New Glass Art Jewelry

This is one piece of a new line of Art Jewelry I am making, based upon my watercolor / pen & ink paintings. You can see more, along with the prints and notecards, in my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/TheDesertStudio

"Natural Beauty"

5 x 10

Oil on Canvas

(c) 2011 NL Matus

Here's a small plein aire study I completed recently on an adventurous drive in the desert nearby. The sun intensified the colors in the rock, creating sort of a shimmer effect. I was interested in using complimentary colors to try to capture that visually. And the cracks and effects of erosion are so beautiful when you look at the new patterns they create. The Arizona landscape is full of scenes like this, and is very satisfying to use as a model!  

For prints - on paper, framed/matted, or on canvas, click link below:

Blush

"Blush"

Oil on Canvas board

5 x 7

(c)2011 NL Matus

The gorgeous shades of pink, salmon, and magenta just glowed in these cactus blossoms, and I couldn't wait to try my hand at painting them. I worked with a larger brush than I am used to, and painted this in one sitting. My goal was to capture the first impressions I had of these flowers, and not to get hung up in the background, but to suggest the prickly setting they were in. Once again, I worked in alkyds, and find that these are a good form of oils to use in the field. They were starting to 'set up' by the time I packed up to head home, and this was pretty much dry the next day.