Poppy Season, Spring Has Sprung

Today's work is poppy red, mining all the vast tonal selections of tubed reds.  We are just about to have poppies here at the ranch.  Some bluebonnets have started to bloom.  Best time of the year!

Pharmacy at Santa Maria Novella

We visited the pharmacy at Santa Maria Novella in Florence this past September.
The Old Apothecary, now a herbalist's shop, was used for the sale and display of products between 1612 and 1848, while the historic Sales Room, restructured in 1848, was the place in which the company's customers were welcomed when the increasing fame of the pharmacy made the provision of a room for entertaining customers a must.
The Green Room was used until 1700 for serving the pharmacy's speciality: a mixture of Alkermes, China and chocolate syrup, an extremely fashionable drink at the time.
The museum is housed in the Old Laboratories and Storerooms of Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. Created with the aim of giving a new lease of life to the machinery once used in the company's production processes, as well as the precious glassware, antique ceramics and historic copper and bronze utensils which the company has jealously guarded throughout the troubled events of the centuries, the museum displays many of its exhibits in the Old Laboratories, the piace in which they were designed to be used and the silent driving force of the whole company.
All traditions have a history and whenever this history is confirmed by the written word, the Museum offers the chance to examine the originai texts. Indeed, the Museum Library, housed in the Sacristy, is a treasure chest of antique texts and new specialist volumes. Finally, the aromatic herb garden is a perfect piace for peaceful reflection, an oasis which seems to have remained untouched for centuries. The aim of the museum is not only to inform those who normally use the Officina's products of the way in which they are prepared, but also to anyone wishing to view the magnificent history and superb craft of this pharmacy.
Projected towards the future, but nevertheless conscious of the past, Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella 's products are available in Florence and all other leading Italian cities.
The company also has shops in France, Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain, the United States, Japan and Taiwan.

Pewter Cup

This was painted after having observed Kathy Anderson's demonstration in San Antonio at the Greenhouse Gallery.  Kathy is one of the Putney Painters who has painted with this group for the past 12 years.  Wow!  What an exciting painter she is.  Her flowers are so light and beautiful and natural.  Kathy is no casual observer of these botanical wonders she paints.  In order to make the lovely designs, she carefully notices the anatomy of the various species.  Her work is lovely to behold, and Kathy Anderson has a very contagious presentation.  If you ever have the chance to observe her working, I highly recommend it.

AspenGrove

I had fun with this very large canvas, 24 x 36. We were in Lake City, Colorado, last fall for the phenomenal changing of the leaves. Each day the colors were expanding across the mountains, producing this most amazing effect. Working on this these past few days has been great. Listened to a Tolstoy recording. We had ferocious winds, of the deep West Texas variety. I was happy to be indoors dreaming of Colorado.



"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible,
but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for staying ashore."
...Vincent Van Gogh

I'm at the Villa

We were having a huge rainstorm yesterday as I was posting this painting.  It was painted on a very hot day when we had a beautiful shady spot vantage.  Thank goodness for the rain.  Wonder if we could get a ditch from the Mississippi over here for our dry, parched land.

Evening Sun

This plein air piece is a small village in France. Evening was falling.

The Merry, Merry Month of May

We are eagerly awaiting the marriage of our son at the end of the month of May.  All of us are on High Alert to keep going to the goal.  There seems precious little time to paint, but, as you know, the painter must.  I'm trying to keep it simple and direct.  Lots of precious practice pieces.  I painted this set up earlier with a different direction colorwise. 

LemonLife

I like the strength of cad lemon for its intensity. Love lemonade, don't always enjoy making it of the pitfalls of life.

En Pointe

This is my prize-winning painting from the Midland show. I received this lovely photo from my friend. Shows up quite well in my Randy Higbee floater frame, n'est-ce pas?

Paint Pot

In this painting, I have veered into the addition of Cadmium Yellow Light.  The varieties are a little surprising to me.  I have also found that a photographed look at the painting is quite a bit different than the actual piece.  Is this a little like looking at the painting in the mirror?
Last week, I had the pleasure to meet, Carol Carmichael, a fellow traveler in this pursuit of painting.  Her studio is filled with her amazing artwork.  She has been painting a very long time, teaching art, encouraging others.  I'm hoping I will get to see her again in Birmingham.  

Pesto Sauce

Here is today's humble effort.  I love working with my very limited palette: more ochre, alizarin and ultramarine.  This 12 x 12 seems unified and light.  May try glazing after it dries.

My Efforts of Late

Lately, I have done quite a few still life paintings.  This one presents it own challenges.  Somehow on the photo, I can see where I went wrong.  And now I've been exposed.  I'm calling the one on top Shorty.



The butter dish is study/deep practice #2.  Both are 8 x 10, using yellow ocher, alizarin crimson, French ultramarine blue and white.  This one is Sit Still.  Trying to discover the secret of luminosity. 

The Underpinnings of Painting

My Muse

This is my little sculpting project which I still have not delivered to the foundry.  I have loved working on her and just can not seem to bring the project to completion.  How I have loved working with master sculptor, Beth Schoen.  The tactile process is wonderful.  Beth is such a great instructor.