Complements

12 x 12 inches Acrylic on stretched canvas

                                                                 Click to Bid

This is a work in complementary colors,  probably my favorite way to use color.  What is great about a limited palette of opposite colors is the type of gray that you can mix.  The clouds and the saddle are just mixes of red and green and white, that make wonderful grays and also a neutral violet.  When I noticed that violet in the shadows on the horse one more color was needed to finish the work; yellow.  Adding the yellow gave a nice pop to the colors and also made a new set of complements in the painting, yellow and violet.

Mary

Memories

It is freezing here, Winter in Michigan is beautiful but very very cold.  So the last few days I have been thinking about last Summer, and decided painting a few Summer paintings would warm me up.
    This one is from a photo in Linden Michigan, at the Mill-pond in town.

14 x 11 inch oil on wood panel  The Cruise

    This one is of one of my cats "Boots" out in the yard on sunny Summer day....

Oil on canvas 16 x12 inches
Shadow Walk

                                                                      Click to Bid
Started Boot's painting with a combination of tone and underpainting....

   The yellow underpainting is a great way to add extra warmth to a painting.....just what I needed :)

Mary

A Change of Mind

"A Natural Still-life"  Oil on panel, 12 x 9 inches

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   I know one should have a firm idea in place, a plan, or outline of what is to be done.  At least that is what I have been told.  And I often do know exactly what I plan to paint....but not always.  In this case I had a textured panel all set for a landscape, and I started that way, (more than once).
   I started a landscape did not like it, wiped it off, then started a seascape...really did not like it, and wiped off the sea.  I decided I was just not in the mood for land or sea that day, but still felt like painting.  I just finished Carol Marine's newest book and thought I would try one of her suggestions to paint forms thinking of them as islands.  Painting by islands is basically to work from the middle out.  So I started with the apple, then moved on to the vase and flower, planning to do the background last.  Well I changed my mind when I saw how the still-life looked and fell in love with that sky behind it.  In fact I think I see a future series here :)
  Sometimes a change of mind is a good thing.

Mary

Why not?

14 x 11 oil on panel, "Tulips 5"

                                                                             Click to Bid

     Being fairly new to oil painting, I have noticed that different painting mediums produce different styles.  I started in watercolor, then worked in acrylics and now oils.
 I was looking at a set-up I had ready to paint, and thought it looks like a watercolor subject, but what I had out were oils that day.  So I ask my self..."why not paint it with oils like I would a watercolor".
     I guess I just gave myself permission to try something different and so glad I did!
So "why not?" is going to be one of my new sayings when I pull out the brushes :)

Mary

Making a statement with art

6 x 6 Oil on wood panel

My painting for today.  Yes it makes a statement.  Statements do not have to be Earth shaking, they can be small and simple.  I love old fashioned light bulbs!  I really, really hate those curly bulbs.
Sweet and simple, my statement for the day.

Mary