No. 874 Tulips in Glass Vase

Tulips in Glass Vase

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Tulips are not easy to paint. Flowers in general are not easy to paint. I had a tough time this year doing any still life with tulips that I was very happy about. I did end up being pretty happy with this one.

No. 873 Clouds Over Mt Vernon

 

Clouds Over Mt. Vernon

Oil on Canvas Panel

5 x 7

Sold

The only thing prettier than the tulip fields are the clouds above them. 

No 872 Skagit Valley Magic

Skagit Valley Magic

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

Sold

Another take on the tulip field/cool old barn combo.

No. 871 Tulip/Barn Magic

Tulip/Barn Magic

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

Really, what could be more picturesque than brightly colored tulip fields ending in a cool old barn?

No. 867 Tulip Fields at Sunset

Tulip Fields at Sunset
Oil on Gessobord
6" x 6"

I just finished painting a 12" x 12" version of this one. Wow, that was a gorgeous evening. The perk of spending an entire day in the tulip fields is you get to see these special light effects.

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No. 866 The Tulip Bus

The Tulip Bus

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

The bus the field workers ride out on and a very handy focal point. :)

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No. 865 Return to the Fields

No. 865 Return to the Fields

Oil on Canvas Panel

5" x 7"

It's that time of year! Spring has arrived and the tulips are poking their heads up in the garden. For me that means getting ready for the art show in Mt. Vernon. I really enjoyed getting to know the local artists there last year and look forward to hanging out with them again.

I'm giving you guys first shot at my newest collection of tulip field paintings before I take them up to the show...

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No. 798 Clouds and Tulips

Clouds and Tulips

Oil on Gessobord

7" x 5"

Oh yes, it was a tulip bonanza this year.

No. 796 Tuips with Coffee 2

Tulips with Coffee 2

Oil on Canvas Board

6" x 8"

Click to Bid

  I will be participating in three festivals this summer. The first one is July 8th and 9th in Mill Creek. With that in mind, I've been trying to beef up my inventory of small paintings. This was painted earlier this spring when tulips seemed to be everywhere. I have a lot more small paintings to share and you may have noticed I'm super close to blog post 800. So look out for a posting burst in the very near future.

More photos from my trip to France:

Matisse's Museum in Nice.

 A close up of one of the planters. Love the green against the red of the building.

A church nearby.

A close up of the detail above the entryway complete with pigeons.

No. 785 Sunny day with the Tulips 2

Sunny Day with the Tulips 2

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

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That beautiful day in the tulip fields, we were there ALL day. This was painted in the lovely evening light. The group that evening grew by two dedicated students coming up and painting after work.

Yes, that's dedication!

Connie and Carol arrive!

Connie getting started

.

Carol laying on some nice thick paint.

Diana hung in there all day long!

Until next year tulip fields!

No. 784 Blue Jar with Tulips

Blue Jar with Tulips

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Click to Bid

I hope you like tulips because I have a whole lot of tulips coming down the pike....

No. 783 Sunny Day with the Tulips

Sunny Day with the Tulips

Plein Air

Oil on Canvas Board

7" x 5"

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We had one day, that I'm aware of, with sun from morning to dusk on the tulip fields and we were there to paint it. It was an amazing if exhausting day.

Friends Maggie, Diana and Karen out painting with me in the morning.

This lovely lady kindly let me take her photo.
The color of her saree was a perfect match with the tulips.

One painting down!

No. 781 Blooming Coffe Pot

Blooming Coffee Pot

Oil on Canvas Board

7" x 5"

Sold

Some things just seem to go together. This cool old white coffee pot and tulips are one great example.

No. 778 Tulip Crates

Tulip Crates

Oil on Gessobord

5" x 7"

Sold

I hear the tulips are finally blooming. The weather forecast for Sunday is looking good. If you do decide to go on Sunday, for heavens sake go early. The tulip traffic can be crazy up there!

No. 776 Double Tulip Drama

Double Tulip Drama

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Click to Bid

Tulip drama indeed! I hesitated buying these tulips because I knew the yellow tipped petals would be a challenge. Little did I know that they were double tulips as well, effectively doubling the difficulty of a difficult tulip. Woe is me! ;)

No. 773 Tulips in Red Pitcher

Red Pitcher

Oil on Canvas Board

7" x 5"

This is one of my favorite recent paintings. It's for sale at the Rexville Grange Art Show near the tulip fields in Mt. Vernon. The subject matter seemed appropriate. The show starts Friday. If you are headed up that way, I highly recommend a visit. There's some great stuff there and I'm already afraid any profit I might make will probably be spent at the show...

I drove by the tulip fields yesterday after setting up the show. Lots of daffodils in bloom but not much in the way of tulips yet. Here is a link to check out what is currently in bloom:
http://www.tulips.com/bloommap

No. 772 Blue Coffee Pot with Tulips

Blue Coffee with Tulips

Oil on Canvas Panel

7" x 5"

We've had a very, very soggy and chilly winter so thank goodness for greenhouse tulips!

Returning to our trip to France, after getting your ticket you'll probably want to reserve a place to stay. Sandy, the trip coordinator recommended a couple of nice inns to stay at. I chose to give Airbnb a try. There were a couple of things that appealed to me about Airbnb. First, you can find a pretty good deal. The cost of the studio I'm staying in is less than half the inn Sandy recommended.

Second, I liked the opportunity to take a peak at how the French live. It was really interesting perusing the unique homes and rooms available in the area .

Lastly, my hosts are very accommodating. Once I reserved my room I was contacted the next day by the host, Veronique, and asked if there was anything I needed help with. I soon discovered that her mom is a watercolor artist and is willing to recommend places for me to go paint!

Downtown Vence

My little studio is in there somewhere!

No. 717 Blocked In Tulips

Blocked In Tulips

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

This painting started as a demo on "blocking in the big shapes" for one of my classes. I've gotten pretty fond of this method which I learned in the Dennis Perrin workshop.

A few more photos from my new class/painting studio....

You can just barely see our studio mascots here, the crows Toulouse and Lautrec.

No. 713 Tulips in Celadon Teapot

Tulips in Celadon Teapot

Oil on Linen Panel

7" x 5"

I finally got a chance to take a few photos of my new studio. Here's a couple to start you out with...

For all the non-French speaking people it says "Welcome to the Little House of Magic". For all you French speakers, I promise to change the accent on the "a" to the right direction tomorrow. :)

Ready for work! It's important to me that each student has their own still life set up. This way they have complete control over subject matter, lighting and design.

Probably my favorite photo of the studio, a little section of my prop collection. As you can see, I have a few props to share with my students. :) There are more photos to share with you tomorrow...

No.712 Tulips with Orange Tea Cup

Tulips with Orange Tea Cup

Oil on Gessobord

6" x 6"

Long time no see! So much has been going on. I've spent the last several weeks helping my dad find a new home, my daughter decide which college she will attend next fall and converting a large shed in my backyard into an artist's studio! Phew! I'm feeling tired just thinking about it. I'll share more about the studio in the following days. It's where I will now be teaching oil painting classes. Whoopee!