Dear Art Friends,

This is an introduction to my art blog. I have wanted to do this for a long time because between commissions and large gallery paintings I do little oil Sketches of ideas for future paintings or just small things of beauty that strike me at odd moments. Because I paint every day, after a while, these little canvases add up.So I thought I would share them with you. I will be sending them out about every week or two. If you enjoy them, please forward them to friends on your email list. If you do not want to be bothered, no problem just cancel the blog.

Thanks, Nancy Paris Pruden

Chinese Blue with Orchid

Available at Harris Gallery, Houston

30″x30″

Textures and Patterns

Many of you have commented that I have changed my style of painting. I hope, as all artists do, that I have evolved to accommodate new techniques to fit different subject matter. This painting is a more formal style. The patterns on the background drape and Chinese porcelains is so beautiful that I didn’t want to introduce too much texture. The soft light falling across the subject matter is quiet and refined so I echoed that in the brushwork. However; the one area of impasto, the Orchid flowers in the light, was painted with gusto!

Sunflowers in a Blue Vase

Available at Harris Gallery, Houston
20″x20″

Orange and Blue…Purple and Yellow

I do enjoy using complimentary colors in my compositions, don’t I? In this painting the square format gives a more contemporary feel with basically a diagonal design. You enter the painting on the upper left with the tallest sunflower and slide your eye down the drape which becomes more purple as it approaches the yellow lemon. BLAM! If you somehow missed that the lemon was the Star, I loaded my brush with thick juicy paint and really got into impasto. KAZAM! Painting is so much fun!

Sunflowers and Pumpkins

Available at Harris Gallery, Houston
30″x40″

Textures in Oils

I have been working for quite a while now on adding more texture in the paint so that my paintings have more dimension. This painting has a pallet knife background and the brush was REALLY loaded for the pumpkins. What fun! Also this is a study in Turquoise and Orange…again complimentary colors. I had a great time sneaking those colors into the background and where ever I could in the shadows. You can add all kinds of colors in shadows and still get away with it as long as the value stays the same. This makes for a more complex and interesting painting. And you thought I was just playing.