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.

Roses for Matt

And Ellen

We lost a dear friend this weekend and I want to send flowers. Matt was bigger than life and multi-talented. He built a beautiful marriage with Ellen and a highly successful company and still had time to raise 5 fine daughters. He was also an artist and a musician and to top it all off he could cook! Matt was a thoughtful friend, always eager to help our children, and loved to be the Host. At Matt and Ellen’s parties everyone felt at home. He was a highly creative thinker and an engaging conversationalist. He leaves a very big void in many people’s lives and we will miss him. Somehow sending a single bouquet is not enough. Matt should have the whole rose garden.

Shadow and Light

Importance of Strong Value Shapes

I always think of value shapes that are interesting before I start a painting. In other words, is the dark and light pattern pleasing and unique? This little painting has only two values so it is easy to see what I am talking about, but it is a good idea to keep your painting to no more than 3 values. You need to remind yourself that the lightest highlight in the Shadow shape in still darker than the darkest dark in the Light value shape. Another way of saying this is to keep your darks in the dark and your lights in the light.
This little painting was painted in San Miguel de Allende.The Shadow shape is cast from an old tree and the side of a church. The Light shape is the town beyond. If all else fails SQUINT!

Secret Garden

Behind the Walls in San Miguel

San Miguel is full of hidden treasures. From the street you will only see a door and maybe a window that faces onto the cobblestone street, but open that door and a whole new world unfolds. This 400 year old colonial town in Mexico is built on the side of a mountain so you might get a glimpse of these hidden treasures if your balcony happens to be above their property. This was my happy situation last summer when I painted this “Secret Garden”. I don’t know where the path goes and never saw anyone so the property must be huge which only adds to the mystery of the place. Hope I don’t get arrested for snooping when I go again this year.

Mountain Sunrise

Good Friends

Call me crazy but sometimes while painting objects I feel the personalities of the shapes. These three trees struck me as three good friends. They are planted close to each other, but each tree is very different and unique and they give each other room to grow. I painted this last summer on a ranch near San Miguel de Allende. Our painting group got up early that morning to see the sun rise over the mountains spilling pink and yellow rays over the landscape. While Houston is boiling hot, San Miguel is cool and lovely in July and August. So, I am looking forward to spending time again this summer painting the gardens and ranches in this charming colonial Mexican town.

100 Year Old Church in Art, Texas

View from Aunt Martha’s Bedroom

This little painting was done on a cold windy afternoon in Art, Texas. I had painted a cow painting that morning outside but by the afternoon the wind made me retreat to the warmth of Aunt Martha’ old farm house. As I wandered through the empty rooms I spied this scene out of the front bedroom window. Eureka! A charming view of the old Methodist church seen through the comfort of the house window! Then the same cows wandered over to that pasture and I was set.

Beautiful Bellville

Friend’s Family Farm

This Spring, while the wildflowers were still wildly blooming, a friend graciously offered a place to paint at their families’ farm near Bellville, Texas. I drove up one Saturday morning hoping I had written the directions correctly because no one was to be there that morning. After turning off the highway I drove for a long way on a dirt road through a dense forest. The longer I drove the more anxious I became. ( I am not that great about dirrections.) Then, all of a sudden, I burst out of the forest on this lovely view. I felt like I was in a Fairy Tale! Bella Bellview!