Too Much Candy!

 

9x12in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - available soon

Oh no! This pumpkin got too sick eating all of that candy! Poor guy.

Help! I Can't Hold All of These Pumpkins!

 

10x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

"Why can't I hold all of these lemons?" Alternatively, "well, when life gives you lemons!"

I love composing still life compositions and adding humor and play to them. This lil dude (a wine holder) just can't hold all of his pumpkins. Poor guy.

Triple Pumpkin Spice Latte

8x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

Are you ready for some early fall content? Personally, I always have fall on the mind.It's now becoming a tradition for me to buy tiny lil pumpkins each season, whether they be from Target, the local pumpkin patch or anywhere else. In our kitchen we have yellow, orange and brown hanging lights that we like to plug in at night. With the counter being the resident housing for these wee guys I noticed they created such an interesting shadow pattern - it also didn't help that they looked absolutely gorgeous in the light. I actually have painted each one of these pumpkins in their own individual paintings, two of which are available on my website (here and here) and the third one I raffled off. I can't wait for my first pumpkin spice latte of the season! In case you were wondering, my favorites are Dunkin', Scooters and then Starbucks.

 

Lil Pun's Lil Sister

 

4x4in. oil on Blick Premier Artist's Panel - not available

Another little pumpkin painting, this is the lil sister painting of a previous painting, Lil Pun! Every year we pick out a small pumpkin to paint, and a few years ago I picked out 3! Lil Pun's family sure is growing! I wanted to experiment and see how much my skills have grown since Lil Pun, and it's cool to see the results.

Lil Pun's Big Brother

 5x4in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here

Another little pumpkin painting, this is the big brother painting of a previous painting, Lil Pun! Every year we pick out a small pumpkin to paint, and a few years ago I picked out 3! Lil Pun's family sure is growing! I wanted to experiment and see how much my skills have grown since Lil Pun, and it's cool to see the results.

Lil Pun's Lil Brother

 5x4in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here

Another little pumpkin painting, this is the lil brother painting of a previous painting, Lil Pun! Every year we pick out a small pumpkin to paint, and a few years ago I picked out 3! Lil Pun's family sure is growing! I wanted to experiment and see how much my skills have grown since Lil Pun, and it's cool to see the results.

Which Pumpkin Are You Choosing?

   7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here

One of the hardest questions each October is "which pumpkin are you going to choose?" We have a lot of pumpkin patches here where I live, and each presents its own dilemma. For example, our tradition is that each year we get a small, little pumpkin that I make an alla prima painting of and then we carve a pumpkin as well. I've made many alla prima paintings of small, little pumpkins in the past, all available on my website. Which pumpkin shape do you tend to choose? 19/52

 

Autumnal Feast

8x8in. oil on Ampersand Gessobord - click to purchase here

I had great fun setting up this still life! I've been slowly building a collection of still life props - like the above fake grapes and orange pot from Michaels and the velvet pumpkin from Target - and wanted to give them a spin. For the month of November I was kind of "accidentally" only painting still life set-ups from my studio and I'm glad I got some good practice in. What started out like a normal still life painting ended up morphing into a 5-hour-long painting that took me multiple sessions to paint. This painting really brought me out of my comfort zone and I am really pleased with it. I even love the velvet look of the pumpkin! I will say, though, that I've never tried painting grapes before and went into it blind - and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to try to figure it out myself. Here's to continuing to learn and grow!

Candy Corn

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase prints here

I love candy corn! I was shopping around Michaels when I saw this cute glass pumpkin and knew I wanted to fill it with candy corn and paint it. To be honest, this composition was incredibly daunting to me. I really didn't know how I was going to approach painting the candy corn inside the glass pumpkin and near the end it was just blobs of yellow, orange and white. Trusting myself to squint my eyes and paint what I saw, everything really started pulling together when I painted on the dark lines to represent the folds in the glass. I filmed the progress of this painting and will be available to watch on my Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook! Completing this painting inspired an upcoming painting that will consist of various Halloween candies that I enjoy. 10/52

Lil Pun

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase stickers here

I picked up the most adorable mini pumpkin at Target earlier in the season and knew I wanted to paint it as a still life. Orange is absolutely my favorite color and I love the contrast between the orange body and the blue surface. This time I set up my still life on my desk that can turn into a standing desk and it really made it easy for me to stand up and paint. I recorded a process video and posted a minute-long version of it on my Instagram and Tik Tok! 9/52

Zack

8x8in. oil on Blick Premier Artist's Panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase stickers here

And here is part 2 of today's 2-parter post! On Halloween my husband and I carved pumpkins and I loved them so much I just HAD to paint them! These two paintings were really tough, but I'm glad that I previously painted the "Radiant Pumpkin" painting as prep work for these two paintings. My husband's pumpkin was named Zack and when I went to paint him I put 3 candles in him this time, resulting in a much brighter pumpkin. I will note that editing this photo to look as close to the painting as possible was easier than the "Howie" photo.  I really like the thick "light" brushstroke, making your highlights thick gives them an extra oomph to stand out.

Howie

8x8in. oil on Blick Premier Artist's Panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase stickers here

Today's post is a 2-parter! On Halloween my husband and I carved pumpkins and I loved them so much I just HAD to paint them! These two paintings were really tough, but I'm glad that I previously painted the "Radiant Pumpkin" painting as prep work for these two paintings. My pumpkin was named Howie and when I went to paint him I only put 1 candle in him. I will note that it was pretty difficult to edit this photo to look as close to the painting as possible. I really like the thick "light" brushstroke, making your highlights thick gives them an extra oomph to stand out.

Radiant Pumpkin

7x5in. oil on canvas panel - click to purchase here; click to purchase prints here; click to purchase stickers here

This was my first attempt at painting strong, dramatic lighting alla prima. I had this cute pumpkin glass jar and I tucked fairy lights into it while I set up my black box in my bathroom to give the appropriate level of darkness to let this piece shine. The fairy lights were these beautiful specks against the glass and made the glass warp in delicious ways. I liked choosing to put the subject against the corner of my blackbox, the way that the seams between panels point towards the subject really draw your attention even more to the light source. 8/52