Red Pear, Green Pear

Red Pear, Green Pear - Which do I choose?

Most of us artist wear many hats.  It often becomes difficult for us to choose which hat to wear each day.  We get so comfortable with one, we don't really want to change hats even when we need to.  And after all, what we would really like to be doing all the time is just creating & painting.  I guess that's what happened to me in the month of October.  I did lots of painting but totally ignored my blog.  Also, this fall my work was accepted by a gallery in Hot Springs, AR, Artists Workshop Gallery.  If you get a chance, visit them in person or online.  It's a great co-op gallery of 30 or so artists in historic, downtown, Hot Springs, AR.  I will be their featured artist for the month of December.  Yeap, this alone has got me on the move & a little off track with other things.  And did I mention, I still work several days a week.

So in an effort to get back on track, I will start posting some of the paintings I did in the month of October.  Some of them are just small palette knife paintings similar to the ones above.  Others, are paintings that took a lot more time in planning & painting.

Just one more note.  I know there must be other artist like myself that have a blog & not too many readers.  We look at other successful bloggers with a large following & feel like we will never get there or even close; so why bother.  Well, for better or worse, this is the way I'm looking at it from now own.  It's my art.  It's my journey.  It's my record of what I have accomplished.  Small or great, it's important to me to take the time to reflect and record my thoughts & feelings about what I do.  So just remember, your blog or your journal is important.  It's part of the process.  It gives you an opportunity to look back & see the progress you have made.  But the bottom line still remains - I have got to get better at changing hats!

Thanks for listening,
Sarah

Blue & New Hydrangeas

11"x14" Oil on Canvas

This was an effort to try and do a little better on Hydrangeas after attending Nancy Medina's workshop.  I feel like I am finally making a little progress with this method of oil painting.  I really like using transparent colors for the underpainting.  It seems to give the finished painting a glow, although it's not so visible in this photograph.  I plan to continue doing this type of oil painting along with palette knife paintings. 

I'm glad that football season is in full swing.  That will give the hubby, "Big Daddy," something to do while I'm putting miles and miles on the paintbrush or the knife.

Thank you for taking a look.

- Sarah

Summer Glory Hydrangeas

12"x12" Oil on Canvas Panel

This is the last painting I completed before attending the Nancy Medine workshop.  I hope I will be able to show you some progress in the weeks to come.  However, I do intend to get back to my palette knife painting soon.  It's great to have so many choices & so much to paint.  I'm really trying to narrow things down these days to palette knife painting & colorful flowers in oils.  I thought about setting a goal of doing one of each almost every day.  I'm just not sure how well that would work.  That might be too much on switching the old gears up there. 

Anyway, the last of the summer hydrangeas are now but a single vase of dried flowers sitting on my desk in the studio.  I just can't seem to let go of them even though they have lost almost all of their color.  So in memory of all their beautiful summer blooms I decided to paint them the way they were in all of their summer glory.

Enjoy, & thank you for taking a look at my art.

- Sarah

Bedtime Roses

12"x12" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

I painted this one as a practice piece before attending a Nancy Medina workshop.  Nancy is a wonderful artist and teacher as well as a great person.  I hope to make some improvements in my flower paintings after attending her workshops.

I'm calling this one "Bedtime Roses" because it reminds me of a print one might find on a flowery bedspread.  I like the background color but it's actually a poor choice since everything in the painting is too close to the same value.  Why do we knowingly make the wrong choices?  Ok, that's a loaded and deep question but one worth examining.

Sleep well.

- Sarah

Santa Fe Sunflowers

12"x12" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Seems like I've been on a sunflower kick lately.  Just had to do one more.  I didn't have any fresh filler flowers so I improvised by adding a bright, cheerful, red & orange flower that I had seen blooming while in Santa Fe this summer.

Yes, these sunflowers are a little loud, but cheerful & happy.  That's the way I like them.

Enjoy!

- Sarah

Sunny and Blue

12"X12" Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

This is another sunflower painting from the same set-up as one I post a few days ago.  When I end up buying sunflowers from the florist I try to paint several paintings from them.  All but one flower had started wilting so I had to also look at the photos I took.  The one remaining sunflower was still bright and sunny but blue.

Thanks for taking a look.

- Sarah

Bath Time

11"x14" Oil on Canvas
Palette Knife Painting

I snapped this photo a number of years ago while having lunch at an outdoor restaurant in rural Mexico.  It was entertaining to watch these young boys bathe their horse.  After all these years, I finally got around to painting from this photo with the palette knife.

Hope you enjoy.

- Sarah