Daisies

Another toned painting of some flowers. This one was really fun to do.

Red Pepper

A vegetable for the Daily Paintworks Challenge, last week's challenge actually. I will have to rephotograph this one as I seem to have a lot of glare despite using a polarizing filter

Radishes

I enjoyed painting these radishes very much. I used the technique suggested by Carol Marine on her Daily Paintworks Challenge, that is mixing a new colour for each brush stroke. It takes more time but the results are worth it, I think. The painting is fresh everywhere and the quiet areas are more interesting and lively. Speaking of the challenge, I have gotten so many more people from around the world looking at my art; and I have found blogs from many artists in other countries. This sharing of art across nations is wonderful. Thank all of you who have visited my blog.

Apples and Washbasin - a study

Finally a day to paint after a very busy couple of weeks at my hospital. I bought these beautiful apples with the hopes that I would be painting them. The colour combination of red and turquoise is one of my favourites, and those reflections of turquoise on the bottom edges of the apples were really there.

Lempke Lake in Winter

This little study was painted on Boxing Day, a cold, clear winter's afternoon. The photograph does not show the colour of the sunlight on the snow as well as I hoped it would. I may try to rephotograph and repost, but until then this small study can stand and represent a most glorious winter's day.

Snow on Sunflowers Revisited - a Study - SOLD

The snow in the garden is much deeper now covering the bottoms of the sunflower stems. In this study I was attempting to simplify the scene, while showing the foreground, midground, and background as large colour shapes.

Pines - a Study

This is a view from my kitchen window of three magnificent white pine trees that grow in a clump at the fence line between our property and our neighbour's. The sunlight reflecting off the snow and the blue snow shadows were my inspiration for this study.

Two Cedars

Another opportunity to paint blue snow shadows. This was painted yesterday from my studio window before I went to the hospital for my evening shift in ICU. The days are very short this time of year as it gets dark by five in the afternoon, which is, of course not good for painting, but what is good for painting is the low raking sunlight which lights the winter mornings and afternoons.

The Little Spruce

This is a view of our back lawn from the kitchen window. I waited all day for some sunshine so that I could paint some blue shadows on the snow. The sun shone briefly, about 2 minutes, so I painted the long tree shadows first and then extrapolated some of the background shadows to the best of my knowledge. I love this time of year when the snow is fresh and pristine, forms become simpler and designs more apparent making composition easier.

Snow on Sunflowers

The first snow was fairly light but covered the garden and the lawn. The tall stalks of the sunflowers and hollyhocks looked so elegant with tufts of snow clinging to their heads. Marina came over and we sat at my kitchen table and painted these looking through the windows.

Close to Home

Last week when my husband, Phil, was up on the roof doing some repairs I was below on the lawn being the "ground man/gofer". I knew Phil was going to be quite a while up on the roof so I set up in the front yard looking in to the bush for this view of some of our trees. It was a great day, I enjoyed painting and Phil did a great job on the roof repairs.

Tangerine

After taking Carol Marine's workshop this summer in New York state I really understand the need to be able to draw quickly and accurately, something that I cannot yet do. I painted 4 small paintings of this subject before I started the 'final' one, each of the 4 preliminary studies revealed some more subtle aspect of the subject, making the final painting flow more easily. I am going to spend much more time this fall and winter working on my drawing skills.