Margret E. Short Fine Arts

Portland, Oregon artist Margret Short - a modern day master of 17th Century Dutch art using the chiaroscuro technique to create still life and floral paintings.

oil painting

Offerings to the Spider Woman

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  Visions of the Southwest Exhibition Offerings to the Spider Woman By Margret E. Short, OPA, AWAM © 2012, 13x15  Oil on Linen, Lessons from the Spider Woman, a pigment project by Margret E. Short. American Women Artists Visions of the Southwest Exhibition Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona November 3, 2012 … [Read more...] about Offerings to the Spider Woman

Color Studies

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Beads and Dogwood is a 6x6 study done with the color theme described in the previous post. If you will look closely, you can see how few color mixtures are in the composition. The background was toned with Graham burnt sienna then allowed to dry. Lots of smooshing and brushstrokes were left visible so as to give lots of character to the background … [Read more...] about Color Studies

Pots, Black on Black

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Detail of black on black pottery in painting #2 Painting black on black pottery on canvas is tricky, in that, the darkest coolest black is quite dark and dense. For this I used ivory black with just a tiny addition of burnt umber dark to facilitate the drying. The Burnt Umber Dark  from Cypress is the darkest I have found. As you remember, … [Read more...] about Pots, Black on Black

Red Hot Chilis

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The chili peppers on painting #2 for the Lessons from the Spider Woman series is painted with natural cinnabar and some madder, heightened at the very end with flake white on the highlights. The stems are a simple mixture of yellow ochre and black, which makes a dazzling array of greens. Right at the finish, heighten with a little white on the … [Read more...] about Red Hot Chilis

Spider Woman Meets Wedding Planner

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The first painting in this Southwest themed project, Lessons from the Spider Woman, is finished. The entire painting, actual title, and size will be revealed as time draws closer to the exhibit date. My artistic license is used lavishly here not only in the Spider Woman mythology but also in the imaginative depiction of the story. Spider Woman is … [Read more...] about Spider Woman Meets Wedding Planner