Oil Figure of a reclining woman, 11" x 15"

"Angela Sleeping"
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Angela is my favorite model. I barely had time to dash this off today before going to my life drawing group. It served as a nice warm up. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to paint and yet drawing today at my group proved to be a challenge.
I really enjoy painting the figure and love doing portraits and nudes. I was striving to stay loose here to retain the mood. What do you think?

"Angela Sleeping" is painted on unstretched canvas which measures 16" x 20". The actual image size is 11" x 15". You have a good choice here to either (1) have the canvas stretched; (2) have it trimmed and backed on board or (3) just matted and put under glass. I rather like the look of the clean canvas around the figure. It sets it off nicely. For a better idea of what I'm speaking about, see the image below. Color may or may not be accurate depending on your monitor. If she looks sunburned on your monitor, you're a little to the red side.

Pastel Landscape of a walking trail in fall, 11" x 14", $50

"Fall Journey"
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I've painted many stretches of the Discovery Trail, a long walking path that winds through the northern stretch of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. This particular scene comes from one of my daily walks on the trail. This piece is in pastel – which for many years was my primary medium. I’ve been doing mostly oils for the past year to improve and stretch. It was nice to push a little pastel color around a bit today.

Oil Floral of Peonies and Red Vase, 11" x 14"

"Peonies and Red Vase"
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This red vase is a favorite of mine. Combined with the pink Peonies, it seemed to just pop off my still life stand. I think I caught the roundness of it pretty well. I've been struggling with that lately. It has a lovely romantic feel to it and the flowers have lots of thick paint on them. I was going to paint a landscape today but that red vase kept calling to me from the shelf. I’m having a lot of fun with color these days. Sort of change from my strict tonalist approach

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"Red Pears"
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Red pears are one of the loveliest things about fall. Not only are they delicious, but their jewel like colors always draw my eyes. I tried here to capture that color. I especially love the warm reddish glow on the shadow side. That color effect is so elusive. But that's what keeps me coming back to paint them again and again. The flowers here are a nice touch but they are just supporting cast for the main players. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for looking.

Pastel Painting of Blond Child in Lavender,16" x 22"

"In Her Thoughts"
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Lavender and children seem to go well together. I've been bringing out some of my pastel pieces to post mainly because the pieces are so seasonal, they rarely get seen except in the summer. This original is still for sale, albeit not for $39.00. Prints are also available. Feel free to email me if your interested in getting some prices for Giclee prints. I have several sizes available.

Pastel Painting of Young Girl in Field of Lavender, 14" x 20"

"Emily Flying"
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Emily is the granddaughter of a friend. She loves the camera. We took her to a local lavender farm last summer and I snapped a picture as she ran along the row of lavender. I think her feet never touched the ground. I did this in pastel because nothing matches the medium for intensity of color.

Oil Painting of a Native American Woman, 38" x 48"

"Gathering the Day"

Because I'm traveling on family business this week, I'm unable to complete daily paintings, but I have a few images I'd like to share until the 3rd of November when I'll be painting again regularly. This painting was a commission I recently finished for a private collection. The model was a Native American who was referred by a friend. She was perfect for the job and the resulting piece is much loved by it's new owners. I live in the northwest and the scenery is common to our area where sea stacks and broad ocean views inspire all who come to see them. "Gathering the Day" was painted in careful layers with lots of glazing to bring out highlights and shadows. This work is very different from my "ala prima" pieces that I usually publish on this blog...and of course she did not cost $39.00. But both kinds of work have their pluses and my daily paintings contribute to a storehouse of experience and knowledge that translate nicely into these more polished works. When things calm down for me, I'll be starting a teaching blog where I plan to show works like this in progress and discuss my techniques for creating them. Hope you like "Gathering the Day". Comments are welcome.

Oil Painting of Magnolias and Copper Kettle, 11" x 14"

"Sweet Magnolia Tea"
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By now my collectors know that Magnolias are my favorite blooms. I love to combine them in interesting ways and here I've wrapped them around a warm copper kettle. There are warm golden reflections on the flowers that may or may not show up depending on your monitor.Thanks for looking!

Floral Oil Painting of Peonies and Cut Glass Vase, 11" x 14"

"Floral and Cut Glass"
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I have a lot of crystal around the house that has come to me one way or another. I love the shape of this vase and always find it a challenge to paint. I used lots of paint in the blooms and feel pretty satisfied with the play of light and shadow. What do you think?

Oil Floral Oil Painting of Hyacinth, 20" x 24"

"Hyacinth"
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I took a little extra time to complete this one. As I was interupted yesterday to run an errand, I didn't get into the studio again until today to complete it. I really love pinks and purples and it shows here. I'm going to do this set up again sometime, but with a different approach. Again, I'm looking to capture something special in the light.