Portrait artist paints Orange Starts and personal notes

I got some good starts and maybe a finish yesterday. The top painting I set up like a plein air painting – trying to catch the changing shadows on oranges sitting by a North-Western window as the sun was setting. Frantic painting and then…. the sun was gone. I really like the colors.

The lower painting is “Peeling”. This one really kicked my butt. It went through a lot of changes. It felt really good to do, though. I’m getting back into the rhythm of painting daily and am starting to think about painting all the time – which for me is one of the biggest benefits of painting daily.

BUT, I am so INSPIRED! I realized yesterday what I want to make my next many small paintings about. I can’t write it down or my steam will disappear. But I’ve already started my next painting. I’m in that head-place where I could spend 40 hours strait in the studio, and I love it. Hope you like where i’m going with my paintings.

 

Portrait artist paints lemon slices on a water

Happy New Year! This month I’m going to paint as many small paintings as I can, and each one will be available for only $100 + S/H.  To purchase one, just email me with the name of the painting you want and I will send you a secure Paypal invoice (or you can pay by check).

Sexy Slice by artist Jessie Rasche / oil on canvas on board / 7×5 inches

This painting is “Sexy Slice” (feel free to suggest a better name!). It’s a painting of lemon slices – the top one is on the edge of a jar of drinking water, and those one’s below, looking up. Can you see the reflections of the other lemons on the jar?

This year is bringing a lot of new things. One minor change is a signature update. For my small paintings, I’ll be using my “R+squiggle” signature. What do you think?

 

Portrait artist paints Play (in progress). Large painting of children on merry go round

This is still the block-in phase. I’m working on getting the colors and shapes just right.

I tried this subject matter (children on a merry go round) last year. This time I’m going at it differently. My vantage point is closer to the children, and the background is a rich warm color. I’m working on getting the red yellow and blue colors to support each other and then I plan to get the children’s faces.

Move to South Dakota. Portrait artist paints Unpolished Apples – an oil painting by Jessie Rasche

Unpolished Apples / 8×6 in / oil on wood / available in my gallery of available paintings / inquire / love it guarantee

It is nice to be back online! Our move to South Dakota is pretty much complete now. Today I’ll unpack my studio, with help from my son, of course. But before that we have some serious bike riding planned. During the move, my son asked to have his training wheels off, and has been riding full steam ahead for the last couple weeks. Our new house is a couple blocks from a bike path, which we’ll be visiting frequently.

I have so many paintings floating in my head that need to get out! Love notes to Washington, and also an exploration of this new place…

About the painting shown here:
I worked to convey the dusty quality of these pretty apples. They are fresh off a friend’s tree, and bright patches of the apples show through where fingers have touched them. The apples grew on a tree in Twisp, WA and were painted close to Spokane, WA.

This painting has a similar technique / paint quality to a previous oil painting of flowers and apples.

 

Setting up at CHASE art gallery to show portrait paintings

Bright and early Monday morning I went down to CHASE Gallery (808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane WA) for the May-July show setup. It was a great experience and the show looks fantastic! I hope you’ll be able to come to the opening on Friday.

“Chase Galllery will be hosting a reception for Betty Hageman, Ellen Picken, Kathleen Secrest, and Jessie Lee Rasche on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. during First Friday! Hope to see you here!” – Spokane Arts Commission

The 4 artists (including me), Karen Mobley of Spokane Arts Commission and one of Karen’s co-workers, whose name I really wish I remembered, all worked together for a couple hours to get the show up on the walls, and in the end it looked amazing. This photo is of some of my paintings, halfway through the decision making process.

 

Snow Cow painting – landscape painting by Jessie Rasche

Snow Cows / oil on wood / approx 12 x 20 in. / available in my gallery of available paintings / inquire / Love It guarantee

This is a painting of a snowy landscape in central Washington, halfway between Seattle and Spokane off I-90. There are some cows grazing and standing close to each other. Because it was snowy and overcast, the whole scene was washed out with a beautiful warm blue-grey.

I started this painting right over the top of an old painting ‘start’ that I’d set aside, and sketched in the trees and cows right over it. I thought about using  blue or grey for the sketch, since the scene is so monochromatic. But I decided I wanted there to be some excitement, so I sketched in the darker shapes with dark red. You can see evidence of that in the pinkish color around the edges of the trees. After that I focused on getting the colors and values right, and trying to get the depth and the feeling of the day. I love painting washed out snow scenes.  I’d love to read your thoughts.

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Click for large picture

 

Orcas Island Sheep – landscape painting by Jessie Rasche

Orcas Island Sheep / 8×12 in / oil on wood / available in my gallery of available paintings / inquire / Love It guarantee

Here’s another painting that I just love, but it took me months to get a decent photo of. I finally have my setup so that I can get a good photo almost every time, and that feels good.

With this landscape painting, I wanted to convey the lushness of the pasture and the enormity and density of the trees behind. There are several sheep, both adults and babies, basking in the sun in the pasture. This was a really beautiful spot on the island.

Click thumbnail below for large image:
impressionism oil painting

Orcas Island in Purple – landscape painting by Jessie Rasche

“Orcas Island II” by Jessie Rasche Approx. 12 in x 18 in / oil on wood / available in my gallery of available paintings / inquire / Love It guarantee

I love this painting, but the original photo I took of it was terrible. I think this shows it a little more accurately. It’s pretty monochromatic – I love painting monochromatic landscape paintings – and very muted purple.

This is a painting I did a while back from a photo from our holiday to Orcas Island. That is a wonderful place to paint – I got a lot of good paintings out of that trip, some plein air and more from photos.

Click picture for large image:

Road To La Grande – landscape painting by Jessie Rasche

Road to La Grande / 36×24 / oil on canvas / see my gallery of available paintings / inquire

My son and my mom and her dogs and I went for several walks ‘on the mountain,’ and every time we drove back down I was taken by this scene with a barn-house and these beautiful colors.

I did a fair amount of rearranging elements for artistic reasons – mostly in the mountains. I am really happy with the design elements in this painting – the receding green-blue-aqua-blue violet colors as well as the bare land that repeats in the foreground and on that first mountain. I am really happy with this painting!landscape oil painting by J Rasche