#141, "The Proverbial Square Peg", oil, 6" x 6"

The assignment for this painting was to paint the major part of the painting using one color or analagous colors and a smidge of it's complement. Orange, yellow and red are my main colors, obviously. Someone in the class had this little turquoise cube and I could not resist setting it on top of that red bottle. Zing! What fun to paint! Again, painting the values and the shapes resulted in a clear bottle. Pure magic. Someone suggested that I must have been getting ready for my Mexico trip when I chose this color combo. I find it quite invigorating. The Ray for the Day is quite a long title for such a small painting: "The Proverbial Square Peg".

#140, "Eggs-etera", oil, 6" x 6"

Guess what? I discovered I can post ahead. So while I'm in Mexico you will be getting this post and the next one. I adore painting raw eggs and shells. What I learned while painting this one is that the yolks are actually a yellow shade of gray. The making of gray is the use of all 3 primaries plus white. Grays are getting very exciting for me and I will be using them more and more. It thrills me that if I just paint shapes and values (and don't think about eggs) that I end up with a painting with eggs and broken shells. This painting really tickles me. The Ray for the Day is "Eggs-etera".

#139, "Lemon with Your Tea?", oil, 6" x 6"

Okay. One more posting before I head for Mexico for 2 weeks.  I did this one on day 3 of the class. I am practicing seeing subtle transitions. The trick is in the paint mixing. I can see the values, but mixing the painting and matching the values is the tough part. Not only getting the value right, but getting the color right. Also I am practicing mixing each stroke separately from the last. This little teapot was harder to paint than it might seem. Especially with it's top askew.  The Ray for the Day is "Lemon with Your Tea?"

#138 "Day Two Exercises", oils, 6" x 6" squares

On Day Two Carol did another stunning demo and then talked about value. We toned our panels with burnt umber, choosing to tone it a dark, light or medium value. Then using a set up of our own choosing we used a paper towel to wipe the surface to reveal the values. We chose a dominant, secondary and "smidge" value. In the afternoon we divided our little 6" x 6" surfaces into 4 squares, chose an object, and had 10 minutes to paint the object in one of the squares. After each 10 minute period we wiped our palettes clean and started again. Seeing the value and mixing the color the right value is the challenge. Sounds easy? Easier for some than others. These exercises were fun and training us to see the nuances, transitions and then reproduce what we see. We were using only 3 primary colors (cad yellow light, cad red medium and ultramarine blue....all colors can be mixed with these. Well...occasionally using phalo blue and alizarin crimson) and white. The Ray for the Day is "Day Two Exercises".

#137 "Where's Larry?", oil, 6" x 6"

The past 5 days I have been in an intense oil painting workshop with Carol Marine www.carolmarine.blogspot.com . She is generous, lovely, talented, hard working, entrepreneurial, a gifted artist and a gifted teacher. Her lessons were clear. Her demos were breathtaking. There were 18 good painters in the class. We worked hard and I, for one, feel I got a great deal from the demos, the handouts, the lectures and the practice. This posting is the painting I did the first afternoon, after a morning of demo and lecture. We painted on 6" x 6" gessoed Ampersand hardboards. I have never liked painting small, but I truly enjoyed these. The Ray for the Day is "Where's Larry?".

#136 "Toot Your Own Horn!", acrylic, 24" x 18"

These intuitive paintings are becoming more and more intriguing to me. The symbols keep repeating themselves. The cat as guardian of the hearth and home, the eye representing knowing, and always the little rabbit. This figure is marching forward, seemingly knowing where she going, and has many guardians lurking about. Her bag is filled with homes, hearts, ideas. She's tooting her horn all over the place. Make of it what you will. I can tell you that I have been overseeing the remodel of our condo in Langley WA and am anticipating this last move within the next few months. During the last First Saturday Art Walk I featured this series of paintings and Toot Your Own Horn sold immediately. It's been a good month for sales. The Ray for the Day is "Toot Your Own Horn!" SOLD

#135 "Pumpkin P Cat (and Bob)", oil, 16" x 20"

Usually I really dislike commissions (trying to manifest someone else's vision is very difficult), but for some reason this one was really fun. The buyer's wishes were that the colors be bright, that the painting not be realistic, that the cat be the center of interest and that the husband be in the background. Apparently perching on Bob's shoulders is Pumpkin P's favorite place to be. As a cat lover myself it was easy for me to get into this mood. I had several photos of the cat, and it really does smile like that. The buyer and her husband came to Studio 106 for First Saturday Art Walk. The painting was a surprise for him for Valentine's Day. It was great fun to unveil the painting for them while there were a lot of other people milling about. I could tell immediately from the looks on their faces that they were pleased. This was really a fun one all the way around. The Ray for the Day is "Pumpkin P Cat (and Bob)". The Ray for the Day is "Pumpkin P Cat (and Bob)". SOLD