Its pansy Time Again!

Pansy Time

8"x6" oil on canvas panel $150.

Purchase SOLD 

Artist Note.

The pansies are back

and I have planted them in pots

on our balcony.

Such a happy flower. 

They make me happy

thru the wintertime.

Anyone else like them?

Watercolor - Pansy Study

Pansy Study

8x7in watercolor on Yupo paper NFS

Artist Note

I have been trying to figure out how to do '

the pansies on this slick Yupo paper. 

For those of you who do not know what it is like,  

visualize a thin sheet of smooth,

white, flexible plastic. 

The stuff is great for abstract and 

non-representational art because 

the paint floats on the surface. 

The mingling of colors happens beautifully.

Flat areas are quite doable and 

 neat edges are formed where a puddle ends, 

but try to do a more impressionistic style 

of layering and it looks pretty messy 

right off the bat because

the darn paint lifts off when you don't want it to.

BUT 

that is also exactly the beauty of using it

...to be able to lift the paint cleanly off 

to get back to the white.

Here I slightly stained everywhere but 

the main white pansy first and lifted off 

smaller white areas - trying make sure 

that nothing 

competed with the focal pansy.

Anyone with any hints out there?

Pansy Pleasure

Pansies and Purple

6x8in oil on canvas SOLD

The colder weather means the pansies 

can now be planted.

My friend Sharon has a lovely new

area of them, bringing a bit of sunshine

warmth to a cold day.

Artist Note.

I am posting an old painting at top.

One I really like. 

I am going to try one in watercolor 

and use it as a reference.

Stay tuned...

Pansies Have Arrived!

Pansies and Creamer

6x8in oil on canvas $125.

I was thrilled to find pansies at the garden center. I love
them because they bring me joy throughout the winter.
Who can resist their smiley face and beautiful colors?


Artist Note
I had a request for a pansy painting quite a while ago
and I had been waiting for the live ones to come in.
Unfortunately when my computer crashed it took all
my flagged emails with it so if the interested person
likes this one, I will delay placing the paypal on DPW
for a day to give them a chance of getting in touch with me.

Pansy Time

Pansy Time

6x8in oil on linen  $125.

Every year I get into painting beautiful, colorful pansies.
I subdued this first attempt.

Artist Note.
I was really delighted to see some artists share their fracturing
experiences after viewing my video artbyte.
Check out this wonderful Sunday post by Celeste Bergin.
Even though she is already a fabulous painter
she still is not only willing to experiment,
but to also let others know and pass on credit.
Celeste Bergin (click on name to see)
I love her two paintings.

Another one is Lisa Graham  (Click on name to see)
She works in a completely different medium and
visual technique, but was still courageous and
publicly willing to give it a go and give credit.
She achieved some great layering effects.
To my eye, the surface became interesting with the
multiple marks. Her story telling is always a pure delight
and I am an avid follower of her blog.

One of my favorite artist is one we all know. Kind and
generous, Rita manages to get to so many blogs to support
and comment.She tried the fracturing with watermendia.
 Rita Vaselli (click on name to see) I really loved what
she achieved on a couple of her paintings. Again, what an
adventurous spirit to try something new and share it by
passing on the information to others.

These talented artists are all established, but willing to try
something new. I am indebted to them as it thrilled me no
end to see them have a go.

Send me your attempts and I will be so pleased to share
them on my blog.

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.

Pansies and Lemons

Pansies and Lemons

6x8in oil on canvas $125 SOLD

I think the color harmony is lovely in this piece.
Mother nature provides extra bliss to artists.

Artist Note.

I enjoyed fracturing this. I have painted this subject before,
but enjoyed it more this way.

I would like to direct you to the blog of Carol Flatt
She is trying the fracturing technique - giving my blog credit
which I think is very generous of her. I liked what she did
a lot, so please take a look at her Friday, June 1st, plums.

Mother's Pottery #11

Mother's Pottery #11

6x6in oil on canvas panel 85.

This bowl is more organic in its form than how I could possibly paint it.
It is my personal favorite of  my mother's pieces. It is beautifully made
with large, petal like shapes flaring outwards and no matching sides.
The arch shapes are totally contemporary and I find it amazing to realize
she was 81 when she made this piece. It was the last, really arty piece
she made as her vision was deteriorating.
The other ladies in class were speechless when it came out of the kiln,
but her teacher thought it was fabulous, as did I.
It sits on the kitchen counter and holds anything from fruit to flowers
and during the winter months I float flowers and candles in it.

This is the last painting of the series.
Painting it it has been a comforting, emotional experience on a deep level and
I have genuinely appreciated and been touched by the heartwarming
comments from viewers, either on the blog or by email.

Artist Note:

This was difficult to make look correct because it has undulating
free form shapes and is deliberately uneven so I depended upon the
top shape of the water to show its roundness.
The water was deeper than number 4 (with the floating lemon pieces) so it
was easier to do as it became a darker, warmer value.
As this painting is about the bowl, I made the pansies soft and more
muted than they were, but don't you think the colors are lovely
next to the blues?

Pansy Time #5

Pansy Time #5

8x6in   oil on canvas board   100.

I am still having a stimulating and fun time painting the Pansy Series.

Artist Note:

After doing the close-up viewpoint yesterday I went for a more modern design approach today.
I started with organizing my shapes, keeping in mind I wanted strong negative areas.
I had some new objects I wanted to paint and needed some help in finding a color scheme.

I turned to the book, "Confident Color" by Nita Leland. (North Light)
I chose Modern Triad.
Hansa Yellow Light, Quinacridone Magenta and Phthalo Blue. Plus Titanium White.
It is amazing what a full range of values and colors you can get with just these three plus white.

I am fortunate enough to have several of my own paintings included in this excellent book.
Just a wee bit of bragging!

Pansy Time #4

Pansy Time #4

8x6in oil on canvas board 100.


Continuing the Pansy Series.

This time I placed them in colorful vases which competed for attention.
A purely decorative and fun piece to do.

Pansy Bouquet

Pansy Bouquet.  SOLD

6x6in oil on canvas board.    85.

I felt like using a bit more color after painting all the green in the pecan orchard yesterday.
I didn't mind cutting the pansies to bring them indoors because it is going to freeze tonight.
Yessss...a bit of color!

Lemons and Pansies

Lemons and Pansies

6x8in oil on canvas board 100.

Another painting using yellow, but this time as the dominant color. Every mixture, even the purple, has yellow in it.
This one was fun to paint.

The Bali Calendar

The Bali Calendar

8x6in  oil on canvas Board  Not for sale.

A very dear friend gave me this hand-carved calendar which was made in Bali. Most of the design has been burnt into the wood slats with a fine tool. The Months are in English, but the other writing is in Balinese. It is a work of art and I love it.
I am going to send this painting to my friend as a gift and I do hope she likes it.

This is the first time I have managed to incorporate the calendar into a still life set-up and I found that the hanging pull can take over the whole painting...so I placed the pull next to the pansies as part of the bouquet.

I enjoyed working with the yellow again and will try a different yellow harmony tomorrow.