Single Pear

I'm back to pears to work on composition.  I'm working on my color composition and trying many color combinations.  What colors are the shadows of objects on different colors of grounds.  Pears are old friends, I've drawn and painted my fair share. I love the colors inherent in them, and their lumpy shapes. I have worked for so long in abstract that coming back around to still lives I'm finding I have to re-acquaint myself with all those rules that came so easily once.  It's a great exercise! Today I'm learning from pears.  Having been taught by a pear I can finally say that single isn't so bad.  Tomorrow we paint two, and eat one. Sorry pear.  For more information on this painting ClickHere To begin receiving my almost daily work you can email me from the Dailypaintworks site.....ClickHere to go there, or enter your email info on this site...in the upper right hand corner, it's secure.   It will be great to have you on board. So for today it's pears, my favorite fruit. Hope you enjoy them too! Blessings on your day, Kathy

Lemonade

It was so grey out today I needed some yellow to pick me up, and of course lemons came to mind.  I love lemons.  Ice tea is just my excuse to have fresh lemons.  My bag of lemons is dwindling as I drink ice tea and cut them up to paint them.  Hopefully they will be a sign of a sunny day on Saturday.  I think we are due one again. For more information about this painting ClickHere.

I am still working my way around the still life; trying to use the  single brush stroke to define an area. Unfortunately, old training dies hard and I'm left with a mismatch of styles.  But they are bright and very yellow.  And no one said this was supposed to be easy.  The hardest part is posting work that I’m not fully confident about.  I’m not usually that revealing.

I now have a link at the top of this page for you to sign up to receive the daily paintings in your email instead of on Facebook.  Please enter your email address and join my growing list of followers.  I’m planning to move to just email after a bit.  I feel I can be more candid when I know my audience.  You’ll want to be there when I throw caution to the wind!.....and I hope you are enjoying the images too!

So for today it is lemonade.  Whether it is sweetened, or unsweetened, I hope you have a sunny day full of Spring.

Blessings on your day.

Kathy

 

Persistance

My Easter lilies this year are extraordinary.  They are prolific and pungent.  As much as I'm ready for them to fade they just keep on sending out a wonderful scent and bloom on. They are persistent in their fervor.  Don't you wish you could be?

In today's busy life, I find myself bouncing from task to task.  Picking up the next as I lay down what I have been focused on.  I'm  wanting to dwell, not to bounce.  Persistence would be lovely.

Today's painting is the ever difficult white on white.  There are so many colors that those whites become as they move into shadow.  This is a simplified version for a rainy afternoon.  I'm looking to find the key to persistence, not the nuance of white.  The answer is there.  For more information ClickHere.

So, for today it is April lilies and persistence.  On a rainy day, it’s bright inside.

Blessings on your day.

Kathy

May Flowers

Daily painting turned into weekly painting this last week.  I could blame Holy Week, and Easter,  and deviled eggs, but I won't do any blaming.

Daily painting is proving to be quite a challenge for me.  My usual “painting rhythm” is furious painting with days of rest and contemplation in between.  Knowing this, I took up the challenge, and it has been a great experience for me.  I just have to make it work on a more daily basis. I am having a lot of fun!

Daily I do work in my head; read, listen, look, and soak in the environment.  Many things will trigger paintings in my head.  Working on gold leaf was an idea formed after a trip to Collegeville to see the St. John’s Bible in person.   The “presence”  of the gold leaf made me feel that God’s presence in the landscapes that I love could be shown by painting on gold leaf.  This has been more of a challenge than I expected.  I have been working  to make the outcome luminous, not schmaltzy. 

I'm getting closer with this little work.  Prairie grasses, meadows and fields all are lovely spots.  The tall grasses waving in the breezes give movement to the landscape.  This is what I was trying to convey in this small work.  Our April showers today and tomorrow will bring us closer to these May flowers. For more information on this painting Click Here. 

So today it is the hope of May Flowers.

Blessings on your day.
Kathy

April Snow

I just finished work for today and walked into the living room to find soft, fluffy snow falling outside.  It feels like I was standing inside a snow shaker...beautiful.  Except it's April and this winter has been so very long....its hard to see the beauty.

Remembering my last post, I began to think of the flakes as apple blossom petals falling from the sky....April snow.  I began to think of the Spring rains, and how after blooming for awhile, the petals would fall during the spring rains or a strong wind.  They pile on the grass like snow.  Is this taking you into Spring?....I hope so.

So, I'm making today's painting another blossom painting.  It is one I finished awhile ago, but it seems relevant to my thoughts today.  It is larger and is one of the first in a series I'm working on.  It is acrylic on gold leaf...and it's the reason I have been working so hard to master acrylics.  More on the later.  But that does bring me to daily painting.  For more information click here.

So for today it is Apple blossoms, again. I hope it brings a breath of Spring to you today.

Blessings on you day.
Kathy

Cherry Tree

I hear that the cherry trees are blooming in Washington DC. It's on my bucket list to visit one spring. Somehow it always seems so early when they bloom. Here in MN we are still in the grip of winter at this time of year. Maybe that is what has my interest sparked. That and I hear that the size of the blooms are very large. One of my favorite walks in the spring is to walk over to blooming crab apple trees...our MN equivalent...and just stand with my head in the branches. I always look to see if anyone is looking before I do.

It is a wonderful experience. You are surrounded by white and pink blooms. The fragrance is very mild and is not a distraction. You can see the yellow stamens at the center of each blossom. The variety of white and pink is marvelous. I live in that experience for many months later.

One of the benefits of painting each day is that I can play. Most times I don't keep my playful paintings, but I did keep this one. It just sparked my apple blossom experiences. I'm sharing it with you for two reasons...to celebrate the cherry blossoms in DC, and because I don't have another painting to share today. Another benefit of painting daily...and posting daily...I can't take myself too seriously. Normally these are the paintings that no one sees. It is a bit humbling, but a growing experience non the less.  Click here for more information on this piece.

So today it is blossoms. Hope you have a blooming wonderful day. Pretend that the white flakes coming out of the sky are apple blossoms....wouldn't that be something?

Blessings on your day.
Kathy

First Lemons

On a grey rainy day what could be more welcome than lemons.  These look to me to be summer lemons at the beach.  It's my first try at high key painting, and I had fun with it.  The trick to high key painting is to use straight color...no white to get a lighter shade.  Then the rest of the colors in the piece follow suit. It can be a bit tricky, not what I'm used to at all.

Lemons and Easter always go together at our house; lemon pie, lemon poppy seed bread, lemon bars.  It is a rite of spring, always fresh and bright. Somehow better than chocolate...well, maybe!

So today it's lemons!  We should all make lemonade I guess.
Hope this wakes up your day!  To Bid Click Here 

Blessings on you day,
Kathy

Healing Garden

As I was watching the morning news they did a segment on the St. Paul Children's Hospital Healing Garden.  It is just outside the critical care unit and is available to patients, parents, and staff.  What a great place it is, with many garden themed things to see and do.  A calming place to just be for awhile.  This floral just decided to come and I dedicate it to that healing space. It has the bright colors and green background of the space. We all need our healing spaces.  Maybe this will take you to yours.

So for today it is Healing Garden.  Hope it sparks something special for you.  Click Here to Bid

Blessings on your day.

Kathy

Garden Memories

All of life has it's ups and downs!  Welcome to my NEARLY DAILY painting blog!

I knew when I began that I would not make a painting "every" day....but I didn't count on the train wreck I ran into this weekend.  No excuses, and I have been painting. I have not been happy with the quality of the work I was pushing out every day.  So, I have taken a step back and will begin again.

And it's always right to begin again with flowers.  I'm missing my garden this year.  Usually by this time there is at least a bit of green beginning to grow.  But this year I still have a mound of snow covering a good portion of the garden.  So I will have to rely on the memory of gardens past.  As always this memory is soft and muted, a jumble of greens and flower petals.  And sometimes memories are the best way to go....you don't need to weed a memory, right?  To Bid Click Here

So today it is a memory that I carry with me.  Hope it sparks a memory for you, too! 

Blessings on you day.

Kathy

Gooseberry Memories

Gooseberry Memories

I'm beginning to get ready for my annual workshop in Grand Marais at the beginning of May.  It is a great time to re-connect; with the North Shore landscape, old friends, new materials, and the work.

Last year, for the first time, I drove north alone.  All along the way the water was rushing in the small streams, running down the hills and across the road, running in the streams into the lake.  I decided to stop at Gooseberry Falls, break my drive, and see what was up.  I was rewarded with rushing waters falling, and falling again.  The banks were so swollen that you could not walk out onto the rocks as you can usually.  It was magnificent.  I got lost in the power of the rushing waters.  The sound was deafening.

So here is a memory of Gooseberry falls for you, the rushing water, the tall straight trees, the wonderful, massive boulders.  And of course the colors.....pink and baby blue are the unexpected sky colors up north.  Anywhere else they don't work, but up with the pines and the lake they are perfect.If you have stopped, you might remember too.  If not just sit awhile.  I'll bet you'll be able to hear the rushing waters.   Click here to go to the auction site.

Can Spring waters be far away?

Blessings on your day,
Kathy

Arizona Evening

We've had a gloomy day awaiting the "big snow". I was almost wishing for the promised snow to brighten the day....almost!

As I was getting my paints together, I was thinking back just a month to our trip to Arizona. Spring was in full force as we landed. The wild flowers were beginning to bloom. My favorites are the orange desert poppies that mass  in unexpected corners.

We spent an evening at the Desert Botanical Garden. We had the luxury of time for a change, and spent some time sitting as the sun began to lower.  Slowly I noticed a fragrance...a woodsy, citrus, warm aroma. It was quite magical!

So today's landscape is of an Arizona vista...with just a hint of poppies. I think I will visit the memory often. Hope it helps brighten your landscape today. To bid click here.

See you tomorrow.
Blessings on your evening.

Kathy

Three's A Crowd

Three's A Crowd

Pears are wonderful...fragrant, bumpy, and such beautiful colors.

Over the past many months they have been helping me learn about acrylic painting. I've painted.. and eaten...a peck of pears. They make up a part of my indoor landscape.

As a painter of landscapes, I have a few favorites...Natural, Indoors, Garden, Interior, and Spiritual. I look forward to sharing these landscape spaces with you as we journey together.

So, to begin, we have pears. They capture my attention with their beautiful and varied colors. Their shape echo's the human form...sometimes closer than we may wish. And they share space together with a curious sense of design that fascinates me.

So, today it's pears! Click here to bid.

See you tomorrow.
Blessings on your day.

Kathy

April Fools!

Hello, and welcome to my new Blog!  I have committed to painting daily and will post the results here.  Maybe the joke is on me this April Fools day!

Our Minnesota April 1st began with snow....who knows what we'll end up with.  I decided that it would be better to begin with flowers....so that is my first posting on this snowy day.  Hope it brings a hint of spring to your day!  I was thinking of daffodils and "Johnny Jump Ups".

Each day my original work will be available at auction with a beginning bid of  $25.  You can click here to bid.  I have enjoyed the auction experience and have acquired some great pieces at great prices myself.  Hope you'll check it out!

Happy April!
See you tomorrow!

Blessings!
Kathy