Red as theme

One of the local galleries here does themed shows every two months. The next show will be Red. I do not normally paint to the show but submit what I already have on hand. But I needed something to get me going so I decided to paint with red in mind. Here is the first little painting I did.

One Red Rose, 10x8, oil

 It was painted over an existing painting dated 2004. I can't even remember what it was now and I just painted this last weekend. No title on the back. I do enjoy painting over old paintings and letting the original layer come through. One of my neighbors had brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine for me on Thanksgiving. I am their Local Grandmother replacement and I babysit when they need help and I am available as they have no family in town and have two little ones. I am happy to help. Fortunately for me, there were red roses included in the bouquet so I had a ready target. I do not normally paint roses, but what the heck? I used my trusty Japanese gold screen as a backdrop, and a new brass vase I recently added to my collection, and voila! Something fun to get me painting.
So, in addition to that little gem, I had set up these three stemmed clems, thinking of doing one still life with all the elements. But instead, I divided them into 2 separate paintings. In this 2nd painting, I did not include the base of the brass vase with the clementines reflected in the base of the vase, which I had intended to do. I decided it wasn't needed and would only confuse. I used some red rice paper as the surface to set the whole still life on.

Red Clems, 6x9, oil over old painting

This one, too, was painted over an existing painting from 10 years ago. A plein air painting I did on a rafting trip on the Yampa River. It was the only surface I could find that was the right size I wanted to use and the painting was expendable. I really don't paint this small anymore so I don't keep clean panels handy. Yet, after so long not being at my easel, small is what I needed to get myself going. Simple shapes and small.