"Coffee Break", 12x9, oil on panel, coffee, chocolate, still life, painting ellipses, paint study, Ghirardelli chocolate, kitchen art, food art, kitchen decor

 "Coffee Break", 12x9, oil on panel

Lately, I have decided to work on improving my drawing skills, since drawing is such an integral part of painting well.

Today, I wanted to work on ellipses, because they are such an important part of still life painting. Actually, they are an important part of all styles of painting!

Take a lake filled with waterlilies, for instance. You simply cannot paint those waterlilies successfully unless you can paint an ellipse and understand how they change with perspective. Here is one of Claude Monet's famous waterlily paintings:

Notice how the shape of the flower changes as it goes back in perspective.

So I set up a still life with some ellipses in it, and worked on it all day. Yes indeed those things are hard to paint accurately! (At least for me.)

I love the little French sugar bowl and lid that my daughter-in-law gave me a while back, and so I included that in the picture as well as some Ghirardelli chocolate! Yum.

In the end, I think I made some progress in painting ellipses from an overhead perspective.

Maybe, I'll work on some water lilies next....

This painting is available through my website, under the "little gems" collection. Or send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if interested in purchasing a little coffee and chocolate.

"Country Cupboard", 12x16, oil on linen

"Country Cupboard", 12x16, oil on linen

This is an older painting that I took out and re-worked a bit yesterday. I had trouble photographing it, and am starting to think I need a lesson in photography! Since I bought a new camera a few months ago, I have not had much success photographing my artwork. I am using a Nikon Coolpix 14.1 megapixels. Weirdly, my old Kodak with only 6 megapixels seemed to do a better job and have more range of color. This camera seems to have a mind of its own and takes pictures randomly, even when I am not pressing the button. The pictures never seem right to me and do not do the artwork justice. The area in the center is always clear and the perimeter is fuzzy. I could really use some help, I don't even understand the menu!

Any suggestions anyone?

"A Copper Kettle, Fruit, and a dusty bottle", 12x16

"A Copper Kettle, Fruit, and a dusty bottle", 12x16, oil on Claussens linen (Raymar panel)

This is the first still life painting that I ever did, so I've been kind of attached to it even though it's not very refined. If you are interested in this painting, please send me an email at maryanne jacobsen@aol.com.