This is the final painting from Kelli Folsom’s Painting Roses Masterclass series. ( I bought this Masterclass as a stand-alone series, but now you have to join her Vital Art Sessions or Art Life School to see it).
It was so much fun to paint. For the background I experimented with ‘12 Shades of Grey’ that I bought from Jerry’s Artarama last year. It was a bit risky, since the tubes do not list their pigments, but I liked the background effects that resulted.
This is the second full painting in Kelli Folsom‘s Painting Roses Masterclass. I loved painting it!
Yellow Roses, 11 x 14, Oil
After I enjoyed the lesson by Kelli Folsom so much (Terracotta Pot with Grapes, that I painted with my sister), I bought her Masterclass on painting roses. The first lesson was black and white studies of roses structure and form and the second lesson was on colors for roses.
This painting is from the third lesson. It included instruction on still life set-up, composition and colors. Kelli has such a warm, friendly and encouraging manner that it is a pleasure to listen to her, and her information is always useful. I loved doing this lesson!
My two sisters came to visit me Nov-Dec 2021, to celebrate my significant birthday on the day after Thanksgiving. We all have art interests and I was very happy to be able to paint with my sister Hilary. We both painted from the same lesson by Colorado artist Kelli Folsom, in the free Intro to Art Life section of her website.
It was so much fun and we were both pleased with our results!
As I was raking up the leaves in the fall, I found this small and beautiful nest on the grass. All sorts of fibers are wound into it; pieces of grass, trash and even animal, and possibly human, hair. It is such a marvel of skillful engineering that I wanted to celebrate it in a painting.
I placed it with a maple leaf (from our lawn) and an oak leaf (that probably blew across the street from the neighbor’s yard) and gave it a title that is in line with our stage of life-they’re nearly all gone!
Painted with Geneva Oil Paints.
6 x 8 ins, oil on canvas sheet
This little brass pitcher is special to me because my dad made it when he was 16. He passed away 10 years ago, and I have this on my kitchen window ledge now, reminding me of him.
I thought it would look good with these two citrus fruits and I am pleased with the result.
Here’s another simple still life, 6 x 8 inches. I set it up on a piece of wood right next to my easel and tried to paint what I saw. I’m loving the feeling of oil paints.
The next still life adventure was a white mug from my pantry and four pieces of colored paper (see the still life set-up below). I followed the guidelines by Carol Marine in her book ‘Daily Painting’ for the set-up and painting the ‘vulnerable’ areas first (the white cup). I loved painting the colors of the paper reflected in the white mug. My favorite is the lower right painting. (They are each 6 x 8 ins).
Then I tried a square format (below). The shape was interesting but i felt it didn’t add anything to the painting. I also changed the pink color, and I didn’t like this one as much (not so bright).
Next I worked on peppers in traditional oils, 6 x 8 inches on canvas paper. The green pepper is from a Patreon lesson by PaintCoach, Chris Fornataro, and the red one is from a still life that I set up myself. 
marymayhewart 