Undressed - 12 x 12 inches - Oil on canvas

I often cover my canvas with a layer of color before I start a painting. In this case, I started with a light blue undercoat. When I painted these clementines, I allowed some of the undercoat to shine through and create reflections on the wood table and the peels. I used a limited palette (mostly yellow/oranges, blues and browns) and think the combination is very effective and powerful.

Carlisle Cornfield - 12 x 12 inches - Oil on canvas

This cornfield is in Carlisle, the next town over from where I live. In winter, the field is filled with snow, and, on warm winter days, puddles that reflect the surrounding trees and sky. The actual scene was very grey and dull with little color variation. I decided to accentuate the purple color in the distant trees and added a variety of color to the melted snow in the foreground. Initially, I painted the sky a much lighter color but felt it competed too much with the white snow. This painting was a challenge and a bit of a struggle, but I'm very happy with the end result.

Plum Island I - 12 x 12 inches - Oil on canvas

Plum Island is one of my favorite nature spots especially in the colder months when fewer people are around. Landscapes can be incredibly challenging - trying to represent a large area on a few square inches of canvas. In general, painters typically use warmer colors in the foreground and cooler colors in the background to create an illusion of depth. In this case, I made the rich browns (for the wet sand) very prominent in the foreground which fade to a grey-blue in the background.