Tiny Cabbages

"Tiny Cabbages"
4" x 7"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo
I didn't intend to mess with this piece, but as three sections began to dry, I took a brush with just a few eyelash hairs in it and dragged the ink around to make three little cabbage-like images.  

It's a small piece, but interesting to look at if you get up close.  Would be cute, framed and on a table easel.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Ornamentals

"Ornamentals"
12" x 12"
Pastel on canvas panel
I spent three hours in the sun at the Botanic Gardens today. I took 322 photos, documenting the colors and textures of the season. I have many more photos than I thought possible to use as subject matter! So I'll begin this autumnal series with cabbages, grasses and mums. 

 I met several people today. Kevin and Ned told me about a peony garden in Milwaukee where I can get several years worth of subject matter in one day. Marion and I were moved to tears as we stood in front of the tiny bonsai trees, that like their ginormous cousins, were turning the appropriate colors for their species and dropping tiny leaves.

I doubt that I'll go there again this season, but maybe once snow falls, I'll go back to capture the essence of winter before I'm weary of snow.

 Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
CarolKeene.com
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Sweetheart Cabbage

"Sweetheart Cabbage"
40" x 30"
Oil on wrapped canvas



















While at the Botanic Gardens in October, I came across a variety of cabbage that lacked the traditional round head. It was a pointed and looser variety than I'm accustomed to. The veins in every leaf were arranged differently, and the color ranged from yellow-green to blue-green in the span of one beautiful plant. I photographed this sweetheart from several different directions and decided this angle best showed her intrinsic beauty.  

 I had to paint this piece in a large format in order to capture the veins and shadows that made her so interesting. I would love to start another cabbage, but other colors are calling to me.

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com


Blithe Spirit

"Blithe Spirit"
16" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
A trip to my local farmers' market showcased the season's brightest and best of the season. Yet the cabbages were not the colors I wanted, so I imagined one in something other than ... green.  

Actually, I didn't have to imagine this one, I photoshopped a green one and made her outrageously colorful and whimsical.  I painted her petals without the veins then added them when I was sure I wouldn't back out of my decision.  I'm kind of liking it.  Now I wish I had some bacon, I'd fry it up and make a nice warm dinner for tonight.  

Carol

Farmers' Market

"Farmers' Market"
24" x 24"
Oil on museum wrapped canvas
I gathered this produce at our local farmers' market a couple of weekends ago to arrange for a painting, and to eat. I had originally placed my plastic moose in the upper right hand corner, thinking I'd make the "autumn" version of "Toulouse, Your Moose Is Loose,"  but as the painting progressed, my darling moose looked out of place. Not quite as handsome as he looked in the first painting. So I gathered some sunflowers, stuck them in my daffodil pitcher and finished it with sunshine in that corner, like a child's drawing, instead.  

 I will be submitting this painting to be juried with another, in this year's Recent Works competition. I'll let you know as results come in, whether or not my paintings are juried into the show, or not.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Cabbage

"Cabbage"
9" x 9"
Oil on canvas
My vegetables have become art objects.  I seldom see them as food first anymore.  Certainly it isn't that' I'm sated and no longer eating!  Nor have I  taken a robustly-carnivorous turn.  My eyes are seeing differently again!  Could be that I've switched to contacts.  Old dogs—new tricks. 


This cabbage is on a flat piece of canvas—not stretched or mounted.  It was the beginning of a larger piece when it was accidentally punctured several inches below the cropped area.  I'm not sure how I'll handle the sale of it...

...but it will be for purchase on Dailypaintworks and I'll figure out the logistics of mounting it in the meantime.

Thank you for looking today.
Carol

Glad Cabbage

"Glad Cabbage"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
The flowers at the tip of the stalk fell to the floor, so I stuck them in between two cabbage leaves and liked how it looked. They seemed to like it, too. 


I painted this image from life.  The cut end of the cabbage drew water from the bowl it was sitting in.  The glads benefitted from it as well.  And rather than labor over veins and edge work, I used my Colour Shaper to draw them in the wet paint.  Ala prima!—in one sitting.

Glad Cabbage can be seen in my Dailypaintworks gallery and is for purchase on that site as well.

Thanks for looking!
Carol

Toulouse, Your Moose Is Loose"

"Toulouse, Your Moose Is Loose"
24" x 24"
Oil on wrapped canvas

It was Saint Patrick's Day and I was in the produce department of my grocery store when I saw a guy ripping leaves off cabbages.  I nearly rammed him with my cart to save this particular one from being scalped. "He's subject matter!" I declared. Once I had it in my possession I realized he would need companions, so I collected a turnip, red onion, egg plant, tangerines, tulips and added daffodils to the mix. Then I filled in with a few miscellaneous items... including my moose. 


Tonight Toulouse, Your Moose Is Loose will be featured in a gallery opening called Recent Works.  He was juried into the show and will hang for a month. This was my first painting done with my handmade, English, Rosemary & Company brushes.  What a sweet ride that was!

Toulouse will be listed with, and for sale through a Daily Paintworks auction during the same month as Recent Works.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I really appreciate your comments and e-mails.
Carol

Pre-Slaw

"Pre-Slaw" 
20" x 24" 
Oil on wrapped canvas
When I was a preschooler I called all the leafy greens in my mother's garden lettuce—until the lesson.  She had me compare the colors, rub their leaves, smell them, listen to them squeak against themselves and finally taste that stinky pre-slaw taste of raw cabbage.  I learned the difference.

This was my first sponged painting of something other than a flower.  What fun to use a variety of reds and greens where I normally would have glazed oranges and yellows.  

This painting is listed with, and for sale through a Daily Paintworks Auction.  

Please also be aware, that my hosts on Daily Paintworks, Carol and David Marine, have lost their home and Carol's studio to a wildfire this past week in a suburb of Austin, Texas.  Keep them in your good thoughts as they struggle to recover from this tragic event. 

Carol  

Dots a Nice Cabbage

"Dots a Nice Cabbage"
24" x 24"
Acrylic on wrapped canvas
At an early age I was fascinated with all the extra "fabric" around the hem of each cabbage leaf.  Still am!  They're built that way for our entertainment, right? 

I Photoshopped the cabbage photo for this painting so it wasn't simply green. Then I painted it with a Q-tip.  Well, actually with some Q-tips.  Okay, with a box of them.  Then I covered the tip of a fresh swab with a one inch square of pantyhose.  It made a dandy dotter.  No fuzz, no stragglers, no ruffled dots.

This painting is listed with, and for sale through a Daily Paintworks auction.

Thank you for visiting today,
Carol