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...

Cypress in Fall

I have not posted much on the DAILYPAINTWORKS.COM challenges as I am finding myself with less time to spare for painting. However, this painting I was able to post for the past week's fall colors challenge. Here in South Florida we do not have the dramatic color change that fall presents up North. However, the bald cypress is one of the view trees that does change colors and goes "bald" during the winter. It is like a splash of color next to all the evergreens.

Lake View

Another plein air painting from the park. This is the beautiful lake that you have seen from the boad house paintings. Here I focused on a rather quiescent mood......

Boat House 3

As mentioned a few weeks ago I am now posting another view of the boat house. I got to finish it over the week-end. Wow, what a "growing experience!!! I found myself much more looking than painting. One big thing (besides the size....lol) was that I had to be so much more patient... a smaller painting I finish in one sitting - this one I had to bring to the park four times to get it finished. That is long for me...but I am glad that finally I am able to "push it" further (you big canvas painters know what I mean!)... I guess I never had to really think about that with the smaller paintings. Now, here it is...let me know how you like it.

Four Pears

My favorite subject ..... you guessed it .......fruits and vegetables :o)

Sweet Potatoes

I love the complimentary contrast of the orange on blue - 

Shared Space

I found another plein air painting from last fall. When we arrived one Saturday morning at the park we saw the boy scouts had set up camp over night at our favorite painting spot....

Orange Cocktail

I "squeezed" in some time for a still life. Because there is not much color contrast here, I focused on the glass. 

Tree Umbrella

It has been a while... the excuse is of course I am swamped with work and not much time to paint .... As I was looking through my paintings I found this landscape that I worked on over the summer. The original painting was from one year ago and I was never happy with it. The final version gives much more the impression of full sunlight, agreed?