Oil paintings by Abbey Ryan

Showing posts with label onion. Show all posts

Still Life of Blue & White Bowl with Onion

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This blue & white bowl was given as a gift to me. #gifts #grateful. Follow this link to see more of my still life paintings that were inspired by generous gifts from people in my life.

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see Still Life with Onion and Bowl (2010), Still Life with Cherries, Silver Bowl, and Dutch Cheese (present moment) (2018), or a bunch of my paintings of onions or bowls or blue & white objects.

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Spring Onions (larger painting) (+ my parents' new children's book)

Spring Onions, 8 x 10 inches, oil on linen on panel
Available - framed
Contact me at abbeyryan@gmail.com for purchase information

I have mentioned in the past that Thomas Merton is my (middle) namesake. If you're interested, I am happy to share my parents' forthcoming book publication. They collaborated to create The ABCs of Thomas Merton: A Monk at the Heart of the World, which is due out in May 2017 (Paraclete Press). You can follow along a bit at their wonderful "ABC's of Thomas Merton" blog here. The book is for young readers (age 5-9), parents, grandparents, teachers... anyone who would enjoy learning about the major events in Thomas Merton’s life and the choices he made along the way to become the world’s most famous monk and hermit. I don't say it often enough -- but I'm very fortunate to have such talented, passionate, and inspiring parents. My mom, Elizabeth Ryan (the illustrator) is a painter with a degree from the Tyler School of Art. For over thirty years she has taught painting and shown her work in galleries throughout New Jersey. My dad, Gregory Ryan, is a founding member of the International Thomas Merton Society. He has published articles and book reviews in a number of Thomas Merton journals, and was an elementary school teacher for over forty years.

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see a few smaller Spring Onions paintings.

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To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Spring Onions (larger painting) (+ Artist Louise Bourgeois on How Solitude Enriches Creative Work)

Spring Onions from Red Earth Farm
oil on linen on panel, 8 x 10 inches, available
Email abbeyryan@gmail.com for purchase information

Note: I'm going to be away from my studio and blog for the next week.

"Our capacity for what psychoanalyst Adam Phillips has termed 'fertile solitude' is absolutely essential not only for our creativity but for the basic fabric of our happiness — without time and space unburdened from external input and social strain, we’d be unable to fully inhabit our interior life, which is the raw material of all art. That vital role of solitude in art and life is what the great artist Louise Bourgeois explores in several of the letters and diary entries collected in Louise Bourgeois: Destruction of the Father / Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and Interviews, 1923–1997. Here's a quote:

'Solitude, a rest from responsibilities, and peace of mind, will do you more good than the atmosphere of the studio and the conversations which, generally speaking, are a waste of time.'" ~Louise Bourgeois

[Source: Maria Popova, "Artist Louise Bourgeois on How Solitude Enriches Creative Work"]

To purchase my work, view my Current Auctions and All Available Paintings.

Best,

Spring Onions from Red Earth Farm (+ More Thoughts on FOOD)

Click to view auction

These fresh-picked spring red onions are from my Red Earth Farm CSA. Last spring, I painted their white onions, and in that post, I also gave my unsolicited review of the amazing 30-Days Raw eCourse that I had just completed online at Viva Institute. You can read last year's post here.

Workshop Testimonials
Continuing with sharing feedback from my recent Sedona Arts Center workshop participants, below is one more comment. I'll post a few more this week.

"Abbey has a rare talent -- that of a gifted painter and teacher. I gained so much from watching her meticulously set up her still life, while describing the importance of placement and light. Her demos were invaluable -- explaining everything from materials to process -- and the outcome magical. I loved Abbey's wonderful energy and the overall ambiance of this workshop -- peaceful, creative, supportive, and challenging all at the same time. I am so thankful so have had the opportunity to meet and work with this amazing artist." ~S. Greer, susangreer.com

If you're curious about working with me, a good place to start is my workshops page.

Happy Monday,

Spring Onions from Red Earth Farm (+ My Thoughts on FOOD)

Click to view auction

I love being a member of the CSA at Red Earth Farm because I every week I get tons of beautiful (and delicious) food -- like these stunning spring onions that were just begging to be painted.

Speaking of food—and as someone who paints food basically every day—I want to share this with you. I rarely "endorse" things on my blog, but I'm too excited about it to not share.

I recently completed this 30-day online Raw Food course and it is, by far, one of the most fun, rewarding, and enjoyable things I've ever done. I had been curious about a raw food diet for a long time (for health reasons), but was nervous about my lack of knowledge about raw food & proper nutrition, and also how much work it might be to eat that way (I have never been much of a kitchen-guru).

I just completed the six-week online program, and I had the best time! It is so much easier than I thought it would be, I understand proper food combining, nutrition issues, recipes, and all that... and I feel like I am experiencing foods "for the first time" in learning about raw food. Here I am making kale chips.

If you're curious, I encourage you to check it out (their next course starts soon). It is obviously still new for me, but I can say that I am already seeing first-hand the amazing health and spiritual benefits of a raw vegan lifestyle. I am inspired, I need a lot less sleep, I have more energy than I know what to do with, I am so excited about food, and I feel physically amazing.

And what I want to begin to write about here is something that I didn't expect would happen: all of this energy and excitement is actually spilling over into my daily painting practice—in the ways that I qualitatively relate to my painting subjects. It is especially humbling and inspiring after all these years of painting fruit and vegetables every day. It's complex, nuanced, and a big topic for me, so I'll be writing more about this soon.

Finally, this all relates to the amazing place I recently visited in Arizona (other than Ajo) called the Tree of Life. More on that soon, too.

P.S. This was my own 100% completely unsolicited/unaffiliated post about 30 Days Raw.

Spring Onions from Red Earth Farm will be sold by auction that will end at 12:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, June 26th. View Auction

Enjoy,

Still Life with Green Pepper and Red Onion (& Half A Million Thanks)

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Note: This 24 hour auction ends on Wednesday, October 3rd at 6 PM EST.

All I can say is WOW. I am thrilled to report that my contest to give away 5 signed prints in honor of my blog's 5th anniversary was, by far, A HUGE SUCCESS. (If you missed it, details of the contest are here on facebook or here on my site).

My site recently surpassed half a million visits from folks in over 100 countries. With this contest, I had hoped to convey my gratitude for your amazing continued interest in my work. There were more participants and more new fans than I could have ever anticipated, and I've been overwhelmed with so many wonderful and inspiring emails, messages, and comments from all those who've been newly introduced to my work through this contest.

I'm truly humbled by the response, and now feel even MORE gratitude.

The arts are invaluable.

This is the message you've sent by your actions and visits, and it's a true gift to me.

Namaste,

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FRAMED VIEW

Still Life with Olive Oil and Onion (+ GIVING)

4 x 3.5 in., oil on linen on panel
Click to view auction

Both of the objects in today's painting were given to me as gifts (my mom gave me the olive oil, which I've never painted before, and my sister gave me the onion). If you enjoy today's painting, please leave a comment here or share it with your friends using the links below (or tweet it).

Speaking of giving...

It is on my mind, so today I'm writing about causes that mean a lot to me (you can find this on my website in the "Inspiration" section).

The two causes that I am working the most to support right now are Helena's Healing Fund and Casey's fundraiser for Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Also, if you'd like to check them out, here is my (current) complete list -- there are some inspiring things happening...
Nakashima Foundation for Peace
Potters For Peace (part of my Paintings of Handmade Pottery project)
Conservation Society of Pohnpei
Jami Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship Fund
National MS Society
Quincy Lee Foundation

If you want to share, I would love to know what causes are on your mind today -- please leave a comment here.

ENDING SOON
The auction for Golden Series: Strawberries, Blueberries, and Two Figs ends today at 3:30 PM EST. View auction

Thanks for reading,

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FRAMED VIEW