Last Sunrise of 2012

On the last day of the year,I send warm thoughts to all who have followed this blog and love making and looking at art as much as I do. May 2013 bring you abundance!

Merry Christmas

Painted this for my sister and her husband, their house before the renovations. 11x14, I had fun with this, from the dried hydrangeas in the foreground to the small piece of Narragansett Bay behind the house. They were thrilled and that made me happy!

Pell Bridge

This painting was just purchased by a friend for a Christmas gift for her sister. Their mother passed away earlier this year, and her house, which had a view of the bridge has been sold. So now they will always have this view!Painted plein air at Battery Park, this bridge leads to Jamestown and points south from Newport, RI.

Halved

The fourth and final of this series. Nothing is really final though, is it? These are at Imago Gallery in Warren, RI as part of an Invitational Holiday Show.

Sectioned

Sectioned

As I mentioned in my first post about these citrus fruits, when sectioned they had a thick white skin that I had to slice away to get at that juicy orange flesh. I purposefully avoided using the complement of blue, just because it might be the obvious choice for the shadows and I don't want to paint in the most predictable way. Ever.

Sliced

Second in this little series is Sliced, again painted on a 6x6 cradled panel. I coated it with gesso first, then sanded it. I could have used a second coat of gesso, but my impatience won out. I played with the edges of the foreground rind, not wanting them to be too well defined. Working quickly, not trying so hard. Against my nature, but then, that's how I grow.

Peeled

Peeled

The first in a series of four studies of an orange, actually a  tangerine, perhaps a clementine. More useful for this purpose than to eat, as they were disappointingly full of seeds. I used a knife to peel it, and was interested in the shape the peel made, the changes in temperature, and, of course, the shadow shapes.

Gina

 

I am showing the stages this painting went through during each 20       minute sitting. You can see the searching and the struggle, and I hope the satisfaction when I finished with a portrait that captures this models features as well as her personality.