"Sunrise"

Palette knife oil on 6 x 6 inch Arches paper for oils, mounted

on Crescent mat board - $75

My cat Bijou wakes me at 5:00 AM. The ONLY good thing 

about that is that I get to see some of the most awesome sunrises during 

our Arizona monsoon season. I'd really rather sleep some mornings, 

but if I have to be awake, this is a pretty nice way to start the day. 

And they just beg to be painted.

"Clouds Building"

"Clouds Building" - All Arizonans look forward to monsoon season during the summer. 

The rains are more than welcome, and the skies are amazing. 

Not so easy to paint, but well worth the effort.

Palette knife oil painting on 6 x 6 inch on

Arches paper for oils. 

"D'Anjou Dance" 

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 This one is a little wild, and was lots of fun to paint.

Palette knife oil painting on  6 x 6 inch Arches 

paper for oils, mounted on Crescent mat board.

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Red Anjou Arriving"

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"Red Anjou Coming" - decided it was about time for a color change.

 It's always fun working with reds - so vibrant. 

I did this using the "destroy & rebuild" technique.

Palette knife oil on Arches paper for oils, mounted

on Crescent mat board

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

D'Anjou #4

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Day 11 of the 30/30 Challenge - seems like I'm on a roll with pears at the moment. 

This is a "destroy & rebuild" technique. I paint the pear with my trusty 

palette knife, then pull a brush through it in every direction. 

I always have to take a deep breath and hold it when I do this. 

Then I pick up the palette knife again & rebuild it, just somewhat. 

If I'm lucky, it works; if not, I scrape. 

Palette knife oil on 6 x 6 inch gessobord.

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!

D'Anjou #3

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Palette knife oil on 6 x 6 inch Arches paper 

for oils.

I just knew there were going to be more pears!

More to come - I'm behind on posting.

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Farmers' Market"

Painted from a photo taken at the farmers' market

at Steam Pump Ranch in Tucson, AZ.

These squashes looked so delicious and colorful,

they just had to be painted.

Day #2 of the 30/30 Challenge

Watercolor and pen on 6 x 6 inch 

Pentalic 130# paper.

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!

"Wallflower"

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As I was painting this, it occurred to me that two of 

the pears were quite cozy, while the third was kind of

separate, leaning against the wall in a corner. It

reminded me of dancing class all those decades ago!

Day #1 of the 30 in 30 Challenge: 

6 x 6 inch palette knife oil on Arches paper for oils, 

mounted on Crescent mat board.

EXPERIMENTING - Part 2

  

                     

       

My lovely cat, Bijou, again

I liked the result in pastel, so figured I'd try the same idea in oil.

#1 - top left: I did an under-painting in pale green, and tried some 

colors in the other areas,

#2 - top right: Painted the cat, but too dark, I think. Should have matched

the value of the under-painting which is now showing up

just as whitish spots, so ....

#3 - bottom left: ... I covered up the under-painting completely. Well, that's 

better, but it lacks the punch of the pastel version. So ....

#4 - bottom right: .... proceeding with the advice & encouragement of my 

friend Linda, I made a really thin wash of sap green and painted 

it over everything, but the cat. Better - at least it looks like it

all belongs together now. 

Result: I learned something new. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I just signed up for the September 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge

 at https://www.saetastudio.com/30-in-30.html.

 I think this must be the 4th or 5th time for me. I feel I've been totally lazy 

about painting this summer and the September challenge really helps to get me 

in the painting groove. So, here we go again!

D'Anjou Pears - Another Series?

D'Anjou #2

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6 x 6 inch palette knife oil on Arches paper, 

mounted on Crescent mat board.

Ah! Another pear. I guess the series is really underway. 

I really like the blush of pink on this one.

D'Anjou Pears - Another Series?

D'Anjou #1

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Palette knife oil painting on 6 x 6 inch Arches paper

for oils, mounted on Crescent mat board.

It appears I may be starting another series. I'm not sure how

far I'll go with it, but it is so much fun to paint these

small pieces, playing with color and technique.

Sometimes, I just can't help myself!

Bobcat Sketch

Bobcat

Approx. 8 x 10 inches, water-soluble graphite

on Pentalic 130# paper

Summers in Tucson lead to an almost overwhelming urge to take naps. 

In an effort to counteract that, twice a month I've been involved with

a workshop geared to keep my art practice alive. The above sketch 

was done during the workshop. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed 

using these Art Graf water-soluble graphite pencils.

I'm not sure whether I'll actually finish this, as I 

sort of like it just as it is.

EXPERIMENTING

BIJOU

Bijou is my Russian Blue companion, and is always ready to have her 

photo taken, or a sketch drawn. I decided to experiment with this drawing. 

Step 1 - top left. I sketched her from a photo, then attempted to create

some texture in parts of the drawing by placing a piece of scrap metal screen

under the 130# paper and rubbing over it with Stockmar white beeswax. Next, I thinned

down some acrylic and did a green wash over the whole image.

Step 2 - top right. Using charcoal, I created, more or less, a value map of the cat,

then painted over everything with Golden acrylic ground for pastels as some grit

was needed to hold the pastel.

Step 3 - bottom left. Adding pastel. Hmmm. Not as happy with this as the texture

I had created in Step 1 pretty much disappeared. Maybe added pastel with too 

heavy a hand? What next?

Step 4 - bottom right. I added green to her eyes - which, indeed, are a lovely green.

I think I'm done with this particular experiment, and am, somewhat, happy with 

the result. I like the fact that I played with color, though my intent was to be much looser and free-er with the entire piece - always a struggle. I'll try another with lighter-weight paper, lighter hand with pastels, and see what transpires.

STARTING OVER, Minneola #6

Minneola #6

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The last of this current series, though definitely not the last, 

as I have too much fun painting them.

Palette knife oil on 6 x 6 inch Arches paper for oils, mounted

on Crescent mat board.

STARTING OVER, Minneola #4

Click to Bid

Minneola #4

Palette knife oil on 6" x 6" Arches paper for oils,

mounted on Crescent mat board.

This is the "destroy and rebuild" version.

Taos Mountain

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Plein air oil painting on 11" x 14" stretched canvas
Painted during a plein air workshop in Cristobal, NM.
Such wonderful views everywhere!

STARTING OVER, Minneola #3

Minneola #3

Click to Purchase

A bit of rule-breaking in this marbleized version, which

allowed me to splash the colors around a bit.

I really like the result!

6" x 6" on Arches paper for oils, mounted on Crescent mat board.

STARTING OVER - Minneola #2

Minneola #2

Click to Purchase

Here we go again. A mosaic-style treatment, 

holding to just three values. Boy, I love doing these!

6 x 6 inch on Arches paper for oils, 

mounted on Crescent mat board

STARTING OVER - Minneola #1

Minneola #1

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Went to a plein air paint-out this week after four months

of no painting. The result was a disaster though I may still

try to save it. Anyway, I decided to start all over with an orange again

and hopefully get the feel of that fast, juicy, loose way of painting once more.

6" x 6" palette knife oil on Arches paper for oils

Click to Bid

Thunderbird

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This one reminds me of the Navajo jewelry featuring the Thunderbird.

 I used to sigh over the display at Jenny Lake Lodge in what is now Grand Teton Nat'l Park, 

and especially loved that design.

6 x 6 inch, inks, acrylic ground and soft pastel on Rives BFK, unframed

Foggy Crossroad

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Blues & blue-violets. I love the foggy, kind of smeared, look of this one.

6 x 6 inch, ink under-painting, acrylic ground and soft pastel on Rives BFK, unframed

Which Way?

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Blue and green are, perhaps, my favorite colors (it sort of depends on the day

 of the week and the phase of the moon). This one was fun to do. 

I'm beginning to really love abstracts.

ink underpainting, pastel ground, soft pastel on Rives BFK, unframed