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This still life taught me the power black - as a background color - has to create an atmosphere of mystery in a painting. Blushing Bouquet, is perhaps, the "darkest" still life I've ever painted. Making it, got me through one of the saddest times in my life - the six weeks during which my father passed away from pancreatic cancer. I loved him so much. I still do.

Lasting Beauty

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The element of painting that I do not pay enough attention to is composition. I know why that is so. It is because I just can't wait to get started painting. I love moving that glorious color all over the place and painstakingly setting up objects slows me down! But, when I DO take the time to compose my still life.... oh what a difference it makes!

Indian Summer Roses

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Here in Sag Harbor, NY, we are experiencing an Indian Summer. Putting aside all the ominous implications that may have regarding global warming, it meant that my favorite rose bush just kept pushing out gorgeous blooms right up through November. I did a series of three little paintings, and this is the first of which I am posting. If you look closely, you will see the rose hips mixed right in with new buds and spent flowers. 

Glass Vase Filled with Orange Roses

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Ok. My all time favorite thing to paint is water in glass. Hmmm, make that water in glass with a handful of beautiful flowers thrown in!

Orange Roses in Turquoise

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I have a love-hate relationship with painting in natural light. I hate that painting in natural light means painting in ever changing light which of course, is frustrating and confusing and turns up the pressure. However, painting in natural light also means I don't have enough time to get fussy or to over work and over paint the subject. Ultimately, if all goes well, and I get the piece done in natural light, I am left with a painting that reflects decisive value choices, deliberate brush strokes and an overall loose, painterly feeling. In other words, I end up with the kind of painting I want to make. Moral of the story, get out of the shadow box and into the light.

Lattice Roses

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This is a little painting I did last week in preparation for the plein aire workshop I am taking this week with artist Ben Fenske. Ironically, this painting was not really helpful at all. What I am learning this week about my landscape painting, is that I tend to miss the "big picture," by focusing on a "detail" in the scene. (I not only stop to smell the roses, but I get too close and paint them, too.)  It has been difficult for me to paint with a wide range of vision. I am working on it, and will post more paintings from the workshop in the next few days.

Little Green Apples with Ribbon

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My focus here was composition and color. Regarding composition, I wanted the ribbon to draw attention up to the apples and then around the rest of the painting.  The pink of the flowers peeking in from above literally brings it full circle. Oh, and the greens... lots of fun making some warm and keeping others cool. Happy Valentine's Day.

Lemon Yellow Roses

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Boy, Christmas will screw up plans for a painting a day! Feels like I've been away from my easel for months. Anyway, I am back at it and oh so happy. Believe it or not, these roses are from my garden. It is the end of December and I live on the east end of Long Island, NY, and my rose bushes are still supplying me with THE most beautiful subject matter for my paintings. Global warming, perhaps? I'd rather think of it as a Christmas miracle!

Two Roses and Two and a Half Apples

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I am experimenting with point of view. I have noticed that my compositions are clearly more challenging but may also be more interesting when I am looking down on the still life. I have had to get very close to my shadow box and have needed to put my easel off to the side a bit. Basically, I was contorted when I painted this... but it was so worth it!

Pinkish Pear and Yellow Rose

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I am trying to soften my edges to create atmosphere between the objects in my still life paintings. One of the tips I got from artist Melissa Franklin Sanchez when I took her workshop this past summer was NOT to work too much in the shadows. Shadows of the proper value, with little or no detail,  help create that feeling of atmosphere.  I am happy with the way this one turned out.

Yellow Roses in Soft Light

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I believe that this big, beautiful, yellow bloom is the last offering from my rose bush this season. It filled  my studio with a heavenly scent as I painted it adieu. Lusciousness.

Blue Vase with Flowers and Fruit

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Lost and found edges, values, color, composition, brush work - so much to consider. The discipline of painting daily and painting small and all in one sitting is moving me closer to the way I want to paint... one day at a time.

More Yellow Roses and Pears

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I loved the small study I did of this still live set-up, so I decided to do it again on a bigger scale. Having already worked out the coloration and composition in the earlier painting made executing this larger one much easier. I am giving a"thumbs up" to this process.

Delicate Trio

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These are my favorite little roses, so sweet and delicate and deliciously fragrant. There are still quite a few on the bushes outside, so I can enjoy painting them for a bit longer. Hooray.

Roses Late Summer

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It has been a few days - feels more like weeks since I last painted.  I was away from my home and studio for a bit but am now back. Hooray! I wiped out the first version of this painting after working on it for about two hours. I was going to call it quits, when my husband called and said it would still be an hour until he got home. So.... I went at it again and managed to get this done before the sun went down and I lost the natural light.

Little Green Vase with Roses

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I have a collection of little vases. This green one is one of my favorites. It was quite a challenge to paint it, today however, as it was close to 95 degrees - quite a scorching start to summer.

Glowing Roses

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This is the same still life from yesterday. So different, right? The blooms have opened up a bit more, so that explains some of it. However, I think the biggest difference has to do with the color of the underpainting. In this case, I think it was permanent rose or magenta? Can't remember. The overall painting is so much brighter as a result. Makes me think I should be a little more thoughtful about the color with which I prime the gessobord. I usually just pick a tube and go. Ahh, you live, you observe and you learn.

Cluster of Roses

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I keep thinking that I should really get outside and paint some landscapes plein aire. But I just can't stop painting the flowers from my garden. They are so beautiful and enjoying them in this special way is an absolute pleasure. In truth, the roses should exhaust themselves by mid-July, and then I'll take my easel out for a walk. Until then... more roses!

Soft Roses

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I am changing my palette a bit and I am happy with the results. I am really paying attention to values, too. For some reason, values get extra tricky for me when I am painting light colors against light colors, in this case, soft yellow petals against a white backdrop.

Quiet Roses

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Okay. My peonies are all through for the season. So it's on to the roses. I'm very happy with this start!