new artwork

"Resonation" 30 x 40 oil on canvas

I have finished quite a few canvases in the past few weeks and I am very happy with the vast majority of them.

The image above, "Resonation" is the kind of painting that got resolved in my favorite way. That is I painted for a bit and just wasn't all that excited about what I had, in this case, another pink and green painting. I didn't hate it (I occasionally do) but I walked away and tended to other things leaving the canvas on my easel.

It would catch my eye through the open door and one afternoon I said, "big blue!" I knew I wanted to add blue in a large way so out came my new big brush, french blue, white and a healthy dose of turpentine.

Another that that worked the same way was "Piazza Navona"

"Piazza Navona" 36 x 48 oil on canvas

This is named after the famed piazza in Rome with several Bernini fountains, including the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Originally painted heavily in blues and yellowy greens it began to remind me of pollen dripping down the side of a blue car in the rain...not so pretty. I still wanted to keep the sense of water flowing but add a lively atmosphere and this is where that idea took me.

"Just epiphanies" 30 40 oil on canvas

"Just epiphanies" came to be in a more ordinary planned fashion where I selected the color palette in advance (for the most part) and layered the color in the desired composition. Boring but I am thrilled with the result and it might be a little hard to let this one go.

"Sunday suit"

This one, "Sunday suit" is a little 8 x 8 and I am including it because I really don't prefer to paint small. The edges are too close to each other for my animated brushstrokes but I have been working on it. I really loved this because it reminded me of my great-grandmother's Sunday best. She wore dark blue suits (think boxy Chanel type) with netted pillbox hats often with gloves and a Kelly bag and on special occasions was given a lily or orchid corsage.