Pink Plumeria - Silk Painting

This is my 100th blog post! That doesn't really mean anything except that 100 of anything seems like is should be some kind of milestone. It doesn't seem like I've posted that many paintings. I look forward to Mondays and each new post. Some weeks it's been a little stressful to get a painting finished in time but knowing that Monday is looming has kept me on task and motivated.

Had I known in advance about this momentous occasion I would have tried to paint something more unusual and thought provoking but this is what you get. I'm back in my tropical mode and this is a silk painting. I love plumeria and even though the flowers that are this color don't have as strong a scent as the white ones do, the intensity of their color screams 'tropical' to me. And besides, does the scent really matter in a painting?

Pink Plumeria

Image Size 17" x 17"

Silk Dyes on Silk
Unframed
$275.00

Cliffs of San Francisco

The location for the virtual paintout this month is San Francisco. I found this scene just south of the golden gate bridge. What attracted me to it was the windswept tree. This is done in pastel which is a medium that I love but don't feel very comfortable using.

I went to a pastel exhibit last week and was really impressed with what I saw and was motivated to try the medium again. I have trouble mixing colors with pastels. Everything comes out too intense. I see so many beautiful pastel paintings that are subtle and realistic that I love but I don't seem to be able to achieve that. It's not because I don't have enough colors either. I have a wonderful large set with beautiful colors but they all seem so bright and I need more muted colors. I know that I need to optically mix them by putting colors next to each other and I know about how to mute colors by using compliments but my pastels always seem too "in your face" and simplistic. Sigh.....I will continue trying.

If you are in the Orange County CA area and enjoy pastels, you should go see the International Pastel Society's show at the Brea Cultural Center. It will be open through March 5th.

Cliffs of San Francisco

Image Size 9" x 13"

Pastels
Unframed
$100.00

Barbados Stairway

I've really been dragging out the old travel photos lately. I've always been attracted to this scene. I tried to paint it years ago in watercolor. That painting was about 30" x 48". I got some base colors on it, decided my greens were too vivid (thalo green, ugh, a killer) and let it sit. After about 3 years I decided to try to salvage it but unfortunately I had left some resist on it which tends to become part of the paper after that long. Oh well. I now have a lot of practice paper.

This photo was taken while we were in Barbados on a cruise probably 20 years ago. We got off of the ship and asked a taxi driver to take us someplace nice to spend the day. He dropped us off at a quaint hotel that overlooks a beautiful bay. These are the steps that lead from the pool area down to a beautiful, secluded beach. It was a wonderful day and I'm glad I finally have finished a painting of the spot. One of the details that I love about this photo is that there is a bent twig holding the door open at the top of the steps. It doesn't really show in this photo and should probably show more in the painting so I may have to enhance that. When I paint the view from the top looking down it will show more because the twig will be in the foreground rather than the background. I wonder how long it will take before I get that one painted.

Barbados Stairway

Image Size 24" x 8"

Oil

Corsica III

I had to sneak in one more painting this month for the virtual paintout in Corsica. I found so many places I wanted to paint. I made a lot of changes from the reference photo on this one too. I just can't stop myself from trying to make an environment prettier although I find the reference photo very interesting. I added a person to make the scene feel more lived in. It's funny to me that I feel compelled to add people to my paintings for the virtual paintout. I really don't feel comfortable painting (or drawing) people so I never added them to my paintings until October, when I started the virtual paintout challenges. I'm still not ready to try them in any medium other than oil (since they can be painted over if I mess them up) but maybe this will be the year that I venture outside of my comfort zone. Below is the reference photo from Google street maps.
Corsica III

Image size 14" x 14"

Oil

Unframed - gallery wrapped canvas, no frame needed
$195.00

Rice Paper Koi Again

I know, I know, you've already seen this painting. I received a request by e-mail asking if this painting is still available so I'm re-posting it to show that yes, it is still for sale.

Rice Paper Koi

Image size 21" x 28.5"

Watercolor on rice paper

Unframed

Cyber Cafe - Silk Painting

I've found so many places I want to paint while virtually visiting Corsica, so I've taken the challenge again. I decided to make this one more fanciful so I chose Silk dyes on silk as my medium. When I found this scene, I was attracted to the laundry hanging between the windows. I don't know why I find that so appealing. Laundry is not at all appealing when I see it in our house. It's funny how something becomes charming when it's in another culture. Oh well, I guess I should be happy that I have a clothes dryer and don't have to hang my laundry to dry. I've included my reference photo below so that you can see that I went crazy employing artistic license with this one. I re-built the building, added plants and changed the colors on the building and shutters. I wonder if it can still be considered a reference photo.

I have one more Corsica painting in the works that I will hopefully finish this week.

Cyber Cafe

Image size 16" x 16"

Framed
Sold

Bougainvillea ACEO

I feel like I'm cheating for this week's posting because this is so small but we were out of town this week. This is a colored pencil ACEO and is 2.5" x 3.5". ACEOs are artist trading cards and are a great way to collect original art, however small, for very little money. I drew this one while I was on the plane. Colored pencils are so easy and clean to use in such a small space (I was in the middle seat - yuck) and it keeps my mind and hands occupied so that I don't tear the arms off of the seats when we hit turbulence. I think the airline appreciates that.
I don't want you to think I was being a slacker this week. I was painting on a wall mural. I should have taken a picture to show the work in progress but of course I didn't think about that until I got home.
I've listed this on e-bay and if you are interested, you can bid by clicking here.

Bougainvillea ACEO
Image Size 2.5" x 3.5"
Colored Pencils
Sold

Tropical Silk - Silk Paintings

Another silk painting for this week. I have always liked tropical art and I've been digging out my photos of tropical subjects because I'm in the mood to paint some now. I may try palm trees in some other mediums. I may do this design again in silk with brighter colors. I may do so many tropical paintings that you get tired of seeing them. I hope not because I really enjoy having you all visit my blog. : )

Tropical Silk

Image Size 16" x 20"

Silk dyes on silk

Framed
$400.00

Winter in Corsica

I've been traveling (virtually) in Corsica, France this week. As I was traveling on the coast, I noticed mountains with snow in the background. I was intrigued because I wasn't expecting to find snow on an island in the mediterranean so close to beautiful beaches. This is my favorite location since I've been participating in the virtual paintout challenges since October. I have another painting, done in oils, that I'm working on and I hope to finish in time to post it before the January 31 deadline. This one is painted with gouache on gessoed wood. I really wanted to capture the coldness and clouds covering the mountains. I decided to use the airbrush to add the cloudiness because the paint lifts when I try to add color. I thought the airbrush would allow a layer to be adding without disturbing the previous layers. That probably would have worked if this were painted on paper but on this surface, the lower layer curdled when I sprayed the clouds on. Arrgghh! Not only did I NOT achieve the look I wanted, I ended up scraping off paint and repainting the mountains. Oh well, that's all part of experimenting, right?

Winter in Corsica

Image size 6" x 6"

Gouache on gessoed wood - sides painted dk brown. Doesn't need frame

French Aloe

I was once told by an artist that paintings that are predominately green don't sell. That may or may not be true but I sure love 'em. This started out as a study for a larger oil painting but I've spent so much time painting it, I'm no longer considering it a 'study'.

The reference photo for this was taken in Eze, a medieval village in the south of France. Of course, I'm sure the plant is the same as an Aloe in the U.S. but it seems much more exotic since it's been 'imported', n'est-ce pas?

French Aloe

Image Size 7" x 7"
Sold

Gouache on gessoed wood - can be displayed unframed