White Cabin by the Pond

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

This is a piece I painted at the Sunnyside Park in Pullman, WA, before, then touched up in the studio today. The sun was getting low, casting long shadows on the rolling hills. I simplified the light patterns and shadow patterns in my composition, as it was already busy with a lot of stuff going on in the scene.

White Barns with Green Roofs

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in. -- SOLD

The red trims of the barns were a little bit of challenge, but I thought they needed to be there. I painted the red trims, then I went over it with the white walls and roofs, instead of drawing thin lines of red on the top. The method allowed me to keep the crisp look of red trimming.

Red Barn in the Green

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

This is another painting I did at Iverson's Farm. It's a large farm with multiple barns and hay fields in South Cle Elum, WA. There are plenty of tree shades where I can set up my easel and stay cool. I see so many painting subjects and compositions on the property. We really appreciate the generosity of the Iversons who let us paint there.

Apple and Pepper Grinder

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click Here to Buy

This apple is pretty small, and makes a nice composition with my metallic pepper grinder. I painted the apple slightly over-sized first, and carved the shape with the background color. The red part of the apple near the right cornier was initially too red (intense), calling too much attention. So I mixed more desaturated red to go over without changing the value. Squinting at the canvas well for this.

For a limited time only, this comes with a contemporary black wooden frame. The frame has 7/8" face, with a crisp clean line and it is 1.5" deep. It is ready to hang or stand alone on a counter top.

Green Apple

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- Click Here to Buy

This is a quick study of a green apple. In this painting, I emphasized a "carving" technique to work from the inside toward the outside of a subject. After drawing a basic outline, I painted the green apple, going over the outline on purpose. Then I carved the apple shape by painting the outside  background color, including the cast shadow. I added details around the stem at the end.

Apple and Wine Glasses

Oil on canvas panel, 6x6 inches -- Click Here to Buy

This is another still-life painting with an apple, but I experimented with a new painting style. I painted this with a combination of palette knife and brushes by the window with natural lighting. I love collecting autumn foliage, and store it in a box so that I can use it for my still life stage. If you pick up the leaves at the right time, the color and shape will be preserved for a while. There's snow outside the window, and it's reflected on the wine glasses.

Old Shed with Chickens

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 8 in. --

This is a makeover of the recent painting, a study for a commissioned piece. Based on the request from my client, I worked over the facade of the shed with more muted color, and toned down the red flowers in front of the building corner. I also enhanced the roof with oranges sparkles to suggest the sunset light. as well as adding more contrast in the trees in the back.

Chicken Named Dove

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in -- SOLD

This is my new chicken painting. This is a chicken named "Dove" that our friends in Pullman have as a pet. She is a white Ameraucana, so she lays blue-green "Easter eggs." This breed is partly descended from chickens that were in what is now Chile, before the first Spanish conquerors arrived. Humans crossed the Bering Straits land bridge from Asia to the Americas at least 10,000 years ago, but chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asia about 5,000 years ago. After that, chickens were carried throughout the South Pacific by Polynesians in their dugout sailing canoes. So the only way chickens could have made their way to South America before Europeans arrived was by way of... ...Easter Island! (Of course, that's not why we call blue and green eggs Easter eggs.)

Peppers in Black No.6 -- Salt & Pepper

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in -- SOLD

Last one in this Pepper in Black series. This is another unique miniature pepper. It has gradation of red, yellow, and green around the side. The title sounds a bit like a cliche, but I bet not many people have seen this combination of "salt & pepper." By the way, those habanero peppers I painted earlier were both very, very "hot." I tasted a tiny piece of them before cooking, and found that out.

Peppers in Black No.5 -- Habaneros

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in -- Click here to buy

These peppers are both habaneros, but only one of them is very, very hot. The other one is a rare sweet habanero, not spicy but with a lot of flavor. I forgot which one was which. I'll find it out when I cook them later.

Peppers in Black No.4 -- Three Amigos

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in  -- SOLD

These are very tiny sweet peppers from Central Washington. I had no idea that there were so many kinds of peppers in our region. I got all these special peppers at a farmers' market a while ago. These lasted very well in the fridge.

Artist's Table No. 3

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in --

I painted this at my friend's house near Seattle where my husband and I were visiting for the last couple of days. It's been very rainy in Washington these days. Due to the heavy rain storm, the power went out for the most of the afternoon. That's part of why I painted it by the window with natural light, because we had no light. My friend and my husband was out for the most of the time, and had no idea about the situation. Anyway, I'm happy with how this painting turned out. I experimented to push the the saturation and value, as well as the thickness of paint for this piece.

Fluffy Cow No. 1

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in -- SOLD

This is one of the local cows I photographed a while ago, and I didn't get around to paint it for a while. I've been experimenting with palette knife painting lately again. I used a lot of paint for this one, especially on his head. Can you feel this fluffy cow?

Red-tailed Hawk on Telephone Pole

6 x 6 in, oil on linen on panel -- SOLD

During a weekend, my husband Peter and I drove to Steptoe Butte, WA, from Pullman, taking a minor and more scenic rout. Peter spotted a red-tailed hawk on a telephone pole. Red-tailed hawks are the icon of the countryside around the Northwest.

A Pear Meets a Pear

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in. -- Click here to bid

This is my second painting of the pears this week. Before today's painting session, I had this great idea about how to arrange the pears, and I thought it would be so easy to start painting. After spending some time arranging the pears over and over, however, I ended up with something else. A little green pear meets another pear of a different kind. Then, the lovely couple had a happy ending in my breakfast.

A Pair of Pears

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 -- $150 -- Click here to buy

These pears are from the WSU orchard in Pullman, WA. I love these pears that come with a nice stem and a leave.

Pack Mule

6 x 6 in, oil on linen on panel -- SOLD

I saw this mule in Roslyn, WA, and I took some photos in the summer. I found doing the face of the mule with short fur harder than painting the face of a bird with fluffy feathers.I think pack mules can be interesting subject to paint. I'm going to do more studies of mules, and start including them in my large landscape compositions in the near future.

Homestead in the Afternoon

6 x 6 in, oil on linen on panel -- Click Here to Buy Now

I painted this at Iverson's Farm in the late afternoon. I was drawn to the color transition from the foreground to the background, with the evergreen forest on the right that accentuated the composition.

Barns in the Golden Field

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in. --

This is the view of the same shed I painted on the previous day, but from another angle. The wildfires in the central Washington was definitely affecting our plein air painting activities. My friend Lynne and I drove all over the Lincoln county, and settled with this spot which I liked earlier. It was smoky but sunset lighting helped enhancing the color.

Little Shed in Orange Sunset

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 in. --

Last weekend my friend Lynne invited me to a plein artist retreat, and we stayed at her cabin in Lincoln by Lake Roosevelt, WA. The weather was nice throughout the weekend, but the smoke from the major wildfires in central Washington were certainly affecting our painting activities. Everything look more flat and colorless in the haze even without cloud covers. We arrived at the cabin in Lincoln Thursday afternoon, and I did this painting just before sunset. The sun looked so red in the obscured pink sky.