. 

"Agapanthus and Yellow Wall" (oil on linen, 5" x 4") sold

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This is a wall of a motel in Eureka, CA--painted in bold yellow.  Then the management had had the ground landscaped in a complementary color scheme with blue flowers.  Their color sense was impeccable.  I love California!

"Yellow Calla Lilies" (oil on linen; 5" x 4")

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I had a bit of time on my hands before I had to pack up and go home near the end of a plein-air painting session.  So I sat down in front of yellow lilies at River Farm in Alexandria, VA.  This painting was the result.  Not too many hard edges and just a few suggestive strokes--not my usual modus operandi.  But I love it.