Party on a Plate - 6 x 6 inches - Oil on canvas

My greatest source of inspiration is the grocery store. I had no intention of buying cupcakes until I passed the bakery department and spotted these little guys. When I arranged them, their little sprinkles fell all over the plate and it looks like a really festive celebration.

Overflow - 12 x 12 inches - Oil on canvas - SOLD

I recently read a book on color theory by Betty Edwards. Betty talks about color choices and selecting colors that work well together. This painting uses primarily analogous colors…those that are next to each other on the color wheel...greens - blues and purples. I think this makes for a "quiet" painting. If I had added an object with a color like yellow, orange or red, it would have changed the entire feeling of the painting.

Follow the Leader - 6 x 6 - Oil on canvas - SOLD

I've never been a huge fan of blueberries. To me, eating them is a bit like playing Russian Roulette. You'll be eating along and tasting wonderful, sweet berries and then all of the sudden, when you least expect it, you bite into a really sour, mouth-puckering one. It can be very stressful :) Since blueberries are now considered a "super food", I've faced my "fear of the unexpected sour blueberry" and have taken to sprinkling them on my cereal. When I occasionally hit that sour one, it is at least tempered by the rest of the flavors in the bowl.

Pickles on Polka Dots - 6 x 6 inches - Oil on canvas- SOLD

Pickles are great fun to paint with their neon green color. For whatever reason, I wanted to put this pickle jar on polka dots. For a reference, I used a hole punch to create the dots and then spread them on a board under the jar. It is so much easier, at least in my experience, to paint with a reference than strictly from my imagination.

Plum Island Marshes - 6 x 6 inches - Oil on canvas - SOLD

I think marshes are very beautiful. I love the way the water winds its way around the tall mounds of grasses to create meandering pathways. For this painting, I covered the canvas with a layer of yellow. You can see the yellow shining through at various points....especially noticeable in the sky area. This painting is based on a photo I took of Plum Island in the fall.

Cherries Jubilee - 12 x 12 inches - Oil on canvas - SOLD

It's always interesting to look and really study something. If I didn't paint these cherries, I probably wouldn't have noticed how incredibly shiny they are...almost like glass marbles. When setting up this composition, I tried to follow the basic rule of good composition - "create variation in all aspects of the design". So, the gaps between the cherries are all slightly different, each cherry is in a slightly different position, the stems are all different, the top surface is a smaller width than the front, etc, etc. And, even though there are large, solid areas of color, these also contain subtle changes in color as well.