Porch Garden Lovin'

I love this painting, one of my best since the sunroom, I think. I was doing the dishes and I kept looking over at all my fresh picked tomatoes squeezed together on the counter. I couldn't get over the way the light when in and out of them and the variations in color since some were more ripe than others. I decided I had to paint them. I had already planned on painting something else, but I was just so inspired. It shows what can happen when you really are inspired to do something. I think this one's going in the illustration alumni show. oh and it's 6" x 12" by the way. I feel like the perfect size for the subject.

Where are the acorns when you need them?

Let me just tell you, I never thought I would get to paint these acorns! It took me 2 and a half weeks to find them! I'm not used to living in the city, and I'm not even in a real city! I just knew I wanted to paint acorns, and I wouldn't let it rest until I found some. I drove my poor boyfriend crazy! Finally I got some, and I'm glad. They were a ton of fun, just like I thought they'd be. Love all the fall colors!

First Gourds of theYear

Gourds are definitely something I have been looking forward to painting for awhile now! I almost couldn't wait for the season just so I could paint them! I really like the way they came out, I did this one really quick and I like the looseness in the yellow one. The stem is also really cool. I didn't actually mean for the background to be so crazy bright, infact all I could think of when I was painting, was Fred telling me I don't need bright backgrounds. haha, sorry Fred. I still like it though, fun for the season and it looks great with all the halloween stuff at work.

ghost peeps!

Just a fun painting I did for the store. I did get the 6 done that I had planned, I just haven't had any time to post them! This is probably my least favorite, it's a bit harsh and there are things I can see that could be fixed but I think the ghosts are funny.

Commissioned Portraits

This was quite the job. I definitely thought these two would be a lot easier than they were. Don't get me wrong, I love to draw, but when it comes to portraits : I NEED PAINT! There is something about it that just helps me, I don't really get it, but it has now been confirmed! Overall they did come out good, they just took much longer than expected. When framed with a white matte in a black frame, they really looked good!

The second one. I like this one better, the conte did something nice.

Apple

This is actually my second attempt to do an apple painting. I don't know what went wrong with my first one, apples should be easy especially after doing 100 of them for illustration 2! Anyways I am very happy that I tried again because I really like this painting.

Canoli

This has absolutely nothing to do with fall, but I was way too inspired not to paint it. This is actually the first one and I love the way that it came out! This will definitely be hanging in the store even though it's not "fall like".

candy corn

So normally I don't paint things way before the actual holiday, but I am finding that since I am hanging them in a store I have to be ahead. I thought that it would be hard for me because I wouldn't be "in the spirit" but it's not that bad. I am trying to get 6 paintings done and dry by Friday so I can hang them in the store. This was the second one I did, I am up to 5 but only 3 are dry enough for me to add tonight. I was most excited about painting candy corn, but I don't feel that this is my strongest piece, I actually think it's my weakest. I may try another one if I get a chance.

Gennaro

This is the finished portrait. I am very happy with the way it came out, and I would defintely paint a child again.

This is my most recent painting. It is a commission for someone as well as being my first baby portrait. I am very happy with the way it turned out. I spent a lot of time sketching in order to get the "baby" proportions, and it definitely payed off!

nectarines

I love this painting! I did it a couple weeks ago when I first found Carol Marine's work. I was looking through some links on another artist's page when I found her's. I was so excited to find her work. It is really bright like mine, and she likes to paint some of the things I do. I love the way she keeps her fruit blurry, you can really see the way she lays down blocks of color and it is amazing how they come together and make sense. I definitely did this painting in my own style but I worked with a bright background the way she does, and I really like the effect it gives. Another thing is that this painting is twice the size of my usual painting's a day, 12x12 instead of 6x6. I liked that as well, I will definitely be doing more like these soon.

Mojito Season 2!!!!

Mojito season is coming to an end. This was a commission I did earlier this summer to be hung along with the limes I painted.

peppers

These I'm not so sure about, I did these a few weeks ago and they were my first painting a day in awhile. I feel like I lost the looseness that I had gained from doing them all of the time and then tried to recover it after. It came out alright but it's not my favorite

butterscotch

This was a commission piece that I really enjoyed. I have fun painting candy and it always comes out bright and cheerful, just the way I like stuff!

lollipops

This was a painting that I almost didn't finish. I did not like the way it was coming out, but it made such a difference once I got the sticks down. It was hard to get them to pop on a white background, but I didn't feel like any other color would have worked as well. I am definitely happy I finished it.

mini shells

This was a tiny painting a day that I tried. I actually did it in the beginning of the summer and just got around to scanning it. It is roughly 2 X 6 inches. It was interesting to do it so small it made it impossible for me to get to involved in the details

Happy Fourth!

Here is a little patriotic one I did right before the 4th. I wanted to put it up earlier, but I have been having problems with my files.

green sandals

I like this painting a lot. It is funny because it makes me realize that I have many pairs of green shoes, but I don't actually wear green that much. strange. I like the cropping in this image.

illustrators rule!

School is out and I am finally going to have time to update my blog!!!!!! Last month was such a crazy month! I managed to get about 5 painting a day's done :o( very sad. Things have finally calmed down and now I can get back on track! With my awesome new scanner (thanks to mom & dad!) I should be updating this a lot more! Before getting right to the art, here is a picture from the night of graduation. I love it so much! All of these people (plus a few others that didn't make it into the photo) have been a big part of my life for the last four years. Critique after critique we've all helped one another out and I will never forget any of them! Thank you so much for everything! Hooray for Montserrat Class of 2007!!!!!!

Mojito Season!!!!

This is a fun painting I did while I was home in CT. Yummy limes that eventually found their home in a refreshing mojito!!!! I am finding that I really do love to paint food for some reason!

garlic

I did this painting the night of my last day of school. This shows how much of a nerd I can be. It was a weird day for me I wasn't that excited that school was over and all I wanted to do was paint. This was the result. I like it, but I like my first garlic painting better. That one can be seen on my website which should be done within this week!

grapes

I love this painting!!!!! I wasn't sure what would happen if I tried to paint grapes since I normally pay attention to all of the details and doing that with a bunch of grapes could be fatal. Knowing that, I attacked this painting in a different way and I love the result. My favorite thing about it is the way I captured many different colors in the purple of the grapes. Unfortunately I see that my elipse is weird, I can't figure out why I have had so much trouble with those this year. Freshman year I was a pro at them, I don't know what happened!

green pepper!

I had so much fun with my bananas I decided to paint a pepper the next day. This one was also fun, I have found that I enjoy painting fruit and vegetables

Bananas!!!

Sorry it has been so long, I am finding it hard to keep up with this blog while I am trying to finish school!
I did this painting a couple of weeks ago. There is something I like about it, it was fun cropping in close.

MA peppa-mints

These were a lot of fun! Lots of white.

Summer Shoes

My new summer shoes. It was fun to crop in close to these, makes the painting more abstract

I love the fishes cause they're so delicious!

This was another early painting, number 4. Looking back at these early ones I think I really do like that there is more than just the subject in the painting. It definitely adds more and makes the painting more interesting.

Garden Tool

This is a more recent painting. I exlored working on neutral backgrounds, I think that my white backgrounds were more successful than this brown color that ends up being in a few of them. I still like this painting, but I miss the colors!!!

breakfast

This was only the second Painting a day I ever did. I like this one a lot because it seems to have more of a setting. I have noticed that most of my paintings are becoming completely about the object in it, where this one includes the frying pan and gives you a way to picture where it might be.

blue peeps

This is another old painting, but I like the reflection i pulled off. I know i need to add my new paintings, this week is just killing me with everything I need to do, but I promise soon I will have new paintings up, maybe even tonight.

Robin's eggs 1

I love spring! I just wish we would have one already!

Andy's favorite cookies

I love this one! It was a lot of fun, I think I enjoy painting food the most. Luckily I did it while my boyfriend was at work. Otherwise he probably would have eaten my still life!

green sneaks

This was my first painting a day ever. It was done on March 18. I like this one especially since I can remember everything I thought about when I was painting it. I worried about so many different details and it took me longer than any of the others I've done since. Now I work hard not to do that. The best part about this project is that I am letting myself be more loose and I'm trying not to worry so much about the details. I think that it is really helping my painting style.

peeps!!

This painting I did a week or so before easter (once I get all of my paintings on here I'll figure out the dates). I had fun with this because I always enjoy doing paintings relevant to the time of year it is. I think it has some color issues, but I like it anyways!

Happy Birthday!!

This was my painting a day for April 9th, my birthday!! I have been wanting to try painting a cake or cupcake to see what it is like to paint frosting. I really enjoyed it, it let me be more free with my paint.