Oil Pastels by Mary

Seal Pup – acrylic painting

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Mary

Her eyes, deep sad pools, tugged at my heart and with her tilted head she spoke ~ by Mary

Seal Pup, an acrylic painting (9×12), was painted on canvas paper using mainly Liquitex and Golden brand acrylics. Who would have thought I’d be painting a Seal, it’s so completely different from my norm, but originally this painting was created for a mother’s/children’s benefit auction. It was fun piece to try and capture this little one. I fell in love with this Seal, she was sweet as could be.

Thank you for visiting ~ click on the image for a larger view.

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylics, art, fine art, ocean, painting, seal | 39 Comments

Yellow Waterlily – acrylic painting

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Mary

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” – by Lao Tzu

That includes me . . . I can’t resist. There is something very beautiful about waterlily’s and ponds, a tranquil sense of being comes over me when I look at them. Whether the scene is drenched in sunlight or it’s a rainy day, the sight of these delicate flowers is always calm and welcoming.

Yellow Waterlily, an acrylic painting (11×9) was done on Canson canvas paper using Liquitex and Atelier brands. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at painting a waterlily and transparent water. I wanted the waterlily to be the star in this production, so the challenge for me was in keeping the background muted, lessen any intensity of color, little if any hard edges, and then to develop some waviness to the images beneath the water.

I enjoyed painting this scene ~ thanks for checking in and visiting. Please click the image to see it in a larger size.

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylic painting, art, fine art, lily pad, reflections, waterlily | 63 Comments

Colorado Atmosphere – acrylic

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Mary

“One eye sees, the other feels,” by Paul Klee

Sometimes when I paint it is both and it’s then that the painting session gives me that endorphin rush that artists seek when they are creating. It’s like you get this extraordinary sense of being able to feel your work ~

Colorado Atmosphere an acrylic (10″ x 7.5″) painting was done on a gesso prepared hardboard, using mainly Liquitex and Atelier brands. It’s been a while since I’ve used hardboard as a surface and it worked out beautifully for this painting, giving some nice textures. When I saw this scene the clouds spoke to me and I knew it was time to go after another landscape with a bit of atmosphere – not threatening, but rather a windy summer day.

Thanks for visiting ~ click onto the image for a larger size.

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged art, colorado, fine art, impressionism, landscape, painting, sky, tree | 72 Comments

Texas Country Path – acrylic painting

Posted on July 7, 2018 by Mary

Texans wait patiently, they know what’s coming. From the brown, hardened clay dirt will spring forth a brilliance of color and elegance – wildflowers of blues, oranges, reds and yellows will wash over the landscape and Spring’s renewal will visit again ~ by Mary

Texas Country Path, an acrylic (8×10) painting was done on canvas paper using Liquitex, Golden and Atelier brand paints. On a recent Spring ride we went to see the wildflowers and saw this quiet scene. The path was gorgeous, lined with patches of blue bonnets, everything was fresh including the budding new growth on the trees. Some probably passed right by, but this was one of those places I couldn’t help but notice, the quiet beauty of it kept calling out.

Thanks for visiting ~ hope you are having a lovely Summer (it’s hot and dry in Texas).

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylic, art, blue bonnets, fine art, grass, painting, spring, texas, trees, woods | 53 Comments

Upside Down Sardines – acrylic painting

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Mary

The whole is more than the sum of its parts ~ by Aristotle

In January I was looking to paint a still life that would challenge me technically as an artist, this one gave me just what I had hoped for and more. While painting this I had to remind myself not to get lost in the details, but remember the whole – what was I trying to convey. Aristotle’s quote spoke directly to me ~

Upside Down Sardines, an acrylic painting (7×5) was painted on Canson Foundation paper canvas using mainly Liquitex acrylics. It was the first time I painted fish so I had to manage the size of each sardine correctly and get the fish scales shiny and translucent so they were believable – my first set of challenges. Another was working the jar to show the glass reflections and transparency allowing the fish to show through. The napkin was another story entirely – lines, curves and shadows.

As I said, this painting gave me all the challenges I was looking for and then some. But was a great learning experience. Thanks for visiting ~

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

An image provided by a Russian photographer, Viacheslav (on pmp), was used as my inspiration. He has an impressive portfolio of photographs – Viacheslav is a genius in his creation of interesting still life’s.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylics, art, fine art, jar, painting, sardines, still life, traditional | 64 Comments

An Acrylic Study, White Floral, based off a demo by Will Kemp

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Mary

“Creativity takes courage,” by Henri Matisse

I have lacked the courage and confidence to paint these beautiful creatures of nature do mainly to my lack of experience with acrylics and paint brushes.

It’s been my desire to paint flowers using acrylics. Last year I found a video demonstration by Will Kemp painting an impressionist rendering of a floral arrangement – it was exactly what I had looked for!! There was no excuse – I had to take the opportunity to learn and maybe then I could move forward.

White Floral, (8×10) was done using acrylic paints on canvas paper. I loved the experience of painting this still life from exploring acrylics, learning several mediums, to painting with a variety of paint brushes. It was really everything I had hoped for in an exercise and gave me the tools to get started.

Even though after painting this arrangement I had to set my brushes aside for several months, at least I was able to give this a go. There will definitely be more floral paintings ahead, that I’m sure of.

Thank you for visiting ~

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylic, art, fine art, floral, impressionism, white | 74 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day: The Lone Lily – acrylic painting

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Mary

The Lone Lily – a tribute to my Mother

“The flower is worn by many mothers, the Chinese also venerate the day lily as a symbol of filial devotion to one’s mother,” by Living Art Originals (www.livingartoriginals.com)

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted. Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

When I painted this flower in the Fall of 2017 it never occurred to me that it would become the symbol of my devotion to my Mother. The meaning of this flower seems to fit perfectly.

You see, my Mother has Alzheimer and over this past winter we had to place her in a nursing home. Respecting her privacy, I’ll say only that her symptoms started to show about seven years ago and none of us during this time understood what was happening. It wasn’t until the last two years that my family came to terms with the severity of her situation and began making plans for our Mother’s care.

For my family it has been an emotionally raw and exhausting period, and on a personal note loosing my Mother to this cruel disease has thrown me for a loop – art and blogging have taken a back seat. Caring for elderly parents has become my family’s day-to-day priority. I’m slowly being drawn back to my art and this blog, which is a good thing.

I’ve come to appreciate how special each moment is when I’m able to speak to her – they are precious nuggets that I’ll cherish. It’s taken a long time to come to terms with my Mother slowly slipping away – how does one ever get used to the long goodbye? I truly understand the meaning of this saying now.

Today is a very Happy Mother’s Day because I got to speak to my Mother and thank goodness, she still knows I am her daughter.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylic, art, fine art, flower, lily, painting, still life, traditional | 69 Comments

Apple and Containers – acrylic painting

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Mary

It is absurd to look for perfection, by Camille Pissarro

Mr. Pissarro understood, something I need to keep in mind. Whenever I can’t seem to get the results I expect from a painting, I only need to remember his words. My goal should be to let the experience of creating art take me on a journey of learning and growing ~

Apples and Containers (8×10), an acrylic painting, was done on a gesso-prepared hard board. The textured background was created by using a painters knife. This was an interesting challenge, given that the colors were so closely aligned I had to rely on getting the values right so the elements would come front and center. I was a bit timid with my darks, but realized they were important to the overall structure of the painting. I loved painting the fabric – a beautiful piece of peach-colored linen.

The painting is much sharper in person than the image here, but I think you get the idea. Thank you for visiting ~

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted.

Please don’t copy or use the image without receiving my permission first – see disclosure on the right panel.

Posted in Acrylic Paintings | Tagged acrylic, apple, art, fabric, fine art, glass containers, painting, traditional | 89 Comments

Green Apple on Red – acrylic painting

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Mary

Apples are the best-of-the-best where fruits are concerned – I grew up with apple orchards all around me and there is nothing like fresh fruit right off the tree. It’s really hard to resist a good-looking apple. My all-time favorite used to be yellow-delicious, but the last few years bumper crops of Honey-Crisps have come out of the States of Washington and Michigan – wow, some of the best I’ve ever tasted.

Green Apple on Red, is an acrylic painting (7×6) done on Canson Canva-paper (I love this canvas-like paper to paint on, it takes lots of layers and abuse!). The green was a good challenge for me in mixing colors and not the easiest to match to the reference, but was acceptable in the end. My goal in this piece was two-fold, for the table covering to show as a heavy linen coming over the table, but painted light enough so that the edges faded away, and second, for the apple to hold its own with a bit of substance. I liked the workout I got with this small painting.

Here’s to a great 2018 and thanks for visiting!

Please don’t take my images – my art is copyrighted.