"Hosta La Vista!"

On a late afternoon walk a few weeks ago, I noticed how the sun was creating these interesting lines on some Hosta leaves. I think I could do a whole series of these paintings. Hmmm...

 

"Jubilee"

 

I bought this old radio from my friend "The Hawk" many years ago. It's been sitting on my dresser gathering dust and I figured it was time to paint it. It's from the mid-50's and the last time I plugged it in, it still worked! 

"Columbine"

 

A couple weeks ago I bought a basic set of oils that can be cleaned with soap and water. This is my first attempt at an oil painting and I'm not really pleased with the outcome. I approached it just like I do with acrylics, which didn't work out very well. I did the background and then painted the flowers and branches. Now I see how to successful paint in oils, you need to block in the painting and work on the whole thing at once. Pretty frustrating experience. I think I'll stick with acrylics for now. I'll give oils another shot down the road. 

"Parking Lot Apparition"

 

I was walking around our local park a couple weeks ago, noticing the interesting reflections in the puddles. Then I saw this huge one and my shadow and thought it would make an interesting painting. 

"Cussword"

 

Another one of my "One Word" paintings. To me, I thought of a swear word and how it can sort of blast out and hit various people. That's about the best explanation of how I got to the composition above. I started out with brushes, and then used a palette knife to finish it. 

"Reflecting Puddle"

 

After a recent rainstorm (Ha, that's seems like just about every day this summer and fall) I hiked around our city park. The sky was full of billowy clouds and I notice this reflection. Just had to paint it. 

"True Tiger Lily"

 

This was from a friend's incredible garden. He pointed out that this was a true Tiger Lily--many folks erroneously call orange day Lillies Tiger Lillies. For this painting, I painted the whole canvas crane, then shaped the flower and filled in the background. I thought I'd keep it simple. 

"Pine Cone Meet Sidewalk"

 

On a walk in the late afternoon a couple weeks ago I noticed this pine cone on the sidewalk. It cast this long shadow and was nestled among a bunch of pine needles. I thought it looked pretty cool. The painting didn't photograph well--the shadow actually looks a lot better in real life. I played around with Photoshop but this was the best I could do. 

"Blocks #5"

 

In this latest installment of my Mondrian-Inspired series, I decided to use only earth tome paints. I think it has an earthy, Autumn feel to it. Not sure how many more I'll do but they sure are fun!

Keystone Movie Camera"

 

I got this as a gift from my son-in-law and finally got around to painting it. What a cool little movie camera. The remarkable thing is how much this thing weighs! It's like a brick! 

"Pine Upside Down"

 

Saw this huge puddle after one this summer's monster rain storms. I loved seeing the clouds and trees reflected on its surface and decided it was worth committing to canvas. 

"Peace Out"

 

The Peace Lily is such an interesting plant/flower. This one was in bloom in the Belle Isle Conservatory. Always amazed to see the wide variety of plants there. 

"Maple Leaf Raga"

Early this summer I was hiking in a local park. The maple trees were in their full glory. I spotted this interestingly shaped tree and took a snap of it. I finally got around to painting it. 

 

"Here Come the Sunflowers"

I used a different technique for this one. Since yellow doesn't cover very well, I decided to paint the entire canvas yellow. Then I went back and added the background and forked on the details of the sunflowers. I like the loose feel of the finished work.