Soften My Heart

  

       Soften My Heart - oil on canvas - 34" x 37"

Who doesn't love pink and turquoise? Who doesn't love pink roses from the garden placed in a clear glass vase?

Who doesn't love when the petals start cascading onto a reflective surface?

It is enough to soften any heart. 

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Reveling in Cherry Blossoms

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One of the pleasures I have as an artist is exploring color and color combinations. I was so drawn to paint these pink little puffs with a golden mustard color as the background. The violet shadow tones in the blossoms "sang" beside the yellow, pushing the pleasure of painting and viewing this piece when finished. 

 

Cherry Blossoms

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Making this painting was a first on a few levels.  It is the biggest painting I've made to date, 48"x44". Additionally, it was the first time I painted a tree inside my studio. Well, maybe not the whole tree. 

I actually bought three cherry blossom branches from my local florist, and then brought them into my studio, plopped them in a bucket of water and started painting. Having the branches inside meant I could take my time with the little dangling puffs of pink,  and pay attention to the value  and color changes on these intricate, delicate forms. It was lovely to get up so close to them for a thorough study. 

Following the twisting, rising lines of the branches and foliage was dizzying at times. I had to push the perspective to create the sense of the branches reaching up, while putting thick bold paint on the thicker bark  sections at the base.  The chance to spend so much time intimately contemplating the beauty of these boughs was like a blessing. 

Flowers for a Finch

 Happy New Year's Eve

I was just thinking that it had been a while since I last posted here, and that maybe today was a good day to check in. Looks like I had the same thought exactly one year ago. Check out the last post if you don't believe me. What are the chances of that? ... well, 1 in 365. 

 Flowers for a Finch is a breakout piece for me, new in every way except for the flowers, of course. I will  be back at my easel on Monday and am excited to continue exploring this new direction. I am resolute in my wish to post here regularly in the New Year.  I have a sneaking suspicion that was my resolution last year, too. Oh, well.

Here's to the best year yet for all of us. 2022, we are counting on you. 

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Sweet Peas and Peonies

I am very please with the colors in this piece and the sense of light. Color and light are two aspects of painting that I have been honing for years, and am starting to feel a sense of confidence in those areas. I am currently trying to up my composition game, and made two choices that I believe were successful here. The first was to juxtapose soft curving flower forms with the straight edges of a square glass vase. Secondly, I paid extra attention to the placement of the subject matter in the canvas space. Here, I made sure that the distance between the edge of the canvas and the painted object closest to that edge was the same on all sides. Again, I believe it was successful. 

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Zinnias in Glass

By the time I finished this painting, I had probably gone through 2 different bunches of zinnias. Working from life with flowers as subject matter, means that I have to have a strategy for getting the work completed before the blooms fade. In this case, I was lucky in that zinnias have a long season, and the farm that grows them is just down the street. I began by arranging the flowers in a way that drew me in, then quickly went to work starting with the vase and the flowers that hung down around it. I worked my way up, making sure to get the key (anchoring) blooms painted in next. Those would be the large reddish orange one near the center and the yellow one to the right of it. By that time, I needed fresh flowers and added them in to the existing fading blooms, placing them as needed to create an interesting completion of the composition. The three outstretching blooms at the top are examples. I "posed" them in such a way as to create a graceful twist and sway to the arrangement. 

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Turtle Island in Late Spring

The eastern coast of Long Island is populated by clusters of cedar trees that provide structure and color to the overall deciduous environment in winter and early spring. I've begun painting them and exploring the way they punctuate this landscape that I have loved since my childhood. Pictured here is Turtle Island, the magical isle I would swim out to in summer. I can remember exploring it in my wet bathing suit with bare feet hopping over rocks and shells, always in search of something. The victory of an abandoned bird's nest, or a dried clutch of wildflowers meant swimming back with the treasure held high above the water. They were my most favorite days, and so imagine the joy I had painting this place over 50 years later.
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Dancing Roses

It was such an amazing experience making this painting. I stood before this every changing, moving, shifting, blooming, fading burst of color for four days... and tried to translate its beauty, to pin its glory down and contain it within a 30" x 40" two-dimensional space. How crazy am I to even try? Crazy happy. Crazy content.
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Cut Lilacs in Glass

When you plop a bouquet of freshly cut, amazingly fragrant lilacs into a vase and get ready to paint it, the temptation is to start right in on the blooms. I have found though, that consideration of the leaves and branches is vital to the overall appeal of the composition and the subsequent success of the painting. The subtle turns and arched extensions of the greens are like the arms and legs of a modern dancer, it's where the yearning and maybe even the tension lay. 

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Mother's Day Hydrangea

I love noticing the colors of white on white,. They are subtle and yet so powerful. This was painted with so much joy... and I think it shows. 24"x24" oil on canvas panel
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Secret Gathering

Don't they look so happy together?

I couldn't stop thinking that and I even started humming the Beatles' tune in my head while I was painting these yellow faced beauties. It's been weeks since we've had to practice social distancing and the longing to be together is getting a bit overwhelming. It may be time for a "secret gathering" of my own... some close friends who've been in quarantine and are not at risk. I am still mulling it over while the daffodils dance together in the sun. 

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The little drawing below is the new logo for the publishing platform from which I will be launching my first children's book. So excited! 

Stay Safe and Stay Tuned,

Maryann Lucas

Three Little Lilacs

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Painted directly from life, this little gem captures the unique structure and color of three lilac blooms.

Simplicity and Admiration

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Over the next few days, I will be posting images of work headed for Grenning Gallery next month. They'll be part of a two person show opening on September 22 and running for about a month. If you are in Sag Harbor, NY, during that time, I hope you'll drop by. Curious about the title of this piece? It is taken from the symbolic meaning of a pink rose. The next time you receive one, know that you are being admired and wished simplicity.

To Stay or To-Go

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Conca D'Oro, our local pizzeria, has been in business for over 40 years. Word of the restaurant's closing was rumored around town for the past few years, but the official announcement came early this summer. I hear that the new owners are promising to keep the recipes... one can only hope. The look of the business I am sure will change.  So here is my homage to my favorite pizza place and to the wonderful family behind it. They have finally decided "to-go!"

Latham House in Late Spring

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The architecture in the village of Sag Harbor, NY,  is breathtaking and of late, my muse. This is the Latham House, built in 1790. It was designed with a residence above and a commercial story at street level. The structure is typical of a Sag Harbor merchant's house of the Federal Period. Today is stands with so much majesty and continues to grace Main Street.

Pink Peonies in Green

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This was an exploration of green - a color that is important to master if you are painting florals. I also used the green to help make the complimentary reddish peonies vibrate.

Harvesting Bulbs

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The sentiment here is the circle of life; the changing of the seasons and man's interaction with nature in all her phases. 'Harvesting Bulbs," celebrates that cycle as the lush dark tulips wither and the bulbs grow robust with vitality for next year's blooms. There is something magical about putting those onion-like orbs in the ground only to be elated when the first green tips poke up through the dirt months later.

Madame Eggplant

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Probably the only thing I didn't eat yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving a day late.

Petunias

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Loved how leggy these petunias got, and decided to paint them. There was a movement and airiness to them that I found so beautiful. Not to mention their color.

Kitchen Basics

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My dad recently sold his house. I ended up with lots and lots of stuff, including an electric mixer, which became the centerpiece and inspiration for this still life. It is most complicated composition to date.