Cherries in a Blue Bowl

May 28, 2026 / Merilee / Leave a comment

Some paintings always seem to start with a trip to Trader Joe’s. Like last Thursday when I went in to buy food for Memorial Day Weekend. I saw the cherries. Then I thought, well, what if I threw them in a blue bowl and did a quick study in red, white and blue for the holiday? So I did. But I did not end up finishing it until today.

I really, really enjoyed painting cherries and trying to capture the juice that is inside, to feel as if you can taste it. Tart, sweet cherries.

Oil on linen board

16″ x 20″

Purple Tulips

May 21, 2026 / Merilee / 4 Comments

One day about a month ago I decided to buy a bunch of purple tulips from Trader Joe’s so I could paint them. Nothing serious. Just a quick, fluid study of tulips. I was rather down at the time and thought that a fast floral might perk me up. Well, it did, but it became a thing. Several weeks and four, separate bouquets later (because tulips get kinda yucky after three days and need to be tossed) this is the final outcome. It became a hard course in “I’m gonna make this work”. No being precious. Just hardcore, teeth gritted “You’re gonna do what I want you to do or else.” The composition changed and shifted and I tried to keep it effortless as best as I could, without falling too far down into the detail trap.

I’m pretty pleased with my purple tulips from Trader Joe’s. They listened to me.

Oil on Canvas

22″ x 28″

Floral Friday – Painting Roses

April 3, 2026April 3, 2026 / Merilee / 2 Comments

This past March was the hottest that I can remember. It was as if Autumn went directly back into Summer and skipped both Winter and Spring. Temperatures in the high 80’s and 90’s, even 100 in some places. It didn’t just nudge my garden, it shoved it into high gear, sending leaves out on trees that don’t normally leaf out until late April, and my wisteria shot into full bloom a good three weeks before it should have. This also included my roses. I don’t get my first rose bloom until April, like clockwork. This year I had my first rose in early March.

So one day after finishing a painting of the desert, which is what I’m normally doing, I decided to paint some roses before they burned up in the heat. This then led me down a path of “I want to paint roses”. There is something satisfying about painting roses, especially if you can grasp the complexity in as simple a manner as possible. That is not easy.

Pink Roses

Oil on canvas

18″ x 24″

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