Grandson Samuel Lincoln Smith

I am now a lucky Grandmother of two wonderful grandsons.  I received a sweet photo from mother Kristen and thought this oil painting I did captured Sam's wide eyed look.

Symphony in Silver

 SOLD

I always enjoy the progression of a painting and as an artist how my focus can change as the painting moves along. As I developed the Japanese tea cup the detail in the plate seemed to conflict so I simplified the plate and added a gold band around it's edge .  I also felt that I had made the tea cup too large so I brought that down to its true size.  I fussed with the eucalyptus branch for a long time and then decided that the painting felt clearer without the branch.  A lot of changes, but now I feel that the painting stands stronger and is clearer in it's message to the viewer.  The last representation is the finished painting but the photograph does not represent the true colors of the painting.

Grandson Edward Gage Smith

Grandson Edward 10X14

We were blessed this last November with the birth of our first grandson Edward Gage Smith. He is a cheerful little Australian/American with big blue eyes and a wonderful smile.  As Grandparents we were able to spend time with he and his parents this winter.  I came away with such wonderful memories I had to paint a picture of him so I could feel close to him all of the time - so here he is! 

Reflections in Brass

 Reflections in Brass 12X16

Loved working on these brass objects!  Somehow I wanted the whole painting to shine so I had to add the bronze cloth as a backdrop to the painting.  It was interesting to add the pattern to the material and the eucalyptus leaves give off a wonderful sent as I paint!

Japanese Tea

 Japanese Tea 11X14

To follow the progression in some of my work I thought it might be interesting to see a few stages of my
development of a painting.  I always start my work with a value painting.  Sometimes it takes the form of a grisaille with grays and other times I used a very watered down mixture of ultramaine blue and a burnt sienna. I start with my darks first and then work in my medium values.  At this time I should take a break and come back to my canvas later and see if I am still happy with my composition and also see if I have rendered my still life correctly.  Usually I am so excited and can't wait to paint. This leads to more corrections as I move ahead.  Fortunately my oil paints are very forgiving!   I bought this lovely vase during one of my travels and love the warm green/gold color it presents in the still life.  I have called this work Japanese Tea.

Back to the Studio

 Oranges and Brass 11X14

It seems wonderful to be back in my studio painting after a glorious trip visiting two of my sons, two delightful daughter-in-laws, and my adorable first grandchild.  I had started this painting before I left and knew that I would have a challenge when I returned to work on it.  I have to confess that I had the oriental rug draped all the way in back of the still life.  After many hours of working on it and analyzing where I was going,  I realized that it was just all too busy and painting over all the previous work.  For compositional reasons I changed the patterns and colors on the rug.  That also created another challenge. Good to be back in my studio again!

New Still Lifes

Oranges with Green Vase 11X14

 Silver Tea Pot with Apples 11X14

This summer I took a workshop with Leah Lopez from New York.  She is an outstanding instructor and pulled me back into doing some more classical still lifes. She teaches at New York Academy of Art and on December 17th will be doing a painting demonstration at the Academy that will be video recorded.  Check out her web site at www.leahlopez.com.  I know that you will enjoy her work.  Recently I have been working on these two painting and they are getting close to completion.  Next time I will take some photos during the process of painting.  It is always interesting to see the development of a painting.