Barley

At long last, the final version of Barley! More cats to come, but I've got to get through the Christmas rush of gifts to paint.

Barley

This is the beginnings of a little portrait of Barley - the world's sweetest little cat! He's a little mite for a male cat, but is adorned with gorgeous, long butterscotch fur featuring a brilliant white face, bib and mittens. I'm still working on the eyes, as I haven't quite captured the big-eyed gentleness of this cat - or the slightly cross-eyed gaze. A work in progress, but what a great subject.....

As a side note, Barley plays a mean game of laser mouse!

Thank you, Sandy!!

Thanks to all those friends of Sandy who have stopped by to view my blog! I'm not used to traffic here, and have been kind of shy about announcing my work via the blog, so this is good for me. I appreciate your comments and ideas, and making a connection with other artists (especially since I work at home and can get isolated from the outside world!)

I am currently adding cat portraits to my list of subjects - I'm hoping to apply my painting skills to create small paintings of rescued kitties through the Stratford Cat Project for fundraisers to help raise money to keep the cats safe and healthy while waiting for adoption (although some have been in residence for several years. This group assures they have a safe haven for the rest of their natural lives, thank goodness!) We're thinking greeting cards and the like for the fundraisers.

Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated! I've only just begun as a sideline, and would love to hear from you.....

Summer Blues (and pinks)

This is my newest painting, tentatively called "Summer Blues". It is not QUITE done yet - there is still ribbon detail near the right side that is unfinished, and a segment up in the top left corner - but essentially it is about an hour from being a completed. I wish I had documented this one over the course of painting it, as it was quite an elaborate process!

On another note, my show is still on the wall in NYC and looks gorgeous (If I do say so myself!). They've sold two - French Lilacs, my latest before this most recent piece (and shown below) and Speckled Roses. This is great news considering the very awful economically catastrophic month we've been enduring.

New Show in NYC

Please come and visit my show "Passionate Watercolors" at Uptown Gallery on Madison Avenue in NYC!!

http://www.uptowngallerynyc.com/broadcasts/Meuse_Oct08_email.html

French Lilacs

My newest finally finished! This painting along with all my inventory will be in a one-woman show in NYC next month. The show is at Uptown Gallery, on Madison Avenue. The show begins October 1 through the end of of the month. Details to come!

French Lilacs to die for

Currently working on a new big painting, complete with tiny lilac blossoms! I've finished the silver pieces, and now moving to the toughest area of focus: the flower blossoms. This is where books on tape come in mighty handy to pass the time as I trek across the paper, petal after petal!

I've haven't worked with lilacs for a few years, and this year my neighbor's french lilacs were so gloriously lush that I had to create a set up using them. The color shifts throughout the bunches ranged from a blue/violet to red violet. The prettiest lilacs I've ever seen. (My neighbor is going to give me a cutting to grow my own lilacs - let's hope it takes!)

I'll post more as they unfold on paper......

The Tulips and Persimmons final painting!

Tulips and Persimmons is finished, but I must warn you that the computer digital image is a bit "brighter" color-wise - one of the side-effects of the light emitted by the computer. But it is still a very eye-popping painting with the palette of reds and purples.

Tulips and Persimmon

Moving on to the background! With the intensity of color there is much layering and patience involved. I have been taking this process slowly and steadily and am quite happy with the results to date.

The background satin drape is a vintage fabric that I found as part of a collection at an estate sale. It was purchased, along with a trunkload of other great fabrics, by a very wealthy and eccentric elderly woman from Bridgeport back in the fifties, who seemed to enjoy their beauty and color to the point of purchasing several yards of each fabric, but never used them for dressmaking - or anything else for that matter. I've not seen fabrics quite like these elsewhere, which is why I love using them in my still life. This one, as will be revealed as I paint, has a deep purple hue with a geometric pattern of black matte rectangles throughout. The rectangles are clustered sporadically, and are fairly subtle, but add a nice interest to the satin's finish.

I will post details of the fabric as I head into this week of working on this area.

Tulips and Persimmon

Most of the detail work in the flower petals is done, and I'm moving towards finishing up the silver details in the bowl. I have been concentrating on the lively reds of the tulips - keeping the color bright, but also ensuring a sense of the depth of the color as well. Not easy with red! There is just a bit of depth that I will be adding later to certain areas, but more as I fill in the detail of the surrounding set up. This painting should take on even more drama when I layer in the deep purples and reds of the drape, and the playful texture/color of the tulips will prevail as the focal point. 

Stay tuned! I will update as it progresses. As always, please feel free to comment or ask questions!

Moving Forward with the impossibly colorful pallette!.....

Moving forward with the purple/red/bright orange pallette. Right now I'm focusing on the tulip detail as you can see in the top image. This is a fun painting for color - and truly challenging since pushing the pallette to the level of unsaturated jewel tones that I will need to pull this one off will take much layering technique.....and patience!

Finished- Berry Spoon and Pear

Finally posting the finished Berry Spoon & Pear painting! It took a bit longer than expected, what with the detailing in both the spoon and the pear, but I'm happy with the outcome. This one is bigger than my other pear paintings and holds up well with the increased size. The dramatic lighting makes it a great overall composition and I'm looking forward to seeing it framed!

A lot more detail has been added to the berry spoon and pear. Still working on details in the spoon handle, but the image begins to really pop on the page. 

Side note: My eyesight is a little troublesome these days. I need close up glasses for the detail work, but they seem to magnify the paper and painting too much! I've got to work on getting the right strength (enough of the CVS cheapo glasses!) The result is I find myself literally pouring over the detail to a degree I am not used to going to. It's interesting, but tends to become a tad anal!

Brilliant pallette

Simultaneously with Pear with Berry Spoon, I am working on a large painting for an old college friend. This is just the very beginning wash of the painting, one where I lay down the basic colors to guide me as I move towards layering and detail work. This painting features a brilliant pallette of purples, oranges and reds, tempered with a ribbon of complementing greens and blues. Sounds wild, yes? It is promising to be a gorgeous grouping of my favorite pallette of color! 

Keep an eye on this posting as it will hopefully materialize gradually into a painting of silver, tulips and persimmons, interesting light play and composition.

Detail of Pear of Berry Spoon

Onward to new work! This painting is meant as a potential commission for a friend. It features my grandmother's berry spoon and a bartlett pear. Here you will see the close-up detailed beginnings of the spoon's embellishments. I started with a light wash of yellow and gray - the yellow is a reflection of the pear's yellow-green skin. I build on the yellow with varying depths of black and gray to provide the proper drama needed in to bring out the details of the berry and leaf pattern.

Lemon on Blue Delft Plate

The final lemon painting. It's actually been finished for several days now, but I've been slow in getting the photo posted. I think working on three paintings at once must be distracting!!

Lemon series - Blue

This is the last 4x4 inch painting in this particular series of Lemon miniatures. I'm  working with blues in this one (as a result of personal request!) and hope that the china pattern comes through in this one. It's quite delicate with thin piping throughout - requiring a steady hand. I think I'm up to the challenge! I will be posting the final later today, and then onward to a large, intense commission piece that I will also be posting updates on here regularly. Watch for the sketches to be posted later today as well!

Lemon on vintage damask is the second in a series of miniature paintings involving the lemon. Now onto number three! Teri, if you're checking in, I'm working on your painting and it is going to be uploaded in all it's infancy soon!

Here is the painting called "Lemon on Bright Satin". Currently, I am tweaking some of the color within the lemon, while working on yet another small lemon piece and will post it as soon!

Lemon Miniatures

At the request of a friend, I'm currently working on a pair of small paintings that feature lemons. While the request was for one painting, I'm trying two very different backgrounds for variety. 

First, since I love the boldness of the yellow contrasted with dark shades of pink/purple -- and the colors complement each other -- I'm creating what I think of as an elegant theme for this one. 

Next, I'll be working with lemon on bright red satin. Very bold, color-wise, and should be an interesting match-up. 

Posted here is the beginning wash of the deep purple/lemon painting. I will start the second small painting shortly and post it as well. Perhaps we can see them evolve together.......