Carnival in Williams's Bowl

It's the weekly DailyPaintworks challenge time again! As soon as I read the challenge my mind started clicking away for possibilities. The challenge this week is to paint a bowl full of something! Simple and open to all kinds of fun interpretations. There may be more than one entry from me this week. My first one is very high key, letting the squash take the spotlight. It's a "Carnival" squash, and the bowl was made by my grandson, William. Hence, the title. :)

Carnival in William's Bowl, © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6" acrylic on wrapped canvas

Autumn Steps and Contemplation

Here are my very first oil paintings ever! I don't know yet if oils will take over my love of acrylic (fast drying!), but I'm willing to experiment before making that decision. Both of the following little paintings are from my own photographic reference file, and within my own hometown in Oregon.

 

Autumn Steps © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6x6" oil on board

 

 

 

Contemplation © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6x6" oil on board

Swan Reflections

The image for this painting was found on the Paint My Photo website, with the water and background in black. I wondered how it would look with a dark blue, and here it is. We've had lots of rain the last few days, so painting a lot of water seemed appropriate! :)

 Swan Reflections, © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6x6 acrylic on canvas

Marley in Christmas Wrap

My Mom is one of my biggest fans, of course! She is delighted to see me painting and selling my work, and loves to see the things I do. Her birthday is tomorrow and I decided to surprise her with a little painting of her cat, Marley. They live together not far from me, so I will get to give her the painting in person. I think she will like it. :)

Marley in Christmas Wrap  ©Dorothy Jenson 2014

acrylic on 6 x 6 inch canvas

Biker Shadows

Several weeks ago my husband and I went on a bike ride in the country. One of the farms along the way grows acres and acres of dahlias. We stopped for a snack then headed on our way. However, I noticed our prominent shadow and said, "Stop!" because I knew it would be a fun image to capture. Here's my acrylic version of that moment in the sun!

Biker Shadows © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6" acrylic on canvas

Look Towards the Light

My daughter and grandson have been visiting for a week and today they left for home. My house is suddenly quiet again. I love a quiet house, I really do, but it's a little bit of a "sad" quiet today because I know how long it will be till I see them again. Thankfully, I have grandchildren who live closer that will visit from time to time. Hooray for that! Anyway, today, I needed a little painting project as a distraction. The Daily Paintworks challenge for the week is to paint a skeleton or skull to go along with the Halloween holiday coming up. Not my favorite holiday or subject, but I found an interesting reference from the Paint My Photo website and gave it a go with lots of light and dots. Awesome!

Look Towards the Light  ©Dorothy Jenson 2014

6x6" acrylic on canvas

Forest Friends

I started this little painting yesterday, but nothing seemed to go right. Well, except for the little blackbird...it was doing okay. It just wasn't a good painting day. Sometimes that happens, so I walked away and did other things. Today, looking at the painting with fresh eyes, I sat down and got to work, and started liking what I saw appearing on the canvas. This turned out to be a GOOD day to paint. Woo Hoo!

Forest Friends, © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6 inch acrylic on canvas, sides painted red

Pelican Lights

This week the challenge on Daily Paintworks is "Black in sunlight is lighter than white in shadow", which is a study in values. I chose a reference of a pelican in the water because I noticed that the black feathers on his back in the sunlight were lighter in value than the shadow sides of the white feathers. I actually love how it turned out. The water was a challenge for me, too, but after several tries, I am satisfied. :)

Pelican Lights © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6 inch acrylic on wrapped canvas

October Morning

One of my favorite things to do is go for an early morning walk with a dear friend. We go almost every day (unless one of us is out of town!), so we have witnessed some incredible sunrises through the years. October is always a good month to catch them, and we look forward to seeing the colors mingle with the sky and landscape. A few days ago we were treated to this splendor, with Mt Hood (Oregon) glowing in the far distance.

October Morning © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6 " acrylic on wrapped canvas

Neskowin Sunset

My paintbrush wanted to revisit the beach today, so I pulled out a reference from a recent trip to Neskowin, Oregon. I love how this turned out. My favorite part is how the setting sun warms up the background hills. I'm calling it "Neskowin Sunset" for now, but I'm open to more creative suggestions! :)

Neskowin Sunset, © Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6 " acrylic on wrapped canvas

Moonrise over Mt Hood

A few days ago we witnessed a beautiful moonrise behind Mt Hood. My husband stood in our front driveway and took several photos, and I used one of them for reference for this small painting.

Moonrise over Mt Hood @ Dorothy Jenson 2014

6 x 6 " on wrapped canvas

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Autumn Lane

In spite of what it may look like, I HAVE been working on my art the last few weeks. Two of the projects were pet portrait commissions which I can't share yet because they are gifts! Then we did take a couple weeks off for a road trip to visit family (and play!), and sometimes in the car I did watercolor sketches. Anyway, here's one I can share that I squeezed in between portraits. We visited the Steens Mountain area in SE Oregon and it was stunning! I took lots of photos and hopefully will get around to making a few paintings with them. When we got home I checked the DailyPaintworks challenge for the week and it was an autumn theme. Well! I had snapped a photo from the passenger side of the car on a gravel road near the Steens Mountain and it inspired me to do a quick colorful, very impressionist version of the scene. It's a 10x10 inch canvas, which is a little larger than I usually work, but it was quite fun.

Autumn Lane © Dorothy Jenson 2014

10 x 10 " acrylic on canvas