Fried Eggs

"Fried Eggs"

10" x 10" oil on panel

This is part of my egg series.  I love a good 

breakfast in the morning and the sunny

color of egg yolks against the black

of the skillet is appealing.

Grapes

"Grapes"

10" x 6" oil on panel

I love eating fresh produce during the late summer. 

My friend, Natacha plucked these from her garden. 

They were so sweet and succulent that I wanted 

to remember them.

I couldn't find a straight pin to fasten them to

the wall so I used a safety pin. I was going to edit

it out but I thought it added character 

to the painting.  

Eggs In A Blue Bowl

"Eggs In A Blue Bowl"

10" x 10" oil on panel

Another painting in my "egg" series.  In this series

I am learning about value steps. The degree

of darkness between the light areas of an egg 

and shadow side are very subtle.

Eggs In A Basket

"Eggs In A Basket"

12" x 12" oil on panel

I photographed these eggs while shooting pictures in a friend's 

garden. He had chickens who laid eggs that were multi-colored.

I simply  had to paint the beautiful soft colors.

Pink Dahlia

"Pink Dahlia"

8" x 12" oil on panel

I did a photo shoot at my friend's garden

and saw this large Dahlia being back lit

in the early morning sun - I had to paint it!

It was the end of the summer and only

 a few flowers remained. This dahlia was

about 8 inches across. 

Magnificent specimen!

Colley Whisson Workshop

I had the pleasure of attending a 3-day workshop with Colley 
Whisson hosted by the Illume Gallery of Fine Art  in Salt Lake City.   

He created a non-threatening atmosphere by teaching us in 
a relaxed manner with a healthy dose of gentle humor. Colley 
shared a saying with us: "I am not a perfectionist, I am a 
correctionist"  

Here's the start of his first painting demonstration.

 My version of it:

Colley's palette was limited to eight colors. He likes to emphasize
keeping the tones in the shadow areas warm and rich and also to 
eliminate unimportant detail across the entire painting.

He painted a beautiful beach scene that was simple but well 
composed. Note the reference photo on the left and an image
of his painting on the bottom right.  He used both of these as
a reference to paint yet another version of the scene.

Here's my finished version. 

This is a painting of a windmill outside a window that I 
completed on the last day of the workshop. 

Colley also showed us how to block in and complete
a quick still life painting. He said that it is a good
exercise for daily painting and suggested that it 
should be completed in no more than 30 minutes.

If you ever have the opportunity to take a workshop from Colley 
Whisson, go for it!  You'll learn a lot from this master painter!

Mt. Olympus in August

"Mt. Olympus in August"

10" x 10" oil on panel

My neighbor is moving to Oklahoma and asked me

to render a painting of Mt. Olympus. This is what we 

both see when we look out our back doors here in 

Salt Lake City, Utah. So majestic!