first work in progress shot

My newest painting, “Summer of Purple”, was painted for my love of gardening and growing heirloom vegetables. I enjoy growing peppers and the purple and red ones are my favorites.

I usually grow a variety called Purple Belle which ironically isn’t an heirloom hah! Oh well… I love to place veggies and flowers together as well. Usually zinnias and marigolds are planted with my other veggies to attract pollinators and the bugs that eat the bad bugs. That’s a whole other blog post though and I told myself this would be short and sweet so I can go outside to check on my garden and flowers.

We got buckets of rain last night from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill or something like that. I need to go and empty things to keep the mosquito population in check.

Back to the painting… Currently, Summer of Purple is in an exhibit as I write this. It’s in Blick Art Materials 2015 “Spirit of Summer” art show. I’m keeping my fingers crossed to place… the winnings would be great to buy some more art supplies. So if you’re in the Evansville area, please stop by and vote for my painting!

Next is the rest of the work in progress shots. This painting has sold, so I’ll be adding prints of this painting to my shop here on my website in the prints available section here. I’ll also be offering pillows, tote bags and the whole sha bang through my print on demand company I use.

toned down the lightness and added more shades of purple

added hi-lights and centers for peppers

painting the leaves of the zinnia

Finished and signed!

If you’re new to my blog and website have a look at my ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts in the form of expressionism. If you’re interested in my art, I have a newsletter mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. Sign up here for it.