Strawberries

Strawberries in oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches. These berries were more of a challenge than I expected. Now I'm happy with them, and have just been waiting for a bright day to photograph them. Today was a bright day!
Does it look too dark on your monitor? It is so hard to know if the photo looks OK on other monitors. I really need to work out a system for photographing these paintings. What is your method?

Paint Tube Organization - An Inexpensive Way

Here is an easy and inexpensive way to organize your paint tubes. I found this plastic case at Home Depot for about $5.
Remove the lid, you won't need that. But you could probably use that for something, a spare palette perhaps? If you are lucky enough to work with extra large tubes, there are larger cases similar to this at Home Depot (or any home improvement store.) I mostly work with 37-40 ml tubes, so this size works fine for me.

Now you will need to take apart the little dividers that are provided. I used an Exacto blade to trim off the little nibs so that the dividers will fit snugly into the slots.

Now all you have to do is insert the dividers into the slots of the box and put in your paint tubes. The tubes will be upright-- less leaking from the lids!

                                      

I like having all my reds, blues, yellows and neutrals grouped together. So nice to see all my colors at once!

Enjoy!

Fresh Blueberries

I had been wanting to do something in blue, so blueberries became the subject! In oil, 5" x 7" canvas panel.

Landscape Painting

Landscape in acrylic, 12" x 12" canvas.

December Apple

Apple, from December 2012. In oil,  6" x 6" panel. There is a little photographic light reflection in the dark background near the apple. I'll be posting more new ones soon!

Challenge 33: Paint & Draw Together

This is a painting I did to participate in the Paint & Draw Together painting challenge. You can read about the original work, which this is based on, here:

http://paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com/2012/10/challenge-33-in-style-of-old-masters.html

and then click on the blog's header to view all the participants works. It is very interesting to see the variety of work and interpretations.

Mine is 9"x12", oil on gessoed masonite. Let me know what you think!

Three Tangerines

Three Tangerines in White Bowl, 5"x7", oil. Going from one item to three plus a bowl was perhaps too big a leap! The bowl was most difficult, and it is not quite "there."

Red Onion in Oil

Red Onion in oil, 5"x7". (There is a bit of glare in the top left background.) 

Let me know what you think!

Pear painting

A 5" x 7" painting I did in oil. I had planned on toning down that vibrant green, as it doesn't really match my "model" pear. But I kind of like it now. What do you think?

A Painting

I recently participated in the Paint and Draw Together blog's monthly challenge. Here is a link:
http://paintanddrawtogether.blogspot.com/2012/10/jean-slobodow.html
I used a limited palette (ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, raw umber and titanium white.) Take a look a let me know what you think. I worked on it quickly, as I had found the challenge only two days before the deadline!

Apples and Peaches in Acrylic and Oil

I worked on some acrylic and oil sketches recently. Here are the acrylic apples & peaches:
(There is a bit of glare on apple on the right.) Each are painted on a 12" x 16" piece of canvas. Let me know what you think.

Here are the Apples and Peaches in Oil:

IF: Toy

Here is an older drawing of mine. Charcoal, graphite. 18x24".

Illustration Friday, Prehistoric...

IF's word this week is Prehistoric. While a tree sloth is not prehistoric, they certainly did have relatives that were. This cold snap (in FL) made me think of slothful movement, slow...., even though I do enjoy this colder weather! I used as my model a photograph from Muybridge's Animal Locomotion. Because you certainly wouldn't find any sloths hanging around in this weather. Hand drawn by me, in graphite.

Fun with Bark

A photograph of tree bark. July 2010.

Cocoon, Illustration Friday

This is a monoprint I did awhile back to illustrate a short story. The figure in the middle has a cocoon look to it, so I thought I would post this one. The original is 22" by 30".