Everyday Inspirations

Finding inspiration . . . .

My neighbors pink roses are just starting to bloom . . what an inspiration!! Spring is on the way!

Our surroundings are an integral part of us and I am inspired to paint by the simple everyday objects in my home and garden.

Here . . . .

My vintage garden hat on a weathered blue table


There . . . .

My tools of the trade ( paint brushes ) and pink flowers in my favorite blue and white china.


Everywhere . . . . . . .
My paint palette on an old blue table.

Hmmm . . . I am beginning to see inspiration for a painting using the everyday objects around me.

By grouping some of my favorite everyday objects together I am beginning to see a still life painting. In artist terms this is known as the "set up". The next step is to sketch the objects on my canvas and start painting. The set up was done in my living room in front of a window with lots of light.

Since it was a beautiful day in Southern California, in between rain storms, I decided to paint in my garden surrounded by flowers I just purchased from the garden shop. I grouped everything together, still in pots, and set up my easel. The sky was blue and the birds were signing and oh what a lovely day. A wonderful artist named Penny, once told me to to surround myself with flowers and blue skies, as the sighs and smells would transfer onto my canvas. I try and do this as much as possible (weather permitting) by painting in plien air (outside).

Bentley, my studio assistant, was enjoying the day and happy to have a break from the rain.

I took the painting back inside to compare it to the "set up" for color and form. Notice, I decided to paint the entire table blue as I felt the painters pallet needed more of a contrast to make it pop.

The finished painting.

Wishing everyone a lovely week. Thank you for visiting. It means so much to me that you have taken time to leave comments and to follow my blog. If you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special I would love to hear from you.