Yellow Trumpets

                                             
                                                                 
The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week was to paint something that says "Easter." Daffodils say a lot of things to me, "spring is here," "hold your head up," and most definitely, "Easter is on its way."

White Urn 2

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I am enjoying these little studies of white on white. The more I look, the more colors I see. It is quite remarkable. The values in the shadows of the urn's handles are much darker in this photo than in the actual painting. I tried tweaking the digital image - but still couldn't get it quite right. Overall a great exercise in patient observance.

White Urn

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This is my entry for the "white on white" Daily Paintworks Challenge this week. Not easy. I wiped out twice... buy three times was a charm. I really needed to see what I was seeing and paint what I was seeing, not what I thought it should look like. A real mind bender, but great fun.

Rolls on the Lawn

                                             

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 I had taken a photograph of this old beauty a few months back. It is actually parked on the side lawn of one of the houses in town. Kind of a classy car to be parked on the lawn! The Daily Paintworks challenge this week was to celebrate the "wheel" and how it helps us get around. Okay, so its not how I get around, but... someone else must love taking it out for a spin.

Front Row Seat

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The challenge this week presented by Daily Paintworks, was to paint a seated person. For me, a beach chair pulled way up close to the surf on a scorching hot day... is always the best seat in the house!

Amaryllis

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The challenge this week from Daily Paintworks was to use "Tangerine Tango," named by the Pantone Company to be THE color of 2012. In truth, I have no idea what the Pantone Company is, nor do I own "Tangerine Tango" as a tube of paint. I did, however, make the color mixing cadmium orange and cadmium red. It just so happened that I had this amaryllis in full bloom on my kitchen table. To my eye, it is this color exactly - beautiful and powerful.

Dreama Cat

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This is my friend Jenny's cat.  I never would have thought to grab my camera and snap a photo of him, if it wasn't for the work of artist Dreama Tolle Perry. In truth, I am not much of a "cat person," but Perry paints cats all the time, and they are quite beautiful. She certainly has changed my perspective, as any good artist should. For the Daily Paintworks Challenge this week, we had to paint in the style of one of our favorite artist. So I am choosing Perry. While I didn't quite capture her style, she most certainly influenced the painting. If you'd like to see her gallery, click here.

Sole Sistas

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Okay. So these are not my shoes. They belong to my powerfully beautiful, fiercely determined daughter, MollyKay. I borrowed them from her closet for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. I am dedicating this painting to her, as next week she "steps" out into her new career ... yes,  in the beauty industry.

Rose Hips

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The latest Daily Paintworks Challenge required priming the painting surface with a bright color and celebrating the arrival of autumn. I started with a background of lime green and cut some rose hips from my garden to welcome in the new season. When I "googled" rose hips to check the spelling, I was surprised to find out that they are edible. In fact, rose hips, which are the seed pods of roses, make a delicious hot tea.  Hmmmm.

A Cup of Flower

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I was not in the mood for a cup of coffee this morning. I decided on a cup of flower.

Crowded Sill

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I painted this from a black and white photograph as part of this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. There was great freedom in choosing the color palette completely from my imagination. I must say, the color charts I rely on while painting came in very handy because this challenge was really about values. That is, the darkness or lightness of a color. My color charts run from the darkest value of a color to the lightest. So, if I squinted at the photograph and then squinted at my color chart, I could see what color to mix to get the appropriate value. Just before completeing, I took a photo of my painting and eliminated the color to see how I did with the values. You be the judge!

Garden 'Bud'dies"

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     Here's another plein aire piece that I painted using only three colors - red, yellow and blue. I painted this on an overcast day, and while that made it more comfortable for me physically, it made it a little more difficult for me as an artist. The very definite darks and lights that a sunny day naturally creates with highlights and shadow were missing. So the variations in the greens were subtle and especially challenging. The silver lining of this cloudy day was that it made drawing attention to the focus of the painting, the little zinnia buddies - easier than usual.  This painting outside stuff is teaching me lots. I am going to keep at it with a very new respect for plein aire painters!

Almost Ready

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I went way, way, way out of my comfort zone for this one! I painted OUTDOORS for starters. I only used THREE colors:  cadmium yellow light, cadmium red and ultramarine blue, and I used THREE brushes: large, medium and small. In addition, I finished the painting in ONE HOUR.  Why such strict parameters, you ask? Well, it was another Daily Paintworks Challenge! I must admit, I felt like a beginner today... especially when it took me about an hour just to remember how to unfold my plein aire easel. Tough as this one was, these challenges are great. I have new found respect for plein aire painters and it was nice to teach this old dog a new trick.

Orange Zinnias

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     I am in love with zinnias. They are a great flower to paint!  They don't wilt under the hot lights and can last overnight if I don't finish in one painting session. I also love the fact that I grew these colorful babies from seed.

Me and My Shadow

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Olive Reflections on Jarlsburg

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This week's entry to the DPW Challenge - paint reflections. Must say, it was a challenge...keeping my dogs, (aka my studio helpers,) from jumping up and eating the cheese as it baked under the hot lights of the set-up. Thanks again to Daily Paintworks for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

Stand-art Oil

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The challenge this week - to paint what you paint with. Here is my entry, and I must admit I am very satisfied.  I especially like the movement of the brushstrokes and color variation. I really paid attention to temperature and I'm sure that added to the overall success. Thanks for looking. You can see other artists' entries by clicking on the "Daily Paintworks Challenge," icon on this blog.

nolemretaw/watermelon

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This little painting had me cross-eyed by the time I was done with it. As part of this week's online painting challenge, I had to paint a photograph of watermelon slices. The watermelon slices were placed on a mirror and then reflected again in the metal bowl. Tricky? Right? Well, it got even trickier... the photograph I painted from was upside down! Now you get why I was cross-eyed and you might understand the title! Great fun and a whole new perspective on painting a still life.

A Balanced Diet

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     I was cleaning my food pantry - checking for outdated cans. I noticed that many of the labels were colorful and beautifully designed. It was at that moment, I recalled this week's online painting challenge... to create a still-life by balancing objects on top of each other. So, the outdated cans that should have been heading to the garbage headed up to my studio instead!

Sunshine Up Ahead

   A recent challenge sponsored by my favorite daily painters' website, www.dailypaintworks.com, was to work from a photograph of a winding German country road. Here is my submission. Love the juxtaposition of shade and sunshine and simple shapes. This painting is oil on 6"x6" panel.
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