LIME!

"LIME!"
6" x 6"
Acrylic on hardboard
After painting the mango, I looked for something else to paint from life. It's easy to paint an ellipse on a table but a lot more fun to paint its juice bursting through the skin and onto the background. It yells "LIME!" instead of "lime." 

I'm having fun with my knife. It gives me the opportunity to explore subjects I've painted before with new eyes and spirit. 

Carol

More Toys




"More Toys"
15" x 22"
Watercolor on paper
I collected items as I walked from room to room in my parent's home that would coordinate with the tea towel I had chosen to set Mum's favourite covered mug on.  I got two of the items in this painting when she was "done using them." 

This is another watercolor from a while ago.  I wanted to share it with you and add it to my gallery.

Carol

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Love Stamp, Lamp and Lace

"Love Stamp, Lamp and Lace"
16" x 12"
Watercolor on paper



















I found this painting in my archives while I was cleaning my studio these past couple of days.  It's a watercolor from when that was the only medium I knew. Today I know a few more ways to express myself. 

I'm cleaning instead of painting because a crew from the Princeton Artist Brush Company of Princeton, New Jersey is coming to my studio on Thursday to meet me, see my studio space and prepare to make a video of me painting with their Catalyst paintbrush.  I raved about their #4 Polytip Bristle brush a couple of weeks ago and the adventure began right about then.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Carol

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Peep, Egg and Rocks

 Peep, Egg and Rocks"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel 
Wee small children came bearing gifts to me, their Granmama over the weekend; rocks with stripes. Then all the Eggs we coloured turned out PINK.  And the Easter Bunny left a gazillion yellow Peeps bunnies for us. These things seemed to make a nice little still life, so I painted it for the wee ones.   

Back to more serious art tomorrow, but today — I played and loved every minute of it.

Carol

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Pear-ily We Roll Along

"Pear-ily We Roll Along"
9" x 12"
Detail
Oil on canvas panel
This is not my usual fare, as still life setups go, but it was what was available today at the Laura Robb workshop at Mainstreet Art Center in Lake Zurich.  I got this far in three hours, including setting up the  pieces. We learned to draw an ellipse, paint metal, and ceramic.  Yesterday was pear day, but mine were less than ... edible.  Tomorrow I'll replace the white bowl with a plate I'll bring from home and add a flower to the lower left.  I'll also TRY to add a Laura Robb-style texture to the background.

Mainstreet puts on one heck of a good workshop, if you've never considered it.  In fact, the art school itself, in its new location, is quite comfortable and professional. Frankie Johnson is to be commended for her ongoing roll as visionary, artist and owner of the school.

Carol

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Pear and a Pair

"Pear and a Pair"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
Tell me a story, my darling love bird.  Your funny stories make my wings spread and my feathers flutter. Pretty please, my love, it's been so very long...  

Here's another practice piece in the style of the woman who will be teaching the workshop next month. Well, not quite, but I'll be going to learn her techniques when I'm there, won't I?  

Carol

Hope

"Hope"
24" x 24"
Oil and Acrylic on wrapped canvas 
January is a time of regrouping, renewing and becoming who we want to be, for whatever reason. It's a contemplative time, a meditative time and a time to give up or re-up. 

I spent today making this large painting filled with imagery and symbolism in honour of those of us who are in flux, in quandaries or just plain sick (and tired).  Give it your best shot, darlings! There's hope. Spring is within reach.

Love to all who ... struggle,
Carol

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Grapes

"Grapes"
8" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
I eat a lot of grapes. They replaced mangoes, which replaced cherries waaaaay back in summer.  I don't think grapes go out of season, but they may not be as good as they are right now. I adore the globe table grapes I'm finding at Whole Foods. They are LOUD to eat, though. I'm always startled when the skin pops and the juice flows under my tongue, or down my chin if I'm laughing on account of my noisiness.

Another pre-painted panel. I made about ten of them one day.  I work like that, at times; do all one kind of thing, assembly-line style.

I love that you come to visit me.
Thank you.

Carol

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Turban Squash

"Turban Squash"
9" x 12"
Oil on canvas panel
I had never touched a turban squash, let alone painted one, yet I plan to eat this one now that I've done both.  Apparently designed by a committee of fashion engineers, this beauty is cinched in at the waist in an attempt at containing her ample girth. Tres chic? Not hardly, but I'll bet this fat lady can sing! 

The background is another of my previously-painted panels, made just for displaying a single subject such as this.

Carol

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Peel Me

"Peel Me"
8" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
I saw the light and shadows on the loose outer peel of this Bermuda onion and decided if I could get her home without the cashier mishandling her, I'd paint her on one of the backgrounds I had prepared for exactly this purpose.  It worked.  
I could grow to like painting from life ... more regularly.  

Carol


Squashed

"Squashed"
9" x 12"
Oil on canvas panel
I painted with friends today; heard their sorrows, their joys and knew that I had been missed. There's something right about painting with people, every now and then. I'm a studio painter and paint alone 95% of the time, but being with this group makes my heart sing. 

I painted this squash from life while I was in Woodstock today. I also made a couple of new skies that I'll post over the next couple of days. It was a productive and cathartic day away.

Love to all of you,
Carol

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Yellow Chair

"Yellow Chair"
24" x 18"
Oil on wrapped canvas






















It's a copy—a copy of a friend's painting of a yellow chair.  I adored her whimsical painting, so she allowed me to photograph it and copy it. I'm unsure of the artist's name but I was told she doesn't paint like this any longer.  Things change. We grow.  I grew from living in her skin for the time it took me to complete this.  

Copying art has always been a method of learning.  I will be posting other "learning" pieces that I've completed, while I work on a large magenta dahlia!

Carol

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Leaf Me Alone

"Leaf Me Alone"
4" x 7"
Watercolor on paper
I collect old linens and lace. This piece was a collar from a resale shop.  I knew it would probably not find a home as a collar again, what with the green needlework, so I bought it to use exactly as you see it here. 

We're in a drought here in Illinois. Leaves are falling like it's autumn.  The pepper was garnish on a salad from the other day.  It seemed like a decent way to recycle an odd collection of items.

Carol

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We Didn't Get the Memo

"We Didn't Get the Memo"
16" x 20"
Watercolor on Arches 
Watercolor was my first passionate venture into art. I taught myself to paint by reading Sondra Freckleton's book, "Dynamic Still Lifes in Watercolor."  I'm revisiting  my passion today. I've missed it so.  I love these colorful, swirling balls!


Quality brushes, paints and paper can be the difference between "nice" and "fabulous."

Carol

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Primarily Primary

"Primarily Primary"
Watercolor on paper
30" x 22"
The green cup and leafy saucer were on loan from Sondra Freckleton, but the rest had already auditioned for this setup.  There's a story behind every item in this painting; including the only Rolls Royce I'll ever own.  I loved laboring on every detail of this one.


I spent years painting intimate detail with tiny brushes on large paper. It's what I enjoyed at the time.  As I look back on this and note my palette in other mediums in a different decade altogether, I see I still prefer the primary colors. Some things never change.

This painting is not for sale, but please enjoy the works that are for sale on Dailypaintworks.com

Thank you for visiting,
Carol

Candy! Hearts!

"Candy! Hearts!"
16" x 20"
Oil on wrapped canvas
Judy loves candy as much as she loves hearts.  So when I stacked her heart-shaped containers behind my heart-shaped candy dish filled with chocolates she giggled.  Now Judy loves me, too!

This composition was a bit tricky to stage because I set it up on polar fleece! The items kept sliding.  AND it was just as hard to execute. The whites had so much reflected color to capture. And the only real white was in the highlights.  So many reflections! 

Thank you for visiting,
Carol