small daily paintings

Friday, March 4, 2011

Virtual Paintout March 2011

The Virtual Paintout location for this month is Cape Town South Africa. There were a lot of rather spectacular seascapes and mountain views, but I was moved by a rather blurry photo of three children sitting on their steps in a shabby neighborhood. In the actual photo you can't make out the features on their faces, but the positions they are in speak of curiosity and enthusiasm as the Google camera car passes by. The details in the photo were indistinct, but the shape, colors and sweetness of the kids intrigued me, so I made a painting that looks somewhat like a poster study. It is 5" x 5" in oil on a linen covered panel.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Oscar Day flower

I hate to admit how excited I always am to watch the Oscars. No matter how lengthy, dull or self-congratulatory the spectacle is, I love it! The dresses, the red carpet, TIM GUNN - what's not to like? What this flower has to do with any of that, I don't know. I found a few dollars in my pocket yesterday as I was walking home from my run in the park, so I bought a stem of these beautiful white flowers which, though they look like roses, are not! Don't know what they are called, but they are really pretty and I had fun painting them while anticipating the evening's big show.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Pink day

skm + gsm

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Hot peppers in the cold winter

Depending on your point of view, it is either a sad fact or a wonder of globalization that hot peppers are available in an upstate NY supermarket right now, in February! Being a fan of local foods, I usually pass right by the winter assortment of mangoes, bright red tomatoes, nectarines and fresh basil on my way to the leeks and butternut squash and other more seasonally appropriate, if not exactly local, produce. But last night, I couldn't resist these brilliant peppers. Not for eating, but for painting. They really lit up my studio which, right now, is bathed in a cool blue glow from the three feet of snow on the ground outside. So, yes, I chose art over principle. There you have it. This painting is 5" x 7" on a linen covered panel and if you would like to purchase it, click here.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Virtual paintout submission

This month's Virtual Paintout location is Boston which I found to be an interesting, if slightly difficult challenge. Although there are all kinds of tempting old townhouses and colonial churches and some interesting juxtapositions of steeples and modern towers, there is not too much drama in the cityscape, so paintings didn't jump out at me from every Google street view as they did last month in Ireland, for example. But I found myself drawn to this modest grey shingled house in the Melrose section of the city - probably because it is from the same era as the house I grew up in outside of Philadelphia. I painted it with a limited palette of ivory black, yellow ochre, french ultramarine, alizarin and titanium white on a 5" x 7" linen covered panel. Sold.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Valentine's Day??

When I was putting the ornaments away after Christmas, I kept this one out thinking that with the hearts, it would make a good subject for a Valentine's Day painting. Now having painted it, I can see that is not the case. For Valentine's Day, you need pink or red or fuschia - candy or doilies, something sweet and tacky. So herewith, a painting of a Christmas ornament - in January! The gorgeous orange cloth it is sitting on came from Fabricana, an Etsy store that sells wonderful fabrics from India. The painting is 5" x 7" in oil on a linen covered panel. Click here to purchase.

Monday, January 10, 2011

I always try to find a blue pitcher whenever I travel. Why blue? Not sure and over the years, I have loosened the requirements so that the pitcher needs only a touch of blue to qualify. My newest pitcher - the one at the back - came from a tiny hole-in-the-wall antique store in the medieval center of the town of Thouars in western France and is interesting because the handle is on the side, close to the spout. The pitcher on the left is made of ironstone. I found it in a big junk store near Cooperstown, NY. And the pitcher on the right at the front is from a favorite little shop on the Rue Jacob in Paris that sells ceramics and linens from Provence. The painting of these three pitchers is oil on stretched linen, 10" x 12". If you are interested in purchasing it, click here.