Appetizer

Mmm...it was hard to keep from eating these while painting. The glistening olive oil..... Mmm.... Is there anyone who doesn't like olives? I can't imagine it, though I surmise there must be, since there also exist people (hard as it is for me to believe) who don't like chocolate.

$145.00 - Olives (Ready to Frame)

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Persimmon 2

I've always admired how a really dark background can bring out an object so well. So many Old Masters used that device. I've only recently begun experimenting with backgrounds this dark.

$335.00 - Persimmon 2 (Ready to Frame)

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Diptych

I've always loved the textures and colors that one finds in old walls in places that have been frequently repainted and exposed to a lot of sun, like the walls in Latin America or Morocco. Layers of hues, randomly exposed, sandy, crumbly textures...  The Husband and I have soooooo many beautiful photos of walls, doors, and windows from Latin America and Morocco that someday (that elusive "someday") we need to make into a book or at least a calendar or something...

$295.00 - Diptych (Framed)

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Parchment

I'm fascinated by abstract expression, minimalism, or whatever else one might one to call it--artists like Rothko, Diebenkorn, Albers, Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Brice Marden....  And Agnes Martin. Years ago, I stumbled across a small exhibition of her work while in Santa Fe, and, funny, it didn't do anything for me at the time.  Isn't it interesting how much our art taste can change? And then other stuff, you see it once and absolutely resonate with it, and that fierce love for it never wavers. 

I created this piece, in graphite and pastel, after looking at and admiring a whole lot of Agnes Martin's work, unfortunately only images in books and online, not live. I'm enamored of the subtlety of her work.

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Husband's Interview Shoes

This piece, done a couple of months ago, has proved immensely, almost ridiculously popular. I've had no fewer than four requests for it...alas, it is no longer available. It went to a courageous young lady currently triumphing over cancer (hi, K!). I let her have it because a) it was her birthday [well, almost]; b) I knew it would have a loving adoptive home, and c) she'll [hopefully] tell everyone she knows what a great painter I am and to visit my website and new blog (hint, hint, K).


The title is really what these were. The husband (a.k.a. computer guru) came home from an interview where he was all decked out (he cleans up nice), immediately ripped off the tie and dress shirt, whipped off the fancy trousers (fun British word there), and kicked off the gorgeous shoes I'd chosen for him precisely for the event (the interview). I picked up the shoes just as they were and hustled them into the studio, turned a light on them, and voila.  It was one of the fastest and easiest paintings I've ever done...dunno why. But there you have it. The magic certainly doesn't happen that way most of the time.


Sold.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Dan

This is actually not from today but from a few weeks ago. Since my blog is still so new and lean, I thought maybe I'll fatten it up a bit here and there with some more pics of my work over the last few months. Is that cheating, in blog-land? 

People seem to be enjoying seeing the previous alla prima portrait I posted here, Jenny 2, so I thought I'll also show you Dan, alla prima from a few weeks ago.

$435.00 - Dan (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Persimmon

Persimmons are in the grocery store right now. I've always loved the subtle, beautiful colors of them; this is my first time painting one.

Lisa Towers, I hope you don't mind my quoting you here (and your persimmons painting is gorgeous), but this is too funny. You all must read the most hilarious art blog in the world, that of Bill Jones and Lisa Towers (see the link On Painting). Lisa's words: "When I was a kid, growing up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of the worst dares you could make to another kid was to take a bite out of an unripe persimmon. Ain't a weed smokin' rastafarian on earth that knows cotton mouth worse than that."

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Dark and mysterious?

I enjoyed how this turned out, though it certainly has quite a noir feeling...n'est-ce pas?

$115.00 - Pomegranate (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Pastel memories

Our art materials instructor, Michelle Philip, a year or two ago, had us make pastels by hand. It was really fun, though a lot of physical (hand, wrist, arm) labor, too--kind of like dealing with a really stiff bread dough.  At the time we made them, I had never used pastels before, and I made these really funky, ultimately somewhat unusable shapes. Michelle had a good laugh when she saw them. They turned out beautifully, in terms of texture, softness, and color, if not in form.

$295.00 - Small Landscape (Framed)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Mondrian mood

Anyone in a...Mondrian mood today?

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com