"If I Fell" - 6 x 6 inches - oil on canvas - SOLD

"If I Fell" - 6 x 6 inches - oil on canvas

You might not believe that I try to limit (unsuccessfully) sugar in my diet which is probably why I'm always wanting to paint sweet stuff!  If I can't eat it, I might as well paint it.  And then eat it.  Sigh.

If you follow my posts, you may remember that I use Beatles songs if I'm having trouble coming up with a title for a painting.  So, I thought "If I Fell" was a good name for this petite painting.

"If I Fell" is a 4x4 inches oil on canvas painting presented in a wood floater frame (see additional photos below).  

"Oreos" - 6 x 6 inches - oil on canvas

"Oreos" - 6 x 6 inches - oil on canvas

Oreo cookies and a glass of milk.  I've certainly eaten my share over the course of my lifetime.  I had some recently and they did not disappoint!

The small sliver of white creme between the two dark wafers - that was my entire motivation for painting this little vignette.  I painted the chocolate wafers first and left a small gap on the canvas and then filled in the white creme with the final brush strokes.    

Oreos is a 6x6 inches oil on canvas painting presented in a wood floater frame (see additional photos below).  It is available at www.LaurieGMiller.com.

"The Dark Side" - 4 x 4 inches - oil on canvas

"The Dark Side" - 4 x 4 inches - oil on canvas

My "Hershey Kiss" phase continues with a dark chocolate kiss.  I wanted the challenge of a colored wrapper (even though you only see an occasional peek of the outside of the purple wrapper).  When working with my sweet subject, I open the wrapper and crinkle it around until I'm happy with the resulting shape for my composition.  I will sometimes spend more time designing my composition than actually executing the painting.  From experience I know that a bad composition can never be overcome by technically well executed brush strokes.  More photos of "The Dark Side" and purchase info is below.

In other news, I taught a painting class to 4 girls from ages 8 to 14.  Since I recently painted an ice cream cone, I thought they might enjoy doing one as well.  We talked a lot about form, shadows, highlights and textures.  They each decided which flavor ice cream to paint and I think they turned out super cute. 

"The Dark Side" is framed in a wood floater frame (see photos below) and can either be purchased at The Whiffle Tree in Billerica, MA, or, directly from me by clicking here.

"Stolen Peonies" - 16 x 16 inches - oil on canvas - SOLD

"Stolen Peonies" - 16 x 16 inches - oil on canvas - SOLD

Today's painting has a story behind it.  I stopped by my friend's house for an afternoon visit.  As we were chatting, I noticed a vase filled with peonies.  They caught my attention and my eyes kept wandering back to them.  We said our goodbyes and I went on with my day.  That evening, I just kept thinking about those flowers and knew I had to paint them.

The next day, I went back to her house with the intention of taking the peonies.  We chatted for a bit and then her phone rang.  It sounded like it wasn't going to be a quick conversation so I got up, picked up the peony vase and motioned that I was taking them.  She gave me a look that said, "What are you doing?!?!?"  I chose to interpret that look to mean, "Please, take my peonies."  So, off I went with my stolen prize in hand.  

In my mind, this was an impressionistic painting and I didn't want to get bogged down in the details - I just wanted it to be loose and fresh.  I kept the background fairly abstract as I pulled complementary colors into the tabletop to give a nice pop of color.  I was really pleased with the final result.

I've been working on a new website, www.LaurieGMiller.com  Please check it out by clicking here.  Let me know what you think and I'd appreciate if you'd share it with your art-loving friends!