Winter Blooms - An original floral painting by George De Chiara

Winter Blooms © 

8x6 inches   Oil on Panel

George De Chiara

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 A couple of years ago, my wife went to a baby shower for a good friend of hers. As a thank you gift, the hostess gave everyone a small potted flower. When she brought it home we added it to our garden plants and over the years it's continued to grow. We've transplanted it into a larger pot every summer and every winter I bring it into the studio so it doesn't freeze. Last winter, I noticed the oddest thing, it actually bloomed when I brought it into the house. It kept the flowers all winter, but as soon as I put it back outside in the spring, it quickly lost all the flowers. It stayed this way all summer and fall. Again this year when the weather turned cold I brought it back into the studio and again it bloomed. Not sure why this happens. It seems backwards to me, but I'm not complaining, I love having fresh blooming flowers in the studio to paint!

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Avocado - An original still life painting by George De Chiara

Avocado ©

6x8 inches   Oil on Panel

George De Chiara

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 It's been sometime since I've posted anything on this blog, so please accept my apologies. Not to start a pity party for me, but the last few weeks have been...well, full of surprises. First off, my main computer crashed a few weeks before Christmas. After several attempts to revive it, I finally had to just let it go. Luckily, I had backed up its content to an external drive fairly regular, so only a small amount of data was lost. Then after the new year I got pneumonia and was laid up in bed for several weeks. Not a fun way to start the new year, but finally I'm feeling well enough to get back into the studio and paint.

 I've noticed on sunny days that there is a small window of opportunity where the sun shines into my studio in a most wonderful way. I've never been able to find a light that can illuminate my still life set ups in the same way the sun can. Unfortunately it doesn't last for very long, maybe 2 hours at the most and it moves quickly, but if I'm ready for it I can paint a small painting like this one under the natural sun light. I do have to move my still life once or twice to keep the lighting the same, but other than that it works like a charm.

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A Sunny Bunch - An Original 6 x 8 Still LIfe Oil Painting by George De Chiara

A Sunny Bunch ©

6x8 inches  Oil

George De Chiara

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With this still life, I was trying something new for the lighting - the sun! For a few hours every morning the sun streams into my studio through the large south-facing windows. I know,  most artists dream of a studio with north facing windows and I do too, but for now, this is what I have. Normally I try to avoid setting up my still life arrangements anywhere near this window since I can't control the light and it moves very quickly, but while I was setting up for a still life painting I happen to place these tomatoes down on a table sitting in that sun shine coming through my window. All it took was one look to make me want to try to capture what I was. I loved the quality of light striking the tomatoes and quickly got to work trying to get it down on canvas. Like a plein aire painting, every few minutes I could see the light had moved and continued my fast paced painting. After about an hour, I actually had to move the entire set up a few feet to get it back into the same lighting I had started with. It reminded me of painting outside, but in the warmth and comfort of my studio. I can't wait to tr it again!

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On Winter's Heels - An Original 8 x 6 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

On Winter's Heels ©

8x6 inches  Oil

George De Chiara

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 Well, it looks like this might be the last of the fall color paintings for this season. The winter weather has arrived here in north Texas and it is cold and icy.  I guess the next few days will be spent in the studio working on still life paintings, perhaps glancing over at these last few fall paintings and remembering the warmer weather. Currently the weather prediction is that we will break out of our below freezing temps around Tuesday. Yikes! Now what did I do with those long johns...?

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Nature's Fireworks - An Original 8 x 6 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Nature's Fireworks © 

8x6 inches  Oil

George De Chiara

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 Believe it or not, it was almost 80 degrees here today. Almost incomprehensibly, the weather is supposed to drop below freezing tomorrow, so I wanted to do a few more plein air paintings. These trees are in a little wooded lot not far from my home. I must have driven by these a million times before stopping to paint them.  I was attracted to the color and contrast of the leaves. With the long branches of the tree stretching out across the scene it sort of looked like an explosion of color, hence the name of the painting.

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Winter Gourd - An Original 8 x 6 Still Life Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Winter Gourd ©

6x8 inches  Oil

George De Chiara

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 After last Halloween, my daughter and I harvested some of the seeds from the pumpkins and gourds before putting them in the compost pile. We dried the seeds and stored them to plant this year. We got the seeds in the ground a little late and didn't have any pumpkins or gourds in time for Halloween this year, but let the plants continue to grow anyway. We did manage to get a few miniature pumpkins and gourds before the first frost killed the plants. My daughter loved going out every evening and checking their progress, so I'm sure we'll be planting these again next year. Hopefully, I'll remember to get them in the ground a little sooner. In the meantime, I'm enjoying painting the ones we got this year.

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Fall On The River - An Original 8 x 6 Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting by George De Chiara

Fall On The River © 

8x6 inches  Oil

George De Chiara

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 We are very fortunate to still have sunny warm days to go out painting in this late in the year. Make no mistake about it, winter is on its way, but it seems to take its time getting to Texas. In the meantime, its great weather for painting, especially while the fall color is still so strong. A friend of mine suggested the location for this painting. This is one of the many little streams and rivers that feed rain water into Benbrook Lake. While we haven't had a lot of rain lately, there has been enough to have some water in the river.

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