Sandra Spencer

paintings: a yellow rose

From my garden. I think this rose is called Moonlight Romantica. It’s the plant’s first year in the ground, so I’ve seen only a handful of blooms. Is your garden blooming profusely? Mine is not. I think I need a LOT more soil amendments before I’ll see much happening. I’m glad that we get rain every few days…although we’re going into another scorching week! I’m still not so hot that I’ll be glad to see winter. Nope.

I used lavender as the background to make the yellow petals stand out better. 6″x12″ oil on cradled wood board, available here.

A yellow rose symbolizes friendship. 8″x10″ oil on cradled wood board, available here.

painting: appaloosa glance

All the fairs and rodeos around here were cancelled last summer, but it looks like we’re on for this year. I’m hoping there will be lots of models like this handsome fellow. 12″x12″ oil on stretched canvas, available here.

painting: palomino horse

The colors feel like the end of summer, don’t they? The fields are done performing, the hillsides have died back. Slow, and peaceful, down the road. Oil on cradled wood board, available here.

paintings: lemons, a chickadee, and more tulips

When I saw the reference photo (shared by Mary Beth Harrison) for these lemons, I was impressed by the vividness of the colors. The deep shadows play so well against the yellow, and the overall simplicity of the shapes is calming. I love it. 9″x12″ oil on cradled wood board, available here.

This little chickadee’s position is so playful, I had to paint him. He’s so confident, and secure. 8″x8″ oil on cradled wood board. Available here. From a reference photo shared by Stephen Williams.

More tulips from my spring garden. I love how a painting can bring summer indoors year-round. 6″x12″ oil on cradled wood board. Available here.

painting: single tulip

I’m working on a series of small flower paintings, which will look great hung singly or as a group. I love flowers, and a painting is a great forever-gift that won’t perish after a week. More to come! 6″x12″ oil on cradled wood board, ~~available here.~~ SOLD, Thank you!

painting: bee and lilac flower

Summer is underway! A few of days of this heat, and I find myself absurdly wishing for winter again. Well, not really. I wish for the temperate days of October, right before winter begins. But there’s only 3 or so or those days, and then it’s just too cold. Doesn’t the cold seem welcome right about now? We always wish for what we don’t have, because come February I’ll be wondering why I was unhappy in July.

Annnyyywaaaay, a bee painting! Spring bursts forth with lilacs, and the bees come out to play. My own lilacs, since I have moved to a new place, are about eighteen inches high. No flowers this year. I’d like to know how someone could live somewhere for 20 years and not put in any flowers. It boggles my mind. So all the flower plants are new, and maybe I’ll be able to gather armloads of flowers next summer, when the plants really get growing. Maybe. I’m hoping anyway.

Since I don’t have my own flowers yet to take reference photos, I used one provided by Marcia Akhter. Oil on cradled wood board, 8″x8″. Available here.

Lots of lovely new paintings to show off this week! Stay tuned!

painting: succulents

Intent on broadening my painting range, I stepped out of my comfort zone and picked an image with a lot of green. Some people make green look so effortless (see also: red), but for me, there is so much subtlety going on, that I don’t quite know how to blend it. Or maybe it’s because green occupies a space on the value scale that seems to fit nowhere–it’s right in the middle, yes, so should be able to substitute for blue or red, but just somehow doesn’t. Green is a mystery to me. In this painting, there’s blue shadows to indicate depth, and each leaf is ringed in coral. I thought the contrasts were pretty, and I think I finished up successfully, if I do say so, myself. I painted from a reference photo shared by Ariel Reed. 11″x14″ Oil on cradled wood board, available here. 😀

Happy Independence Day!

image courtesy of https://vintageholidaycrafts.com

paintings: tulips, and a rabbit

A sweet little chickadee adds a touch of whimsy to a formal flower arrangement. I reworked the background color, changing it from gray to yellow. There are bits of gray showing through, which adds visual interest. I painted from a reference photo shared by Wendy Hodgkins Corniquet. 16″x20″ oil on cradled wood board. ~~Available here.~~ SOLD, Thank you!

A gorgeous mama bun with her glorious, round dewlap and bit of “skirt” peeking out in back. The blue juxtaposed against the ocher makes the colors a standout, and so vivid. I painted from a reference photo graciously shared by Karina Blackaby. Available here.

3 paintings: a crow, a horse, a pug

I didn’t save the name of the person who took the reference photo (bad Sandra), but it was a photo shared on Free Reference Photos for Artists. 12″x12″ oil on cradled wood board. Available in my Etsy shop. I love how the moment is very different from most crow images.

From a photo shared by the wonderful Gary Odell. The high shadow contrast, and the piect-y mane really make this one spark. 11″x14″ oil on stretched canvas. ~~Available here.~~ SOLD, Thank you!

Lastly, a happy face shared by Sharon Shirlaw. Do I need to paint more dogs? I guess every week is a little different, and whatever grabs my attention. 8″x8″ oil on cradled wood board, available here.