waiting 2

9" by 7 1/2" daily pastel painting, unframed

An older painting from 2007. I will occasionally post an older painting especially when my schedule doesn't allow time for a small work. This is one of those weeks. I'm working on a painting for a show on the 4th of June. I'll post it when I complete it along with more information about the show.

The style is very unlike most of my work. I remember fighting the urge to blend the pastels with my fingers. I like the colors and light in this one.

$150 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Rosie - commissioned dog portrait

5" x 7" commissioned pastel painting

SOLD

 A dog portrait which my son Ben commissioned for his friend who's dog died recently. I had a fairly bad reference photo to work from but it turned out to look like Rosie anyway. It's not as detailed as some of my dogs mostly because of the photo. 
The most troublesome spot was just under her nose. Her sweetness came through . . of course I never met her but I'm assuming she was a sweet dog.
Interested in a painting of your dog or other pet?
You can either email me directly at rh@riahills.com or visit my dog portrait website where I have more samples of my work and information on commissioning a painting.
By the way . . .I love painting pets! Click here to see pet portraits on this blog.

last hurrah

6" x 6" daily pastel painting

unframed

This onion's final moment of glory before I chopped it up and threw it in the pan for stir fry.
Another 'paint from life' challenge completed for DailyPaintWorks. I really enjoy on-line challenges when I struggle with thinking of a subject to paint.
Painting from life is so different than from a photo. There are subtleties that a camera just can't pick up. Reflected light tends to be softer than in a photo where contrast stands out more unrealistically. The day was overcast and rainy which made this more of a challenge to paint. What saved me was the skylight which provided just enough light to allow for contrast. The onion had an abnormal shape and I had to fight the urge to perfect the roundness.

$100 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

organic pepper

5" x 5" daily acrylic painting

unframed

I thought I'd paint another DailyPaintWorks challenge today. The challenge is to pick a vegetable and paint it from life. Adding to the challenge I gave myself under a 1/2 hour to paint it since I was short on time today.
This was a bit tricky . . . the light kept changing because it's raining and I kept losing my natural light. Fortunately in that amount of time the shadows remained the same.
Yes! The stem was huge.

$80 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

DPW Challenge - the whole cat . .

6" x 6" daily pastel painting

unframed

DailyPaintWorks has a new challenge and it was just what I was up for today! I've been too busy thinking of  new conceptual compositions and not painting. I resisted blending the pastels for the cat . . that alone was a challenge.
The Whole Cat and Kaboodle Challenge was posted by Dreama Tolle Perry. Thanks Dreama . . it was a relaxing process and the kitten is too cute!

$100 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Babushka Dolls

10" x 7" pastel painting

detail

 Fun! It's been a while since I've worked on a surreal painting. I have many ideas which keep piling up but never seem to find the time to translate them to paper or canvas.
The Babushka dolls are my mother's. When she was still in her home and too forgetful to be alone, I occasionally gathered objects and photographed them to use as references for paintings.
This is one of those paintings that looks even better in person. The crouching woman is less than 3 inches tall and the detail is lost a bit in the photo. The most challenging (and frustrating) part of this painting was the woman's face. It's so small!

$220 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

WIPs

oil painting

surface - hardboard panel

Works in progress. I have some more work to do on the reflection which is on the mug. I'll post the story behind this painting when I finish it. Stay tuned for an update!
I'm also working on a surreal pastel painting. It's been a long time since I've painted a surreal piece and I'm thoroughly enjoying the process.

7" x 10" pastel - possible completed upload tomorrow

The "Just Desserts" show was fun! I met some really good people and shared the walls with some amazing artists. Here's a link to Gallery9.

teacup kitchen art painting

7" x 7" daily pastel painting

 unframed

 With Mother's Day right around the corner I decided to paint another tribute to my mother. Although physically she is still alive, Alzheimer's disease has robbed her and our family of the person we once knew.
A tradition in our house was to always, without fail, have tea around 3:00pm. The dutch are similar to the British in that way.
The teacup is one of my mother's and I found the artificial flowers in one of her sewing baskets.
I left some of the details out because I was going for a looser style this morning.

$150 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

pin cushion

5" x 7" daily pastel painting

unframed

A tribute to my mother for Mother's Day.
Being someone who sewed a good percentage of our clothing, my mother had many tin candy boxes and cushions filled with pins and needles. Sewing was one of the first crafts my mother taught me. Although I am capable of making my own clothing the interest died years ago mostly because it takes up too much time. It seems to be a dying art.
The contrast is just a tad off on this image. My scanner wasn't duplicating the colors well so I used my camera instead. Sometimes I spend more time getting the image to correctly represent the painting than actually painting it!

$100 with shipping and handling included in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.