Judy's Pear

I love pears, something about their organic female shape that makes them interesting to paint. My aunt's birthday is coming up and I painted this for her. I like dark backgrounds and this pear I put on an old bamboo cutting board. One would think a green pear would have a lot of green but actually it really has a lot of yellow.
Off to Oregon for a few days to celebrate my friend's birthday, can't wait to take some photos of the landscape and I'm bringing gouache for some quick color studies.

Haystack Pines

I spent a week at Haystack School of Arts and Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, ten years ago and it was the most creative and magical experience I have had in my adult life. Living in the desert, I really miss the pine and fir trees and I guess I must have Maine on my mind as I recently came across a bunch of Deer Isle coastal photos. 

I wanted to tackle the tricky landscape greens in this painting as well as loose brushwork. I painted this painting primarily with my left hand as opposed to my right, which is my dominant hand. I really enjoyed working this way and hopefully it will prepare me to paint some plein air when I return to Maine next month.

Scavenger

This was a large crow that was scavenging for food on Moonstone Beach in California. I was surprised he allowed me to get so close to take his photo but he seemed oblivious to me snapping away. He was the only dark spot on the glittering beige sand. Crows are fascinating birds, they used to scare me when I was young but they are very majestic and bossy. Birds with an attitude!

Nectarines Too

I painted the nectarines again and was able to paint looser as the previous painting was a warm up. I'm much happier with the way this one turned out. Nectarines have a lot of variations of color and they are slightly shiny so they do have a very small area of highlight.