Island Flowers

"End of the Season" 8" x 10" Acrylic on canvas panel

At the end of the street in an industrial park was this island of wildflowers. They were all indigenous to my zip code, and made for a nifty plein air experience. 

I like to use acrylic when I paint outdoors. It keeps my decision-making snappy and the art fresh.  There's no time for lingering thoughts as the light changes, or the wind picks up. And if the paint gets crusty, well that's all the more fun!

This piece is listed with Dailypaintworks.com.  It can be seen in my gallery by clicking here.  And if you care to purchase it, just follow the instructions on the website.  Thanks!
Carol

Posies, Pear and Plate

"Posies, Pear and Plate" 8" x 8" Oil on canvas panel

I was handed a fist full of ranunculi as a gift.  I had seen photos of them before, but never touched them.  They were tiny, tightly whorled and the stems were curly!  I stuffed them into a vase next to a pear, a sushi plate and wasabi bowl and called it a day.

I love small things! When I can, I try to use my trinkets to compose still life compositions. Lord knows, they're easier to store after the painting is finished!

This piece can be seen in my Dailypaintworks gallery if you click here.

Thanks a bunch (of ranunculi) for stopping by.
Carol

Unlikely Companions,These

"Marble, Lily, Spines" 12" x 12" Oil on panel

I was photographing a selection of hand blown marbles when my orange day lily snapped off her stem and landed next to a sweet little agave in my courtyard. Unlikely companions, these, what with their origins, textures and colors. But they seemed comfortable together once they were arranged.

These are three of my favorite subjects. I'm thankful to have them around me.

This painting is for sale on Dailypaintworks.  Check it out in my gallery there by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting with me via my blog today.

Daniel Wright Pond

"Daniel Wright Pond" 20" x 16" Oil on wrapped canvas

It was early autumn. I had been chasing blue pond reflections all summer and waiting for less green in my landscapes.  The lily blooms were fading, but my paintbrush knew how to freshen and revive them with a flick.  


I love being in this space where water, trees, vegetation and sky can be seen without special permissions.  It's a public place.  It's safe and available—within a reasonable proximity to my home.

This pond painting can be seen on my gallery page on Dailypaintworks, where it's also for sale.

Thank you for dipping your toes here today.
Carol

Beck's Pond

"Beck's Pond" 8" x 10" Oil on wrapped canvas

It was August, the light was white hot. It washed the color out of the treetops, and dried the grasses around the edge of Beck's Pond.  I was there for a plein air picnic.  I found the shade, but it moved as fast as I slathered.


I seldom, okay, never paint in oil with a knife.  I like the way acrylic dries and gets crusty with texture between layers as I work around the panel.  I also seldom paint on a springy wrapped canvas with a knife.  There's way too much bend as I wield my blade.  So this is a rarity.  A seldom-done anomaly, but it does exist.

Dailypaintworks has a gallery of my paintings.  You can buy them there.

Carol

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

Peonies in Water

"Peonies in Water" 12" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

I gathered every last bud and bloom from the bushes outside my back door, as if rescuing them from something horrific. Wind and rain was forecasted, and we know what those two can do to peony cups balancing on spindly stems. Yikes! 

This crystal bowl is just the right size to contain peonies.  I don't think I'll tire of using it.  The roundness of the vessel repeats the shape of the blossoms, and it creates a lovely dark base to my paintings, too.

Find this one, too, on my gallery page of Dailypaintworks.  It's also for sale there.

Thanks for visiting.
Carol

Fence Rose

"Fence Rose" 12" x 12" Oil on wrapped canvas

The Fence Rose stretched and pursed her pouty lips as she bathed in morning's shower of light.   


This is a late-in-the-season cousin of Picket Fence Rose—smaller, but just as robust in her gestures.  The cool blue in  her shadows complements the blush of her rosy lips.

This painting can be found on my gallery page of Dailypaintworks where it is also for purchase.  Have you clicked and gone there?  Go ahead.  It's neat to see one hundred of my paintings at a time.  I rearrange them every so often, too.  Go ahead, it doesn't cost a thing, or sign you up for anything, either.

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

Colorado Stream

"Colorado Stream" 14" x 11" Acrylic on wrapped canvas

I had chased this little stream with my eyes as we drove toward Rocky Mountain National Park. I wasn't about to get out of the car to traipse around the countryside to document it.  But suddenly the road came close enough, and I leaped out and shot a dozen or so.  

That sounded like I was moose hunting, didn't it?  Well, actually I was.  Not with a gun, but my point and shoot camera. Just down stream from here, on the way back I did find a moose.  She was grazing with her calf.  I have it cropped and ready to paint, but haven't begun yet.

This piece is in my gallery on Dailypaintworks.  It's also for sale on their auction site.

Thank you for wading in to say hi.
Carol