The Last of the Crabapples  8x6  oil
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Our internet has been out for a few days and now we're back on. Sorry for not posting.  India diagnosed a broken modem from India and turned the new one on from India. We're so 21st century. 

Painting glass again.  Starting in January I'll be teaching a class on Thursday evenings called "Painting the Light".  We'll be doing some glass and reflective surfaces. 

Snow Bound Slate  oil   10x8
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In honor of winter coming I'm going to post some winter paintings.  Painted this one in Crested Butte standing on the bridge across the Slate River, looking up into the mountains. Reflections, shadows and snow, it was gorgeous. Particularly attracted to the complementary colors of the weeds and the blues of the snow and ice.

Me and My Shadows  oil  8x6
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Trying to keep it loose, and  not describe in detail.  What do I see with squinted eyes? How big a brush can I use? The starting bid is $50.

Angle of Repose oil 8x8
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I have to post another garlic-they've gotten under my skin.  It's surprising in some ways that these little white and grey shapes can be so compelling. My latest thought is to hang them like xmas ornaments and have them dangling is space. My mother always told me not to play with my food. I also see a glass of milk being an obsession for a bit. What whites do you use? And why?  The starting bid is $60.

The Mothership and the Lunar Modules  oil   8x8
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Still working on seeing the various color in the whites and the greys. I am loving painting these, but maybe tomorrow I'll post something with a bit more chroma. Bidding starts at $60.

Study in Grey 3
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Still working on my grays. Is it cool, is it warm?  Is it lighter, is it darker?  These garlics are beautiful little sculptural pieces.

Red, White and Blue   oil  8x6

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I have to say that I'm really most intrigued by shadow shapes.  The thingness of whatever I'm painting doesn't  affect me as much as the reflections and the cast shadows.  Unless, of course, it's a portrait.  Perhaps I'll just do a series of shadow shapes, with a hint of the object.  Here's part of the above painting cropped.

Study in Grey 2  oil  5.75x4.5
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The second garlic painting. This was so fun to paint. 

Study in Grey 1  oil  8x8

My students wanted to paint garlic this week and I thought it would be a good subject to work on for greys and whites. I visited the Chicago Art Institute yesterday and the American wing has a few Sargents.  His whites are gorgeous. And Sorolla's also- all those colors in the shadows- an inspiration.

Three Against One   oil  5.75x4.5
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Another jelly beans and a slice.  Painted this one in class with my students. I think this theme needs to be painted large, so that I can really explore all the value and color richness in the beans and the shadows.

In a Sea of Beans oil  8x6

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Jelly beans and a slice.  The lesson of this one is that the slice of apple is perpendicular to the light source and so is the highest value in the painting.  It's actually pretty hard to see that because the paper is white and if something is white our brains automatically see it as the lightest value. I think making the slice the highest value gives the painting it's sense of light

Attack of the Jelly Beans  oil  5.75x4.5
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I started this little series yesterday- apple slices and jelly beans.  I did these as demos for my students for a lesson on edges.  The shadows of the fruit and the jelly beans provide an opportunity for lots of soft edges. And because the beans are translucent it's a chance to see a lot of color in the shadows.

Sprouts   oil   5.75x4.5
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We had a bumper crop of sprouts from the organic farm.

Trying and trying to keep it loose. Let the brushstrokes stand, to be gestural and not so descriptive.

A Pear on Wednesday  oil 5.75x4.5
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I painted this one for my class last Wednesday. I usually let all the students find their own subject matter and lighting.  This last Wednesday I thought I'd make the suggestion that the new students try this set up.  I created it to demonstrate a light against middle value, a dark against middle value and two dark values against each other with the corresponding lost edges.  All the students decided to do this pear against a blue background.  A very successful class with the students leaving with a better understanding of values and edges.  They would like to do it again-maybe this Wednesday we will do apples with cut edges.

Against the Wind  6x8  oil
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I find pears to be the most human of the fruit. No shapes are parallel, the curves are better expressed with straight (ish) lines, and they are bigger on the bottom than on the top.  I also love the negative shapes that form betwixt and between.

Two Cut Edges  oil  5.75x4.5

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The third pear.

Cut Up   oil   8x6
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I've been trying to paint down my stash of oils so I can switch to water miscible oils. I came across some alkyds and have been using the white.  Wow, it dries so fast, paint it in the morning and by evening it's pretty dry.  Don't really like it.  I'm finding my edges are too tight.  At least I'd like to blame on the materials.

One Pear   oil   5.75x4.5
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I haven't posted for a week.  I've been doing 3 days of teaching this fall and have many figure drawings done but less painting.  I need to figure out how to better maximize my time in the studio when I have so many classes to teach.  And I forgot to sign it.

I'm starting a pear series-the recipes to follow. I find the composition on this one a little uncomfortable. The pear feels a little crowded in the upper left corner.  I'll do another one with a different layout. The scarf is from my friend Martha who passed away last week.  Wish she were here to see it.

Swinging on a Star  oil  8.5x8
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Part of the beet bondage series.  Painted this one three times. Played with the placement of the tops of the onions and the values of the bulbs.  Decided on a swingier line for the middle bulb tops and darker value for all three bulbs, especially the far left. I also started the painting as a 10x8 but decided that it needed to be cropped in.  Mitch Albala in his landscape book talks about a flexible picture window.  Basically you paint on a larger canvas that you think you will need and have the ability to crop in and out as the composition demands.  And it's often quite demanding.

The Window Box  oil  8x6
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The nasturtiums were in full bloom. Maybe I need a few nasturtium recipes for the cookbook.

Side by Side  6x6  oil

Summer light at midday with all things two by two-flowers, windows and chairs.

Patty's Gate  oil 6x6
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In the green thumb neighbor's backyard.  I wanted this little painting to not be about flowers but shapes of color.

Farmer's Market Saturday Morning   oil   6x6
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Saturday morning with the Oak Park Art League. The gladiolus were beautiful and the cast shadows caught my eye.

Sweeping Upwards   oil   16x8
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Part of the beet bondage series.  I'll be posting more tied and strung onions. There's something vaguely compelling about them.  This one has a faintly Japanese air.

Uncle Don  oil  12x11

This was a commissioned portrait.  Very fun to do- one of those paintings that fell off the brush. I love the light and the cast shadow of the cigar.

Tools of the Trade   8x6   oil
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Painted this one with my students.  A good example of "really, anything can make a fun subject".

Present and Accounted For  oil   8x8.5
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Daffodils, jonquils, narcissus- they all refer to this beautiful flower floating in the nameless blue reaching for the light.  Very fun to paint-always a struggle painting the light white in the shadow. I'd like to paint this again but loosen up my edges.

Flotsam  oil  5.75x4.5
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Egg painting number 13 of 12.

The Japanese wabi sabi philosophy states in part: nothing is perfect, nothing is finished, nothing lasts. So true.

I'm getting into the swing of painting and posting every day.  It requires me to be willing to let go and send the image out into the world. (I'm of course reserving the right to repaint and repost later, but haven't so far).

I think yesterday's post, Foiled and Boiled needs a little glaze on the reflection to darken it just a hair. And I might play with the bits of egg flotsam, the flow needs some adjustment.

Foiled and Boiled  oil   5.75x4.5
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Egg painting number 12 of 12, but I don't think I'm done yet so there will be more. 

I painted this one with the little cups perched on aluminum foil. Reflections are right up there with glass, it not about the thing. it's about just seeing what's in front of you.

Incoming Tide   oil  5.75x4.5

Egg painting number 11 of 12.

As I wrote last month- I'm writing a cookbook and plan to do a series of food paintings that are vaguely related to the recipes-just enough to give some structure to painting subject matter. I've been collecting recipes for a few years from a dear friend and fabulous cook- she is really gifted. The cookbook is called "A Year of Food Sex with Sam".

Here's the first egg recipe and a quote from Sam:
"Eggs are delicate, we treat them harshly.  They're the most delicious food and a pleasing shape."

How to boil an egg: 
Put the eggs in a pot with cold water.  Bring the water to a gentle boil and turn it off.  Do not cover the pot. Let them sit for 7 minutes and plunge the eggs into ice water. Voila, the perfect boiled egg.

Fiery Glee  oil  8x8

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Time for a break from eggs. I cut up a wan orange and dropped it into three little glasses with a patterned background.  I love painting glass.

Castaways  oil  5.75x4.5
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Egg painting number 10 of 12.  Eggs moving in and out and across the canvas.  How many ways are there to slice an egg? A surprisingly large number.

Crowded Harbor   oil   5.75x4.5
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Egg painting number 9 of 12. In the shadows I pushed the yellow both orange and green.

Afloat   oil   5.75 x 4.5
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Egg painting number 8 of 12.  I've kept the same color scheme as "follow the crowd" and played with the arrangement of shapes. I'm able to be a bit looser with each painting. A boiled egg is a surprisingly fragile thing.

Cheney Mansion  oil  8x10
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Painted this with my plein air students in June.  A gorgeous day, we spent the previous day indoors  working from photos because of rain.  What I noticed was- when the students got outside the next day, because of the emphasis on abstracting the photo the day before they were less intimidated, felt more in charge and were less overwhelmed.  One of my students called it "blobism"- not painting individual things but seeing the scene as areas of value and color.

Different Directions  oil  13 x 11
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I've been working on a series I call beet bondage.  Here's a preview- tied up, tied down, stretched, wound around itself- it's been fun.  I've barely scratched the surface. I'll post more in the coming months.

Touched with Fire  oil  9.5x7
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Trying to get the interior glow of an orange- always a challenge. It was fun playing with the shape of the shadow.

Perfectly Simple  oil  10x8
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Another house from Crested Butte. I'm interested in entrances, front steps and windows, what the front of the house has to say for itself. I hope to do a show next year called Front Steps and Stories.

House at the Corner  oil  10x8
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This house is in Crested Butte.  An old mining town in the mountains of Colorado. Every year this house catches my eye. It's deserted and the red trim has faded to pink. The windows are dark but reflect the sky and trees around it. I  particularly enjoy playing with the colors. I'm attracted to the trim in the light and shadow, the way the roof and trees cast shadows on the white wood, the yellow dandelions in the bright yard and in the shadow of the trees. I've been working on my evergreens, I find them challenging to paint. As always, less seems to be a bit more-less contrast and fewer strokes.

Curls of Light  oil  6x9
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This spring the ranunculus were gorgeous-so round, so full. The contrast of the black centers of the flowers make a good graphic focus. I particularly like the vase on this one-so abstract. I often like the way my vases are painted- I think it's because I'm not painting a thing, I'm painting reflections and transparency.  I wish I could bring the same non attachment to all parts of my paintings.

Sweet Treat  oil  9x6
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I taught a week of summer camp to 8 year olds this year.  It was called Cakes and Carrots.  We baked, we decorated, we drew, painted and played with color.  I painted this for the kids, as an example of how to transform your cupcake into a painting.

Goldfinch Heaven  oil  12x9
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Here's the rest of Bob's garden from a plein air perspective.  The goldfinches love the sunflowers and everything was glinting with gold, the flowers and the birds. I went twice to catch it all.  Apparently all the sunflowers are volunteers.

Bob's 'Barrow   oil  8x10
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Bob has an amazing garden, with rows and rows of sunflowers (that painting is still on the easel).  He also has these old wheelbarrows planted with red and pink and magenta.  Late in the day the sun was coming straight at me creating dark shapes against the lights of the grass.

Cherries Squared Two  oil  4.5 x 5.75
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Another painting of cherries and cherries.This is a small one, but I'd like to do one that's 8x16, so the cherries are thrown like dice across the fabric. Maybe tomorrow.

Into the Clear Air  oil  7x5
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A friend's yard.  I was trying to capture the effect of the flowers against the dark foliage in the light, with the foreground in shadow. And there were light flowers in the foreground too, adding to the challenge.  It's the idea that the dark t-shirt in the light areas will be darker than the light colored newspaper in the dark.  Clear as mud?

Next spring and summer I'd like to do a series of "Other People's Gardens".  Did a few this summer and found it very satisfying. It's kind of a collaboration- their garden artistry and your painting.

Follow the Crowd  oil  5.75 x 4.5
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Egg painting number 7.  This one's boiled and cut up. It was fun to play with the shapes and shadows, creating movement with pieces of cut up egg.

There's a reason for the weird size.  I lived in China and had cradled wooden boxes made at one of the local art stores. We were working in the metric system. When I lived overseas I realized standard paper size is not 8.5 x 11.

Cherries Squared   oil   8x6
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It's the bounty of summertime.  Saw both of these in their separate bowls on the counter this morning and had to commingle.  I messed with three different background colors- first black, then yellow/ green then this high chroma green. I thought about going back to the yellow green and decided to let it go.  Another painting of more cherries and cherries I think. Some paintings just fall off the brush, others-not so much.

Equal Balance oil  8x6
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The 6th egg painting.  I think of this one as the third in a series with the other two 'egg in a glass' paintings with the dotty pink background. I like working with the shifting view point. This one has upstage theatrical lighting.

Translucence   oil and gold leaf  8.5x8

I have another raw egg painting on the easel but it's just not quite ready for the public. So here's another little raw painting but of a different ilk. The translucence captivated me. I'd love to do these paintings really big.  The gold leaf in the corner is a chinese chop that says "pomegranite". The gold leaf is from a Buddhist temple in Burma.