Turnip Time

Time For Turnip Salad, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

$100 plus shipping

The color in these turnips is really bright and beautiful. This is a vegetable that I really disliked as a child but I was required to eat a small amount when they were served with dinner. Eventually I started to enjoy eating them, especially the way my dad cooked them. 

I love eating turnip greens and they are even better with diced turnips, hot peppers, pickled onions, and crumbled corn bread.

Pumpkin Sale

Pumpkin Sale, 6 x 8 " oil on linen panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

When I went to the market yesterday, at least half of the shoppers were buying pumpkins. Seems a little early to me but they are beautiful and fresh so I can see why they are going home with people well before October. 

The prices are pretty reasonable, too. Maybe the prices will go up when it's closer to Halloween, who knows?
The painting was fun to make with slight changes in the various shades of orange and the way the sunlight was bouncing off their chubby shapes.

Day Ten

My Blue Vase, 6 x 6 " oil on gessobord panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

short stems of these grow

up to love sunny windows

with petals and all

30 Paintings In 30 Days-Day 29

Little Reds, 5 x 7 " acrylic on museum quality panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

I am really enjoying painting with acrylics for a change. I have not used them for a good while and it does take some getting used to again.  These apples were fun to paint and the shadows were even more so.  I have been surprised how much bigger the 5x7's feel, even though they are actually one square inch smaller than the 6x6's. I guess I like the shape for a break from the square format.

30 Paintings In 30 Days-Day 28

Five Admirers, 5 x 7 " acrylic on panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

These cherries make the apple look huge. I just made an apple crisp using a favorite easy recipe with oatmeal and brown sugar. This apple was not included so it may be used in another painting. 

There are just two more days of the challenge. This has been the biggest and best so far. 

30 Paintings In 30 Days-Day 26

Tipping Point, 5 x 7 " acrylic on gessobord panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

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While I was painting this, I thought the pear on the left would surely topple over; as luck would have it, that did not happen. The light on these three was fun to capture as well as the long curvy stems.

 I am planning to stick to my theme for the final days of the challenge, but I am eager to move on to some new subject matter. The fruit and vegetable still lifes have been great, but I want to do some landscapes soon.

30 Paintings In 30 Days-Day 20

Shiny Fruit, 6 x 6 " oil on gessobord, ©2015, Fay Terry

$100

This painting is one of my favorites that I have painted in the challenge. I love the dark parts of the cherries and the empty bowl. I am still working to improve my composition skills and some days setting up a still life seems easier than others.

Waiting Their turn

Regal, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2014, Fay Terry

$100, free shipping

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There are lots of these Iris blooming and many more will be opening up in the next few days. I used dioxanine purple for this flower, and it turned out very close to the exact color.

This has been a beautiful week-end, especially early in the morning today.
We walked around reservoir park almost at the break of dawn. We didn't want to waste a minute of this gorgeous Sunday.

Isn't spring amazing?

vegetable duo

Artichokes With Lemon, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2014, Fay Terry

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I did a quick drawing and then painted these from life so that they can now become part of our dinner tonight. I found a recipe in the latest Cook's Illustrated for roasted artichokes with lemon vinaigrette.

I can't wait to try it. The author claims it is the best way to cook them because cooking them in boiling water washes away much of the flavor. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Fruitful Endeavors

Glowing Closer, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2013, Fay Terry

$100

I am back to painting fruit and I love setting up a simple still life in my studio to work on a specific idea. Right now I am trying different background colors and different shadow colors based on a triad of Cerulean blue, cadmium yellow light , and Quinacridone magenta. The grayed down colors are a nice compliment to the apples and are less saturated than the pure colors used in the fruit. (The shadow is not nearly as purple as it appears in the photo.)

I spent some time this afternoon in my studio with two sleeping dogs who are worn out from running  on the beach this week end. A good time was had by all.

Two On The Table

Wild About Fall!, 6 x 6 " oil on museum quality panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

I am having so much fun painting these little pumpkins that are taking on their own special personalities. These two like to hang out together but one of them has a broken stem and the other has a long, tall curved stem. The short stem always wants to block the long stem so that it cannot show off its beautiful curved stem. Maybe next time you'll get to see it.

Perspective On Cherries

Fay Terry, WILD CHERRIES, 6 x 6 " oil on gesso bord panel, ©2012

Once again I chose my favorite way of looking at the subject, aerial perspective.  The fruit was on a patterned tray and it appeared very festive and cheerful from above. I could almost imagine two couples dancing and I loved the fact that three sported stems and one did not.

Just A Bowl Of Cherries

Fay Terry, BALANCING ACT, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2012

Available at One Eleven Main, Aberdeen, NC

The old song "Life is just a bowl of cherries" somehow  got stuck in my head today so I looked up the lyrics and saw that it was credited to George Gershwin.  I thought the song was not likely to have been written by the same man who composed "Rhapsody In Blue"and it turns out that Gershwin, who was not a lyricist, did not write the song.  Gershwin died at the young age of 38, from a brain tumor.  It is amazing that he had such a large body of work.