Psyche, 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

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This flower makes me think of my grandmother, who could grow anything. She told me the names of varieties of hibiscus, and this one was called "Psyche." It is smaller and has a more interesting shape than the usual hibiscus. The bush will grow very tall. There is a pink version that looks similar in shape and it is called "La France."

I am starting a list of things that we put up with and really should NOT put up with. Things that make me grit my teeth. I mean things big and small, and to illustrate I will begin with these two, very unequal in terms of importance.

1. Inadequate mental health care since mental health institutions were closed in the 80s (e.g., mass murderers whose parents tried to get help and couldn't). This is, shall we say, crazy in a so-called civilized country and fits nicely with proliferation of guns to form the perfect storm.

2. Pencils with erasers that don't erase, and will even make a brown mark instead of erasing.

See what I mean? Erasers are a small thing, but why do we put up with it? If you can't make a functioning eraser, leave it off. Don't pretend it is there for erasing.

What injustices do you feel are foisted upon us? Do NOT send me anything political. That is a subject of irritation in a category all its own.

Sea Vista, 11x14 Oil Painting on Canvas

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The ocean is exhilarating, and right now people are flocking to the beach in the exultation of Spring. Our water has been a gorgeous color lately, and worthy of painting. 

I worked overly hard on this one; it took me a while to be satisfied with my results. There is danger in that, because sometimes you pass the point where you should have stopped. I ended up layering mixes of color and Liquin until I was satisfied with the results.

Rose, 5x4 Original OIl Painting

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Everyone is painting roses nowadays. I guess Spring has brought lots of blooms to people's yards, but as you can see from my previous post, mine are pretty tropical. I would like to grow roses in Florida, so if anyone can recommend a variety that works here I'd appreciate it. I would like red or yellow, though. I don't think I can take any more pink in my yard (see my previous post).

Pretty in Pink, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Panel Wildlife Painting

SOLD

This was a commission to do flamingos, and I always enjoy using my favorite color. Lately I feel surrounded by pink; as I drove up to my house the other day it struck me just how much pink is going on in my front yard. I have a very large frangipani tree and clumps of pink lilies blooming; it looks like the wedding scene in "Steel Magnolias." 

Apple Shade, 5x7 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

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This is an appropriate painting for the last week of school. One last apple for the teacher. I like the drama of the deep shadow. This painting looks even brighter in person, so to speak, and is dramatic in its simplicity.

The Kayakers, 16x20 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

SOLD

This is a completed commission. I took a few photos as I went along, and put them together as a very brief little slideshow. Check it out on Facebook. In retrospect I wish I had cropped the photos; I had some misguided idea that it would look very much "in progress" if a little of the easel showed. 

On to the next commission, then on Monday I am challenging my painting group Pieces of 8 to do a painting in only 37 minutes. The idea came from Robert Genn, who did this exercise in his workshops. It is an agonizing exercise, and I hope we will all still be friends after it's over! 

Carmen

Castaway Point, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Plein Air Painting

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My painting group, Pieces of 8, is doing weekly challenges and the challenge for this week was to paint en plein air, using four tubes of paint only. We were at a beautiful spot called Castaway Point, and there were so many lovely views. It is surprising how many colors can be made with three colors and white. Makes me wonder why I have so many different colors in my paint box. I do notice that my painting is a bit softer than usual, and I am not sure if it was because of the paint colors, the bright sunshine, or my canvas being in the shade. 

The Kayakers in Progress

When I get a minute to myself, I will finish this painting and put the steps together as a slide show. This has been an impossibly busy time for me, what with appointmentsPenWomenLuncheonpaintingdemoPiecesof8meetingMothersDayhousechoresetc! It all runs together.

A perfect Mother's Day gift would be: drop me in a shady spot by the river with my painting equipment and come back in three hours. So, for our May 12 Pieces of 8 Challenge, that's what we are going to do. And with only four tubes of paint. This will be followed by lunch and a nap. Plein air painting is exhausting in a very good way.

The Kayakers, 16x20 Oil on Canvas So Far

I am working on a commission, doing a larger painting of my small work The Kayakers, and I thought I would post the beginning of the painting. When Grandma Moses was asked about her process and how she painted, she responded "I paint down. I start at the top and paint down." As for me, sometimes I sort of "paint down" if it's a landscape, but in this case I started with the principal subject and I'm painting out. 

Since I have painted this subject before, I know what I am aiming for and I know the colors, values and so on, so I concentrated my energy on the most important part of the painting first. Below is the 6x6-inch original small painting of the happy kayakers. It's a square format, but the large one will be a rectangular format and, of course, more detailed.

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Texas Bluebonnets, 8x10 Oil on Canvas

NFS

Van Gogh would have liked these flowers. They are pretty ornate, with little white dots all over them, so the big decision is: how much detail? I may go back and put a bit of blue in the sky, even though there wasn't any, just so the painting doesn't seem quite so divided into three parts. 

Carmen