California Lemons, ll

Although these lemons above are still lemon-shaped, some of them (to come) are definitely mutated forms. I did see recently in Central Market some fruit called Buddha's Hand that was essentially a lemon, but was shaped like a cluster of narrow lemon fingers all emanating from a sort of palm. When my odd shaped California lemons are beyond painting, I look forward to some exploratory surgery.

Been to L. A. #1

My first landscape. Although I like this genre, I haven't felt the pull of it until this last trip to L.A. All those palm trees jutting out from the tops of squashed together houses and the sky cut by wires and cables. And low heavy skies, very moody.

California Lemons

Back from LA....where everyone has a lemon tree in their back yards, or maybe an avocado or orange tree. It's so exciting to see the leaves STILL ATTACHED to the lemons!

Light socket and Spatula

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Here is a short prayer from Jim Morrison:

Oh great creator of being, grant us one more hour to perform our art and perfect our lives.

Crabapples and Japanese Glass

Whites! (Scary.) But this is the most wonderful glass, very thin and delicate. I love to look at it and hold it and drink out of it and paint it and whatever else I might could figure out to do with it.

Light Socket and Salt Shaker

Just one or two more of these...it's sort of like making batches of cookies, and tweaking one thing each time to see if you can improve or move the whole cookie recipe forward.

Split Pomegranate

6 x 6 inches oil on Gessobord

I tried to channel Lorraine Shirkus for my edges, which want to be sharpish.

Light Socket and Glass

Light Socket and Ribbon

This has been an interesting little series, I have learned a lot about composition. I tried to keep everything as simple as possible. I also moved the stuff around until it clicked in to an arrangement that was compelling and tied the color to the surface, emphasizing the flat square. It's been good ellipse practice too, so many of them in that one socket. On this one I did not overwork it and I was able to build the form and its transparencies as I went, rather than tensing up and figuring it all out beforehand. The painting experience was much better, more freedom. I am almost at 300 paintings -- oy vay!

Light Socket on Mirror

Light Socket and Black Box

I can't help myself, another one. I turned the socket upside down here and used a round brush and thicker paint. I'm trying to find my way to something, but of course I don't know exactly what that is, just that the old way isn't enough of something, or maybe too much of it.

Light Socket on Aluminum Foil

Yet another.

Light Socket and Banana

This old light socket is still holding my interest.

Light Socket

I am pleased with this one, even though it's nothing much. It sits well for me or something. Terrible glare though, black is tough to shoot.

Study of Forms

This gives me some relief from so much color.

Decorative Squash

I was thinking I would be more subdued in this painting and not use red at all or even any form of it, but it snuck in anyway.

Still Life With Chair

This is my December entry for the challenge group, Some Texas Artists Like to Paint. The topic for this month is Chair. To see how others have handled this subject, please click here.

Abroujo Whistle

This is an old clay whistle I bought in Mexico several years ago and painted for fun last week, so I offer it up as my post. I think it is a devil. I have always loved it - it is such a power packed little form, all madness. Today was actually a good painting day but nothing I did was worth much so I wiped. I learned lots, though. I have been painting that bastard white cup (day before yesterday) for months and it offers all sorts of problems: the cup itself is all ridges inside with a thick rim that fools my eye regarding the elipse, the handle is clumsy and fastened weirdly to the foot, and on top of that, it is white, or rather a creamy, grayish bleh. I think I appropriated it from a friend's house, thanks a lot, Kris, because it is very small and fits well in the hand if you are drinking a bit of strong coffee. It is a staple of my still life stash, and I return to it frequently to see if I have mysteriously acquired the skills yet to get it right. I've been at it again this week, and finally decided that the way to tackle it, is to break it down into small pieces: I don't have to keep going in a straight line until I get it, I can do it every morning as a warm up, and then wipe it, and if it takes 100 days, that's what it takes. So today's was pretty good! I am encouraged and thinking, pretty soon I will have a cup painting, and believe me, I will be crowing when that happens.

Oh yes, I used Cadmium orange in this...I had some on my palette from portrait work. It's such a different orange from mixing it, sort of a tough orange.

Oranges and Eggplants

More grappling with looseness, and also this is a glass bowl, not plastic, and the rim of it is completely square. Interesting result of doing that plastic bowl so many times: this one was so easily perceived, I could get right to it.

Bete Noir, White Cup

Yikes, I did this cup so many times I am now blind.

Home Grown Peppers

Another day of painting and wiping, so at the end of it I painted up a little one for posting.

Sort of cranking one out but in a good way.

Ashley in a Black Ht

Another portrait in the hat...I was pretty quick with this, trying to keep moving and relaxed and the forms as simple as possible. Sorry for the glare, black is so hard to photograph.

Study with Green Tomatoes

Huge brush, harsh light, lots of paint, loose as a goose.

Study, Browns

so...ripping along, keeping it as loose as I can, not staying too long on any one thing.

Support team: thanks for those helpful words.

Loosening UP, Study!

I changed to an 8x8" size, maybe jostling things around a bit will be helpful.

Persimmons on Blue

Have hit slough of despond, another day of baaaaaad painting. This one, not so bad, from last week, wiped the earlier ones.

Bowl of Grapes and Persimmon

This is a painting I did last week and didn't like so much because of its stiffness and the slight wonk of the bowl, but am now posting because everything I did today was worse. I decided the best way to loosen up is not to be afraid of not making a "good" painting, and so just do several no pressure exercises taking chances and seeing where things go. And so I did not get a good painting! Back at it again tomorrow.

Green Tomatoes and Eggs

Well, I didn't see this one coming, I set out to do really loose and then here I was. It is sorta loose. I have been looking at loose work and absorbing. It looks to me like the key to it is genetics. Can I re-wire my nervous system is the question. But I have gathered some good advice from someone's site --so sorry! can't remember now where I got this -- for simpler and more spontaneous painting there are three requirements: a big brush, harsh light and thick paint. That I can do.

Two Persimmons

Glad to be finished with that bowl, thanks everybody for all your support. It takes a village. My next task is to looooooosen up. And also, to be economical in paint strokes. To loosen up economically. I have to think about what conditions could lead to that goal...

Plastic Bowl Number 10

Voila! Done.