Pears, pallet knife painting

This painting is 8x10 painted with a pallet knife. I had gone to my weekly painting class, and realized I  left my 16x20 canvas at home with the same subject. Having no other subject to paint I decided to just try to do a much loser painting, lots of paint, big strokes and get it done in the 3 hours we had for our class. I actually had more fun doing this one. Love the feel of the thick paint and it kept me from getting too picky. I love the color combination of deep warm reds and the varying shades of yellow.

Cook's Pears

        16x20

I could not resist trying to copy the painting on Cook's Magazine. The color palette in this painting is very limited which makes it a little easier for me. Mixing colors without making them muddy has been a big problem. I painted the same painting first in a 8x10  with a palette knife and it ended up being very successful. The lesson I learned was to keep the brushes clean and change brushes with every change of color used.

Sailing with Monet

 Many years ago I had a small jewelry box with this painting on it. It had been a gift from my Mother. The box is now gone now, but the painting still holds many wonderful memories from early childhood living close to the water.
I started painting with Carole Mayne 2003. I needed a project for a painting and saw Monet's beautiful painting again.It looked fairly simple with large open areas, simple stokes with large brushes... Little did I know how difficult of a challenge it would be to get the reflections in the water and the depth of the painting. It was a struggle and my first attempt of painting water.