Daffodils and Pomegrante Still Life

Daffodils and Pomegranate – 12" x 9" – Oil on Canvas – SOLD

I started this painting on Friday, wanting to paint a bunch of daffodils in varying positions. The strong geometric form of these flowers ~ six petals where the points make a hexagon, the central cone also having ±6 facets where the points usually are centered on the petals ~ really fascinates me. Geometry and nature do coincide sometimes.

As a kid I was given a coloring book that was just different kinds of grids, where you could color in different sections to create your own patterns, it was kind of like this book. I loved how there were infinite pattern options available to color. When painting these daffodils I was reminded of these childhood experiences of coloring and finding pleasure in repetitive but varied patterns, using the brightest colors available to me in my box of 64 crayons.

Tomorrow I am leaving for a week to accompany my husband on a business trip. I am not sure if I will have an opportunity to post during the week. If not I will return Monday, April 6th.

Have a nice week. Liz

Daffodil Daily Painting

Single Daffodil – 6" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

Today was planned to be focused on drawing and other items, instead the inspiration muse took over and inspired me to paint this instead. This flower is from a bunch picked up earlier this week and fearing that they would not last much longer I took advantage of a flexible schedule and painted away. While painting I typically listen to audio books, either from CDs we own or from the great resource Librivox. Today I was finishing the Ring trilogy “the Return of the King” and now need to think about the next book that will be a good one for background when painting. Typically I like fun, light works like the Harry Potter series or Huck Finn. Any suggestions?

Also I want to share with you the efforts of last weekend. I spent almost all of Sunday adding archived photos to Flickr. The goal was to create a set “Daily Painting Archive” that had all the daily paintings I have completed since beginning this blog in September of 2007. This was a great exercise, showing the progress of my painting skills and also a visual record of often repeated themes. I am still trying to figure out the best way to organize the rest of the photostream. I have had this accound for over 8 months and am only now starting to really upload and use it. If you have any experience on how best to organize your photos, I would be very interested. I am still not sure what the difference between collections and sets are...

Three Turnips Still Life & Etsy

Three Turnips – 6" x 12" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

With the encouragement of others to open an Etsy store this week and after spending 16+ hours reformatting my hard drive and getting my life back in order on the computer, I opened one (http://www.elizabethfloydstudio.etsy.com/). It was something considered before when working fulltime in architecture, I had just been putting it off. I was afraid of being overwhelmed about whether I would be able to juggle the “almost-daily painting” auctions, my other responsibilities and a new store on a new selling platform. Now that I am dedicating all of my efforts to art and the selling of my creations it made sense to change things around a bit.

My new Etsy store will have all artwork created other than the “daily paintings” category (anything 6" x 8" and smaller). I will update this shop as more artwork is created. As I am new to this experience, if you see things I overlooked on Etsy please bring them to my attention. Thanks, Liz

Tomato and Garlic Still Life

Tomato and Garlic – 6" x 8" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

When purchasing this tomato I knew it would get painted before being eaten. However when setting out to paint it, it took three tries before I was satisfied with the composition. Now that I have more time to dedicate to painting the setting up and working out a “scene” for my still lifes is becoming more important to me. If I am not pleased with it, I do not feel like I am wasting time by scraping the start down.

Here are a few heirloom tomato Flickr finds that I thought were nice: Zeetz Jones, MatthewA, clayirving , and Lelonopo

Pomegranate on Cloth Still Life

Pomegranate on Cloth – 6" x 8" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

A brown neutral background was really calling me today. I wanted to paint this pomegranate again but in a neutral setting. This pomegranate is on its last legs, it is no longer spherical, but starting to dry out have some hollow areas.

After posting this I am going to start reformatting my hard drive, so if everything goes well I will be back online tomorrow. If not, I will have to call the 1-800-GEEKs for computer help and may be out of pocket for a day or two. Wish me luck!

Pear on Tea Towel Still Life

Pear on Tea Towel – 8" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

I have always admired the classical still life paintings that have a dark burnt umber background. So today playing with a variant of a dark background I used burnt umber instead of a black background. Work by Francisco de Zurbarán and Pieter Claesz come to mind as being particularly inspiring when thinking of still lifes with dark backgrounds.

Inspiration & Palette

This week has been a visually stimulating week. A record was made, I painted four days in a row. I am feeling happy and exhausted now that it is Friday evening. The painting I worked on yesterday and most of today still needs a few more finishing touches so I will post it early next week when it is complete. In place of a painting photo, here is one of my paint palette.

The palette a piece of masonite that has been spray painted a medium gray to provide a uniform neutral background to mix paint. I typically paint with a straight pigment and white for most colors, mixing some on the palette but majority of time I mix on the painting itself. The colors are (clockwise from the lower left hand corner): Cobalt Violet, Raw Umber, Dio. Purple, French Ultra Marine, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Green, Windsor Green, Viridian, Cad. Green Lt., Cad. Lemon, Cad. Yellow Lt., Cad Yellow, Naples Yellow, Old Holland Brilliant Yellow Lt., Indian Yellow, Jaune Brilliant, Cad. Scarlet, Cad. Red, Cad. Red Deep, Perylene Red, Quinaqridone Red, Permanent Rose, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Brilliant Yellow-Reddish, Cremnitz White, Tit. White, Zinc Buff, and Ivory Black.

During the week I follow several blogs, they are my way of connecting with fascinationg pop culture. Here are a few posts that captured my thoughts this week:

~ Artslice’s post on Natelie Goldberg ~ I have added these books to my ever growing reading list.
~ Bliss’s polaroids
~ An Aesthete’s Lament ~ “Well said Phillip Borsinney” and “Well Written John Galsworth” ~ I read the Forsythe Sage this January, it was an interesting survey of Victorian England.
~ Interesting Quote

Corrected Links

Shirley shared with me this morning that the links to each painting this week were not working. That instead of linking to the individual painting's auction page, it would go to the eBay home page. This has been fixed, each post has the correct link and just for convenience here are the links again.


Daffodil – 8" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD


Daffodils in Jar – 6" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD


Mango #4 – 6" x 8" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

Another Black Background - Mango #4

Mango #4 – 6" x 8" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

Since Tuesday I have been using the black background for still life objects. The effect is so beautiful, that it just seems natural to try another and another. Hmmmm, I wonder what this would look like? The reason this captives my attention so much is because as the objects roll back in space the edges just softly become black. I love the sense of deep quite space. The way the object sits in front of the background and all the soft edges that disappear.

So today is my third day working as an artist. I found that there was not enough time in the day to complete all that I had set out to do. Maybe after awhile I will get better at estimating time required for various tasks, but for now I feel super excited and wanting to tackle everything with gusto. So I am really tired tonight and am looking forward to going to bed early. Have a great one and see you tomorrow.

UPDATE: Reader Shirley tipped me off that my links were not working. I have now corrected the links.

Daffodils in a Jar Still Life

Daffodils in Jar – 6" x 6" – Oil on Canvas Panel – SOLD

Today while painting I realized that THIS IS WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO DO! Before on weekends or holidays from work when I would paint, there was always a nagging thought that I needed to be focusing on something else – like laundry, or other chores. It felt so good to be painting, to be enjoying the experience, and knowing that there was nothing else in my life that required my attention at that moment. I was able to be 100% present with the experience.

I hope you had a wonderful and happy day.