red pear

6" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

My husband shops and cooks on weekends which gives me more focused time to paint. Yesterday he brought home 3 red pears. 

I had to make a new still life box to stage the pear. I probably took about 50 photos and I was happy with 3 of them. This is the first and there will probably be more to come.

I love the colors of this pear and I bumped the colors up a bit on the fork.
The timing for my recent pear paintings couldn't have been more perfect. Mario at pastelnews.com contacted me earlier today to ask if he could post one of my pear paintings and I found out that the Pastel Journal is having a fruit and/or vegetable still life painting competition!

$140 with free shipping and handling in the US.
Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

chocolate eclair

8" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I didn't eat one of these when we had a family dinner last week, but I did take a photo of it to paint later. I was told that they were delicious. Those waves of cream were quite challenging to paint but I'm happy with the outcome.

$160 with free shipping and handling in the US.
Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

milk pitcher and pear

7 1/2" by 9" daily pastel painting, unframed

I almost made a cappuccino this morning but I decided to have a pear instead. But first I wanted to paint them together. The milk pitcher is what I use to froth the milk. This composition appealed to me the most of the ones I set up.

The counter surface is white but I wanted more contrast so I opted for the darker surface. I wasn't sure it would work visually but I think there's enough dark reflected on the bottom of the pitcher. A challenging painting and I'm happy with the outcome.

SOLD

day dream

7" by 7 3/4" daily pastel painting, unframed

It's so good to be painting. I'm constantly readjusting my "schedule" to fit my mother's needs while I care for her. I'm looking for a healthy balance.
I was always accused of daydreaming by teachers as a child. From what I can remember some of it was driven by pure boredom. I recently read a study that daydreamers in general have more empathy than those who didn't indulge in it. Those who know me well can be the judges of that.
I had fun with the colors in this piece. My husband has red/green color blindness. I've always been curious to see how he sees.  A few days ago we were discussing color and he said that many color combinations that are complimentary to those with normal color vision are visually annoying to him. I suppose the only way to solve that problem would be to use only the colors he sees. But I don't think I will ;-)

The smaller image is how he might see this painting as simulated at colblindor.com
I asked Gary to take a look and he barely sees a difference between the 2 images!

$150 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

desert queen

8" by 10" daily pastel painting, unframed

This is another surreal painting which I've been planning for quite some time. I may decide to paint a larger one. The detail work was brutally challenging with the scale I was working with. Too small! I felt like I needed a magnifying glass at times.
This may be the second in a series of more within the theme of goddesses.

$220 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

rain goddess

7" by 9" daily pastel painting, unframed

This is a piece I've been planning on painting for almost a year. The composition, as in most of my surreal pieces, was one I saw in my mind and then created with Photoshop.

As a child, in the pre-science days, I thought that clouds were filled with water . . . almost  acting like balloons. Mythology was much more fun with it's fantastic imagery.
Even though I am constantly in awe of scientific explanations, I much prefer a world of fantasy in my imaginary world which is often sparked by words and music.

$160 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

colorful landscape

5" by 6 1/2" daily pastel painting, unframed

Trying to get back into the swing of things so I played around with color today. Ever since my first road trip out west I've been in awe of big skies.
I've been way behind on painting for the last month. My mother (93 years old) went into the hospital because of a fall the day after christmas. She's been in a rehab/nursing home and I've been spending most of my time with her. It's been difficult to focus on anything else. We don't know if she'll be able to come home again.
I'm down to one visit a day and I'm adjusting my work schedule around that time.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.