# 273: Purple Haze

12" x 6" oil on canvas

A change in format. Does it work?

# 272: Blue Blur

6" x 6" oil on canvas

it's been a long time since my last post and more than a week before I completed my last painting. life has been a bit nuts. I started a new teaching job and I am applying to graduate school. Writing those essays is chore! All I could think of is how I would rather be painting. 

I decided to continue with he bulbs for a bit longer, since I am trying to get enough together for a series.

# 271: Fire and Ice

6" x 6" oil on canvas

light bulbs are interesting to paint, because of their transparency and sheen. The is not much in the way of value shifts and so defining the form is a bit tricky.

# 270: Earth and Sky

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I think that I like this even though it got a bit overworked in the end. The white bulb is a bit out of balance, but that might not be a bad thing because it's instability counters the heavier green bulb.

# 269: Bright Bulbs

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I am going to be focusing on light bulbs for the next few days.

# 268: Red and White

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 267: Cutie Spread

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Well this did not work out very well. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

# 266: Strawberries with Tea

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I got back to painting more of the traditional still life with objects today. Nothing much to say about this except that ellipses are a pain to paint and that capturing the surface strawberries in paint is difficult without going into detail. Strawberries are the only fruit with their seeds on the outside.

# 265: Little Bear

6" x 6" oil on canvas

No time to paint today, so instead, I did a quick re-work of an older painting. This little bear needed a some spicing up and so a bumped up the background blue and made other small changes as well.

# 264: Pile Up

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Strawberries in December are nice treat and another reason I love living in SoCal. It was a beautiful crisp sunny day today but I felt like I was sleep walking through this painting and might to adjust some things tomorrow. 

Tomorrw is here and I made some adjustments...but some paintings are just not meant to be saved .

# 263: Pepper Riot

6" x 6" oil on canvas

The feisty peppers were fun. The perspective is just a bit off and therefore bugs me...grrrr Patterned backgrounds are a good challenge and I need to work on the balance...the background should lay back a bit more.

# 262: Elegant Pears

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 261: Orange Dots

6" x 6" oil on canvas

This was a fun idea, but I quickly became obsessed with getting the perspective of the dots right and so it got a bit tight. It would give it another go, but I ate all of the tomatoes.

# 260: Onion Wheels

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 259: Pastoral Wedges

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I love painting apple wedges and should do it more often. The only problem is that they tend to brown (even though I coat them with lemon juice) and I tend to paint what I see and not what I know or want to see and so these little guys got  toned at the end.

# 258: Contented Pears

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I forgot to post yesterday and so there will be two posts today. Still pushing the color...too much?

# 257: Regal Pepper

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I am continuing my compositional studies of simple fruit and veggie arrangements. The goal is to have a bunch these to hang together on a gallery wall. Doing a series is a great way to focus on things beyond the subject matter...especially when the subject matter is so common.

# 256: Tomato Glow

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I have gotten a lot of mileage out these orange tomatoes.

# 255: Pepper Pursuit

6" x 6" oil on canvas

This one turned out a bit "pinker" than I intended. I like muted festiness though. These simple paintings are a joy to paint, but they do not tend sell well on the DPW website. I am hoping that they sell better when shown together on a gallery wall. If they do not, I will learn something. but the best lesson is that I really enjoy painting these simple grouping. I get a kick out of how one can animate and create a bit a drama with a few fruits and vegetables.

# 254: Tomato Transpostion

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I am starting on a series of arrangements of fruits and vegetables on a simple background, focusing on color and composition.  I have done similar paintings in the past and aim to do a bunch more for a gallery presentation. They are a fun and refreshing activity to engage in during the darkest time of the year and tend to be easy to accomplish during precious daylight hours.