Young Whitetail SOLD

Young Whitetail 10x8 oil on canvas SOLD

This painting was my donation to the Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary's first online auction. This wonderful facility is world-renowned as a place where injured or orphaned wild animals are rescued and rehabilitated.  With the exception of a few "permanent residents" -- those who unfortunately can never again survive in the wild -- human interaction is kept to a minimum. Over the years, most of the Sanctuary's animals have been successfully returned to their natural habitat. The Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary relies solely on donations, and its volunteer staff often includes young people from around the world.  It's a worthwhile cause, run by people with a true compassion.  You can check out their website at:  http://www.aspenvalley.ca/

Warm Shoulders SOLD

Warm Shoulders 8x8 w-m oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

Enjoying the sunshine while keeping cool at water's edge...sublime!

Ginger Jar

Ginger Jar 16x12 oil on stretched canvas

This painting reminded me of a reference made by an artist whose blog I follow. Her name is Kate Stone, her paintings are wonderful, and her blog is:  Painting Stuff To Look Like Stuff

Kate cites the 80/20 rule, which alludes to the fact that often it's only 20 percent of your painting that makes you drink 80 percent of that bottle of wine. This was one such painting for me. Even though most of it came together swimmingly, it took me AGES to correctly capture the color and texture of the plums. More than once, I almost tossed the whole shebang. For the sake of the 80 percent that was working, however, I soldiered on.

Here are some steps in my struggles along the way:

Sketch in oil

Beginning underpainting

Working on dynamics of all fruit

Color of grapes and plums is too similar 

Plums now too blue, green grapes too vibrant

Green grapes developing, plums still too blue

Ginger Jar finished 16x12 oil on stretched canvas