Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Blue Heaven (Orchid painting )

"Flowers are the music of the ground; From earth's lips, spoken without a sound."  - Edwin Curran



"Blue Heaven"
12" x 12" oil on gessobord panel
$1200


This oil painting of Dinard Blue Heaven Cattleya orchid was finished this afternoon.  It was a joy to work on it, and hopefully I will do a larger version with four blossoms in the near future.










Saturday, August 11, 2012

Dinard Blue Heaven - Stage 2 Work In Progress

"Hurry? I never hurry.  I have no time to hurry."  - Composer Igor Stravinsky


Dinard Blue Heaven
Work In Progress- Stage 2
12" x 12" oil on gessobord panel

This cattleya orchid is taking some time to complete.  It will need to dry before I work on it again.   As much as I would like to complete a painting in one sitting, most of the time it is my habit to work in stages and not hurry.  Stay tuned for the completed work.   




Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Dinard Blue Heaven Orchid (Work In Progress)


The above reference photograph is of the gorgeous pale blue to lavender cattleya orchid Dinard Blue Heaven.   I fell in love with it at first sight and after bringing it home took over 100 reference photos of it.  Today I began a rough lay-in of oil color on a panel and you can see the work in progress below.


12" x 12" oil on panel
Work in progress

It looks pretty rough right now, but my aim was to first cover the panel completely with color.  The details will appear as the work progresses.   To view more photos of this orchid on a prior post, go here.


Saturday, August 4, 2012

Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail (Oahu, Hawaii)


"Checking The Surf"
12" x 6" oil on canvas

This painting was posted here previously, but I wanted to show you one of my works with Makapu'u lighthouse in the distance from Makapu'u Beach Park on Oahu.   Yesterday my son Mitch and daughter-in-law Michelle and I hiked a two mile trail up that cliff to get a close up view of the lighthouse.   Wow!  What beautiful scenery along the trail.   I have lived here 9 years and it was my first time to do that hike.   Isn't it funny that when you live near such places you don't visit them as frequently as the tourists do.   Below are some photos from the hike yesterday that you might enjoy.





Below are Mitch and Michelle on the trail and afterwards at a restaurant at Koko Marina where we stopped  to have a late lunch after the hike.  That is Koko Crater behind them in both photos.




It was a beautiful day and a wonderful visit with my son and Michelle.   I posted more pictures on my photography blog as well as a video of the trail if you would like to see additional views of the area.

Now I must get back to painting !   But instead of waterlilies I feel the urge to paint the lighthouse and scenery from yesterday's welcome trip outside my studio.  Such a delightful predicament !     ;-D





Thursday, August 2, 2012

Waterlilies On My Mind (Photos)

 Right now I am working on a miniature oil of a waterlily pond  similar to the photograph above and the one below the gorgeous blue waterlily photo.    For some reason the going is slow where my painting is concerned  but thought you might enjoy these photographs.


Stay tuned for more waterlily paintings.   For you flower lovers out there, I made a post today on my photography blog  showing photographs of various ginger flowers found in Hawaii.  Below is a photo of shell ginger with a bee which I intend to paint one of these days.


Back to the easel !  Thanks for stopping by.


Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Lady In Red (Waterlily)


"Lady In Red"
4" x 6" Oil on canvas on panel



   I used my artistic license with the intense red of the waterlily.    This is a study for a future larger painting.  


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Lily And Striped Egg Cup Still Life


"Lily And Striped Egg Cup"
6" x 4"
$195.00


This lily was from a bouquet my son sent me when he was in Afghanistan.  I intend to do more new works from my reference photos of those lilies and blue delphiniums.  I have several more egg cups so watch for them as subject matter as well.    
Thank you for visiting today.