"Chinese Chime" oil 16" x 12"

 

This is one of my favorite studies, and one of my paintings that I am keeping in my own collection.  Over the years, there have been a few paintings that I know I will keep.  Sometimes it is the time, place, event, a memory, perhaps, that motivate me to keep a painting.  I love this painting for its complex simplicity, and for its edges, and because every stroke has meaning, which is always my goal.  I try to get my idea across with as little detail as possible, but lots of information.

 You can see the combination of hard and soft edges, and the brushwork, thick and thin paint.  

Thanks for looking, and Joyful Christmas!

"Rupert" watercolor & ink 6 x 8

This month's theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint is "birds".  Several summers ago, we met a gull on Monhegan.  Of course, there are hundreds of gulls on Monhegan, but this one had a very distinctive square head, and markings, and showed up day after day on our deck. We named him Rupert (no idea why).  Rupert has good lines, and looked lovely in the late afternoon sun.  He spent one summer with some viridian green on his head, which I guess he found on an artist's palette on our deck.  One of the things I love about Monhegan is watching gulls fly from east to the west side of the island each morning, a distance of about a half mile, then back again in the evening.  I think they must nest in the nooks and crannies of the cliffs each night.  Their cries are synonymous with salt, sea, sand... 
See the rest of this month's challenge paintings here.   As always, thanks for looking, feel free to share.