The cake, wine and grapes make an excellent setting with some Ivy giving it an Al Fresco look! This is also homage to a Raphaelle Peale still life, a painter I admire so much.
I love painting in this Old World, Old Dutch Master Style. The Pears are from the tree down the road when it was loaded with pears last Fall. The Raspberries are from the local Berry Farm here. They are setting on one of our old family Bibles. 8x10 Oil on Canvas By Mary Ashley
The Dogwoods are blooming here and we are going to have a hard freeze tonight. So I had to go out to paint and save some of the branches of these delicate beauties. There are some pink Dogwood in the forest just down the road from me. It is about 4 pm and cloudy with some light breaks in the clouds and a chilly wind blowing. I wish we would just have one season at a time, right now for Spring!
This was painted on the White River in Cotter Arkansas early in March, later in the day around 1 or 2 pm. A warm day but still there is small patches of snow on the bluffs across the river. I have painted this spot before but never this early in the season. The man is setting here fishing quite often and usually has a string of fish!