Blue and Gold 11 x 14 on Linen

In this painting I wanted to use the flow blue cup and plate that I found in a box after cleaning out the garage. It was a great surprise to find some flow blue because I had wanted to buy some for a painting. There were a few more pieces in the box that I will paint at a later time. I put the antique with the newer gold vase that I like to paint. After taking the workshop with Nancy Franke she said she had a lucky green pitcher and I have this lucky gold vase. I decided to use her palette of colors for this painting, to see if I would get a lighter feel still painting in the old masters style. Her palette is minimal and I am used to more colors. I did add the yellow ochre for the palette. The minimal palette is a challenge in getting the color you want without it ending up muddy. I know how to mix colors easily since that is what I do for my daily job, but in oil painting I think its great to have a larger palette for truer and cleaner colors. Also, when you are painting something that is red, be it a flower or an object, many times you will have to buy the red you need because in many instances you cannot mix colors to get certain reds.

Cupcakes 9 x 12 on Panel

The new challenge for DSFDF was the theme of cupcakes. Karin was inspired by the painter Wayne Thiebaud, who is known for his paintings of cakes and pies. If you go to the website that I have mentioned at the bottom of all the paintings there is a YouTube video of an interview with the artist and his work. With this painting I definitely wanted to do a knife painting. Using the palette knife was just like putting frosting on a cupcake. The thick luscious paint really made me feel like I was using frosting instead of paint. Afterwards I had to bake a cake.

Nancy Franke Workshop

Last weekend I was at a wonderful workshop with Atlanta artist Nancy Franke. It was a two day workshop at The Art School in Sandy Springs and it went by very quickly. It was a fun packed weekend of demos and experiments. Nancy has great positive energy and a great style. The first exercise we did was paint with paper towels-no brushes(picture 3). You can see the looseness from the paper towel and plus the time crunch we were under. It was a great way to loosen up. The 2nd exercise we did was paint a still life set up and we had around a hour left in the day to do this. I like the looseness of the edges around the teal vase and the leaves(picture 1). The 3rd exercise was another still life we did on the 2nd day and it was a pear and lemon slice(picture 2). I have found when I paint a pear that I either paint it right the first time or have to scrap it off and paint it 5 or 6 times, which was the case that day. Another student, Marilyn bought this painting, which I thought was nice. If you have a chance you I recommend taking a workshop with Nancy.

Tranquillity 16 x 12 on Panel

This is a follow-up painting to Solitude. It is a more contemporary yet old masters style of painting. I wanted it simple and have a backwards "C" flow to the light and the dark since it was a vertical painting. It leads your eye into the painting. The colors in the painting create a calmness to one's eyes and mind.

San Francisco Street 16 x 8 on Panel

This is the current challenge for DSFDF . It is a scene from the beautiful city of San Francisco. I believe my mother and I might have walked up this street since it felt like we were walking for miles when we went there years ago for a vacation. When we went it was in the month of August and it was cold and they had record rains. At least we can still laugh about it and we had a wonderful time!

I decided to do this painting using a palette knife like the scene a few months ago from another challenge with a street scene from NY. This was a lot of fun to do and a challenge with the perspective of the street, buildings and telephone poles. I think I accomplished what I set out to do in this challenge.

Black-Eyed-Susans 11 x 14 on Panel

We have an area of the garden where there are Black-Eyed-Susans. The gold finches love them and many times they are in there without anyone knowing. I had this painting ready to post for days, but there was rainy weather. Today was the first day that I got a decent, but not perfect photo.

Rowing on Lake 8 x 8 on Panel

This painting is for DSFDF and this weeks challenge is a girl rowing a boat on Lake Michigan. This girl was probably having a challenge just rowing a boat, if you have ever tried it. I decided to make the water look more colorful then in the original photograph. I wanted it to remind me of the beach since it looks like this summer this painting maybe as close as I get. Have a Happy 4th of July.

Thanks Phil for emailing me how to condense a link to the website :)