Red Teapot and Van Gogh

Tea With Van Gogh
6x8" oil on canvas panel  SOLD

Artist Note.
Good to be back painting after
being hit with a nasty virus.
I am still coughing and living
in a whirl of
tissues and nose blowing.
From now on it is fist bumps
for greetings
instead of handshakes.

A good friend came back from a
trip to Europe with a gift of two
tablecloths  - both with images of
Vincent van Gogh's work.
This one had his gorgeous"Irises" painting.
see detail below.

I have set up a couple of 

still life displays using 

the tablecloths as the background.

They are rich and exciting.

I decided to use the red teapot

to see if I could balance out

the power of the colors 

in the cloth.

The next one has fruit

in a clay bowl.

You can just see a tiny bit of it

at the right side

I started this before
Mr.blanky blankVirus
decided to form an
intimate relationship
with me and
managed to complete it today.
Yea - on the recovery road!

Spring Splendor

Spring Splendor

6x6in  oil on canvas board  85.

This was a nifty little iris peeking out between the leaves.

I was horrified to see how distorted my blog looked on my friends monitor. She has an up-todate
thin, but wide (letterbox) one and everything is pulled wider than it is.
An 8x6in painting looked almost square. Her colors are are quite lighter than on my computer screen too so it made me realize how different everyone's monitors must be.  Quite daunting to mail out a painting if it doesn't match what they wanted. Thankfully, I haven't had any problems so far.
I wonder if anyone has a solution for this?

Artist Note:

This was a fast little painting to demonstrate how to paint smoothly using a synthetic, angle brush.
These type of brushes are a wiz at blending colors together or creating a side stroke for a different texture. After cleaning the brush I am always careful to place the tip between stiff card stock and secure with paper clip so the edges keep perfectly straight.

Fluer- de -Lis.

Iris

7x5in  oil on canvas board   SOLD

Iris are fun to paint. They have a long and interesting background and I thought I would share a couple of bits of info here.

The flower was named after the Greek goddess, Iris, who was the messenger of the Gods. She would ride on the rainbow to and from earth in her beautiful, multicolored robe acting as a link between heaven and earth.

During the Middle Ages, Irises became linked to the French Monarchy, eventually becoming the French national symbol, the fleur-de-lis.
According to french historian Georges Duby, the three leaves represent medieval social class:
Those who worked.
Those who fought.
Those who prayed.


All neat stuff!