Tchotckes

I used to be really into kitchen items from the 30's-50's. It all started with a yard sale at my parent's house in Holliston back in the 70's and one of my parent's friends was selling a Harlequin teapot and teacups (exactly like this one but in a sort of light cerulean blue) I bought them and I was hooked. But suddenly, a few years ago I just lost all interest and sold most of the stuff that I had collected (although I still have the teapot, it's in the studio waiting for me to paint). It was part of getting my house ready to sell, and I discovered that it was amazingly freeing to get rid of all the crap I had everywhere.

But I really liked these salt and pepper shakers and I couldn't part with them. Unfortunately, the salt shaker broke, so now I have another lonely shaker :).

I ended up painting a wierd background because I didn't like it and futzing (is that a word?) with the shaker, so I don't actually have this anymore in this state. Now I kind of regret doing that. Oh well.

I can always paint it again.

The Evolution of a Pear Painting

I've been working on this for a couple of weeks while reading the Kreutz book mentioned earlier. This painting is done on board, and I think it is 9x12.

Here's the various changes over the past couple of weeks:

Phase 1: Scary to say, but I think I might like this one the best. It's scary only because I have spent about 2 weeks working on it since then.
Phase 2:


Phase 3:

Phase 4:

Where I am today - I need to spend some time looking at it and figuring out what it needs.




Here's a photo of the still life. The angle is a little different, but you get the idea of what I was looking at.

My new favorite artist

Karin Jurick is a really great painter. She's inspirational - she started painting in 2004 and she is very successful, self-taught and creates really beautiful paintings. Here's her latest:
Check out her blog to see some of her amazing figurative paintings.

And the Pears Keep Coming

My best pear yet. There's a lot I like about this one - the light and shadow of the pear, and the pear's shape. It surprised me when it turned out the way it did, because for a long time the pear looked like a giant turnip - a wierd green turnip. This is a little painting, done on a 4x6 board.

I'm going to work on the background and the shadow. Made some progress last night on shadows thanks to the Kreutz book.

I have this one painting (yes I know, more pears) that I've been working on for about two weeks and it has gone through a lot of changes. I've taken pictures of its evolution and will post it as one post when I'm done.

Amazing that I'm not sick of pears yet, although you probably are.

Happy Anniversary

Today marks 1 year since I started painting! I moved into my studio on June 1 last year. Next to getting married and having my son - this is the best thing I've ever done (granted the marriage thing didn't work out, but no regrets).

My life has changed so much in the past year and all for the good. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm moving to a smaller studio, but I'm still in the same building surrounded by many creative, inspiring people.

I'll miss this great space, but my new one will be nice too -and cheaper so I can buy more art supplies!