Red Gerber Daisy & Strawberries

One of the perks of painting flowers are all the pretty bouquets you get to have around the house. This red Gerber Daisy was part of a glorious bunch that sat on my kitchen for the better part of a week. I love red and these large blooms just caught my eye.

I worked out a preliminary sketch than transfered it to the board. You can see some of the petals I roughed in. I paint in a direct manor, but I never can get all the detail in one pass. As it drys I can go back adding color, lightening and darkening as needed.

Early Morning Light

Here is the finished painting of Early Morning Light (formerly titled Thaw - In Progress). If you go back to the original post you can see that I worked on the color considerably. My goal was to capture the warm sunlight falling across the cool snow. A painting like this is more of a study for a larger piece.

I would like to thank Dean of Deano’s Den for including me in a group of artists receiving a blog award “A Passion for Painting”. Dean has a great blog and is a very talented artist. There is a sense of community about his blog, he responds to everyone who leaves a comment with a very personal & friendly touch.

Out Of My Comfort Zone

I finished the painting that I posted last week. That was out of my comfort zone and I feel like I fought for every stroke. It's a good thing to stretch and paint beyond what you are comfortable with. Right now it is drying, and I am back working on some new flowers. I did add two images to my other blog this week. One of my favorites, Country Brunch above. You can click here to see the card. And Santa's New Elves, click here.

Thaw - In Progress

Thaw - 5"x 7" oil on board

This is the current small painting I have been working on this past week. The day after I started this it snowed, now we have temperatures in the 60's and the snow is basicly gone except for the mud. And that is all I am going to say about the weather. Nose to the grind stone and see if I can finish and repost.

The inspiration came from the brief period of time in the morning when the light first peaks over the horizon. In the summer you have that special slice of time, before the rest of the world stirs, to see what has opened up in the garden or just to sit on the back porch with a cup of coffee and listen to the birds. In the winter it is a little quieter - but you still get those few moments when the sun rises and sets of pastel beauty.