Kathleen Reilly Art

Adaptation

2012-01-29T09:00:00.001-07:00

Adaptation, 24 x 36, finished in January 2011. Another painting for the upcoming summer show. The USDA recently updated the growing season zone charts for the whole country. The zones are moving northward. We will all have to adapt - animals, plants, people. This picture is kind of talking about that process and other related climate events.

Patchy Snow

2012-01-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

This was actually completed this fall but I never got around to posting it. Patchy Snow, 24 x 36. It's part of the large series paintings I am working on that will be in show next summer. I recently finished another one that I will post tomorrow.

The Gift

2011-11-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here's another small picture fit in between the larger ones I am working on. The Gift, 6 x 8.

ANother new tomato picture

2011-10-16T13:54:00.001-06:00

This one, Garden Produce, is 9 x 12. There is something about these partially ripe tomatos and all their variability of color That I really like.

Tomatos

2011-10-13T13:37:00.001-06:00

The garden is brimming with unripe tomatos, and since we've had several frosts already they will have to be picked or will freeze on the vine. It has been a big tomato year. Here are a few of them getting ripe indoors. Unripe Tomatoes, 8 x 10.

Resistance

2011-10-11T14:30:00.001-06:00

This is the first of the three large paintings I mentioned in the last posting in August. They are part of a whole series I am doing. Resistance, 24" x 36", on canvas.

Squash are ripening

2011-08-15T17:05:00.000-06:00

We have acorns, pattypans, tons of spaghetti squash and of course zucchinis. Here's one of them. White Squash, 6 x 8. In the meantime I have started another large painting and have three more planned out. I will post them as they get completed.

Unnamed

2011-07-25T11:01:00.000-06:00

I just finished this painting last week. I still haven't decided what to call it yet. 24" x 36", on canvas. Unlike the last one I did ( see last blog entry) this one worked itself out rather easily with not a lot of changed ideas along the way.

Hiding from The Heat

2011-07-23T10:50:00.000-06:00

This painting was finished in June. Along the way I changed it about 4 times in major ways so it took a while to finish. "Hiding from the Heat", 24" x 36",
oil on canvas.

Although a lot of the first large pictures I did were on gessobord, it is getting a lot more difficult to find places that sell the size I like, 24" x 36", and shipping is a problem. The last set I got had bunged corners. Local stores don't carry the size. And they are heavy, even if they don't need a frame. And you have to buy a whole lot of them at once. So this painting is on canvas. It has certain disadvantages - can't scrape off the paint as vigorously if I don't like what I did, for instance. Can't do some of the other techniques I did either, like masking and cutting. But I guess I will have to adapt.

New paintings and other news

2011-07-22T10:50:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything. I've had a lot of distractions such as visitors coming and going and dealing with the gardening and just never got around to the blog updating. It's hard to update when I've got a garden bed out there ready to get weeded or watered. The biggest distraction however has been my working on a massive overhaul of my art database and mailing list which has taken weeks to update. Whole weekends in May and June disappeared doing it and I am still not finished. I am using the program called Artist Butler. Although it is is fairly unsophisticated it's good enough for my uses. Going back through all the scraps of paper I have in file folders to glean info and finding and making the digital pictures all uniform has been a huge job. Trying to get it all into the right order is a real project.

Painting-wise I've been working on some large paintings lately. The small ones have gone by the wayside for a while. Here are a couple little ones I did work on that never got put on the blog before.

Below, "Fading Tulips", 10" x 8", Blue Scarf, 5" x 7"

Another Shoe

2011-04-26T09:45:00.000-06:00

Here's another shoe painting. Shoe 2, 5 x 7.

A Shoe

2011-04-18T14:20:00.000-06:00

Here's a little shoe painting, Shoe 1, 6 x 8.

Sugar

2011-04-03T09:00:00.001-06:00

Here's a little painting I have been laboring over. It's another shadow picture, 10 x 8. Sometimes it's time to just quit and start something else, so here it is for now.

Shadows

2011-04-01T14:06:00.005-06:00

As January rolled around again this winter the early sun once again began to highlight the kitchen wall with interesting shadows where the pots hang. I couldn't resist doing another painting of the pots and their shadows. Kitchen Shadows, 12 x 16. Last year's is below.

Another tea picture

2011-02-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

Another tea picture, Tea Again. 6 x 8. I decided to paint it again, but I had to change the tea- it was starting to "grow".

Tea Time

2011-02-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Another small painting, this one 9 x 12, Tea Time.

Copper Box

2011-02-16T09:19:00.001-07:00

This is a small painting of things collected from around the house. The copper was tricky to paint with all the color reflections. Copper Box, 8 x 10.

Winter Ice

2011-02-15T15:01:00.004-07:00

There's been a lot of ice around lately with all the snowstorms we've had. Here's a painting that's all about winter ice and snow, especially along the irrigation ditches. I have been working on it for a while and finally finished it. I kept changing things but I think it's done now. Winter Ice, 30 x 30. This one will probably be hanging at the Muse Gallery in March and April.

SHELLS

2011-01-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, shells aren't so easy to paint. I'll have try them again but here's the first attempt. Shells, 6 x 8.

Travel-sized

2011-01-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now that everyone has to put all their toiletries in small zip lock bags for airport security we seem to have a lot of these small bottles around. So I decided to paint some of them. This one is called Travel-Sized, 6 x 8.

The last of the tangerines.

2011-01-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

This is the last of the tangerines - now we've eaten them all. This painting Bowl of Tangeines is 9 x 12. It's still drying - things dry so slowly in the winter.

Mini-Tangerines

2011-01-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

A portrait of a few tangerines from the large box of Christmas tangerines that arrived here. 6 x 8 on a panel. It's going to take a while to eat them all.

Beach Rocks

2010-12-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

A painting (6 x 8) of various rocks collected over the years at different beaches. The big gray one was from the Oregon coast, the smallest colored ones were from a Mexican beach. I wish I was on that beach right now - it's cold and snowy here, was around zero degrees this morning.

Barn and Mountains

2010-12-30T14:49:00.001-07:00

Haven't really named this one yet. It's a relatively new painting, 16 x 8.

detail

2010-12-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a detail from a larger painting I am currently trying to finish up. The paint has to dry a little more before I can start working on it again, particularly since I will be adding some glazing. This one is going to be 30" x 30".

Nuts

2010-12-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a million years since I put anything up - but well - it's been Christmas... I haven't given up painting, just working on larger things for a while. Haven't done any updates to the blog though. Here's a new small one, 6 x 8.

red cup

2010-11-15T14:43:00.003-07:00

Here's a detail from a painting The Red Cup, 6 x 9, that I worked on this weekend. I think I am done working with this silk scarf background for a while, but it was fun dealing with it and a nice change from using a plain background. It is interesting that when I compare them to each other they all look different. In the first one with the apples the background looks more yellow and green, in the second one with the orange it looks more orange and the green is bluer. This one looks more on the warmer pink side. The colors in the actual scarf do vary a lot from area to area.

Orange on Silk

2010-11-10T13:03:00.001-07:00

Another painting on the scarf. This one is 6 x 8.

Apples on Silk

2010-11-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here I stuck two apples on a silk scarf. I liked the variable colors on the scarf. This one - 5 x 7.

Pumpkin

2010-11-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a pumpkin painting from last week, 5 x 7. This is a small eating-type pumpkin destined for a future pie.

Landscape

2010-10-13T13:21:00.004-06:00

Here's another landscape that I worked on recently. Also the piece I called EarthDream was accepted into the DIA art show which is a big deal for me. It's the second picture below.

Yellow apple

2010-10-13T13:18:00.000-06:00

Our apple tree had a bonus crop this year. It's never produced more than a dozen apples before but this year we got over a bushel. So here's one of them.

orange light

2010-09-07T14:13:00.000-06:00

There's a big forest fire going on nearby and when the sky is really smoky the sun turns red and the light gets really orange resulting in interesting orange shadow effects. Here's a picture I took at the doorway.

Finally

2010-09-03T14:46:00.002-06:00

Sorry there's not much new here lately. I've been trying to get some other larger pieces finished. Here's a smaller one I did recently, Autumn Foothills, 9x12.

Small Art

2010-08-23T12:31:00.002-06:00

There's a new show at the Firehouse Art Center - all art is 11x14 or smaller. It's a very entertaining show with pieces of every media represented by a large group of artists from wax encaustic to painting, drawing, collage, whatever. I have three pieces in the show. Here are two of them. The show just comes down on Sept 2.

Eggs

2010-08-23T12:21:00.000-06:00

I've been working on some other larger paintings so I haven't been doing these small ones lately. Here's one I did do, Eggs, 5 x 7.

Another cantaloupe

2010-08-12T09:37:00.001-06:00

Here's the last slice of that same cantaloupe. Maybe I'll eat it for lunch. It was an especially good cantaloupe. Some of them are pretty bland or picked too soon, but this one was at the peak of flavor. Cantaloupe 2, 5 x 7

Cantaloupe

2010-08-11T15:06:00.001-06:00

In retrospect I wish I had set this up so more of the picture is in shadow.
But it was fun to paint. Cantaloupe, 6 x 8

Watermelon

2010-07-30T14:27:00.001-06:00

Here's a painting of the last pieces of a watermelon we recently ate- Watermelon, 6 x 8

changed

2010-07-27T11:27:00.005-06:00

This one was a painting I started last summer but there were things I didn't like. I recently worked on it some more so it's a bit different. Big Valley, 9 x 12.

kitchen vegetables

2010-07-25T16:05:00.002-06:00

Some more vegetables from the refrigerator...
Celery and Onion, 6 x 8.

BLUEBERRIES

2010-07-23T09:36:00.001-06:00

Some blueberries from last night's dinner. I finished them off later after painting this. 5 x 7.

Paper towels

2010-07-22T10:17:00.000-06:00

A useful studio supply gets it's portrait done- an 8x6 painting

new pic

2010-07-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

A random picture of my old paint box, 5 x 7

Peaches

2010-07-10T09:40:00.000-06:00

Another 5 x 7 painting. I just realized I have been neglecting the summer fruits, so here's one with peaches.

Unnamed so far

2010-06-24T10:31:00.000-06:00

Here's the latest picture I finished. It's a little different than the others of it's type- not sure how it ended p the way it did. It is less abstract and a lot more realistic, more depth. This one is large, 24 x 36. I'll be going back to small paintings again for a while.

Shadows

2010-06-09T08:33:00.000-06:00

Just finished this one that I have been working on for the last two weeks. It's 24 x 36, on a panel. I have had this design in mind for a long time, and finally got around to painting it. I am also doing another one that's partially done. These are part of my large semi-abstract series. If you want to see the other ones from the series go to this page in my website.

Sitting Alone

2010-05-20T09:05:00.000-06:00

I painted this one last night - 5 x 7. Meanwhile I am working on a new large painting but it's going to take a couple weeks to finish.

Apple & spoon

2010-05-15T14:36:00.000-06:00

A new picture - 5 x 7.

another try

2010-05-05T09:50:00.000-06:00

Things that are translucent - like light shining through the petals of a flower, or light coming through a yellow pepper are really hard to show. There are colors and ranges of light there that are way beyond the range of paint colors and intensity. It's really hard to make the flowers look right and not look like they might be plastic. So I thought it was worth another try on these tulips while I still have them blooming in the yard. Here's a pink one, 7 x 5.

More Tulips

2010-05-05T09:44:00.000-06:00

I worked on this picture twice and decided to change it. Here is the updated version. I brightened up the flower in addition to taking out the fabric folds.

Tulips

2010-04-22T11:28:00.000-06:00

Flowers are blooming now including the tulips. Here's a painting of some of them. 5 x 7.

Dirty Dishes

2010-04-08T09:43:00.000-06:00

Another picture, inspired by the ever-present daily dirty dishes one has to deal with. This one - 5 x 7.

Shades of Orange

2010-04-06T13:04:00.000-06:00

Another 5 x 7 . This reminds me that I should be out there getting the garden ready. I still have some carrots left from last year's harvest. Gotta get them eaten soon...

Thinking of Pie

2010-04-03T09:36:00.000-06:00

My mother often made lemon meringue pie at Easter. This one 5 x 7, on a panel. I've been working on taxes, and am finally done. I wouldn't mind having a piece of pie, as long as someone makes it for me.

Measuring cups

2010-03-16T09:17:00.000-06:00

I am working on new boards with a slightly different surface, slightly rougher, so it's taking a bit of getting used to. This one, 5 x 7.

A scissors painting

2010-03-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Sewing Scissors, 5 x 7.

Grapefruit half

2010-03-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Grapefruit and knife, 5 x 7.

Brush in water

2010-03-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Finally I have time to paint again - here's the latest. 7 x 5.

Two mugs

2010-02-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

With a giant workload dumped on me again, I have had to work in the evening - so not so many paintings again lately. This one 5 x 7.

Trio from the refrigerator

2010-02-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

I went to the stores yesterday so I have a new supply of fruit. This one is 5 x 7.

Leaves

2010-02-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Leaves from a valentine bouquet. There certainly aren't any growing outside at the moment. This one, 6 x 8.

Mangos

2010-02-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Mangos were on sale yesterday and I got two of them. I also got some tropical fruit drinkable yogurt that's really good, but I'm not going to paint that. This one, 6 x 8.

A sketch

2010-02-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

From yesterday. It was a nice day. 5 x 7.

The Fake Valentine

2010-02-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

A piece of direct mail advertising inspired this, with the help of two tangerines and a fork. 6 x 8.

Pots & Pans

2010-02-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

A painting of the kitchen wall done this weekend - this one is a little larger, 14 x 11. This time of year the winter sun hits the wall and leaves interesting shadow patterns.

color wheel

2010-02-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

I took a color workshops recently and this is one thing we painted from that. The main colors we worked with on the outside of the hexagon were cadmium yellow light, for the yellow, a mixture of cadmium red and alizarin crimson for red, a mixture of ultramarine and cobalt and white for the blue. We mixed from blue to red to yellow first than filled in. Then we added to that cadmium orange for the orange, a mixture of mauve blue and white for the purple, and a mixture of permanent green, sap green and a touch of white for the green. Everything left of the line down from purple to yellow is cool, and everything to the right is a warm color. We also did steps from white to black. I'm supposed to paint a neutral gray background around it all when it dries.

Bananas and Spoon

2010-02-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

I had never painted bananas before so I tried it last night. Sometimes yellow fruits and vegetables are difficult to paint especially translucent ones like peppers. The bananas were more docile. This one, 6 x 8.

Giant Grapefruit

2010-01-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

I found this giant grapefruit at the store so I decided to paint it.
This one is 6 x 8.

Pear and Lemon

2010-01-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Another 6 x 8 inch painting.

Tape & Glue

2010-01-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Tape & Glue, 7 x 5.5

Yellow Apple

2010-01-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Yellow apple on a plate, 5.5 x 7.

No time

2010-01-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

I've had very little time to work in the last two weeks because of rush projects and all, but a good portion of my free time was doing this: a set design for a volunteer project for a church play. It's built now and the kids are painting it and best of all, it's out of here and I've got my space back again.

Reclining Pear

2010-01-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

A reclining pear, 5 x 7

Dried Grass

2010-01-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Dried Grass - 7 x 5.

tucson show

2010-01-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

My picture was sold - makes me happy. Now I don't have to deal with having it shipped back. Hope it finds a good home. (see this for a picture of it)

tapes

2009-12-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

After wrapping presents I started thinking about all the tapes and ribbons. This one is a little bigger, 8 x 10.

Scissors

2009-12-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

I was busy wrapping presents and scissors seemed like a good topic to paint. 5 x 7.

Black Cup

2009-12-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

This one is 5 x 7. It features a Christmas apple - we got a box of apples as a gift. Now I have plenty of apples to choose from before they get eaten one by one.

The Square Glass

2009-12-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

6 x 8 oil on board.

Pasilla Pepper

2009-12-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Pasilla pepper, 6 x 8.

Blue Cup

2009-12-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

This one is 6 x 8.

White Mug

2009-12-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

7 x 5.5, oil on panel.

Cut Pear

2009-12-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

5.5 x 7 on panel.

The White Cup

2009-12-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

On 5.5 x 7 panel.

Peeled Orange

2009-12-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

The peeled orange, 6 x 8. Just redid the photo of this one - the other one was bad.

Hooray

2009-12-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sold a picture! The one from the Artists of Colorado Exhibit sold today on the last day of the show - which is really good because the weather and roads are vile and I didn't want to have to go down and pick it up today. Riverbed, 20 x 26.

Lemon & Blocks

2009-12-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

6 x 8, oil on panel.

In and Out

2009-12-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

In and Out, 6 x 8. I have decided that apples are way easier to paint than yellow peppers. Maybe because there is a bigger range of values?

A new picture finally

2009-12-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving is over, travelling done, guests gone so I have time to paint again. Here's the newest. Three apples, 6 x 8.

Blocked

2009-11-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Blocked, 6 x 8.

Trio

2009-11-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

This one - 6 x 8

Tomato on a plate

2009-11-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

Tomato on a plate, 7 x 5.5, oil on board.

Yellow Pepper

2009-11-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Another 5.5 x 7. A bunch of rush jobs have been dumped on me so my painting time this week will be limited. Last night I had to get some work done instead.

Tomatoes and dish

2009-11-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

THis one also 5.5 x 7

Parsnip

2009-11-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

One of my parsnips, 5.5 x 7.

Pears 3

2009-11-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

The pears got too ripe - we had to eat them. So this is last of the pears for a while, 5.5 x 7.

Pear 2

2009-11-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

Another pear, 5.5 x 7. Have run out of 6 x 8 boards temporarily and have cut up my 11 x 14 boards into 4 pieces.

Pear 1

2009-11-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the book says to do 100 small paintings of one thing, one a day or so, and the author/artist suggests pears as a topic (because they are not just round but have various plane changes), so here goes. This one is 5.5 x 7.

Walk along the pond

2009-11-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Walk along the pond, 6 x 8.