Crystal Vase Stripes 4x6

This study brings to mind that old joke about hitting yourself on the head with a hammer. It feels great when you stop. This was supposed to be a warm up for another painting I have due next week. A simple still life, as it were. You know what that means from me. Some needlessly(?) complicated set up. Yipes Stripes! Upon photographing this I can see how the values behind the glass of the vase are too light (the photo is not accurate in color no matter how many times I shot it) and the stripes are too static. I can only improve from here.

Yellow and Violet Bottles Watercolor

Just fooling around today with this set up of clear glass bottles against a neutral background. I'm going to do another one too. Just keeping it simple here ;) That's a joke.

Banyan Tree 6x8

I'm not sure that I kept the design as close to the initial block in, as I might have but, I like this finish anyway. Painting Banyan trees is kind of like banging yourself on the head with a tire iron. I've still got two left to finish. One 6x6 and one 3x5. Keeping it simple? Not!

Chinese New Year Offering

I'm way late with the Chinese New Year theme but it's not really about that. This was supposed to be a "simple" drapery study using only ambient light ;) which turned out to be not about drapery at all. For those who paint from photos, take note here. Look how far you can push color in the shadows. It took me forever to learn that shadows aren't dark colorless holes.

Tangerines on Blue 6x8

I finally have this ready to post. Of course, while setting up my tangerines with the Keeping it Simple, idea in mind, I instead put the tangerines and slices on a dark blue fabric with lighter blues and oranges woven into it. What was I thinking?