summer minis

Hello again!

It's been awhile since I've posted - due to a busy summer schedule and the fact that I'm trying to master Mail Chimp so my blog will be sent in all it's graphic glory. Look for that next week month. I'm going to assume all my supportive friends and cyberfriends will be happy to hear from me... but if that's NOT you, there will be an easy "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the post via Mail Chimp.


So for now...

  Tiger Eggplant  • 2012 dorothy byers lorenze

Here are my summer minis. No, no... not mini skirts!!! mini paintings! Featuring bounty from twice weekly visits to farmers markets.

Between having company and being company, and working on the house and gardens, studio time came in smaller, less predictable bits.
So, to avoid being totally frustrated, I worked small: 6x6 to 8x10.

Small paintings are rewarding in their own way because you can focus on a particular area of interest - like the stripes of this funky Tiger Eggplant!

 Cabbage Peach  • 2012 dorothy byers lorenze

Another attribute of small paintings is that one object can truly be the star of a painting. Peaches were amazing this summer and this one was so gorgeous and luscious that it really needed special treatment. It's wrapped in tissue paper (a subject I have wanted to paint because of my attraction to folds, which are like puzzles and labyrinths... but I digress)

The tender enveloping of this succulent peach reminded me of a cabbage rose. But that wasn't quite accurate. My favorite 11 year old suggested "Cabbage Peach." And so it is.

If you can't wait for the full color version of this blog (and you shouldn't wait!) PLEASE click on the title "summer minis" at the top of the email and you will go to the web version... much prettier!

Thanks for visiting!

This beautiful red cabbage was an unexpected find at the farmers' market in Charlotte on Tuesday. 
On Wednesday, it was a finished painting! 
(Well almost.)

There are artists who regularly do a painting a day and, believe me, I'm impressed! I could never imagine how on earth they manage that. I'm learning.

It's not about speedy brushstrokes, more about accuracy. To finish a painting in one day the drawing has to be correct at first pass. Then there is the challenge of color mixing and determining values. Sometimes that comes easily. Sometimes... not so much!

Anyway, it sure feels good to have accomplished so much in one day! I could have left it as it was above but, the moment of truth, for me, always comes the next morning. I decided the color cast was not quite right: not quite purple/red enough. It just didn't have that "red cabbage personality".

So here is the final purple-ier red cabbage. I hope you agree that the color is more authentic.

Doesn't it look like the cabbage is peeking out at the lemon slice? Maybe it's a little jealous of all that "zest." Although, redheads are known to be rather zesty themselves, don't ya think!?