Cleaning Day

I have to admit, I do not like cleaning. I'd rather paint of course.... I thought maybe it is more fun to paint the cleaning tools instead of going with them for the BIG SCRUB ;o)

Paint-Out

My painting buddies made excellent subjects for this landscape. Recently I have been busy getting paintings ready for a solo show that I will be setting up for the month of February. The show will be at the new city hall of Wilton Manors near Fort Lauderdale. The city is holding an ARTWALK every 3rd Friday of the month, starting at 6 pm. I am excited to have the opportunity to do this as my plan for 2012 is to be more active in exhibiting my work. This will be my first solo show.... you are more than welcome to stop by if you happen to be in the area. Now, as it is most likely you are living far far away... the majority of the paintings that will be in the show you can enjoy here on the blog.
Cheers -

Papaya Slice

The complimentary color combination works very well here. After being a great subject for a still life, this papaya made for a delicious salat...

Foxtail Palm

I would like to start off this year with a study that I did on NEW YEAR'S EVE. Here in South Florida the last day of 2011said good-bye with blue sky, sunshine and mild temperatures. Greetings from the sunshine state!!!

Three Brothers

The interesting design of these live oaks caught my attention. As far as I know they are quite old ... their gnarled and crooked growth  tell a story of past struggles...hurricanes, strangler figs and chain saws...survival of the fittest..... they remind me of three brothers looking out for each other with some competition thrown in there... talking about past struggles - let's look forward to the NEW YEAR -
Happy and healthy 2012 everyone!!!!

Park Bridge

Preparing for the holidays kept me busy for the last week or so....now I finally find time to post something new. This is one of the plein air paintings that is now finished. It took several trips to the location to finish. As you can imagine a 30" x 30" canvas in sometimes windy conditions was quite a challenge. I had to put robes with tent stakes into the ground to hold the easel down.... a square format was another tricky thing with this composition... what do you think? Does it work??

Chatting

For almost 3 years I have chickens in the back yard. It all started when my oldest son "rescued" a stray chicken from being run over by cars on a busy street. Wrapped in his jacket on the bicycle, he brought the animal home. Unfortunately, this first chicken grew into a crowing rooster. The crowing did not work well in our suburban environment with neighbors being close all around. So we found a farm that adopted him. However, my children grew so fond of this original chicken that they begged me to replace him with (this time) females and this is how this adventure started. We are up to 20 hens now in all shapes and sizes!! They are all pets, meaning there will be only eggs and no chicken soup!! They are quite interesting characters, each one in her own way. Now this is a painting from a photo of our oldest hens as they walk across the back porch looking for treats.... This painting was also an entry to DAILYPAINTWORKS.COM.

Glove & Ball

It has been a while ...this baseball theme has been my latest still life. I am also working on some plein-air-landscape paintings that are large format and need to travel to the on-site location a few more times to get finished. I hope I can post them soon.

Story Telling

This is my entry for this week's challenge on the DAILYPAINTWORKS.COM website. I did not think that painting shoes can be so exciting and interesting. These are my old boots that I have not worn for a while. I tried to bring out the rugged character of them. They have been through a lot and would tell you about it if they only could .....

Dragonfruit

This delicious cactus fruit creates a nice center of interest in this painting. I love those reflections in the jars -

Coco Frio 2

This is another take on the coconuts. Now I feel I can check them off my list for a while. I find that green coconuts have quite an appeal and offer a great opportunity for color reflection. The scars from scraping on the palm tree make it more interesting.

Both coco paintings are for sale separate or together at a discount. Again, if interested - e-mail me!!

Coco Frio 1

... my fascination with fresh coconuts continues and resulted in this bigger painting... I am happy with  how it turned out...whatcha think? This one is up for sale too. E-mail me if you are interested -

10-minute-Challenge

This is the result of a timed painting exercise through DAILYPAINTWORKS.COM. Each panel was divided in 4 and the timer was set on 10 minutes for each small painting. The challenge was to work quickly and leaving out unnecessary details. I like the "Less is More" in this way of painting -

Two coconuts 2

Here is a variation of the "Two coconut" theme. I worked with the rough surface of the masonite board's backside. I like the rugged look, though, I find it more difficult to work with it as I am more used to the regular canvas surface. Which one do you like better?

Two Coconuts 1

Recently I have been fascinated with green coco nuts freshly cut off from the palm. In this unripe stage they are a very popular refreshment. Refrigerated, people enjoy them cut open drinking the coco milk with a straw and scooping out the gel-like nut. I have done several studies. Here is the first one.

Water Glass

Is it half full or half empty? What is your outlook on life... Being blessed with a rather optimistic personality, I see it as half full..... Wish you all a wonderful day with many opportunities to fill up the cup :o)

Onion Basket

I find onions are one of the more difficult veggies to paint. This came out more flat than I intended due to the high key colors and little shadow... In my next onion portrait I will focus on more dramatic light... after all: "THEY ARE ONIONS!"

Bridge

This plein-air painting is from last fall in the park. It took me 2 sessions to complete. Little did the 2 people on the bridge know that they were posing for me while watching water turtles.

Apple Vase

This still life set-up is a little different, less traditional...it was fun to paint that great blue bottle vase... it belongs to a friend of mine...

Left hand painting right hand

This one is for the weekly challenge for DPW. The task is to paint a hand gesture. I pushed it a little further and challenged myself as a right-handed person to paint my dominant hand with the left. I did not expect it being this difficult. I almost had to tie my right hand down because it kept on popping up to "help out" the clumsy left. I had to keep reminding myself: " Just relax and take a break..". So here it is...