Vintage Crock With Blue Stripes and Two Red Bell Peppers

9x12 Inch Original Oil Painting

by Cheri Wollenberg

Food always tells a good story if it is grown in your garden. A couple of years ago I had a container garden and I did very poorly on my tomatoes and for the first time ever I grew these gigantic red and green bell peppers! Of course they were so exciting to me I had to set them up in a charming still life and compose a painting. I enjoyed doing this one. It would look good in a cooks' kitchen or any place of eatery! 

The Faster I Go - The Further Behind I Get!

I think my post today is a very FAST "CATCH UP" post.  Somehow in my head I think I can get all of May's posts made before the DEADLINE (May 31, 2015)!  Do you ever feel like that?  I do enjoy posting about my work, but as the title above reveals....something in our lives has to suffer.  I try not to allow my painting be the one!  

Gardening is very much on my mind these days.  For right now we do not have to worry about watering the gardens here in Oklahoma, so my tomato plants may have a better survival rate (lol).  I love tomatoes.  I love painting them and they are wonderful subjects for paintings.   A friend and fellow blogger raises tomatoes and makes salsa every year.  I would love to be like her (Wordweaver Art).  Just getting those tomatoes to grow is a challenge for both my husband and I.  Anyway, I couldn't wait for them to start producing so I have been buying them.  These two in the painting below were so pretty that I took one off and consumed it, but decided to paint the other two with the vine still on them.  I set them on a window sill and the light is from the back of the tomatoes themselves; however, the light bounced around them and the sill providing several exciting design elements that hopefully I managed to record on canvas.  Click on the title if you are interested in buying.  It will take you to my Etsy shop.  Thanks for coming by today to hear me "whine" about time (lol).  

Two Bright Tomatoes

Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Three Tomatoes Set on a Sill

Three Tomatoes Set on a Sill

6x18 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I have  shared on previous posts about the nice people who have brought garden produce as gifts to my husband and I.  What good friends we have!!  They shared with us because our garden turned out to be a flop!  We only harvested onions in the spring and a very bad tasting watermelon later in the season.  A few circumstances of life visited us this year that created a challenge for us to keep it up and running.  However, we enjoyed these gifts of ripe peaches, corn on the cob, and a bounty of tomatoes in several different ways of preparation (lol).  I prepared them first in still compositions that made my mouth water and then we prepared them for eating!  I love to paint red things.  Red shouts energy, excitement and love!  We received our friends' love over and over:)  It is for sale here.

Crock Pitcher and Green Onions Still Life Painting

Crock Pitcher and Green Onions

6x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

We have had such a lovely garden this year.  In spite of all the bad weather and tornados in Oklahoma much of the state has pulled out of a very long drought.  We have gathered lettuce, onions and potatoes for several weeks.  Now we are beginning to get squash.  Ummmmmm.  Love that fresh food!  As I think of how I'm going to prepare these treasures I can't help but think how they would look in a painting as well.  So, I get double pleasure from my veggies.  This painting was such a delight to do.  It is listed in my Etsy shop if interested.  Click here!

Red Tomato Green Tomato and Fried Green Tomatoes

Red Tomato Green Tomato

8x10 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Our garden has produced a huge amount of tomatoes this year.  It is so much fun to pick them, give them to neighbors and family,eat them and finally....for me to paint them.  We have had so many that I have started experimenting with different ways of preparing them in foods.  I had never actually cooked fried green tomatoes so I started asking family and friends how to prepare them.  Oh my goodness!  They are wonderful!  We are still picking them, freezing them, and giving them away as well, but I wanted to share some of my new tomato paintings.  This one was so exciting to paint.  I placed them on the window sill in my utility room.  The light is dancing all around them making such wonderful color.  They were delightful to paint.  This painting is listed in my Etsy shop.  You can check it out by clicking tomatoes.

Crock Pitcher and Radishes

Crock Pitcher and Radishes

8x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Uno Radish

6x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

The last several days we have harvested the first fruits from our garden.  This is so exciting to me because it has been years since we lived on a farm and actually grew our own vegetables.  Then we were more excited about large crops of wheat and raising cattle and kids.  We liked gardening then, but didn't slow down and "enjoy" the remarkable process of watching the seeds grow to something edible and beautiful.  When we picked our first beauties....red radishes and green onions this year I couldn't wait to paint them.  Then we ate them!  These paintings can be purchased by following this link:  Original Oil Paintings by Cheri Wollenberg by ChatterBoxArt

Pansies in Blue Enamelware Cup

Pansies in Blue Enamelware Cup

8x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

It has rained a lot in Oklahoma this week.  It is also spring break for most schools in Oklahoma so two of my grandchildren have been staying with us and we have had quite a time.  When the sun peeked through the clouds we planted flowers and seeds in our vegetable garden.  We have also transplanted a lot of small potted plants....a good project for grandchildren.  I also have found a lot of nests lately, and  I cannot throw them away.  So, as I arranged some pansies in a blue enamelware cup I placed one of the little nests beside it.  I had to borrow some chocolate candy Easter eggs to provide my nest with the look of a potential family and here my painting is!

Blue and Pink Hydrangea

Blue and Pink Hydrangea

12x12 Original Oil Painting on Wrap Around Canvas

by

Cheri Wollenberg

Composition is always one of the first things I think about when I begin the process of painting. I have found that it is better for me to think things out first. When painting from a picture as beautiful as the one Dana Marie has provided, many decisions seem to be already made for me. It is rather tempting to paint exactly as the image. Since it is such a wonderful image in the first place, I began to think first in terms of originality and format. Where should I place the focal point? I didn't want to copy her image exactly. I decided to go for a square format, 12x12, and squeeze the clusters of hydrangea a little closer. Next, I changed a couple of the flowers to shades of pinks and red blue-purples. Early on as I painted I wanted to use more yellows and yellow oranges in the background to complement the blue and purple shades of the hydrangea. This set a perfect stage for the little yellow beauties to become more harmoneous to the whole composition. What fun! Thank you Dana Marie. Hope your move goes well.