Taos Stream

Taos Stream

6x8in oil on canvas board  $125.

This was painted from a photo and memory.
The shower has just passed over and the air was clean and oh... so fresh.

Artist Note.

When I paint from one of my photos, I close my eyes and try to go
back to what I was feeling when I took it.
This is a lovely little stream just on the outskirts of Taos, N.M.
I remembered the sounds of the water and smell of the wet earth .
There was a breeze and a tractor starting back up after the rain.
It was the red of the wild flowers which attracted me.
They were fenced off so I never knew what they were,
but they sure looked like poppies.

Aspen Stream

Aspen Stream

6x8in oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

I was invited to paint with a friend today in her beautiful new studio.
It was wonderful.

Artist Note.

Fracturing landscapes is interesting. I am going to have to do quite a few
of them to learn the ins and outs.
When I was painting the water I found I could quickly lose the wet look.
The waterfall came and went so lots of scraping off and
starting again on this one.
I did enjoy painting it and learned some neat stuff, but feel I need to do
more of them before I offer some techniques.

Young Trees ll

Young Trees ll

6x8in oil on canvas board  $125.


This is from a photo I took in the spring of these lovely young trees
growing by a dry stream bed at the base of our local mountains.
When the monsoons start next month, the stream will become alive
with nourishment for them...just in time.

Follow The Sun?

Follow the Sun?

6x8in  oil on canvas board   $125. SOLD

I always believed that sunflowers turn to follow the sun only to read
that once they have bloomed they stay facing east (where
the sun rises.) It is only the buds and leaves which turn to follow the sun.
Don't believe me?  check wikipedia.

I did find out that their origin was Mexico and they are now grown
all over the world - climate permitting. Neat.

Artist Note.

I cannot imagine art without Van Gogh's sunflowers.
Remember his quote:
There is no blue without orange, without yellow.
Brilliant!

Shawl and Silver Bowl

Shawl and Silver Bowl

Graphite. 6x6in

Commission. SOLD

This is the shawl I love to paint in egg tempera.

The request was to make a pencil drawing with emphasis on the fringe.
This particular collector loves realism and I had a hard time suggesting the fringe
without making every single strand too obvious. I was concerned it was not
precise enough, but she loved it.

Artist Note.

There is a lot of repeat diamond and triangle shapes
in both the positive and negative areas. Squint
to see them. Start with the inside of the bowl...then the outside...
and on and on.
Hard to photograph the pencil so the dark contrasts look harsher than they are.

Back to oils....

Apricots and Turquoise

Apricots and Turquoise

8x6in oil on canvas board  $125. SOLD

Surprised I got anything done because I had some
heart pounding moments today. This should tell the story.

Not one, but two rattlesnakes, having a party mating
right outside my studio. About 5 feet from my door.
Those are the two rattles you see with the black and stripes.
I used my ZOOM lens naturally!!

Turquoise and Peonies Squared!

Turquoise and Peonies Squared.

6x6in oil on canvas panel  $100.

I really love this color combination. Red is my favorite color
but turquoise has to be next.

Artist Note.

A fellow artist challenged me to see if I could
fit my turquoise vase into a square format.
I had to make it a bit shorter with no foreground
and take one of the flowers up to the top.
The square is very popular with artists
because it is perfect for the contemporary still life.

Roses Against Adobe

Roses Against Adobe

6x8in  oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

I really, really enjoyed painting these beautiful roses.
I had fun with the title too. Can go two ways,
I mean, why are the roses against Adobe?
What has adobe ever done to them!
Did I hear a groan?

Seeing Red

Seeing Red

8x6in oil on canvas board  $125. SOLD


A cuppa tea out in the garden is one of the delights of summer.

Artist Note.

I have painted this red teapot many times and really enjoy it.
Red is my favorite color because it is so cheerful, but I find
it can be difficult to modulate.
I used orange to lighten and a yellow green to take the garish
look away. To darken, I moved into Quinacridone Magenta
with a little transparent oxide brown. Some green was added
to permanent red  as a transition color from shadow to light.

I do hope the blog is fully functioning again and the image
comes through.

No Image again! plus Quote by Churchill

I am having a problem with an image posting onto Blogger.
I do apologize and I thank all of you who were kind enough
to inform me. I would not have known otherwise.
Hope all will be back to normal ASAP
Meanwhile, here is something to ponder which fits the path of an artist





Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will
stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path.
You know you will never get to the end of the journey . But this, so far from 
discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.


Sir Winston Churchill.

He had to have been referring to his painting
because it fits all artists so well.

Purple and Alstroemeria

Purple and Alstroemeria.

8x6in oil on canvas panel  $125.

White Alstroemerias. I found them difficult to do without making them too
hard edged..
I love them though for three reasons.
They come in many colors,
are inexpensive,
and they last a while under lights.

Artist Note.

Warm and cool colors are important to me in my work.
I try and punch the contrast more than what I actually see.
Here are colors I made up before I started the painting.

Cool on the left. Warm on right.
I added white  to a middle value
and I can  bend them up or down
from there.
I made the yellow lighter on the cool
side so you could see the full range.
I added purple to cool and darken it.
I made the greens from these colors.
Anytime you add white to a color it
cools it down so to lighten the warm
colors I add a little yellow.

Here is a close-up showing the warm
and cool of the vase and flowers
My light source is warm so the shadows
are cool.

Peonies, Apricots and Turquoise #2

Peonies, Apricots and Turquoise #2

8x6in  oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

I had a request for a sister painting to one I did about a week ago.
Same items only rearranged differently.

Thanks for all the congratulations on my 400th blog everyone!

400th Consecutive Blog!

A Touch of Red

8x6in oil on canvas panel   $125. SOLD

400 posts! Yikes!
I am celebrating tonight with a pat on the back for myself.
When I first started I never thought I would be able to do
this project, but I made a commitment and stuck with it.
I feel proud of my growth and self discipline, but most of all
I am proud of my husband, Jim. For someone who doesn't
give a darn about art, (true)  he has been 100% supportive.
So publicly  I want to say, thank you, I love you and
...whats for supper!!!  (joke..but he took over most of
the cooking when I started this and is now an excellent cook)


Artist Note,

I have done this painting before and liked something about it
so wanted to see what it would be like done in the fracturing
technique. It is the same and yet so different.

Fracturing the Plums

Fracturing the Plums

6x8in  oil on canvas panel SOLD

Putting a piece on that is older because although I did
paint today, I was not able to finish it.
Today makes 399 days of blogging without missing a day. WOW!
 I will finish today's painting in time for my 400th blog, tomorrow..

Freesia and Turquoise

Freesia  and Turquoise

6x6in oil on canvas panel  $100. SOLD

This beautiful little vase was handmade in Japan and I have painted it a lot.
The glaze turns from Turquoise into a deep cobalt which seems to float
on top of a rich brown glaze. There is no way I can capture it with paint.
It is fun trying though!

Freesias and Lemons

Freesias and Lemons

8x6in oil on canvas   $125. SOLD

My friend came with Freesias from Trader Joe's in Albuquerque.
Purple/blue and white. Gorgeous!
How I wish TJ's would move to Las Cruces.

Flowers and Fruit

Flowers and Fruit

6x6in oil on canvas board  $100. SOLD

I did not have much time today so I did a smaller piece.
The 6x6in format is always fun to do.
I have all kinds of items in here. Cherries, a pear, apricots, lemon slices,
three roses, a vase and a bowl. It is a lot to put into a small area,
but my goal on these small pieces is to give the viewer the impression
of a full sized painting.

Purple and Pansies

Purple and Pansies

6x8in  oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

Purple is known as the color of royalty and affluence
As an artist I am more interested in the color because of all the
colors in the visible spectrum, it is the one that vibrates
at the highest frequency.
Did you know that our sky is really violet/purple, but we see it as blue?
If you have a curious mind click here

Pansy Supreme

Pansy Supreme

8x6in  oil on canvas panel   $125 SOLD


What's not to like about pansies? They are sturdy, colorful and
have a happy face. Best of all they provide visual pleasure
throughout the winter months. Summer months too, if you paint them!

Artist Note.

One of the advantages I find by painting loosely is the ability to suggest
something by color, without rendering it perfectly.
In this case, I first painted the focal point with the correct form of a pansy.
Once this had been established I could then make any shape,  and as
long as I repeated a color or used the very distinctive yellow center,
it would read as a pansy.
Here is a close up to show you how abstract the one above the focal pansy is.

The mind makes it a pansy because it is next to a pansy of the same color.

Also the little touch of a yellow center is code for pansy.

Here is the yellow center again but look how abstract the shape is.

Put your finger over the yellow center and you will find the

shape gives you no sense of a pansy other than color.

The mind is a wonderful thing.

Turquoise and Pansies

Turquoise and Pansies

8x6in  oil on canvas board   $125. SOLD

Guess who has a turquoise mug? Correct - a gold star for YOU!

Thank you for the many warm comments I received regarding the
DPW Spotlight interview
I have completed a painting every single day for over a year
now. Not always easy, but the friendships I have made and the
fellowship of many of the other daily painting bloggers have
added a dimension to my life I would not have thought possible.

Artist Note.

I usually paint from life, but the pansies are gone so I went back
to when I did a series of pansies and picked a couple of views
in the same light source, and copied only the flowers.  (I did set up new props.)
If I say so myself, it was a great idea.
How come I have not thought of it before?
How many others do it I wonder?
Try it and I bet you find an improvement over the older version.

Apricots and Roses

Apricots and Roses

8x6in  oil on canvas panel  $125. SOLD

The last of my neighbors roses.
The last of the apricots - according to my hubby.
(He most likely has a little stash hidden somewhere
beyond my reach!)

If any of you are interested to know more about what
makes me (julie) tick, you may want to read the interview
on this week's Daily Paintworks News.
Starts Friday.
I have donated a painting to be in the drawing.

  http://dpwnews.blogspot.com/

Peonies and Turquoise

Peonies and Turquoise

8x6in  oil on canvas panel   $125. SOLD

This turquoise vase is a real beauty, but I cannot put anything
wimpy in it. It shows best at peony time.
These are apricots right off our lone fruit tree. It is rather a
disappointing crop this year and I am under oath not to keep
these in the studio overnight as hubby wants to eat them.
After the lemon series I did, I think he is worried I will decide to do
one on apricots, and then he will never get one.
Come to think of it, they are a wonderful color... hmm...

Young Trees

Young Trees

6x8in oil oil canvas board   $125. SOLD

These lovely young trees caught my attention as I was
painting another view. This was painted in April.

Artist Note.

I did not manage to finish my still life today...one of those struggle days!
I did this a while ago and never put it on my blog as I really liked something
about it, but was not sure what.
I have never missed a day blogging yet so decided to put it on.
Does that happen to anyone else ?