Studies in White- Eggs

Cracked Egg #1, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Last post I shared with you my white mushroom paintings, today I share with you my white eggs.
Yes, I always had wanted to paint a raw, cracked egg. The translucent white in contrast with the bright yellow yolk fascinates me.
To give it a try was the start to my January theme of painting all yummies that could go into an omelet.
I cracked the egg onto a white plate to forgo the mess of cleaning up, haha. Here's a photo of one of the egg paintings on a tray with some of the other veggie paintings. If you have been following me on my Instagram or Facebook feeds, you have seen my 'in situ' shots and studio shots frequently.

As mentioned before, my Valentine's Outreach:
Each of these 6x6in paintings is available for sale. $100 incl. shipping. Also, $15 from each sale will be donated to 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond' who help local school children that face food insecurity. They have backpacks filled with food waiting by the school entrance each Friday as they head home for the weekend. What a wonderful world it would be if every child would have a belly filled and no worry if there's food in the fridge.

Cracked Egg #2, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Studies in White- Mushrooms

Mushrooms 1 (Three Mushrooms), 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Yup, it might sounds really funny when I say I am studying to paint whites, ey!?
The longer I paint, the more I 'look between the lines'. Meaning, I try to train my eye to see more distinct differences between cold/warm, colours, shadows, lights, edges and so on.

One of the more tricky things I find is to see the different shades of white. For example a white house might look really different on a sunshine-y day where the sunlit side looks a warm yellow and the white siding on the shadow side really is a purple-y blue. In contrast, on an overcast day the same house might look more grey-ish overall. Our brain tells us it is a white house, but our eyes (if we really look) tell us different.
Allowing to see things as they really are makes for a treasure hunt and a treat to explore.

In light of my January painting excursion themed 'How to Make an Omelet', I bought white button mushrooms. Please note the various shades on the mushrooms, shadow-light, soft edges, hard edges, shadows underneath the mushrooms... and you can also see the painting I created when they were just fresh from the store shelf, and the second painting where they have been waiting for a few days for me to get back on the easel;-)

Valentine's Outreach:

As mentioned in my former post, from each painting sold, $15 will be donated to charity: 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond'. You can read more about it here or here.
The group of volunteers is filling backpacks with food that school children who face food insecurity take home each weekend.  My kids' school is spearheading this outreach currently helping kids in 4 local schools.

Mushrooms #2, 6x6in, oil on hardboard panel, available here

Fill A Backpack With Simone

Yellow Sweet Pepper, 6x6in, oil on board, $100, available

 Happy winter 2019 everyone!

 I hope you all got a good start into this year and are safe and warm during these frigid winter temps!

As for me and my family, we have enjoyed a few nice and quiet weeks over the holidays and now into January.
Yes, and painting I have been as well- almost daily actually!
I started a fun series of 6x6in oil paintings of food. As per comment on my social feed I called it: Let's Make An Omelet!

Today I want to feature the peppers from the series.
A yellow pepper, a red one, green one and two small red hotties.

I hope to have my website updated over the weekend, listing each painting individually (if you want more info on a specific painting).
Each of these 6x6's is for sale for $100 (incl. shipping to Canada and the Continental US) and in the spirit of St. Valentine's Day I will donate $15 from each sale to 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond' charity.

Green Sweet Pepper, 6x6in, oil on boar, $100, available

Red Spicy Peppers, oil on board, 6x6in, SOLD thank you!

What is 'Backpack Blessings and Beyond'?

'Feed School Kids, No Matter The Cost' is their mission statement.
The program buys food for school children that live in homes that face food insecurity.
Before the kids leave school on Friday, the volunteers have food-filled backpacks lined up by the school entrance. The kids that are in the program know to look for them and grab a bag on their way out. The other kids don't know and so there is no stigmatism.
My kids' school is spear heading the program for St. George, Black's Harbour and Back Bay area schools. The program has been established about 5 years ago is providing weekly bags in 4 schools so far. Cost per backpack is $20 monthly or $240 per year.
This program is run by a handful of volunteers and caters to the very vulnerable of society and so I hope to give them a little plug and encouragement and a cheque on Valentine's Day.
If you want to help directly, here's their contact (Tax Receipts available):

Backpack Blessings and Beyond c/o FWC
PO Box 1092
St. George, NB, E5C3S9
506-754-1819 (Chris Sarchfield)
email: backpackblessingsandbeyond@gmail.com
Facebook: Backpack Blessings & Beyond

Sweet Red Pepper, 6x6in, oil on board, $100, available

Tomorrow I'll showcase more paintings from the series, they were so much fun to paint!

Thanks for reading along and following my painting journey;-)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!        Simone