Pitchers on White Linen

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Believe it or not, this is the first time I ever painted linen.  I was told by one of my mentors, that linen reflects light much more beautifully than other material. In truth, I was doubtful but I am teachable. So the next time I was at an antique store,  I picked up some old linen napkins. Guess what?! Yup. They glow.

Set for Spring

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I stood very close to the table arrangement as I painted this piece because I had two goals in mind. One was to create a table set with inviting breakfast items placed so as to create rhythmic points of color on the white table cloth. Second, I wanted to capture how a person approaching the table might scan the setting. So initially, it appears that you are looking directly down onto the egg and the grapefruit. You, the viewer, then look up passed and across the orange slices, glass and blue jug and finally through the water pitcher and the glass vase of tulips.

Pottery and Silver

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This was painted with north light coming from directly above the still life arrangement and day light coming straight at it. These dual light sources combined with the surfaces of pottery, glass and silver made for a feast of reflections, transparencies and highlights - challenging and fun.

Hydrangea and Citrus

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It was a challenge to set up this still life. I really liked the way the colorful citrus looked when placed  around the white pitcher of hydrangea. However, the arrangement had a disjointed look until I added  the ribbon which ultimately "tied" all the elements of the composition together.

Pitcher of Peonies

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I loved the abstracted, sort of frenetic way these peonies, stems and leaves arranged themselves in the pitcher. I say, "arranged themselves," because in truth, that's what happened. No matter how hard I tried to get them to conform and sit neatly in the glass, they just kept falling out in disarray. In the end, the negative space between the blooms and leaves brought a complimentary looseness to the tightly painted turquoise pitcher. This work is on view the Grenning Gallery at until mid-January.

Happy Easter

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I bought myself a big beautiful lily plant, with hopes to paint it. After many attempts, I just couldn't create a still life arrangement that "spoke" to me. It seemed the plant was just a little too tall to work. So, I clipped off one of the blooms, popped it into one of my favorite glass pitchers and threw in a couple of eggs. White lilies and eggs can only mean one thing ... Happy Easter.