Coffee in Amesbury

Ever get so busy you forget what's what? Sarajean and I were supposed to meet and paint (I thought) and so I drove to Amesbury last Thursday and...it wasn't our day! So I popped into our favorite coffee haunt, Zac & Ani's Bread, and Brian kindly let me paint there. I loved painting this, but it doesn't quite capture the colors and lighting the way I envisioned. I know from reading other blogs (and from some experience), that paintings improve when you paint a subject more than once. On to the next! I will rethink a lot of this painting.

G is for Gertrude

I had a great time lighting up this little "landscape" of small balls of thread. My great-grandmother did tatting, embroidery, crochet—all sorts of beautiful work with thread. The "G" is for Gertrude.

Prom Dresses at Rada's, Wakefield

I've mentioned Mary Taggart, a local artist I paint with now and then. We couldn't resist standing on Main Street one very chilly, windy Sunday, to paint Rada's window display. My easel blew over before we even got started and the sunlight lit up the shop window, as well as our canvases (bad glare!), so we turned our easels sideways to the subject and turned our heads back and forth to paint! Such are the challenges and fun, of plein air painting. We had a blast. My painting looked rather sketchy when we called it quits and I finished it up at home—as a sketch...study? What's the difference? Anyone know? Can't wait to go again. Ready, Mary?

Egg and Spoon, limited palette

This still life is done with a limited palette, using burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre light, and titanium white. Claudia Hammer's limited palette sugar bowl painting inspired me to add yellow ochre to my mix. Check out Claudia's teapot series, as well as her blog in general. She does beautiful work!

Once again, this is a scanned painting and I did adjust the colors to try to better match what it looks like to me, but be warned—who knows if it's "accurate"? Moving on...

Strawberry Chick, 6 x 8"

You may have noticed this little chick before. Here I experimented with a totally different way of working...looking and painting slowly. It's a totally different effect. I enjoyed layering colors in this one. SOLD