"Arangetram" - 6 x 4 inch Oil on Hardboard

This painting is a finalist in the Richeson 75 Smallworks competition.  The final awards will not be known until Feb. 11th, 2011.  It will also be published in their Richeson 75 Smallworks book.  This painting is a painting of one of my past students. I have finally determined how I wanted to frame this painting.  Since the painting is so small, it would get lost in the frame.  Now you can see the whole painting.

"Singing in the Rain" - 5 x 3 inch Oil on hardboard

The sketch is a study scanned from my sketch book.  The painting below was painted from the sketch.  As you can see, I was not sure how I wanted the girl standing, so I sketched a couple of positions for the girl.  To give an idea of the size of the painting, the little girl with her hands up in the air is about 1/2 inch tall.  I love old time towns and I love the rain (to an extent).  I used some photos I have taken of old towns and changed them to fit the painting.  Had a lot of fun sketching and painting this.

"Flowers of Purple - Recipe Book" - Watercolor on paper

 I love that my daughter is cooking more and doing a great job of it!  She is using recipes from the internet and creating her own.  The problem... she takes my cooking gear to friends so that she can cook for them.  For Christmas, I put together a set of her own cooking items which included a cooking class, purple and green utensils and recipe books.  Her favorite color is purple so I thought it would be nice to hand make a recipe book using recipes that used herbs/spices from plants that produce purple flowers.  The recipes included lavender, rose water and rosemary.  Here are some photos included in the book.

"Fairy Globe" - 5 x 7 inches Oil on Hardboard

I have always loved fairies.  I have a collection of fairies and this globe is one of them.   I have a couple of large outdoor globes that have lights shining on the bubbles.  This gave me the idea for the Fairy Globe painting.  I painted the blues using the glazing technique which gives it such a deep rich color.  I was trying for a mystical night feel. One must see this in person to see the true richness of the color.  The blue color is one of my favorites. This painting (one of 2)  has been chosen to be published in Richeson 75 Small Works.

"Pomegranate, Lemon and Blueberries" - 12 x 24 inch Pastel on Suede

I had so much fun composing and painting this composition.  The props were tasty too. Couldn't let the fruits go to waste.  The texture of the suede I used made it easy to bring out the texture of the pomegranate.  The black suede also gave a great contrast to the colors bringing out the brilliant color of the lemon and pomegranate seeds.

"Sunflower in Primary Colors - Study 1" 8 x 10 inch Watercolor on paper

Painting studies are nice for many reasons.  They are quick paintings done for the reason only the artist has determine.  It could be to determine the best compositions, the best color, or even to learn a new style.  A study can be only one object of a larger painting you want to create.  In this study, I was looking at trying a new style as well as seeing what would become of the study if I used only the 3 primary colors.

"Sunflower in Primary Colors - Study" 8 x 10 inch Watercolor on paper

This is the second of the two Sunflower studies I finished.   A rewrite from my first Sunflower study -  Painting studies are nice for many reasons.  They are quick paintings done for the reason only the artist has determine.  It could be to determine the best compositions, the best color, or even to learn a new style.  A study can be only one object of a larger painting you want to create.  In this study, I was looking at trying a new style as well as seeing what would become of the study if I used only the 3 primary colors.