Mason Jar Trio

Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches

SOLD

My latest ball jar painting, with a Canadian Star!  I love the variety of mason jars that are out there and it's always fun to discover new ones at the antique markets.  

Ripe Heirloom

Watercolour on paper, 5 x 7 inches

This is my latest little watercolour for the month of September.  The subject is a beautiful heirloom tomato grown by my father-in-law, who was gracious enough to gift us with a few of them from their garden after my own first attempt at growing tomatoes yielded four very pathetic golf-ball sized pretenders! 

Sunny Starfish

Sunny Starfish, Watercolour, 5 x 7 inches

CLICK HERE TO BUY OR BID (Starts at $45US)

Here is my latest little watercolour for the 30 in 30 challenge.  It took a lot of restraint for me to not go too deep “into the weeds” to try and bring out every detail – that is also part of what I am trying to challenge myself with this month.  I wanted to try and keep it fairly simple but still have enough interest to make it worth painting. 

Roman Face

Watercolour, 5 x 7 inches

CLICK HERE TO BUY OR BID (Starts at $45US)

A little section of a larger sculpture that was photographed by my daughter and her boyfriend while on holidays in Rome last year. 

Peonies in a Vase

Oil on 3/4 inch canvas (30 x 20 inches)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

My love affair with peonies continues, but I so wish they could stick around longer than just a couple of weeks, though I guess if they were here all summer, we might take them for granted.  I love the way they look and smell and since the time they have with us is so short every year, the next best thing is a painting of them ...

Circle of Shells

Oil on Panel (12 x 12 inches)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

I have been wanting to paint a shell picture again for a while and this set up gave me the opportunity to really focus on all the interesting bumps and colours on each of the shells.

Golden Flute

Oil on Canvas (10 x 12 inches)

CLICK HERE TO BUY OR BID

Once upon a time - many years ago, I played the flute … a little.  I took lessons for a couple of years and really enjoyed every minute of it, but as years went by the lessons and the flute were put away and sadly I barely remember any of what I learned back then. But I still have the flute and in recent weeks decided if I can’t play it anymore I can at least paint it. I loved capturing the reflected lights as well as all the interesting details. In reality the flute is actually a more common silver plate, but I decided to play around with the colours and painted it in gold tones to contrast nicely against the blue background.

Sunny Fruit Bowl II

Oil on 3/4 inch canvas (10 x 10 inches)

CLICK HERE TO BUY OR BID

This is a re-working of a painting I had done a while back - I always wondered if the background was a bit too dark for the overall composition. So I worked on the lights on the fruit as well as adding in some lighter green/blue into the background.  I feel like the changes allow the painting to live up to it's title - "Sunny" Fruit Bowl.

Sweet Clementine

Oil on gessoed panel (6 x 6 inches)

Just a simple little clementine – I’ve been wanting to paint one for a while!

Punch Buggy Yellow

Oil on panel (9 x 12 inches)

SOLD

There’s something about a beetle car that makes me want to paint it.  This one was basking in the sunshine at an antique car show and it caught my eye right away.  I think it’s all the curvy lines that makes it an interesting subject for me plus the nostalgia that they seem to radiate.

Roman Garb

oil on 3/4 inch canvas (12 x 24)

CLICK HERE TO BUY OR BID

This painting is based on a photograph taken by a friend of mine while on holiday in Italy.  I loved painting the folds of the “fabric” and all the light and shadows. 

Rose Teacup II

Oil on 3/4 inch canvas (10 x 10 inches)

CLICK HERE FOR PURCHASE INFORMATION

A new version of a painting I did a while back.  Though I was happy with the original, after some consideration, I felt that it needed an extra layer of highlights and some minor adjustments, so I finally went ahead and did that.  I’m really happy with the results, so sharing it here.

Stacked Stripe Teacups

Oil on Panel (10 x 8 inches)

PURCHASE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

I love these striped cups and the way they reflect in the light.  Always a challenge to paint the gold that runs along the coloured stripes too!

Coke Bottle III

Oil on canvas (8 x 16 inches)

SOLD

Once again, I find myself drawn to the vintage coke bottle as a subject.  Subtle changes in lighting can alter how the whole image appears.  In this case, I opted for lower light which gave the cast shadow a soft glow.  I have a lot of fun working with all the little abstract bits and pieces that go into making this kind of painting!

Pink Stripe Cherries

Oil on gesso board (8 x 10 inches)

SOLD

I’m still enjoying painting cherries even though the season here has long gone.  In this painting I was able to combine the fun of painting the reflected light and golden highlights along with the challenge of the cherries themselves. 

Masquerade

Oil on gesso board (9 x 12 inches)

SOLD

I found these masks at a garage sale this summer, which was fortunate because I had wanted to do a painting of “fancy” masks for a while.  I liked the challenge of capturing the shiny parts of the trim and the sparkles on the masks, as well as the texture in the feathers.

We're Jamming

Oil on 3/4 inch streched canvas (16 x 20 inches)

SOLD

I love capturing the look of reflected glass with light shining through and in this piece I wanted to work with multiple layers of clear glass.  With these mason jars, the lettering was probably the most fun aspect to paint, especially where the distorted letters are showing through the glass in front of them. Thanks for viewing my work!

Polka Dot Cherries

Oil on Gesso Board (8 x 8 inches)

SOLD

I love the challenge of working with reflective surfaces and thought it would be fun to try that out with polka dots (I love polka dots for some reason).  It was tricky painting all the little white reflected dots as they grew smaller and smaller in the silver bowl.  The cherries were challenging as they usually are, but I was happy with the overall result.

Cup of Cherries

Oil on gesso board (8 x 10 inches)

SOLD

It seems this year was a bumper crop of cherries and they looked and tasted delicious!  Cherries are a challenging subject to get the colours right and to capture the reflections on their shiny surfaces.  I filled one of my favourite teacups with them and placed it on a beautiful piece of Chinese silk fabric that I had been wanting to paint.  That added the extra challenge of rendering the reflections of the silk on the underside of the saucer.  

Orange Sunrise

Oil on canvas (18 x 24 inches)

How to buy CLICK HERE

Here is a painting of some clementines in a crystal bowl.  I decided to go a little abstract with the reflected light on the crystal facets and it ended up reminding me of sunrays, which inspired the title.