Summer Sale on Etsy (Originals)

I'm having a studio sale this week of some originals done in 2013 and 2014. I painted this food group

over a 1 month challenge in May 2013. They are 6x6" and painted in gouache

on watercolor paper. The series is a precursor to my daily painting project. These are the

last 8 available from the 30 that I painted. 

Jell-o, Jelly and Moulds

I can't believe its almost a month since I posted. I just can't keep up with
everything.. I try to do too many things and then sometimes nothing gets done.
Like the blog.
I'm in month 2 of Make Art that Sells bootcamp. The mini is Jell-o, Jelly
moulds. My first reaction on monday morning was Oh, Gross. It took a day
to sink in before I even could start the assignment. Once I got over the fact
that I wouldn't touch the stuff with a 10 ft pole it got more interesting, (and
disgusting) In the 50's and 60's people made Jello with other foods suspended
in it. Like fruit, meat, spaghetti, I don't know what else but GAG. But the good
side is that the shapes are sort of awesome and the colors are happy.
Don't they look like they could be cool hats? I did..

We'll find out what the assignment is on Monday morning. I'm sure a wrench
will be thrown in.

Frittata. May Painting a Day 29

I made this last night, tons and tons of vegetables and egg. I will admit
that I like cooking, but only sometimes. Most of the meals I make are
quite simple, if it takes too long I lose my interest.  I would be so happy
to have an in house cook.... what a fantasy!

Tomato. May Painting a Day 28

I just took a few days off for the Memorial Day weekend. I spent
a lot of time working in the garden planting the herb garden and a
few planters. Cut back a whole bunch of overgrown trees and shrubs.
And then had my family over for a BBQ on Monday. I almost got too
relaxed and didn't paint again today but then this little can of
tomato paste appeared and that was it..along with this very out of season
tasteless tomato. I am looking forward to my heirloom tomatoes that
are growing in the garden now.

Zucchini/Mushrooms May Painting a Day 24

This month has been all about painting the food straight from life.
30 minutes, gouache, food. Once I established my technique for this
series it I decided to just stick with it for the whole month. Seven days
left to keep up the same type of imagery and then I'm
really ready to move on and be more magical and imaginary in my
paintings. Until then another week of food.

Eggs. May Painting a Day 23

The best eggs I've ever tasted are the ones my brother Ivan
cooks for his ramen. His new restaurant will open in NYC this
summer, IvanRamen, down on the lower east side. He already
has 2 shops in Tokyo that are out of this world, but now I don't
need to travel 13 hours to eat his food.
The eggs he cooks are the perfect texture and oh so beautiful.
I'm focusing on eggs here but everything he makes is so delicious.
Make it down there when he opens!

Bowl of Ramen from IvanRamen

Candy. May Painting a Day 22

Yesterdays almond butter was so BROWN...I really needed to be
colorful today, so I dug out the ancient leftover Halloween candy that
no one touches. I don't know why we don't just throw it away, it's sort
of sticky. The props here will go straight into the garbage can. If I'm
going to splurge on sweets it's going to be a big scoop of ice cream.

Almond Butter. May Painting a Day 21

A big giant spoonful of gooey almond butter. It's my favorite!
And on a green apple is so good too. This is the first one that
quite hard to keep from eating while I was painting it. I'm having
it now. Yum.

Bagel. May Painting a Day 17

A big puffy everything bagel. I'm admitting here that sometimes
I go over the 30 minutes, basically because if I don't feel finished
it's really hard to just stop. This one I did just stop.
I don't eat bread so this was a bit torturous to have in front of me.
I guess that's what made it easier to say, "I'm done"

May Painting a Day 16. Sage

The sage in my garden is still there after the winter, very woody
and leggy with dried flower pods all over the top of them. I had
hung a branch of them to dry a few weeks ago so here is the live
plant and the dried one. I am submitting this one to Illustration
Friday too, for the word future. Maybe a bit of a stretch, maybe
more like before/after?

Cheese. May Painting a Day15

I have these cute little cheese knives that I felt like painting
today, so I found a chunk of cheese in the fridge to go with
them. We don't eat too much dairy in our house so sometimes
the cheese is a bit old and moldy and I end up throwing it
out. This one was ok. A bit stinky...

Pear. May Painting a Day 14

This one turned out to be so hard.. I spent WAY over
my 30 minutes because I never liked it and just kept
painting over and over. I finally had to stop so I wouldn't
just have mud. I did photograph this time which I will
post below. I think the earlier versions had some good
elements that I lost but that's ok.. I'm just
playing with these.

May Painting a Day 13. Sriracha Hot Sauce

I spent yesterday (Mother's Day) with my son, running errands,
getting him some new clothes for work this summer, getting  food
to fill up the refrigerator since it's much emptier when he's not here.
We didn't get home till late but then he cooked me dinner so I got
a little time to relax. I love spending time with him. This Sriracha
sauce gets used much more when he's home.

Scallions. May Painting a Day 11

I got these this morning from the farmers market,
They are so beautiful, (I'm talking about the real ones)
I've been doing these May paintings very small, 6x6"
It felt like a size I could accomplish in 30 minutes. But
this one demanded bigger paper. Its 9x12". When the
timer went off at 30 minutes I just couldn't stop, so this
took an hour. I added acrylics at the end and I just kept
layering it up until it looked right to me.

Red Pepper May Painting a Day 10

Tomorrow morning is the farmers market. I haven't been there
yet this spring so I'm really looking forward to it. I will look for
some interesting new veggies to paint. The thing I have been putting
off also is planting the garden. Need to get out there this
weekend and get it going... It's so hard to get everything done.
Sam is home from college for the summer. The house is messy
already but nice to see him.

Asparagus. May Painting a Day 9

I'm going to grill these tonight on my new grill. These actually
don't smell great raw.. so I'm glad it's just a 30 minute painting.
It's such a short time that I forget to take progress pictures but
I did take one at the very beginning.

Cupcake. May Painting a Day (8)

It feels good sometimes to take frustrations out in your art, I'll have
to paint a happier cupcake another day but for now this is what
I got... The last few days have been migraine days, I missed a good
friends birthday dinner last night because I just couldn't get out. It rained
hard all day but I was grateful for that since the garden was so dry.
Tomorrow will be better. I know it, My son is coming home from his
first year away at college. I'm looking forward to seeing him.

Yams. May Painting a Day 7

This is going to be part of my dinner. I cooked up 2 of them, this
might sound strange but I like them mushed up with some
flax oil, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and salt. So good.
Having limited the time I'm spending on each painting has been
great for my stress level.. I don't feel like I have a huge project I
need to do each day on top of any other work I have.

Garlic. May Painting a Day 6

As much as I love garlic I can't eat it right now.. Boo hoo. It's
one of my sensitive foods that can cause migraines. So I'm just
staying away from it for the meantime.
I kept this in the 30 minute time limit and I added pencil to
the painting.

Blueberries. May Painting a Day.

The thing is I have a monster migraine today.. I've been so
much better, I'm working with a nutritionist and the food
changes have made a big difference and I'm 80% migraine
free now. (I actually, sadly have a food sensitivity to blueberries)
But sometimes I still get a whopper, I don't know
what causes them. Today I just made myself get up and
do my painting. Not feeling well helped me to simplify,
which is something I've been wanting to do. Today I had to
and I'm happy with the results.
I have to confess here that I did the lettering on a separate
piece of paper because I just wasn't confident enough to
paint it right on the art. That goes against my principle, since
one of the goals here is to not be precious about the piece
and whatever happens, is what it is. But today I feel
vulnerable. I'll add it in for real another day.
Please sign up for the April Giveaway if you haven't yet.