Cherry Pie Green Plate - NFS

Cherry Pie on a Green Plate 8" x 10" Oil on Canvasboard. Gifted. Life drawing this morning and a quick painting of cherry pie this afternoon. I took pictures as I was painting this one, in order to post a little mini tutorial on my sketch blog. Check the sketch blog if you'd like to see it: http://nelsartmarks.blogspot.com/ Thanks for looking.

The Road Taken - SOLD

The Road Taken Oil on Stretched Canvas 11" x 14" This was one of those dabbly paintings, that you could just keep pecking away at. But I declare it done, well...maybe a few more brushstrokes here and there. And that's the way it goes sometimes. I used the limited palette colors for the red and green palette from the book The Yin/Yang of Painting, a wonderful book with a lot of good information. You get a turquoise, but no blue. You get a citron color, but no yellow. Interesting to work that way, and it makes for good color harmony. Thanks for looking.

Road to the Barns - SOLD

Road to the Barns 11" x 14" Oil on Stretched Canvas.

I was missing the feel of working on a stretched canvas, so this one is. Done from a photo taken at one of our fall forays to Butler's Orchard, one of our wonderful local wander-around farms. Others in the group were working in a pumpkin patch and there were some wonderful paintings from that day. The sky was an impossible cobalt blue, just wonderful. New price in effect today. February paintings are priced at $50.00 plus shipping. Thanks for looking.

Lakeside Path - SOLD

Oil on Canvasboard 10" x 12" A quick and easy color sketch in oils, since I still had a palette full of nature colors from earlier today. I like the dark values in this one, and I think the foliage is getting better. Thanks for looking.

Creek Impression - SOLD

Oil on Canvasboard 12" x 16" Sold. This one is mostly about the color and mood of a creek in full summer. I struggled with it, to maintain the dark feel of all the shade and still show the sparkle of the spots where the sunshine filtered through. It turned out to be quite heavily textured. This will be the last of the $30.00 paintings, tomorrow the prices will be raised. Thanks for looking.

Three Pears Twice - Both SOLD

Two paintings today. Pears on Cardboard 6.25" x 12". Oil on Gessoed Masonite Panel. SOLD. Pears on Red 6" x 8". Oil on Canvasboard. Sold. I wanted these pears at eye level, so set them on a cardboard box, and painted them on a masonite scrap, which makes for a very smooth painting experience. The second one I slipped a piece of red paper underneath, and used a canvas panel. I have been reading Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima, and it's amazing. The second time through, and it's so applicable. He offers so much wonderful information and I've tried here to use as little paint as possible, and in the pears on red, I've tried to "blend" as little as I could. We grow by trying new things. Thanks for looking.

Nectarines In January - SOLD

Nectarines In January 8" x 10" Sold. Wonderful colors for painting, even if they are too hard to eat when you take them home from the store. Thanks for looking.

Winter Sky - SOLD

Winter Sky Oil on Canvasboard 8" x 10" Sold. This one is more in the way of a study or oil sketch, but I like the mood and feeling of it. Don't you love winter colors? Sometimes it makes up for the temperatures. Thanks for looking.

Buddies - SOLD

Oil on Canvasboard 12" x 16" Sold at $30.00.

Two kids walking up the hill, maybe going to school, silhouetted against the fall light of morning. I had to stop and take a photo, and since it's too cold right now for whimpy plein air artists, the photo today was the inspiration for this one. Thanks for looking.

Yellow Onions, Purple Plate - SOLD

Yellow Onions, Purple Plate Oil on Canvasboard 6" x 8" Sold at $20.00 plus shipping. This one gave me some trouble. Maybe because it's so small. I'm finding the 6" x 8" somewhat confining, but I have a lot of that size from RayMar, so I'll use them up. I like the onions, but between the lavender paper and the purple plate, the shadows were being evasive. Overall though, I think it turned out pretty well. On a separate note, I got added to the Daily Painters Gallery yesterday(the link is Contemporary Art for Sale on the sidebar)and I already had my first sale through them today. Yippee! Thanks for stopping in.

Delaware Sunrise Route 50 - SOLD

Delaware Sunrise Oil on Canvasboard 10" x 12" Detail included.
Isn't this a little gem? I love the sky colors. This was done very quickly from a photo I took on the way to Ocean City last summer, sun just coming up, promising a gorgeous, perfect day. The farmland was still dark, just starting to glow with beautiful lights. Thanks for looking.

Creek Sunset Limited Palette - SOLD

Oil on Canvasboard 12" x 16" Using the same photo as a couple of days ago, I tried a limited palette. This is the suggested purple and yellow complementary palette from the book The Yin/Yang of Painting, by Hongnian Zhang, an excellent resource book for new oil painters. I missed having a blue for the sky, but the lavender works just fine. One thing about the limited palette is that you can't help getting a strong color harmony in your painting. Thanks for looking, and if you'd like me to send you the color list, just send an email.

Radishes on Black Plate - SOLD

Oil on Canvasboard 8" x10" Available. Detail included. This one seemed to paint so easily. I tried something new with the pink paper propped behind the radishes to make a shadow, and I think it really adds some depth. I really like how the pink reflects onto the black plate. Thanks to all of you who have been so encouraging by your comments and your willingness to buy paintings. It makes a big difference in my motivation and resolve. Thanks for stopping by.

Winter Creek Sunset - SOLD

Winter Creek Sunset Oil on Canvasboard 12" x 16" A landscape again today. This one was done from a photo I took on the way home from the cow painting plein air class. The sun was setting and reflecting through the trees so beautifully. I tried to show a little of the golden pink reflection in the water. The painting actually looks more "pinkish" than the yellow tone here. Thanks for looking.

Needwood Lake Two - SOLD

Oil on Canvas Board
12" x 16"
Available.
Because I am working right now on foliage, and having some trouble with it, I am going to be doing some landscapes from photos I've taken. This one was done from a photo taken at the same mooring area on Lake Needwood as the plein air painting from the other day (previous post). The foliage turned out pretty well on this one. I might try the same photo again with a limited palette and see what happens. Thanks for looking.

Stand Up Pears - SOLD

Oil on Canvas Covered Scrap Board
16" x 7.75"
Available.
I wanted to try the backlit look, so I used an old scrap board, and covered it with canvas. That's the reason for the odd size. The shadows here were really fun to paint. Thanks for looking.

Cows in Pasture - SOLD

Oil on Canvas Board
12" x 16"
Available.
Detail included.
Our landscape class was able to paint at a local farm this past fall, where there were wonderful cows. I managed to finish the started painting today. Thanks for looking.

The Happy Fate of Apples - SOLD

The Happy Fate of Apples Oil on Gesso Board 8" x 10" Sold at $25.00 plus shipping. With all those apples in the refrigerator, it was time to make an apple pie. I have this wonderful stoneware pie dish from Pampered Chef that my daughter gave me a couple of birthdays back, so I pulled it out and peeled apples. Decided to use a slice for a painting, and we ate the rest. Because the pie filling is so bland in color, I put it on the bright purple plate and used red-orange for the background. Thanks for looking.

Swiss Chard Watercolor

Swiss Chard Watercolor 14" x 19" image size. Strathmore Gemini 300 lb Cold Press paper. Because there was some interest in the swiss chard sketch on my sketch blog, here is swiss chard as a watercolor. Thanks for looking. (And now I have a recipe from my Tante Nelly, so it won't be wasted. Yum.)

Apples on Blue - SOLD

Apples on Blue
Oil on Linen Board
8" x 10"
Available
Does anybody know why I can sometimes do a hard return on the blog writing, and sometimes I can't? Today I can't, so everything is running together. Anyway, here are the last apples for a little while, these guys and the Delicious are now going into a pie. Maybe tomorrow you'll see a slice of pie. These were beautiful in the store, all that multi color, part red and part green. A challenge to paint though. Actually, I'm happy with how this one worked out. Thanks, Jana, hope you enjoy it. Thanks for looking.