Signed It!

"I don't have a title for this piece yet, but it was such a delight to paint. In Igo, a tiny hamlet near our home, my husband and I found this lilac bush on a Sunday drive. It was in unusual profusion this year. Two days later, I returned and painted it with enthusiastic brush strokes." --- SFG

NOTE TO ARTISTS: Whether I paint on location or in the studio, I usually leave the painting sitting in view for a while. Though this one was almost perfect, I saw a few minor adjustments to make. The only time I'd sign it right away would be if a buyer was writing the check. ;)

"The Red Mailbox" - Auction Starts Today On eBay at 6 PM PT

"The Red Mailbox"   - 9" x 12"  - Oil

"Sometimes I wonder why I have not been stopped by a cop as I drive through neighborhoods very slowly, looking at each house carefully. Of course, I'm looking for something to paint, but, were I the house's occupant, I'd think it very suspicious behavior. This day, I ventured to an unfamiliar part of town and found, not a house, but this mailbox and the nearby shrubs in bloom."  --- SFG

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NOTE TO ARTISTS: Since my son is a cop, I have license to call them "cops". ;)

A Perfect Day

"A Perfect Day" - Oil - 24" x 18"

"Inspired partly by our first warm day and, also, by the lovely Susan Boyle performance of "A Perfect Day" on her latest CD, I set this arrangement in sunlight and laid on the color. Painting it lifted my heart." --- SFG

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WORK IN PROGRESS:

Freshly picked.

I grouped the objects and allowed room at the bottom of the canvas for the edge of the table to show.

Here, I link the darks and create a variety of greens.

Before I can go further, I add the background since it will influence all subsequent colors.

Now I move to the lights of the tabletop, judging value and temperature. Notice how I indicate where the drape falls over the edge of the table by a darker value and cooler temperature. It takes both to show a plane change.

I painted the pear to the left of the vase a "hotter" color intentionally. Sometimes greens can be overpowering. By pushing the color as far from green as possible, I add range to the variety of greens I can use in a painting. I will adjust it in the next step to fine tune the harmony, but will not completely lose those vibrating tones.

It's time to develop the lit areas of the graceful lilac blooms. The lavender ones vary slightly in color from one to another. Note the warm reflection on the underside of the white fronds.

Adding some of the folds and stripes gives more movement to the foreground so it serves the purpose of a foreground, to lead the eye into the painting. They were needed, also, to balance the action of the other objects.