Under the Apple Tree 6 x 6" pastel on paper

I'm back in Maine, enjoying the riot of colour around me: the backdrop of the sea and the plants. Today I picked a bouquet from my mother's September garden, fashioned a table under the apple tree and sorted out the chaos of colour I had arranged.

Dahlia an Blue Hydrangea 6 x 6" pastel on paper

When I arrived I stood with my back to the left of the oven, delighting in the plants on the island and the light pouring in through the kitchen window.

Light on Livingroom Floor 6 x 6" pastel on paper

On another day it was the light on the wood floor and the kantha's hung over the folding screen that stopped me in my tracks.

Painting like I draw?

Orange Roses and Fan oil on canvas 40 x 40 cm

At the moment, when I draw,  I'm focused on a few competing concerns:

                                        - making order out of confusion

                                        - colour

                                        - rhythm, including pattern, light, marks, shapes

                                        - joy

When I began this painting  I decided to work from something I would choose to draw by building what I thought was an interesting interplay of colour, light and shape. When I make a drawing I usually complete it the same day.   It's different for me with painting. In order to acheive the same sense of colour and light when working in oils I need to let the paint dry and come back to it over a period of time. Flowers don't last and I find that working from a photo immediately changes the feel of the painting.  I also find sustaining the mood over a period of days is difficult too.  Usually I change what I want to say with time, but in this case, even though the flowers had died and I had invent some to make the painting work; even though tthe background had fallen away from the wall, tape had come undone, etc, the finished painting feels believeable and as though one moment in time.  

Looking at paintings on Pinterest has helped me to trust my still life paintings and given me license to do what makes my heart sing.

Painting from daily drawings

Oil on canvas 25 x 25cm

                              Jar Jug and Vase with Flowers

It's difficult to photograph wet paintings but it's even more difficult when it's getting dark when you do it, so I will shoot this again in the light, but I wanted to end my week with a finished painting  that I began by referring to one of my daily drawings that I'd made earlier in the week.  

I love seeing them here together.  And can remember each of the choices and struggles I had to get to the finished painting.

Pastel on paper 6 x 6"