One Pair, Original 6x6 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

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The only thing about painting with a glossy black background is it is a bear to photograph.  Suffice it to say I'll get a better shot and substitute it!  

These Asian Pears were SO beautiful I bought a bag full.  Examining each one for a graceful silhouette, I'm sure I looked a bit (to say the least) odd at the market, holding each huge pear at arm's length and squinting at them, putting some aside, some in the bag right away.  Some were more golden orangey and some more yellowy-green. FULL of personality.

At the end of this painting session my dear husband said "Are you going to leave it like that?"   "Like WHAT?"  I (kind of) nicely asked.  "Well, all stroke-y..." he said.  And I must have looked at him like a grizzly, because he said "Of course you are!  They look great.  I was just asking..."

Ask away.....

Figs, 6x6 Oil

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This one is NFS (not for sale) because it's part of 4 paintings that will go to the DeBlois Gallery on Belleview Avenue, Newport, RI, for their Holiday Invitational Show next week! There will be 4 of them. I'm honored to be invited to join these fine artists!

After the show (Jan 1, 2010) this is $100 + $10 S&H via Paypal.

Another mouse incident in the studio cut short my painting day.... I had somehow gotten cad red all over one hand (now I was wearing gloves but...) and the pumice soap was not doing the trick (fast enough) so I grabbed my bottle of vegetable oil (which I had lost the cap to) and saw something bobbing inside the botle....something kind of round... with legs and... a long tail... A poor field mouse! What a horrible way to die! I couldn't paint any more. I mean, I'm the one who blares my horn when I see hunters' pickup trucks parked on the side of the highway... I figure if I save just ONE deer or duck by startling it.....

A Day With No Glasses, 5x7 Oil

Today I seem to have lost my last pair of 'readers'... OK, I had them on last night and today they're AWOL. So this was painted without any clear vision. Probably why its smudgy looking! I found a pair (stopped at two places on the way home from the studio - they each had every strength but 2.25, which is what I need - I didn't even CARE what they looked like!) in the bottom of my backpack, twisted so the 'arms' were in front - so I can kind of see now - although they're very scratched! Anyway I had this great pomegranate and wanted to paint it so I did (2 for $4 at Whole Foods). Kind of don't like the split background. Should've gone with all yellow-y green.

Three Little Quinces, Oil, 6x6

Three Little Quinces, 6x8

$100 + $10 S&H via Paypal

These are 3 of the 4 quince that one of my quince bushes produced. I don't know if anyone does anything but make jelly with this fruit, but I don't have enough this year to put up. I was, once again, looking for a monumental feel to a small item, seen from eye level. I pile up about 6 boxes to get them to this height, and set the lamp right at the edge of the set up. Working on my sky series today, I took a slightly too-bright and sweet sunset, and dulled it down to the point where it is boring and gray. Tomorrow - CPR for that painting!

Blues, 6x6 Oil and a Failure

No time to sign this blueberry painting - I was SPEED painting this morning! Got to the studio early, and by the time I walked Paco, met the other dogs on the bike path, turned on all the fans and opened the windows in the studio, selected the paintings for the Duxbury Midsummer Show (2 larger pieces and 20 BARGAIN priced Daily Paintings), I got down to work. Primed the board with alizarin crimson, sketched out the design - 3 times), blocked in my darks, got paint on the blueberries - the phone rang and it was my son - I needed to come home NOW so he could take me to pick up my car - SO I slapped on the two tones of the shadows, and the yellow background - no time to sign! - and high-tailed it back across the two bridges and home - by 10:45 a.m. OK! Done for the day!

Below is the painting for Outside The Box at North River Art in Marshfield. I really am not happy with it and decided NOT to enter it (sorry Mary C - I'll reimburse you for the gatorboard!). I intended to work 'outside the box' by prepping the surface with a couple of coats of absorbant ground, and doing an acrylic painting with lots of washiness. But an error in drawing led to more layers of paint to fix it, and then all the washes were covered up - so I decided to do it in palette knife (which I dont' usually do, either). Which I ended up not liking. Sorry I yak so much. Thanks for looking, thanks for commenting!

Orange, You Sweet! 8x8 Oil

This is from a painting session with Nancy Colella. She found these great looking little oranges at Whole Foods, with stems still on. It was fun to paint, but I was without my orange paint. I guess it worked out with Cadmium Yellow and Camium Red Light. Wish I lived closer to a Whole Foods!

Ready and Waiting, 4x4, Oil

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I got this beautiful aqua glass from my son last Christmas - it's so beautiful I'm afraid to use it. I like the way the limes react to the strong light I put on them, too. It looked like they were waiting for a splash of.... San Pelligrino? Hendricks Gin & Tonic? Limeade? Flat Water?

Just the Peaches, 6x6 Oil

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I did do a painting over the weekend, but it was not successful, it was OK, but nothing to write home about.  Then this morning I grabbed this jar of peaches and had a great time painting it! I wonder if there's too much of the mid tone, that being the golden color of the peaches.  I guess it's one more thing to think about, and not jump in and paint till I've got it settled in my mind.  As Ken Auster says "Intellect, then passion, then intellect".  I was running with the passion, forgetting to plan, plan, plan!

It's A Persimmon, 5x7 Oil

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I love them ... to eat... to paint... to simply look at.  Funny, because orange is not a color that would come up on my 'short list' of favorites.  But I loved the bouncing reflections from the saucer on to the Persimmon, and the highs and lows in the shadows.  The ground on this board is very very absorbent - I think it's gessoboard - so some of the looseness that would/could come from sliding brushstrokes full of paint together didn't happen, but it's OK, I like it anyway.

On my Studio Blog I'm posting some photos from my Artist In Residence day at the Furnace Brook Middle School in Marshfield, MA.  The kids were amazing, and I did two little panels, explaining about A Painting A Day, and they did one (taking turns, of course) and I did one, and I'll post mine there, too - I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the one the kids did - it was  great!

Lemons In Blue, Oil, 6x6

This is my renewed goal:  to paint & post each weekday.  I know some people post 7 days a week but I think I'll still be able to improve my paintings if I do 5.  These lemons were in a square blue bowl, and while I painted them I was trying to keep in mind my lessons from my Carol Marine Workshop.  So it may look a little 'Carol Marine-y', but as I absorb the lessons, my own style (?) will come through more.  As it is, I can't help but slather on the paint.  And I love dragging the little bits of color with the brush when it isn't completely mixed on the palette. And to all you bloggers who love Carol's work - you should take her workshop - she is completely grounded in terms of solid foundation work, and you WILL benefit from her lessons.  (And can I just say here that I'm completely in love with NM and Santa Fe area in particular?????)

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Lemons 1,2,3, Acrylic 6x6

Up at 5:15 a.m. because my orange kitty needed me to wash his face (I'm not kidding, I have to pretend I'm his mom and let him wet my thumb and run it all over his face and ears before he settles down), I couldn't get back to sleep.  So I came downstairs and saw 3 lemons in a blue bowl and said to myself "Might as well get the Daily Painting started...."  Of course after I painted them in a bowl I decided I'd rather use the fabric I got to take to Carol Marine's workshop next week (YAY!).  So I placed a small folded piece of the purple-y fabric on my stand and repainted it.  I have one HUGE lemon, one small lemon, and one teeny lemon.  Kind of like the 3 bears, only citrus-y. :)

Cherries, 5x7, acrylic

Loved these massive cherries on a plate on my turquoise table in the sun!  They are really black cherries, and very sweet, groups of 3 and 2.  Did a big plein air painting of cows today on my Studio Blog, with 2 other painters from the South Shore - beautiful day today!

Red Plums, 6x6 Acrylic

Taking a break from my big painting of Isolated Showers, which you can see on my studio blog, I set up 3 little red plums that I bought just to paint.  I always have loved the purple plums much more.  Well, when I was done with this set up I punctured one of the red plums and I figured I should eat it and .... delicious!  Now I'm a red plum fan, too.  These were very difficult and I wiped it off a couple of times, but then just said "Oh, just PAINT it!", so I did.  :)

Just A Lemon, 6x6 Oil

Back in the studio.  It's a steam box today, although it's a sunny day so really I can't complain.  I love the simple shapes of lemons, and it looks so easy - but of course it's not.

Anyone in the Massachusetts area should try to stop by the Pembroke Art Festival this weekend, Aug 2 & 3.  You'll see 3 of my paintings there, some of Paula Villanova's too, and lots of other good paintings.  I'd like to congratulate Jody Regan who won 1st Prize in Oil/Acrylics there!

Slice Of Melon, 6x8 Acrylic

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Yesterday afternoon I started this little Daily Painting, hoping to get ahead a day, so I could spend one whole day plein air painting followed by some studio work on bigger pieces.  But I just couldn't get this right.  I was using the local color, which had a dull dark red for the background, and a greenish white for the cloth under the fruit.  The shadow side looked reddish-greenish (now THERE's a color you won't find in a tube!) and the top of the fruit was vapid and white-ish under the light from the lamp.  So I threw in the towel and left it.  This morning it seemed I knew just what would work, and in about 20 minutes had gotten it to this stage - with no visual reference (we had eaten the cantaloupe for breakfast!).  Sometimes you just have to paint what it feels like.  This is one good example of that!

Thanks, everyone who emailed me about not giving up on food as a theme.  You're right.  Almost everything's 'been done'.  But not by me! :)

Scattered Blueberries, 6x6 Acrylic

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So many things to paint for Daily Paintings.  I was a little 'stung' when a more accomplished local artist reviewed my work this Spring, and about the Daily Paintings she said "Food has been done and done.  It's old.  Thiebold had the last word on food.  You should do other things."  Well, I do other things, but the shapes of food, especially fruit, are a 'wonderland' to me.  People eat berries all the time, but when you really examine one, you find all sorts of patterns and reflective surfaces, as well as undercurrents of, for example, reds and greens in the blueberries.  So once again ignoring good advice, I set up a handful of blueberries this morning.  Here they are.

It's Plum Time, Oil, 6x6

I got these new painting panels from Karl Heerdt and couldn't wait to try them.   He's a Daily Painter, and has been making his own panels - decided to make it a little business.  They're nice!  They're pretty inexpensive (with shipping my pack of 10 cost $20) and they're canvas on masonite.  On the way to the studio I stopped to get some corn for tonight's dinner and saw three bins of plums.  Now, I LOVE plums, and I love the color of them, too.  So... at the studio I put them on a beautiful green background - and - voila!

Orange You Good For Me, 6x6 Acrylic

This was the most luscious orange!  When I sliced it for breakfast I knew I had to paint it.  Things are hopping these days, getting ready for all the early Summer shows.  It doesn't help that it coincides with a Nor'easter-like urge to start new paintings - I should be simply wrapping up, framing, photographing and submitting this time of year.  Instead I'm stocking up on canvases, sketching out and making notes for new paintings, techniques I want to try... etc.  I'm hopeless.  

Orange You Glad? 5x7 Acrylic

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated - or however that quote goes, but they're not that far off the mark!  Last Friday I thought I was simply having a very rare bout with asthma, but it turned into - the flu - surprise!  And while I rallied to 'help' move me into my new studio on the weekend, it was my tireless husband and son Conor who did all the work.  I thought I was out of the woods Monday but lets just say I'm FINALLY human again, and started a daily painting yesterday - it literally took me all day to get to finish it - then today I looked at it and gasped - what 7 year old painted over my painting?  So I went to work again and re-painted it, loving the brightness this time of year, loving the orange and green together.  Also I changed the background and the depth of color (thank you Mary) on the bottom of the lime on last week's 'Limey', but for the life of me, in any light I can't get the right yellow that the background is - even fiddling with it on the computer.  You'll just have to take my word for it till I can capture it!

Limey! Acrylic 6x6

Snow day today.  I was planning on doing a 4-Art-Show Day with two painter friends, Phyllis Adams  http://blockdogart.blogspot.com/ and Denise Zompa on the South Shore of Boston, but the weather had other ideas.  After getting reports from my husband and daughter about bad road conditions we decided to cancel - and so.... I got to paint!  I felt like doing fruit again, since it's been such a long time.  I liked the multiple light sources, too.