Succulents and Cabbage

Succulents and Cabbage   24" x 24"  oil on wrapped canvas   $600

Succulents and Cabbage   24" x 24"  oil on wrapped canvas   $600

A friend sent me a photo of her succulent garden, She said she planted the cabbage with them in order to have some purple in the pot. I agreed with her decision. It needed some purple counter balance the warmth of the yellow greens.  Two of my favorite things to paint in one place! How could I go wrong but to paint them.  

For those of you who are wondering, I did not use a sponge to paint this one. I used... a couple of brushes. Yup. The Princeton Catalyst brushes were my tools of choice. I still adore them.  

Carol  

 

Embrace

"Embrace"
9" x 12"
Alcohol Ink on Yupo
Oh, boy, you must think I've abandoned my oils for alcohol ink. Well, I haven't. In fact, while these are posting, I'm working on commission pieces, including a dog portrait! Yes. I'm doing a pastel painting of a pooch. 

Here is a combination of many of the techniques I learned from Pat Hamm. My work is nothing like hers. It would be almost impossible for me to duplicate her efforts in this medium. Nope, hers are hers, mine are quite definitely mine.

Carol

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

My Friend

"My Friend"
8" x 8"
Oil on hardboard
My daughter sent a photo to me today with "My Friend" in the subject line. I thought it was going to be a photo of someone she works with. Not even close. It was something growing in her yard. Something purple and very much in keeping with her taste in flowers. I'm honoring her with a painting of her "friend." A portrait, of sorts. For you, my dear Natalie. 

Love,
Mom

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

Magenta Poinsettia

"Magenta Poinsettia"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
I found a colorful poinsettia to add to my holiday cheer paintings. I like that this one is not only red, but purple and pink, as well.  

Carol

Brushstrokes@comcast.net
Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com

Closer ... Still

"Closer ... Still"
8" x 10"
Oil on hardboard
When I finished the first painting, the light had changed and I moved closer to the pond, cropping out many of the golden weeds.  I focused on the purples in the landscape and enjoyed the stillness of the beautiful summer morning. 

This was a thirty-minute painting. It doesn't have the detail my paintings in the style of Andrew Orr have, but it looked finished to me, so I stopped.

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Potted Purple Pansy

"Potted Purple Pansy"
24" x 24"
Oil on hardboard 
On my way into the grocery store yesterday I passed racks of potted pansies. On my way out I pulled out the camera that I always carry with me and photographed a few of them.  When I got home and imported them into iPhoto I realized that a few to me meant 62 images of pansies.  A few are good enough to use as subject matter.  My brain knows how many shots it takes to get a "few."  

Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Fractalish Desert

"Fractalish Desert"
24" x 24" 
Acrylic on wrapped canvas 
I've confessed to my passion for swirls and have painted a lot of them with a ball motif in hot colors, so when I stepped back to look at them as a body of work I recognized the opportunity to explore the concept with different colors and motifs.  This is what happened.  


I totally enjoyed making this piece. It satisfied my desires to paint sun, sky and mountains without looking anything like a landscape.

Please come back to see more tomorrow.
Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
340 pieces of my art
Brushstrokes@comcast.net


Violaceous

"Violaceous"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Her petals radiated from tiny pivotal peaks in such a magnificent, violaceous whorl that it dazzled the pantaloons off some of the more staid spectators. 

I've posted 320 consecutive days with a different new painting each day:  floral, landscape, still life and a couple miscellaneous offerings. I have worked in the small square format so popular with daily painters, but I love to paint large.  My brushwork and sponges are perfect in that scale. I also like the texture and bounce of a large stretched canvas, instead of hardboard panels. 

I am considering making larger paintings for a while to satisfy some creative desires.  That said, I may not post every day, but please don't assume I've quit painting.  I must paint. It's my driving force.  Ultimately, I may turn out more complex pieces for your viewing pleasure.

Furthermore, I may fill the gaps with some pieces I have not yet posted. Please be patient with me as I transition into this next stage.

Thank you for understanding my reason for change. I appreciate it.
Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypaintworks.com
My Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Hydrangea Haze

"Hydrangea Haze"
6" x 6"
Oil on gessoed hardboard
The blue violet of hydrangeas has intrigued me since I saw my first ones, as an adult, in upstate New York.  I love the way the color varies from petal to petal within the same cluster.  

The out of focus effect is not a camera issue.  I painted, then ran my mop across the whole piece to soften the edges. When it was to my liking I used a liner to bring up a few hard edges.  

Thank you for taking the time to look at and read my blog today.
Carol





Frosted Bananas

"Frosted Bananas"
6" x 6"
Oil on gessoed hardboard
They sat cuddled in this cluster fresh from the produce department; without bruises, blemishes, brown spots or stickers. Every one was a different color, in a different position, yet the same.  I couldn't resist.  


Amazingly, to me at least, this was about a fifteen minute painting.  I managed to get the shadows in, the shapes painted and the background colors down using very few strokes.
Then I took my mop brush and softened the whole thing. My signature is the only hard edged thing on the board.  Right—wrong?  Who knows?  It's an exercise and I enjoyed doing it.

Thanks for bearing with me.
Carol

Dailypaintworks.com
Dailypainters.com
My DPW Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Star Power

"Star Power"
10" x 10"
Oil on hardboard 
She had the good looks, charm, charisma and pizazz to be a star.  Miss Dahlia here was a contender in the Dahlia Daze Pageant. The lady had Star Power! 


I have some dahlia reference photos I'd like to explore. As I've stated before, I like a whorled arrangement of petals. This one seemed particularly difficult, what with all the hard-edged shadows, so I chose to paint her first.

Thank you, as always, for stopping by.
Carol

Dailypainters.com
Dailypainworks.com
My DPW Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Kale for the Soul

"Kale for the Soul"
16" x 16"
Acrylic mixed media
The kale was just so green, lovely but green, so I took her to my laboratory where I gave her a new outlook on her pedestrian life. Now she's a meditative kind of gal, surrounded by onlookers and worshipers of her spiraling self.  

I did Photoshop miss kale, here, to make her fit in with my plan.  I painted all the papers, tore the swirls from metallic painted waxed paper and stuck all the elements together like a grade school project.  Then I added shadows, and smiled at the result.

Thanks for stopping by to have fun with me today.
Carol

DPW
My DPW Gallery
Brushstrokes@comcast.net

Frozen Beneath

"Frozen Beneath"
6" x 6"
Acrylic on canvas
As if it's been "Frozen Beneath" and bulging against its stringy captors, this orb has nowhere to go, except to its new home.  


My son and his intended closed on their new home today and this series will move in with them.  Once again, metallic paint and wrinkled plastic have helped me to capture this random smattering.

This image can be seen on Dailypaintworks.com, but is already spoken for.

Thanks for having a look today.
Carol

Booksmart Pears

"Booksmart Pears"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas

Artists seem to like to paint pears, so when I first began to paint in oil I thought I'd give it a shot.  I got pears of three distinct shapes, numerous colors and ones with stems.  Had to have stems.  I put them on a couple of books to make a little stage. 

I painted the pears with a complementary color behind them.  I found the shadows, the highlights and their various colors.  And I sold it soon afterward.  

This one can be seen on Dailypaintworks.com in my gallery, but it lives in Chicago. 

Thanks for stopping by,
Carol 

Zinnia Simplica "

"Zinnia Simplica"
8" x 10"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
She was simply the only zinnia left; colorful complementary colors, whorled petals.  She was hidden under a leaf, the last of her kind in the garden next to the building where I meet for painting critiques. 

I tend, as I'm finding out, to paint complementary color schemes more often than not.  They seem to please me. I don't think I seek them, or plan them in advance, but when it comes time to smear paint on something, I'm pretty consistently ending up with two colors across the traditional color wheel from each other.

Simple Zinnia, here is for sale through dailypaintworks.com.  If you click the web address it'll take you to my gallery on that site.  It's kind of fun to see all the paintings from my blog in one neat, tidy spot—with no words!

Thanks for stopping by.
Carol

Miss Bartlett

"Miss Bartlett"
10" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
"You young gals can wear anything with shapes like that," said Granny Smith to Miss Bartlett.  "I'd look positively round," she sighed as she buffed a new highlight onto her cheek with a dishcloth.  "And to be able to stand there next to that shade of violet... well, I do declare, it complements your skin tones perfectly."

Here's another in my series of single items against a decorative background.  Being a dyed-in-the-wool faux finisher and muralist, I know a lot about visual texture and the techniques used to create it—leaving the surface smooth to the touch.  I'm enjoying making this series.  I hope you are, too. 

This pear painting can be seen and purchased through Dailypaintworks.com.  I have a gallery of paintings there that can be accessed by clicking the link in this paragraph.  

Thank you for checking in to see my work today.
Carol