Many Mini Tomatoes

Oil on canvas on panel, 6" x 6" -- Buy it at my gallery

I harvested these mini-tomatoes more than a month ago, just before the first major frost hit central Washington. We had minor frost much earlier, but I kept those green tomatoes in the garden, covered with heavy duty plastic sheet. I've been storing the green ones in the mud-room. Now many of them are starting to ripen, changing colors. It's so amazing. I wonder how long they will last. This painting is a study of tomatoes. I spent ten minutes for each box, and switched the model with another tomato for variation. This is based on the DPW Ten-Minutes Challenge. It's a great exercise for my painting skills.

Black Eyed Susans No.2

Oil on linen on panel, 6" x 6" -- SOLD

I painted this a month ago in Pullman, but I didn't have a chance to post it. I saw these flowers at the edge of a fruit orchard when I was doing my series of orchard paintings. It was sunny but breezy, and not the best condition for painting the flowers from life. But I didn't want to miss the last opportunity before the first major frost. I love the gradations of yellow petals in this.

Green Apples & Reflections

Oil on canvas panel, 6" x 6" -- SOLD

I spent extra time working on the stems with a fine sable brush to accentuate the composition, and I love the result. It's a Richeson #6 Pure Red Sable brush, and I normally use it just for signing my name.

Pepper in Black No.3

Oil on canvas on panel, 6" x 6" --  SOLD

This is the third pepper in my Pepper in Black series.

Pepper in Black No.2

Buy it at my gallery

This is my second painting in my pepper series. The color intensities of peppers are much stronger than of the landscapes or animals I'm more used to. I could almost use the primary colors straight out of the paint tubes, and leave them alone. But I kept mixing and blending the colors to make enough variations.

Pepper in Black No.1

Buy it at my gallery

I got various vegetables, such as peppers, from the farmers' market just before the end of the season. I've started painting a series of them. It seems like a great project for the cold and snowy winter. I've noticed that including a corner of the shadow box in a composition adds an interesting effect with a variety of lines and shades, creating another focal point.

Orange & Reflections

Buy it at my gallery

I've been fascinated by reflections, and playing with different ways to see and paint the reflections of a subject. The orange looked too lonely with a single reflection. So I added a stainless steel milk pitcher to add another reflection of the orange. I also added more shadows. I like how the reflection looks more vivid in the shadow.

Pear & Reflection

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in.

As it got cold outside, I've been doing small still-life paintings lately. I have a couple of portable shadow boxes that I bring with me when visiting Peter in Pullman, as well as painting at my home studio. For now, I'm keeping the composition as simple as possible so that I feel like "I can do this everyday..." I like buying my still-life fruits from the WSU orchard fruits market in Pullman because their products are not waxed, unlike the ones at grocery stores. These also come in all kinds of colors and shapes, sometimes even with nice stems and leaves. Once I'm done painting, I get to eat these tasty fruits.

Orchard Hilltop

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 in. -- SOLD

This is the last painting from the Orchard Series of this fall. It might be interesting to paint there in the winter, etc.

Orchard Series - Red Apples

Buy it at my gallery

This is another plein air series from the WSU Orchard in Pullman. I didn't bring my plein air umbrella with me, and it is not very easy to find a painting spot with consistent and solid shade for my canvas and palette, even though I was in the middle of the orchard with a bunch of trees for shading. It might help to start painting earlier when the sun is lower and the shadows are bigger. The biggest problem was that there were too many different apples and compositions out there to choose from for a painting, and I wasted so much time looking for a spot. Then, I lost track of where it was. Off course, by the time I finally returned to the spot, the details such as the sun light and shades were not there anymore. It's not so easy to paint still life en plein aire.

Nikki

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 in. --  SOLD

This is a painting of our pet chicken, Nikki. I drove back from Pullman yesterday evening, after visiting Peter for several days. It's so nice to be back home and see our birds again. Nikki is a Rhode Island Red hen and one of our precious chicks. Nikki also means "Cinnamon" in Japanese. I really enjoy looking at her beautiful reddish plumage in various lighting effects. She is at the bottom of pecking order, and she likes to hang out with me all the time. She  loves lounging under my easel when I'm painting in my studio, or scratching the ground around my plein air easel in the backyard.

Orchard Series - Golden Delicious

Buy It Now with Paypal

Orchard Series - Crabapples

Click Here to Bid

Orchard Series - Plum

Oil on linen on panel, 6" x 6" -- Buy it at Daily Paintworks Gallery

Blue House on the Hill

Buy it at my gallery

This is another plein air painting from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I like to combine natural and man-made elements in a landscape.

Yellow Shed in the Woods

Buy it at my gallery

During last June, I attended the national conference and its annual national show of the Oil Painters of America in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. During that week, I painted out with the fellow artists. The day I painted this was overcast. Ellensburg where I live is usually sunny during warm seasons. So it was a different experience for me. For a change, I used a no.8 flat brush, instead of no.6 filbert which I usually use for this size of painting. So, the brush strokes are bigger, with a more abstract feel. I'm pleased with the composition.

Molly the Black Star

Click here to bid

Molly is one of our pet chickens, and she is the alpha hen of the flock. Black Star is the name of her breed. She likes to follow me everywhere and pose in front of camera. I used a palette knife mainly to create this unique texture, as well as small brushes for the facial details.

Cat in the Shed

SOLD

I painted this a while ago, but didn't get to post it earlier. I saw this cat when I was doing a plein air study of an old shed in country side. I'm glad I had a camera to capture this moment. I painted this with brushes and a palette knife. It is more detailed than my other pieces, but I love the result.