Friday, January 17, 2020

Dicey Shot

Dicey Shot
6x6, soft pastel


Boy oh boy...I don’t know what is more challenging...painting 31 in 31 or coming up with titles for these shot glass paintings. I like the title to be a bit of a play on words for the composition...we’ll see if I can make it all the way to month’s end. I’m now dreaming (and waking up) with shot glasses on my mind. I’m looking forward to February and a good night sleep! 
🛌

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Hook Shot

Hook Shot
6x6, soft pastel


A bit of basketball nomenclature for this little piece. I found this colorful fishing fly in my husband’s gear box. My favorite painting subject and my favorite color all wrapped into one tiny fly...what a joy to paint!

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Bogus Shot

Bogus Shot
6x6, soft pastel


I can’t help but lament about “the good old days” when we spent a significant portion of the winter skiing at Bogus Basin and other ski hills in the Pacific Northwest.  It was such fun...and a great way of staying fit. These days, just shoveling the walk is enough workout for me. 


Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Shot of Convos

Shot of Convos
6x6, soft pastel

What the heck?  BAE...YAAAS...I actually had to google these terms (and others) when I went to paint this still life. I understand “text me” even “lets hang” but I had no idea these traditional candies had kept up with the times better than I have!

A bit of background: In 1866 Oliver Chase, a Boston pharmacist, invented a way to print vegetable dye “conversations” on individual candy pieces.  By1902 he began creating heart shaped candies with conversation quips on them which became very popular near Valentines Day.  If you’re familiar with them (and who isn’t) you know the messages...”kiss me, be mine, all mine, first kiss, best day, love you, dear heart”...etc. etc. These were the same messages as far back as I can remember. And (for now at least) I can remember them 60 years ago...or thereabouts. 

In any event...I got quite a chuckle out of the new conversation candies and was heartened to see that my beloved “xoxo” is still in print!   Enjoy!

P.S. This piece was a bugger!  Imperfections in the paper caused me to redo the background several times.  The background is now purple but doesn’t show up really well in the image above. Oh well, I’ve made it to Day 14. 😊

Monday, January 13, 2020

Shot of Fortune

Shot of Fortune
6x6, soft pastel

This may be one still life “edible” that stays intact.  Not because I don’t like fortune cookies, but it IS about 5 years old and has been laying around in the silverware drawer all this time. It’s pretty crumbly around the edges. I think I’ll just leave my ”fortune” to my imagination.

As part of my process today, I pulled out a color wheel to see what color harmony I should choose for this golden little cookie. I rather like the resulting purple background and touch of teal.

 

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Shot of Winter

Shot of Winter
6x6, soft pastel


What do you do when there’s only a trace of snow? You make a tiny shot glass snowman! You can’t imagine how tough this little guy was to make and paint before he melted. It was 4:15am and we had a trace of snow over night so I ran outside, scooped up what I could and scurried back to the warmth of my studio.  It took all of 15 minutes before he was gone...only a trace of snow remained.


Saturday, January 11, 2020

Little Blue - The Last M&M

Little Blue
6x6, soft pastel


Recently I bought a small bag of peanut M&Ms with the intention of using them for a colorful still life... but, by the time I was ready to use them the bag was almost empty.  Alas, “Little Blue” was the lone survivor.