Red Hibiscus - Day 19 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Jewel Red Hibiscus

Palette knife painting

Oil on box canvas with sides painted black

30x30x4cm / 12x12inch

See paintings for days 12 to 18

An alternate title for this painting was 'Before the Hail'. I painted this en plein air in my garden in brilliant sunshine. When finished, I took a trip to the shops. While there the heavens opened and we had a tropical downpour. What I didn't know was that a hail storm was happening at home. When I returned my garden was covered in white and many of my plants had been shredded by the hail, including this beautiful hibiscus.

Some close-ups

Magenta Oleander posy still life - Day 11 of the 30 day challenge

Magenta Oleander posy still life

Palette knife painting

15x15cm (6"x6")

Oil on box canvas

Available in my Etsy store

A companion piece to yesterdays painting. This time painted from life.

I looked around the garden for flowers and it is pretty bare of flowers at the moment. Normally in September the plants come back into their own after the summer, but we haven't had any rain in a while so it's lacking much colour. The Oleander however, is still flowering away. I have several, all different colours - I'm thinking of painting the pink ones to form a trio of small posy paintings. 

About this painting

Oleanders are difficult to paint, especially alla prima. I tried to just capture the form of the petals and the general attitude of the flower. The background has more light green in it than appears in the photo, to off-set all that pink. I'm musing on whether or not, the background behind the flower needs to be darker.

30 paintings in 30 days progress report

These are my first three paintings for the challenge. All palette knife paintings in oils.

My personal challenges for these paintings were:

1. to paint whites and roses (a double challenge)
2. perspective in this arbor setting
3. show the build up of the the cloud and showcase the dead tree.

The pergola was in Hanbury Gardens just across the Italian border. I loved the light and shadow play. Read about the painting here

The tree is in the Var and I wanted to show how the branches of the tree were set against the sky. Read about the painting here

Rose still life flower arrangement No. 1 and 2, miniature treasures

Rose still life flower arrangement No.1

Mini treasure Palette knife painting

Impasto oil

10x10cm (4x4inch) on box canvas
This is painting No.18 in the 30 day challenge

This painting is now SOLD

Rose still life arrangement No. 2

Mini treasure Palette knife painting

Impasto oil

10x10cm (4x4inch) on box canvas
Can be hung without a frame
This is painting No.19 in the 30 day challenge

Available for purchase in my Etsy store

For the last few days I have been painting florals for the 30 day challenge. These two little miniature paintings were inspired by a larger painting I did after French Impressionist Henri le Sidaner. The painting was a table still life which inclueded a vase of flowers. When I cropped the painting for some close-up shots of the knife work, the crop of the flowers caught my eye. These are the first two paintings in the series. The series will include four of these miniature treasures as I only have four of these mini canvasses.

Close-ups of the knife work
No.1

 No.2

These paintings are painted with thick impasto paint on a yellow ground. It's funny how an idea can spark off several paintings, especially when I have been procrastinating for so long about using these small canvasses. That's one of the good things about participating in a challenge like this, it makes you think outside of the box.

Remembering Summer - Pink Hydrangeas palette knife painting in oils

Memories of summer

Palette knife painting in oils

30x30cm (12"x12) on MDF canvas panel

Available for sale in my Etsy store 

This is painting 14 in the 30 paintings in 30 day challenge

I have several of these hydrangea bushes outside the back door. They have hugh flower heads - although that does depend on if I remember to keep them watered. That is the only draw back of hydrangeas, they do dry out very quickly in our summer heat. The good thing about these hydrangeas is that they don't need watering!

Some close ups

Iris Dancing Queens, oil palette knife painting, Day 30, 30 days hath September challenge

Iris Dancing Queens

Palette knife painting

18x24cm (approx 7x10inch)

oil on canvas MDF panel

These irises are the first flowers that pop up in my spring garden. They are always a welcome sign that spring is arriving. I think I need to put in some sky (in this case wall) holes to give the irises some breathing space. Normally I would let the painting stand for a couple of days and paint the finishing touches before posting, but the as I am posting them immediately some will need final adjustments. I think the next time I am involved in a challenge I need to go smaller LOL

Iris Dancing Queens is the last of the paintings in the challenge. I started with a floral and finish with a floral. A big drum roll please ........ I painted 30 and posted everyday. It certainly was a worthwhile challenge to participate in, and a big thank you to Lesle Saeta for coming up with the idea and hosting everyone's entries. A welcome bonus of the challenge is that I have also got to see lots of other artwork.


I mainly concentrated on landscapes for this challenge so please visit my Joy of Colour blog to see the other entries. It wasn't intentional as I didn't have any plans at all and just painted the ideas that came to mind as time went on.

Peach Rose oil painting - Day 22, 30 days hath September challenge

Peach Rose

Oil palette knife painting

15x15cm (6"x6") on gessoed panel

Day 22, 30 days hath September challenge

 I had a fancy to paint roses today, so chose a small piece of prepared MDF with a pink ground. This is my first palette knife rose and is a study for a larger piece. In the last rose I painted I uses a gentle blending technique and I'm finding that I have to stop myself blending too much as I still want the impasto look.
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Petunia Bonus oil painting, Day 21, 30 days hath September

Petunia Bonus oil painting

18x24cm

Oil on MDF canvas panel

Day 21, 30 days hath September

This painting is a bonus. Every year I buy several hanging baskets in the spring, like most of us do, of course. The petunias last until about the middle of August and then just seem to fade. 

I put this pot of petunias at the back of the garden (I hate throwing away any sort of plant). Early this week I saw that it had sprung back to life and the petunias were so nice and bright. I placed them on a ledge to admire them and then a shaft of sunlight hit them lighting them up nicely. Of course I had to paint them - hence the title.

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

30 days hath September 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

I've been a bit quiet on this blog since my last post. It is not because I haven't been painting, but because I've been painting and posting them on my daily painting blog. I thought I would give you a taster of what I have been busy with and invite you to have a look HERE

Tomorrow I will post a floral painting I painted today.

Dancing Queens - Day 2 30 days hath September

Dancing Queens - Rudbeckias

Day 2 30 Days Hath September Challenge

Oil on gessoed panel, palette knife painting

15x20cm (6"x8")

The second painting in the challenge and I am no more organised than yesterday. I have been wanting to paint my rudbeckias for the last few weeks so the perfect challenge for today. I used a prepared gessoed MDF panel that I had painted with a blue and pink underpainting. There's was quite a bit of texture on the panel so I decided to use thick paint applied with a palette knife to compliment the background.



See yesterday's painting HERE

Contact me about this or any other painting HERE