Rose for Pamela

This is a commissioned piece for another birthday present.

Lemon on Pink Cloth

Another exercise using a white ground. Also I used hog hair filberts on this, a couple of small ones and a medium. The paint goes on differently and has more of a drawing quality to it when I use these brushes. The brights and flats force a plane and I like this too. I feel I shouldn't be drawing, though. It's probably all in the head, how you see the shape of the space and then get that down with the brush. Just thinking out loud here... Van Gogh's paint and the way it went down is generally with a smallish brush and there are lots of marks which follow the form. I love the vitality of this! Oh, and the feel of the paint, with ridges and valleys and scumbling, still apparent after a hundred years. You can get more paint down with that hog brush, for sure.

Double Portrait, Purifying Mask

These are two of my possible family members roped into the mask project.

Zinnias

Peonies gone, so I cut the first zinnias from my little garden. They are all a little stunted but still brave.