More Boats- Maine

I love all my boat photos from various vacations. They are fun to paint! 9x12 acrylic

Lemon attempt

I worked on this for two days and just couldn't get it right. Might try it on a new canvas tomorrow. I think the warm, cream colored bowl and the cool shadows are confusing me. Frustrating! Acrylic 11x14

Stuck Inside

Stuck inside on another cold day. Plus,I needed a new painting for an art show for tomorrow. This will have to do! Decided to delete the blue stripy thing at the top. It looks better. 8x10 acrylic

Sunbather

I recently sold this painting along with 9 other paintings to a collector in Charlotte NC. A great feeling! Now I'm feeling very motivated to paint. Acrylic 6x8- SOLD

Row Boats

Some Maine rowboats. 6x8 acrylic-SOLD

Sunflowers

This was an exercise in fast painting- directly from life. 12x12 acrylic-SOLD

Still life practice

Some practice- sun was shifting fast and shadows were hard to follow- but good practice. 8x10 acrylic

Three Wine Bottles and Busy Summer

Its been a very busy summer- just lots of little things with all three girls home. Looking forward to a quick vacation and then completing my summer project of painting and decorating the dining room. I did a big 40X40 painting for the dining room and I will photo and post soon. I should be able to paint more by late August. This is a second wine bottle painting I did a while back. My vision is holding steady and that's all I can hope for. I'm headed for cataract surgery- probably in September and praying it goes smoothly. Bit of a blue haze on this because I took photo around 8pm- getting too dark. SOLD

Glencairn Garden, Rock Hill SC

This painting came out un-intentionally abstract. But, there is something about it that I like. 8X10 acrylic

Make Up

A gorgeous day for painting outside. Decided to practice some still life painting. 6X8 acrylic

Blue Shadows

Sometimes I like to paint something very ordinary and make it look interesting with strong lights and shadows. That was my goal here. I like all the greens and blues with the neutral ground color. 6X8 acrylic.

Spring Sunshine

Struggling a bit lately. Feeling like my paintings look like"paint by numbers". I am starting to see some of my mistakes- I guess I will just have to paint through this.... 8X10 acrylic

Pittsburgh Alley

This is one I started a long time ago but never finished. Trying a limited palette and took out the blue sky. I think that helped a lot. 11x14 oil

Rock Hill/ Wells Fargo Building

Photo is a bit dark. Acrylic 8x10

Rock HIll, SC

I started painting outside today, but it was too cold to finish. I should be able to finish this from photos. 8X10 acrylic

Wine Bottles

A little rainy day painting. 5x7 acrylic.

Abstract Woods

Trying a little abstract painting. Tougher than it looks. 5x7 acrylic

Colorful Junk Store

This was a wild,crazy and colorful junk store. Inside, it was a lovely gift shop! Painted here with my plein air friends. Its located in Wesley Chapel, NC- a suburb of Charlotte. 8x10 acrylic

Dark Oranges

This one took me a long time. Thought the wine bottles would be the hardest part, but the oranges and apple were a struggle today. 8X10 acrylic

Row Houses

I love how the sunlight hits this row of houses in my neighborhood.Acrylic 8X10. I tried to keep it loose and not overwork the details.

oranges on table

Good practice painting today- needs a little more work. Acrylic 8X10

McAlpine Greenway-Ballantyne

We went to the greenway today, but everything was brown! Decided to paint this overpass instead. 8x10 acrylic http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/jennifer-spaker/overpass-bridge/121408

Quick sketch

This quick sketch of my living room came out better than a large boat painting that I have been working on for days. Sigh!

Grand Canyon finished

This one came out a little darker than I would have liked, but I still like it. It was fun to paint something big- hadn't done that in a long time. This is 30x40. I'm working on some other big ones now...should post them soon.

Grand Canyon

This is a large painting for me. I've tried a few paintings since my eye surgery, but they were pretty bad. I'm hoping this one will be better! It's the grand canyon, painted from a photo from our trip there a few years ago.

Fort Mill, SC Neighbors

I love painting my sun/shadow effects on my neighbor's houses. It's also great to paint from my front yard! 8x10 acrylic

Old Town Rock Hill SC

Plein air painting of Rock Hil, SC. My studio is on this street. Rock Hill has done a great job of revitalizing this area. There are now buildings with artist studios, new businesses and restaurants opening. 11x14 acrylic SOLD

Near Lake Wylie-Plein Air

Had fun plein air painting with my friends today! We parked at T-Bones restaurant and walked around the boat launch area. There weren't many boats out today so I painted this tree instead. 8x8 acrylic

Maine Rocks

11X14 acrylic

Red on Green

I'm selling my paintings on www.dailypaintworks.com. Please take a look! 6x6-oil

Lots of green

In continuing my practice with oils, I completed this today. It was harder and took me longer to complete than I thought. It also came out differently than I intended, but I still like it. Practice, practice,practice.... 8X8 oil

Green Apples

I think if practice with oil paints every day for a month I will adjust to them...this is my first attempt. 6x6 oil

Plate slices

More practice with oil paints. 6x6 oil

Lake Ontario, Rochester NY

This is an older painting but I realize I never posted it. This is Charlotte beach in Rochester NY. 11X14 acrylic

Pittsburgh Alley

This was my dad's first childhood home in Pittsburgh. He tells me it was a status symbol to have an awning over your front porch. They were very proud to have the only awning on the whole street! My dad lived here in the 1940's and were fortunate to eventually move to a lovely brick ranch in the suburbs.

Lemon Bowl

My lemons almost rotted before I finished this one. I like the colors and may try somthing similar in the future. Acrylic 11X14- SOLD

Keuka Lake Shed- In Progress

I did this plein air painting at the house we rented this summer on Keuka Lake, NY. This was the lakeside shed that held all the toys, rafts, etc. I want to touch it up a bit and then mail it to the homeowners. Most of the houses along the lake are set on steep hills with lots of stairs down to the water. 8X10 acrylic

Seabrook Island, SC

New Construction, Baxter

Almost done.

McGill Rose Garden, Charlotte

A great day at McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte. This small garden is a hidden gem in the uptown area of the city. I was happy to complete 95% of this on location. It took about 2.5 hours.

Spring in Baxter

This is a neighbor's home that has gorgeous gardens and landscaping. I was looking for a scene to paint and picked this one. I wanted to paint the other side of their house, but it was completely in shadow in the early morning, so I had to quickly pick a new scene. I was happy that I completed most of it in "plein air", got the perspective fairly accurate, and only had to do some minor touch ups at home. Their daughter is sitting on the porch and I hid the names of their two boys in the painting. This one was fun to paint!

Baxter houses

This painting was in the "unfinished" pile. I pulled it out for practice and completed it with Easter colors. It's a bit bright, but it was fun to do. While I was originally painting this, the water sprinklers turned on and I had to quit or get soaked. This is Tuckerton Street in Baxter, Fort Mill, SC.

Charlotte Suburbs- Waxhaw NC

Fellow artist Yvette invited us to her lovely home in Waxhaw NC for a day of painting. I did most of this outdoors, but then had to alter some colors once I got it home. Almost done- some of the gardens still need to be completed.

Glass Bowl

Mixing the whites/ off whites is still challenging with oil paints. This was good practice.SOLD

Escape

More practice with oil paints....really enjoying them. The knife is my favorite part of the painting because I drew it straight on the first try!

Practice with Oils

Painting with oils is new to me, but I am enjoying the learning process. After a few more still life paintings I think there will be an improvement in my technique.