MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND A VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR!!

To All our wonderful friends and family.....we wish you the very best...

with love, Tom and Barb

"Just a Scuff"    8x14   oil       

Berries Galore    30x23   oil

I wanted to try a "cool" color palette.  I've been working in predominantly warm colors with the last few paintings. These colors caught my eye and I wanted to see how they would work in a painting.  It's such a different feeling than the warm color palette paintings. 

Hope you are caught up in the Christmas season and feeling the cheer and goodwill!

White Pitcher with Yellow Roses   20x16  oil

As Christmas rushes towards us I find more than ever the time I can escape and get lost in painting is a wonderful rejuvenator!  I've not been very "on top" of the Christmas traditions this year...It will be the first year without my boys home for Christmas morning in almost 30 years!  They are busy and Adam is out of state for the Holidays.  It's ok but somehow the traditions seem less significant to me.  Still I don't want to lessen the importance of the season, the true reason for Christmas and the wonderful time of connecting with those dear to us.  I have simply stepped back from the bustle and decided to make it a quieter celebration!  I think I might paint!  

Red and Yellow Roses     17x22  oil

I used a little palette knife on this painting.  I haven't worked with a palette knife very often but had so much fun with it, I think I'll do it again!  I laid down the body of the work with fairly thick brushwork and then as a last step I took my knife and scraped and flattened to create some texture.

Thank you for viewing my art!

 This morning I went in search of flowers to paint...the florist was closed and Meijers had a lot of really awful "glow-in-the-dark" colorized flowers that I think are just gaudy.  Anyway, not something I wished to paint!  I settled on a small bouquet of red roses. I had so much fun with the larger one last time so I decided to go with that size again.

Red Roses and Green Grapes   24x30    oil

I took on a real challenge today!  Not only is the canvas pretty large...24x30, but I also worked with a very different color palette for me.  I wanted to express these soft hydrangeas with a color palette that would be neutral enough to keep the mood very restful.  It was fun to attempt the challenge!  I hope you like what I have done with it!

Soft White Hydrangeas   24x30 oil

Geranium and Persimmon  7x11 oil

Another quick study.  Just practicing at seeing color, edges and composition.  I like the color and edges but the composition has too many similar shapes...

Today I tried a painting challenge from a group that I belong to AMO Painting Challenge...Each month they suggest a new challenge and you can upload your paintings to the site.  Mostly it's just for fun, but also as an opportunity to stretch your skills.
This month's challenge is Painting with no more than 100 Strokes......pretty touch to do, although it would be easier with a smaller canvas and a simpler subject matter.  I might try another one with that in mind.

100 Strokes, painting challenge

I decided to keep moving on this painting to see where it would go without the restriction of the number of strokes used.  About 1000 strokes later this is what I came up with.....at least now you can tell what it is!

The Bird's Nest     8x8  oil