Primary colors- Sold

Oil on canvas, 20" x 20"

Thayer St. Troubadour- Sold

Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", sold

This week I think I'm going to let my little paintings dry so I can scan them. I decided to post a few paintings I've done in the recent past.

Thayer St. is a neat little street in Providence with lots of shops and restaurants, near Brown University and RISD, where students (and others) like to hang out.

Cafe Afternoon

Oil on canvas, 20" x 24"

I'm working on some smaller things but have nothing finished, so I figured I'd post this, which I finished a couple of months ago. It shows some college students enjoying the late summer weather.

Red primrose

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

The sun started coming in the window while I was painting this. I tried to capture the light, knowing that doing that can be an exercise in frustration because it changes so fast. I'm kind of happy with this, nonetheless.

Purple primrose

6" x 6" Oil on canvas

Yellow primrose

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

I bought some primroses in different colors the other day. They're so bright and cheery- I'm thinking I'll try to use them as spots of color in an otherwise somewhat neutral color scheme.

Sweet Clementine III & IV

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

Sweet Clementine I & II-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

I bought a box of sweet clementines last week, partly to eat and partly because I thought "Sweet Clementine" would be a good name for a painting. (Yes, sometimes it's that simple.) I brought the box into my studio and proceeded to try to set up the quintessential clementine painting and didn't like anything. For days, in between working on other paintings, I set up little groupings of clementines around my studio, hoping something would hit me; nothing looked interesting, and then suddenly, everything looked interesting. So I painted a series. Here are two. More later.

The bar at Red Stripe- Sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

I'm really enjoying painting these little bar/restaurant scenes, although I'm still trying to figure out how best to photograph the paintings. This still looks too yellow.

 Due to the fact that the lighting in these places is usually somewhat dim, it's a good time to practice using a really limited palette for painting. In this case, it's mostly burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, thalo blue, and white, although I did use a little alizarin and cadmium red light. I think I need to spend more time on Friday and Saturday nights gathering material...(:

Coffee

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

A long day at the beach-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

Back to the beach.

Conversation

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

I like this one a lot, although I couldn't get a really good photo. Even with Photoshop, it still looks too yellow. I used a very limited palette on this one- yellow ocher, thalo blue, burnt umber and white- although at the end I sneaked in a little cad red and cad yellow to brighten it up.

Pizza

Oil on canvas, 6"x 6"

This one was really fun to paint- one of those that hops off the brush. I painted on a white canvas, no ground color, which in this case really makes the lights shine.

Street corner

Oil on canvas, 6x8

We went to New York for a couple of days after Christmas. I got some new material for painting, although it was pretty gray and dreary most of the time we were there.

Sunflowers and apples-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

I'm cheating a little. This is a painting I did in the fall, when these were the only flowers left in my garden. 

Alstromeria- Sold

Oil on canvas, 8"x 10"

What a great title for a painting... Well, maybe not, but I didn't want to call it "Yellow flowers in pitcher II". Yes, they're the same flowers as the previous post; if I can, I'll try to get a couple of paintings from them before they wilt. Maybe I'll even do another one today.

 I have an artist friend who buys flowers, gives them to his wife for a few minutes, then takes them into his studio to paint. That's REALLY getting your money's worth.

Yellow flowers in blueberry pitcher

Oil on canvas, 6"x 8"

Apple on strawberry plate-sold

Oil on canvas, 6"x6"

The plate is another piece of Dorchester pottery. The blue and white is more typical. I like these last 2 still lifes- they're not so dependant on darkness to be dramatic.

Dorchester pitcher

Oil on canvas, 6"x6"

My sister lent me some pieces of Dorchester pottery to paint. I really like this pitcher- you'll be seeing it a few more times, I think.

Orange rim pot

Oil on canvas, 9" x 12"

I like doing paintings from photos, but I have to balance that out by painting from life, so I want to paint some still lifes this week.