Winter Creek Blues - SOLD

Winter Creek Blues

Oil on Canvas board, 16" x 20"

Sold at $100 plus $15.00 shipping

I've been wanting to do something with snow shadows since we've had so much snow (another 8" last night.) The other day I went for a nice little drive, when the sun was shining and took a bunch of photos. This is a little feeder creek across from Moss Pond. It's been altered a lot, since I could barely see the creek through all the brambles and branches, but it was great working with all these blues and lavender grays. Thanks for looking, and the best to everyone for 2008.

Lemon Meringue Pie - SOLD

Lemon Meringue Pie Watercolor, Watercolor Pencil and Gouache on Watercolor Paper 8" x 8" Sold at $45.00 plus shipping. As a thank you and a small tribute to our Daily Painters Gallery administrator (and creator) Micah, some of the members are posting cakes, pies, and pastries for his birthday tomorrow. I hope there are bunches on the gallery tmorrow, that would be fun. Happy Birthday, Micah! This is an older piece, mixed media, but small and sweet. Thanks for looking.

Orange Fan - SOLD

Orange Fan Oil on Canvas Panel, 8" x 8" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. This was a delight to do today, just because it was oils. Oil blends like you want it to, it moves as you want it to, it can be as subtle as you want it to, or as bold. It felt like a homecoming. Thanks for looking.

Foggy Pond

Foggy Pond Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 16" Available at $50.00 plus shipping. The third of this series. It felt so good to pull out the oil paints again, like a comfortable and familiar place to be. Ahhhh. Thanks for looking.

Creek Colors

Creek Colors Acrylic on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Available at $50.00 plus shipping. So far with the acrylics, I've been trying to make them behave like oils, adding mediums to beef them up and slow them down (drying time.) Today I decided to just go with the flow, and paint as the paints wanted to act. There is almost no blending in this one, just popping colors in where they needed to go, in the approximate shapes in the scene. Putting them overtop of one another. I like the way the foliage turned out, but it does lend itself well to this kind of painting. I blended a little in the water, but that's about it. What do you think of the results? Thanks for looking.

Shade Tree for the Cows - SOLD

Shade Tree for the Cows
Acrylic on Canvas panel, 12" x 12"
SOLD at $40.00 plus shipping.

The perfect pastoral subject, and I like painting them too. Cows are so restful. And I know where I can find some to photograph. More cows? Could well be. Thanks for looking.

Doray House Winter - Sold

Doray House Winter Acrylic on Canvas board, 12" x 16" SOLD This one was a redo of the Winter Neighborhood from a few days back. The neighbor's liked it, since it was of their house, and asked for a repeat. This one is for Sharon, Happy Birthday! Thanks for looking.

Pine Needle Path - SOLD

Pine Needle Path Acrylic on Canvas board, 12" x 16" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. I liked the subtle play of colors on the path when I took this photo, the bright sienna color of the pine needles, against the darkness of the trees. Still playing with the acrylics. Thanks for looking.

Christmas Tree - SOLD

My daughter's tree Pen and Ink with Watercolor and Ink Brush Pen, 11" x 14" Sold Just a little drawing today. Hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful day, if you celebrate Christmas. Are you exhausted but glowing? Hope for you it was in some way a special day. Thanks for looking.

Homestead Two - SOLD

Homestead Two Acrylic on Canvas board, 12" x 16" SOLD This one is a repeat with some changes of the Homestead painting of December 22nd. Goodness knows I need and enjoy the practice, so it was fun to do this one over again. It actually turned out quite a bit differently than the first one. Thanks for looking. I hope you all are enjoying some peace and enjoyment tonight. Christmas Eve has it's own family traditions, and I hope that you are blessed with yours. If you are alone, I wish you contentment and rest. May the King of Kings, Lord of all people and all creation, all time and eternity, all worlds and all the universe, and each star by its name; bless us all as we celebrate His birthday.

Winter Flag Flying - SOLD

Winter Flag Flying Acrylic on Canvas panel, 12" x 12" SOLD at $20.00 plus shipping. This is part of what I see from my daughter's front porch. It was going to be a background for some closer trees, but when I got this far, I liked it just as is, so decided not to put the trees in. Don't you love the winter colors? And the image of the house with the flag out was just so nice today. Thanks for looking.

Winter Day in Grey - Gifted

Winter Day in Grey Acrylic on Canvas mounted to Masonite, 5.75" x 11.75" Gifted. I had leftover paint from the painting above, and since the acrylic doesn't keep (I'm ordering a stay-wet palette) I decided to use up a piece of scrap that was Gessoed and ready to go. A simple scene of what it's like today in New England. Thanks for looking.

Homestead - SOLD

Homestead Acrylic on Canvas board, 12" x 16" SOLD at $50.00 plus shipping. Another possible scene for mural work, which is to be in a powder room. Thanks for looking.

Valley View with Cows - SOLD

Valley View with Cows (with detail) Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, 22" x 28" Sold at $125.00 plus $25.00 shipping. This is a larger painting, done in preparation for my mural work. I intend for something like this to be in the center of the main wall (four walls of a powder room) and extend it from there. I'll be doing at least one more of these larger canvases, for another piece of the mural. I patched this one together from a bunch of different photos, you've seen some of these cows before. I'll need to hang onto it until after the mural work is done (end of January), but I am putting it up for sale. Thanks for looking.

Winter Neighborhood - SOLD

Winter Neighborhood Acrylic on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Sold at $35.00 plus shipping The winter sky can be so beautiful, and winter colors in general. But the sky the other afternoon after all the snow we had was gorgeous, I had to go out and shoot a few photos. This is the neighbor's house against the late afternoon light. Thanks for looking.

Farm Across the Field - SOLD

Farm Across the Field Acrylic on Stretched Linen Canvas, 5" x 7" Painted as Gallery Wrap Sold at $20.00 plus $6.00 shipping. I'm discovering the capabilities of the Interactive Acrylic paints from Chroma, and this one is practice for sky painting. More subtlety is needed, I think. But it's a sweet little piece as it is, and I was able to add a tiny little group of buildings and farm equipment, even a teensy fence. The second photo is just to show the width of the painted wrap. It could be displayed on a small easel. Thanks for looking.

Dwelling Place (My Basement Studio)

Dwelling Place, Basement Studio The gallery has put out a call for photos of our studios. (Or paintings. But I'm not quite inspired to paint where I work.) This is my painting table. For the small paintings, this is where I hang out. I've got an old TV set up so I can watch some borrowed demo videos. If you're curious to see other views of my space, please go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neljansen/ I've seen some absolutely gorgeous studios lately, and they make me drool. But I am very grateful for the space that I DO have. A borrowed space is way, way better than none at all. I'll post a painting again tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

South Barre Marsh Two - SOLD

South Barre Marsh Two Acrylic on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. My first painting with the Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylics (yes, I know, long name) and I'm enjoying experimenting with these. I used a repeat image for this one, and mostly I loved the clean colors you can get, and the ability to overpaint. I haven't figured out "blending" with these yet, but I'll play some more. Thanks for looking. Please note: This painting, though dry, will not ship before Christmas, as I bought the wrong varnish, and will need to wait for my next order from Jerry's before I can finish it off. Thanks.

Pears of Beauty - SOLD

Pears of Beauty Oil on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Sold at $52.00 plus shipping. My granddaughter Alex, named and priced this one for me. I think she did a good job, don't you? (She's 10.) You've seen her here before, looking at goats and drinking her cereal bowl milk on the front porch in previous paintings. I have a feeling it won't be the last Alex painting. Don't these pears look green against the quiet background? Thanks for looking.

Pears on Red - SOLD

Pears on Red Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 10" Sold at $40.00 plus shipping. A simple set up, with light at the top for the cast shadows. Thanks for looking.

Winter Sketch with Oak - SOLD

Winter Sketch with Oak Oil on Canvas board, 12" x 16" Sold at $60.00 plus shipping. I wanted to do a snow painting with bright sunlight, but the sun kept popping in and out, so I never could get decent blue shadow shots. Instead, I did a color sketch of the oak tree in my daughter's front yard in the overcast light of today. I love how these few leaves are still clinging to their twigs, even with 10 inches of snow on the ground. I call this a sketch because it's very loose and "sketchy." Thanks for looking, and stay warm, wherever you are.

Moss Pond Fog - SOLD

Moss Pond Fog Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 16" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. Nice to play with an image two days in a row. Same essence, same colors (with a little more blue) but basically the same set of reference photos to work from. I included a bit more of the shore on this one. Thanks for looking.

Moss Pond in Fog - SOLD

Moss Pond in Fog Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 16" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. I've been wanting to work with some beautiful grays (greys?), so a fog picture was the perfect answer. Viridian and Quin Rose make a really lovely gray, and can then be adjusted darker or lighter, warmer or cooler. Fun to do the mixes. Thanks for looking.

Wonky Apples - SOLD

Wonky Apples Watercolor on 140 pound Cold Press, 9" x 11" Sold at $20.00 plus $5.00 shipping. At night, when I feel like doing something with watercolors, my daughter's fruit plate is quick to grab. So here are her apples, (again) done in a wonky style in pen and ink with watercolor. Oh, and a gourd is tucked in there too. Thanks for looking.

Winter Colors - SOLD

Winter Colors
Watercolor on 140 pound Cold Press,
8" x 11" Sold at $10.00 plus $5.00 shipping.

Winter colors are subtle and beautiful, even though I'm not a cold weather person. I played around with this made up, simple landscape, just trying to use some winter colors. It's not really "a work of art", but I never know what appeals to people, so decided to put it in the blog anyway. Thanks for looking.

Star Fruit in Blue Bowl - SOLD

Star Fruit in Blue Bowl 8" x 10", Oil on Canvas board SOLD at $45.00 plus shipping. I wanted to paint on the Pintura panels again, and here's my little report for fellow painters who are interested: Rigidity is fine, no warping (the mugs and tomatillos painting dried fine), the surface is nice, but I'm not sure it's actually fabric, ie. canvas. It has a smoother tooth, and the surface is more absorbant that my RayMar panels. Which is nice in the beginning stages, but makes for tacky overpainting at the finishing stages. I think that once you got used to that, and adjusted to it, it would be fine. Star fruit again, I know, I just couldn't resist. Thanks for looking.

Star Fruit with Apple - SOLD

Star Fruit with Apples Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 10" SOLD at $20.00 plus shipping Don't you love the shapes of star fruit? Such a cool color too. (I have no idea how they taste, just bought them for their shapes.) I was going to do these in watercolor, but changed my mind and worked in oil today. These do call for a watercolor though, so maybe tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

Apples on Yellow - SOLD

Apples onYellow 10" x 12", Oil on Canvas board SOLD at $60.00 plus shipping. I was actually more interested in the shadows and the different subtle colors in them, than in the apples themselves, although these are beautiful. Apples mounted on yellow craft paper, with the same paper behind them. Thanks for looking.

Crown Farm with Truck - SOLD

Crown Farm with Old Truck - SOLD

12" x 16", Oil on Canvas board

Sometimes it's fun to go back and paint the same images again, after a time. I had a request awhile ago from the children of the man who recently bought the old truck, and these folks are friends of the owners of Crown Farm. They had wanted the original painting, which was sold. So here's the painting again, and it's kind of neat to see how much easier this one was for me, after 7 extra months of painting since the first one:

posted on April 29th this year.

I think I've improved a lot.

They tell me that the farm is being parcelled and the buildings are coming down. Sad, that, since it was the last working farm in Gaithersburg, and marks the end of an era there.

Thanks everyone, for looking.

Mugs and Tomatillos - SOLD

Mugs and Tomatillos Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 10" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. Two shiny new mugs from Walmart and some of these little tomatillos. (No idea how they taste, but I like the skins.) It was fun to paint these today, since I'm also trying out some new canvas board (called Pintura, from Jerry's). This is a smoother surface than I normally use, very nice. Enough tooth and grab, and much cheaper than my usual boards. Hopefully it will stand up to the paint. Thanks for looking.

Path with Pines - SOLD

Path with Pines Oil on Canvas board, 12" x 16" Sold at $60.00 plus shipping. I enjoyed painting this one today, nice summer feeling while it's cold and overcast outside. This was done from another set of photos from the summer, where this rest stop on the other side of Browning Lake caught my eye. Thanks for looking. Also I wanted to mention that on January 1, I'll have been involved in daily painting for a year (minus July, that is) and am planning to raise my prices. I thank all of you for bearing with me during this year of practice and learning. Not that learning or practice will stop, but I feel that I've improved enough to start charging "the going rate" starting in January.

Walnut Hill in Gold -NA

Walnut Hill in Gold

Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 16"

Not available, revised January 5, 2009

During soccer season, when I was dropping Alex off for practice, the afternoon light would often turn everything to oranges and golds. This is done from some photos I took on Walnut Hill Road during one such afternoon. It's always the light that makes paintings exciting. Thanks for looking.

Gourds in Basket - SOLD

Gourds in Basket Oil on Canvas board, 12" x 16" Sold at $60.00 plus shipping. I found this cute little basket at the Country Gourmet Gift Shop the other day, something to pop my gourds into. The front gourd actually looks like a swan when you hold it the right way. The rust and oranges in the background just sort of happened. Thanks for looking.

Apples in Pottery Pie Plate - SOLD

Apples in Pottery Pie Plate Watercolor on 140 lb watercolor paper, 12.5" x 12.5" Sold at $25.00 plus shipping. A quick watercolor today, of what was in the kitchen, while my daughter took the opportunity to go do some Christmas shopping without the babies. (Soooo much easier.) Thanks for looking.

Gourds - Sold

Gourds Oil on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. Since gourds are now "out-of'season" it took some doing to find more. Luckily, the local farm, Carter and Stevens, had a couple of bushels left, and I had fun picking out these interesting shapes and colors. On hold for one of my colectors, by request. Thanks for looking.

South Barre Marsh - SOLD

South Barre Marsh Oil on Canvas board, 12" x 16" Sold at $60.00 plus shipping. When I took the photo for this one, it was late in the afternoon and the light in the distance was soft and warm, while the shade had already turned chilly. I tried to get that feeling here, and the colors are among my favorites, the deep greens, soft oranges and mauves. Thanks for looking.

Cantaloupe - SOLD

Cantaloupe Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 16" SOLD at $40.00 plus shipping. This arrangement lent itself particularly well to the new long format, and I'm happy with the composition on this one. The lines are like a big oval, looping around the canvas. And I'm feeling much better, eager to paint again. Thanks for looking.

Cantaloupe Slices - NA

Cantaloupe Slices 8" x 8", Oil on Canvas board Not available. Something new, letting shadows from outside the immediate composition effect the items in the composition. Besides that little idea, I love the color orange. Thanks for looking.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower Oil on Canvas board, 10" x 12" Available at $25.00 plus $5.00 shipping. I think I need to do some studies, maybe some careful drawings of drapery. The drapery here just doesn't make it. But I do like the cauliflower, and I enjoyed the loose style this seemed to call for. (Or maybe it's just me, down with a cold, not wanting to tackle intricate work today.) At any rate, thanks for looking.

Northwest Branch Two - SOLD

Northwest Branch Two Oil on Canvas board, 10" x 12" SOLD at $40.00 plus shipping. A small one today, since I've picked up the family cold, and am feeling pretty raggedy. Another creek scene, all in roses, lavenders, soft oranges, and greens. Thanks for looking.

Northwest Branch, Lazy Creek - SOLD

Northwest Branch, Lazy Creek 12" x 16", Oil on Canvas board SOLD at $60.00 plus shipping. I was going for the feeling of a shallow creek with sunlight playing on the water, but the creek bed visible beneath. I wasn't sure about all the colors I used, but it seems to work. Thanks for looking.

Eggies - SOLD

Eggies 8" x 16", Oil on Canvas board Sold at $60.00 plus shipping I wanted to use these eggs once more before the kitty decides to knock one off the table, and that's not a nice prospect, as they aren't cooked and have been sitting in my studio for a couple of weeks. Using the nice new canvases again, great for lining things up. Thanks for looking, and to all a wonderful day of Thanksgiving.

Lake Hollowell with Ducks - SOLD

Lake Hollowell with Ducks 8" x 16", Oil on Canvas board Sold at $45.00 plus shipping. I got new canvases from Ray Mar, and wanted to try something with this new size. Since it's snowed here, and this photo just looked so "perfect summer day" (although painting there in August was hot), I used it to try the new format. Doesn't it look peaceful? Thanks for looking.

Rock Creek Two - SOLD

Rock Creek Two Oil on Linen board, 10" x 12" Sold at $35.00 plys $7.00 shipping. Rock Creek again, simply because I wanted to play more with the water and reflections. This one gave me some trouble, redoing the water more than once. I think I like it pretty well now though. Nice to work on the linen, which is a much finer surface than the cotton canvas. Thanks for looking.

Rock Creek at 16th Street - SOLD

Rock Creek at 16th Street Oil on Stretched Canvas (with brace), 20" x 20" Sold at $75.00 plus $15.00 shipping. I'm reading a book by Paul Strisick right now, in which he stresses identifying what it as that makes you want to paint a scene. What was it about that view that you liked anyway? Here it was the way the light played with the background, spots of yellows and oranges, and the wow blue of the spots of water. I think I'll try this one again sometime. Thanks for looking.

Limes in Glass Bowl - SOLD

Limes in Glass Bowl Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 8" Sold at $50.00 plus shipping. I started out with this one wanting to try a painting with black in it. The composition turned out to be somewhat complicated and it took me forever to get the drawing as correct as I could. It turned out well, I think, over all. Thanks for looking.

Limes on Red - NA

Limes on Red Oil on Canvas board, 8" x 8" Not available. A simple set up, just playing with light and color. Thanks for looking.