Sitting by the Window

Sitting by the Window - 8 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Click to bid
Here is yet another painting of our Maine Coon cat Bonita.  I just happened to get a great photo of her with the light from the window streaming in on her, so it had to be painted.

Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!

Desert Flora

Desert Flora - 8 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Sold
A recent visit to Arizona inspired this oil sketch of the desert landscape.  We went out to visit friends and managed to snap a few shots along the way.  I love all of the flora that is so different from our home state of Michigan.  Even the residential neighborhood yards had multiple species of cacti, palm trees, citrus trees.  It's a beautiful, inspirational place!

Black Cherry Tomatoes

Black Cherry Tomatoes - 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Bid on this painting
Here are a few more of the little green/red tomatoes that I like.  I think the correct name is Black Cherry tomato.  Plus some other supporting cast members.

And for some more food trivia, according to Wikipedia:  bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados and squash are all technically fruit, but are considered a "culinary vegetable" and generally cooked as vegetables.

Solanum Lycopersicum

Solanum Lycopersicum - 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Bid on this painting
I decided on this subject matter for a few reasons.  I had a package of these multi-colored cherry tomatoes, and wanted to include them in a painting, especially the green/red variety -- just love their colors.  And the other reason was that I decided to do the "Crumpled Challenge" on DPW.  I know the crumpling is minimal, but it is in there!  I may give the challenge another try before the month is out.  Crumpled fabric is an especially great thing to know how to paint for clothed figure painting.

Interesting trivia: while I knew the tomato was technically a fruit and not a vegetable, I just found out (from Wikipedia) that it is actually classified as a berry!

Profile in Charcoal

Profile in Charcoal - 9 x 12 Charcoal on paper

So another one of my art goals for this year is to work on my drawing skills by exclusively drawing at a model session on a weekly basis.  This, my first charcoal in a very long time, was done from life with our lovely model, Morgan.  While I can see things I could improve upon, I think it's a good start, I had fun and I look forward to doing more.  This was drawn with vine charcoal with a few areas done in charcoal pencil.

Nuances

Nuances - 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord

Sold
A few of my good art friends have encouraged me to state my art goals for 2020 in an effort to improve my skills and practice, as they are also doing.  I am so grateful for the support I have around me!  The goals I have stated include painting more, completing more paintings, updating my blog and website more frequently, and experimenting and enjoying the process, among others.  So here is the first blog update since then.  While I don't think I could manage to post every day as other artists do, I think (and hope) I can manage a few paintings per week.

Hunter

Hunter - Oil on Canvas Board - 9 x 12

This is from a photo of my number one model, Bonita.  It is titled Hunter because she looked like she had her eye on something and was about to go after it.  I like how it came out and I'm not really ready to let go of it yet, but needed something to update my blog with, so here she is!

I just finished two portrait commissions and two still life commissions, and before that was in several local shows, so haven't had a chance to post anything lately.  But my New Year's resolution is to paint more and post more, so hopefully you'll see more from this blog in 2020!