First Place

I am so excited to announce that my still life "Three Red Pair" won First Place at the Second Annual Island City Juried Art Exhibition. The Show is up until mid January 2014 at Art Gallery 21 in Wilton Manors, Florida. This recognition is a great honor!!!

Lemon-Granate

I was able to squeeze in some painting time and this is the result. I think the contrast of lemons against the pomegranate worked well.

Lunchtime with Horses

Another horse painting - here I wanted to bring out an easygoing noon atmosphere. Not to compete with the center of attention (people sitting at the picnic bench),  the horses are painted with little details and the foreground is kept plain. Please let me know if this works.

Two Turnips

These turnips had tops and bottoms trimmed to be stored for the winter. I love how the tiny green top re-sprouted. Of course the fun part was the cast shadow of this green symbol of life. 

Next to the Umbrella

Here I captured one of my painting buddies stepping back from the easel. The underside of the umbrella is illuminated by the early morning sun which attracted me to this scene in the first place. I kept the surrounding greenery simple, while tree trunks and cast shadow are leading to the focal point. 

Red and Orange

This Pomegranate had all colors from pink to orange to purple. I find that the color red with all its nuances is still a struggle for me. I guess I need to paint more red fruits and veggies ...

More Apples

Another apple painting as they are easily available and always sitting on my kitchen counter. The multi coloration offered a nice challenge.

Peppers and Onion for Dinner

Here is an arrangement with complimentary colors. The onion was put in place to be the anchor to hold it all together. I keep on wondering if the composition is too split in the middle -?

4 Bananas

A very familiar sight, bananas are probably the most popular fruit. Even though they grow in South Florida, these came from the store. I enjoyed to play with the yellows, pinks and the different plains of the fruit, in particular banana number 3 is just peaking out from under.

Pommes

Multicolored apples and a pomegranate, the ancient apple - hence the title. I enjoyed to play around with warm and cool color tones here. The idea of fall and harvest comes into mind -

Brussel Sprouts in Red Cup

Mini cabbages posing in complementary color mode, lit up with a day light bulb. It seems that green tones are getting easier for me to mix and paint. I want to believe that painting in plein air is to blame for that ...lol...really, it helps seeing colors. 

Lunch

I enjoyed observing the different shades of brown-orange-yellow to create this paper lunch bag. The inspiration for this painting came from the "Daily Paintworks- Weekly Challenge" website. The theme is painting a "Back to school" picture or a memory of it. My take on this is... Lunch was always my most favorite time at school when you could mill with your friends and relax a bit.

Red Umbrella

With the beginning of a new school year, unfortunately time to paint came to a halt. To fill in, I am posting this painting  from almost 2 years ago. I still like its peaceful mood. At the same time my friend's red umbrella pops out and creates interest. In my opinion this is a great image to get lost in or to meditate with - just imagine you are the person under the red umbrella looking at nature.... relax!!

Crepe Myrtles in Morning Light

I am still working with acrylics here, trying to find a way to be more spontaneous with this medium. An additional challenge is that the colors darken after they have dried. Despite all technical challenges, I find it came out as a pretty happy picture. Hope it brightens your day!!!

Pappy

This comes from my daughter's stuffed animal collection. I like the human-like expression in their faces.... Cuteness Alert!!!

On the Lookout

The weekly challenge for the Daily Paintworks website was painting this crow from a given photo without using black paint from the tube. I am one of the artists that do not have black on their palette as black can easily become dull, appear isolated and "dirty" other colors. Also, to me it is more fun  creating a "cool" or "warm" black with a mix of other colors (usually blues and reds) to better tie the black/dark into the entire painting. An additional challenge here was that I painted this with acrylic paints. I really missed the smooth blending that is so great with oil paints. I think it came out OK though...

Best Buddies

Motivated to enter a pet painting into Daily Paintworks - Weekly Challenge, I finished this from a photo of our oldest hens. I wonder what they were chatting about so early in the morning....

Sabal Palm Window

Just finished this over the week end. I am enjoying summer vacation which allows me to paint more regularly.

The Enlightened Cherry

Do you see how the light hits the edge of the cherry that is sitting in the bowl's cast shadow? Being separated from the giggly group huddling together in the cherry comfort bowl, this one is meditating about the deeper meaning of its existence. I think this cherry has leadership quality and is going to teach the others about the new found truth of cherry-existence....

Green Mangos

Yes, mango season is at its peak. Even though looking quite green, these mangos are ripe and sweet. I enjoyed the challenge in which the fruits and their stems work nicely together as a composition.

Apricots in a Jar

... and more apricots in a Mason Jar. As you probably notice, the painting surface seems different than usual. The reason is that I used a "slippery smooth" pre-gessoed press-wood panel. I had difficulty to make the oil paint stick. It seems it picked up the bristle marks of my brushes, maybe sable brushes would work better on this surface. However, I think I like the rather "scratchy" look. What do you think?

Apricots On Blue

I like to play with complementary colors in still life pictures. This one is a bit bold, however, seems to vibrate so nicely. Apricots are one of my faves.

Thryallis and Crepe Myrtle

A happy and sparkling flower still life to celebrate 4th of July, the U.S. Independence Day. Thryallis and Crepe Myrtle are bushes in full bloom right now in Florida.

Path Leading Out Of The Forest

Despite steamy humidity and relentless mosquitos I was able to finish this in the nearby park. I love the different color tones on the sandy path. The idea was to give the mood of the shady coolness in contrast to the intense sunlight in the background. Hope you like it.

Kirbies

Happy to be back painting. Here a batch of Kirby cucumbers. The crunchy texture makes them one of my favorites and I had to paint them.

Yams

I found these beautiful tubers in an ethnic supermarket the other day. They were labeled as "Japanese Yams". Despite the outer redish color they were white on the inside. Very different from the standard American sweet potato and very fun to paint the different shades of red....

In the Forest

                                                                            Day 1

Day 2

Here a view of a 18 inches x 14 inches oil painting I was able to complete in two sessions on location. Fortunately the weather conditions were similar both days. Day 1: putting in the major shapes and Day 2: focusing on the sunlight coming through the tree canopy.

Near the Horse Trails

It is never boring near the horse rides in the park. Here, I was interested in depicting waiting horses in different positions. The younger one on the left seemed more nervous and kept on wrapping itself with a leash. The calmer and older horses are allowed to walk freely within the fenced-in area under the oak trees. 

Doggy

This cutie used to be my youngest son's favorite, always watching over him when it was time to go to sleep. Recently, I have seen more and more of his stuffed animals piling up in the corner of his room. I wonder if turning 13 had anything to do with that??? Sigh... no more little-kid-stuff.... For me, painting this brought back fond memories.

Sneakers

It seems that these are currently the shoes of choice for teens here in South Florida. Reason enough to take a closer look. It was fun to do this painting, in particular seeing the warm tones of black under the spot light.

"You like Sunshine and Fresh Air"!

... is the quote of the fortune cookie from this painting... I guess it is generic enough to fit any non- night active, non-burrowing creature also known as plein-air painter ;) - This painting is from before I left for Germany, just when the Florida strawberry season came to an end.

I am back in Florida now, re-adjusting to the local time and climate which always seems to be a bit of a challenge for me. I also felt I had to do a couple of painting warm-ups over the weekend, almost as if I forgot how to paint for those couple of weeks - this sounds irrational - playing with paints, however, brought back confidence.

Sweet Tangerines

I am traveling in Germany right now, visiting family and friends. Leaving my oil painting equipment behind, I am filling in with a painting that I did just before getting ready for the trip. Coming from South Florida I am not used any more to ice, snow and cold temperatures. Sipping hot tea, sitting next to the heater is the place for me to be..... nature and people are soooo ready for spring to come!!!! 

Sleeping Girl

The temperatures have been so mild that it was possible to have a model posing for our group of crazy plein air painters. The idea here is to show through the overall lighting that this is "figure in the landscape" and not indoors. I am not so sure if I captured that, however, it was absolutely fun to do.

Tomato Dinner

...and more tomatoes - still studying the color red, this time on a white table cloth with mid toned background. I can not decide which tomato painting I like better... 

Homegrown Tomatoes

As you can see, not just strawberries are in season now - these tomatoes were difficult for me to paint as the color red with all the lights, darks and reflections just seems to challenge me every time. Here they are fresh from the garden just before they turned into a delicious salsa!

Sprouting Sweet Potatoes 2

Another take on the sprouting potato plant. I find that the darker background brings out the greens very well; also, I focused on the foreground more and let the background leaves stay back with less details. I like how this painting came out -

Sprouting Sweet Potatoes 1

I cut a couple sweet potato vines from the school garden. The plan for them is to start sprouting roots in a glass of water and then being planted again somewhere else. The leaves looked so vigorous and inspired me to paint them.

Florida Strawberries

Yay - my first post this year!!! Posing were left-over strawberries from our trip to the "U-Pick" Farm. Now is the season here in South Florida because the summers are too hot. Warm wishes from Sunny Florida to everybody up North in the freezing cold.