Thursday, June 14, 2018

#311 Lemon and Jar


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

I know it has been a long time since I've written a blog post.  I actually painted this in March, but I'm just now posting it!  I painted it high key.  I like how clean and bright it looks.  

I haven't been posting much lately because I'm going back to work full time.  Even though I'm not full time yet, it has been taking a lot of energy to make that transition.  I hope to still paint while working more, though I know I won't be able to paint as frequently for the time being. 

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Thursday, April 26, 2018

#310 All About Pink



Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

This painting was inspired by a DPW Challenge.  Here is the description of the challenge:

Paint subject matter that is limited to a single color, with the exception of one small thing. The challenge is to keep the painting interesting by using a range of hues in that color, and strong value contrast. For example, in my painting I used Cadmium Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange, and created more yellows by mixing in small amounts of red, blue, etc.

I chose pink and nail polish.  It was my first time back at the easel in awhile.  I felt kind of rusty but like how it turned out in the end.  




8x8 inch oil on canvas panel. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

#309 Pear on a Dish


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

Took me a few days to get to another pear painting, but I finally finished it yesterday.  I set up the composition last Friday and did a quick value study and underpainting on Sunday.  Then I tackled the color while my daughter was playing at a friend's house Monday.  Lately I've had a hard time getting the motivation to paint in evenings.  I think some of it is that I'm still coming out of a winter slump.  Some of it is just that I'm tired...go figure!

8x8 inch oil on canvas panel. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Friday, March 30, 2018

#308 The Pair


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

Painted these pairs for this week's DPW Challenge, to paint either pears or a pair.  I haven't painted many pears in awhile.  It was a little challenging to make them both red and green but I loved the red parts to them.  I'm hoping to squeeze in one more pear painting before the end of the weekend.

8x8 inch oil on canvas panel. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Monday, March 26, 2018

#307 What a Pair


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

This was my second attempt at painting avocados over the weekend.  I've been wanting to paint avocados on yellow for a while and I'm glad I found a composition that worked.  I added the white because all the yellow seemed like too much for me.  I like how the hole on the left worked out and I like the pop of blue shadow, too.  I did work fast because the avocados were browning quickly!



8x8 inch oil on canvas panel. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

#306 Grapes and Glass


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

This was another high key experiment.  The grapes were actually much darker and duller than the light pink/red in the painting.  It was fun playing around with the color.  

8x8 inch oil on canvas panel. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

#305 Yellow Flowers and Lemons


Click to buy! (10x8 in.)

I painted this piece in February.  I was in a yellow groove and experimenting with high key.  The flowers were from a bouquet from my husband on Valentines Day.  

10x8 inch oil on gessobord. Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Thursday, March 8, 2018

#artcrushxo Interview


I am so honored to be featured as this week's #artcrushxo by Kim Smith!  You can see the interview here.  I first discovered Kim's artwork on Instagram.  She is also a daily painter, filling this world with beauty one painting at a time.  You should definitely check out her work!  

Email me at jamiestevensart@gmail.com

Thank you for viewing my art!



Monday, February 26, 2018

#304 Dishes and Lemons


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

It's been so long since I posted.  I've had a lot going on.  Plus the weather has been so gray and rainy, which is not motivating at all!  This was painted a few weeks ago.  I liked trying to capture the warm light.  

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!


Thursday, February 1, 2018

#301 Golden Opportunity


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

I love the color of these opal apples.

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!



Wednesday, January 31, 2018

#300 Tenderheart


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

I had a lot of fun painting this piece.  I love the golds.  I also enjoyed applying the paint using a filbert.  I've been using them on my quick value sketches, but not usually for a finished painting.  I like the strokes I get with it (can't see it well in the photo).  I hope to experiment with it more.  I also painted a high key composition and an 18x24" composition.  I'll post those soon.  

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!


Tuesday, January 30, 2018

#299 The Yellow Cup



Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

Painted for this week's DPW Challenge, "The Cups Challenge".  I like the saturated colors of the cup and the orange.  I always like turquoise glass :)

8x8 inch oil on linen canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Friday, January 26, 2018

#298 Reflecting Color


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

Painted for this week's DPW Challenge to paint reflected color.  I was really excited about painting this one.  Unfortunately, I rushed it. I enjoy painting wet into wet and knew that I wouldn't have much time (if any) to work on it over the next couple of days.  I will probably try something similar, again, and give myself more time.  I really enjoyed painting the opal apples.

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!


Sunday, January 14, 2018

#297 Pink Lemonade


Click to buy! (10x8 inch oil)

This painting was my third attempt at painting these lemons.  I already posted the first one "Lemons for Tea" and the second one didn't turn out.  Still not sure what went wrong with that one.  Oh well!  I picked up this bowl at Target last fall and I'm finally getting around to painting it.  I think the spot on the lemon that is bright pink is pretty cool and was fun to paint.  Lemons are tricky to paint, but I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.  

I included some detail shots below.  I also included a quick experiment I did on gessobord.




10x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Friday, January 12, 2018

#296 Who's the Fairest


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

Challenged myself with a big shiny bowl and a big somewhat translucent tomato!  So hard to get an accurate photo of this one.



8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

#295 Lemons for Tea


Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

I had to rework the lemons a couple of times before I liked them.  I borrowed this tea pot from a friend and I think this is the third time I've used it in a painting.  I'm always intimidated by ceramic items, but I think I'm starting to get a better hang of painting reflections in it.  I've found doing a value study first really helps me keep the reflections more accurate and I try to just use loose brush strokes.  Painted this for the DPW Challenge to use an even number of items in a composition.  Hence the 4 lemons.  

8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Monday, January 8, 2018

#294 The Don


Click to buy! (10x8 inch oil)

Zach named this one and made the suggestion that I paint our olive oil.  I appreciate how he is always trying to encourage me on this art journey.  The tomato was little intimidating to me, but I like how it turned out!

Here are a couple of other shots.



10x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!



Saturday, January 6, 2018

#293 All in the Family



Click to buy! (8x8 inch oil)

These bottles were all sitting on a shelf together in my studio.  They caught my eye and a painting was born!


8x8 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Friday, January 5, 2018

#292 Freshly Squeezed


Click to buy! (10x10 inch oil)

It was my husband's idea to paint a glass of orange juice.  I had a totally different composition in my mind initially that was going to have a white background, but it wasn't working out too well.  So I changed it up and went darker.  I still hope to do another orange juice painting in a higher key soon.  I tried the reflective surface again, too.  The background is a little more blue than this photo shows.  You can tell that better in the second picture.  




quick value study I did for the painting

10x10 inch oil on canvas. Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!

Thursday, January 4, 2018

#291 High Key Resolution


Click to buy!  (6x6 inch oil)

Once again I'm posting paintings out of order.  I painted this little piece last night for the Daily Paintworks Challenge to paint about a New Year resolution.  I don't really have a resolution for art this year but I would like to experiment more with high key pieces.  Probably could have gone higher but this one was a fun, quick study.  I also want to experiment more with figurative work this year and plein air painting!  


5x5 inch oil on Arches Paper.  Paintings on Arches can be framed behind glass.

Email me at suitabledesigns425@gmail.com
Thank you for viewing my art!