Polonium Pear #210

$60 shipping included.
5" X 7" Oil on Panel

I started out tonight with a different subject in mind, but as I worked on the painting this radioactive pear came out. There has been some discussion on the number of pears painted by daily painters. Radioactivity is also sadly in the news with Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning. Adding it all together we have "Polonium Pear #210" for a title. The color may be even more vivid in person; it may be dangerous to get too close.

No actual pears were harmed (or involved) in this painting.

Victor's Friend

8" X 8" Oil on Panel

Victor with the snowface reminded me of Victor's friend from two years ago. It was probably the first time he was around snow for a longer time. He wasn't as sure about it as he is now, but he had fun playing. He also liked the little snowman that Bert built. It wasn't much taller than him and had a visor made out of a big piece of bark. He like to sit by it and we captured some photos of him with his friend. Today's painting is based on one of them.

Victor with a Snowface

$60 shipping included.
7" X 5" Oil on Panel

First of all, my Thanksgiving "vacation" was longer than it should have been; such is life.

You probably have seen the Snowstorm that the Seattle area experienced. The snowy field on Monday Night Football was crazy. Well, we had even more snow here in the Cascades and our dog loves it. His favorite part of having snow is catching snowballs. Today's Daily Painting is our Sheltie Victor with a nice face full of snow from catching wet snowballs.

Foster's Lager

In private collection,
San Diego, Ca.
5" x 7" Oil on panel

Today's Daily Painting is a Foster's Lager can. I wanted something that I could paint in a free and loose manner after the little picture of Seattle. So, like a painter who has had two of these big cans, I picked my old Foster's Lager can. It is nice and blue and shiny, but I woke up part way through realizing that all of that symmetry and print was not what I was looking for. Maybe I learned a lesson about picking subjects today... Still, it is shiny, you know.

This can has an interesting history. I have had it since my college years. I have good memories from that time of mini road trips from Dallas to Ft Worth. A group of coworkers would head to Angelo's Barbecue (still rated top 10) for pork ribs about once a year. These "rib runs" were traditionally mid-week and involved a lot of beer drinking for a weeknight. We would stop and pick up one of these Foster's for the van trip over (in days with more liberal Texas open container laws). That 24 ounces of beer really got your appetite up for a pound or two of ribs and pickles. This particular Foster's was saved as a souvenir of probably the last rib-run before our group broke up. It has faithfully served me for many years as a penny jar and now as a painting subject.

Space Needle and Rainier

$40 Shipping included.
2.5" x 5" Oil on panel.

The view from Kerry Park of Seattle is iconic. The space needle to the left and Rainier to the right makes a beautifully balanced picture.

Today's daily painting is a tiny view of Seattle. It measures just 2.5" x 5", but captures the whole city. I painted with permission from one of Glockoma's Flickr photos.

Onion and Garlic

In private collection,
Dallas, Texas.
5" x 7" Oil on panel

Onion and garlic are amazing ingredients that sit between vegetable and spice. They are the start to many great recipes that make food worth while. Well, you don't even need a recipe, of course. I seldom work from such a formula anyway, but onions and/or garlic are a natural start for almost any main course. I tend to lean on garlic more than onions, but they are both usually in our kitchen. Since they are always around, they were available for today's daily painting.

The onion is a big sweet Walla Walla with a yellow-red outside skin. The garlic bulb has one nice plump clove separated and ready for chopping on my favorite cutting board/still life stage.

Coffee Jar

Sold
5" x 7" Oil on panel

I'm back to painting after an eventful week. We had serious flooding from many days of rain. Also, our satellite internet was knocked out during the heavy rain. We had some interesting days stranded and then studying the changes and damages to our creek. Snow is now finally arrived at the pass this weekend; if it stays cold enough, we won't have more flooding.

So, today's painting returns to the cafe theme. To make a good espresso, you have to freshly gind the coffee beans. That means you will have whole beans in a nice air tight jar. The jar in this painting is a McDonald New Perfect Seal (NOT a "Mason Jar"! Oh no.) You probably know it was Pat'd July 14, 1908. Well, that makes this a nice antique jar with a nice blue-green shade. You can see that it is time to go get some more beans too!

Here is a peek at the subject and painting with the underpainting completed.

Tea Ball

$50 shipping included.

5" x 7" Oil on panel.

I never played Tee-ball when I was a kid. They started with coaches pitch. This Daily Painting post is about a different kind of T-Ball. Today we continue with the coffee and tea theme.

I don't really have much use for a tea ball. They don't work as well as home filled bags or a strainer. Our fancy new tea pot even came with a nice custom strainer that fits inside and has a fine mesh that will not let any tiny leaf parts out. The old Tea Ball was a poor infuser that didn't let enough water pass through and didn't keep all of the bits in. Still, the tea ball makes a nice painting subject with its shiny surface and punctuated texture.

While I missed Wednesday, I hope to be back on A Painting A Day with this Daily Painting of a tea ball and a nice box of my favorite Twinings variety of black tea. I was introduced to that blue label by my Uncle when I was quite young. Ceylon became my favorite for its smoother taste. Today I mix it up a lot and there are many fine choices other than the Twinings tins as well.

So the trivia on this painting is: "What do you see wrong with the can?" Visiting the pantry is allowed. If I were to paint the subject again, I would correct the error, but I still like the result here.