Sights of Summer

It’s time for another bimonthly installment of “what can I tell you about?” Well, I can tell you about some new artwork!

Throughout the weeks of May and June, I worked on a couple of new acrylic paintings and made new time-lapse videos of these. The video shorts are shared below, but you can watch the full videos from beginning to end on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@marjasallproductions. If you haven’t yet, Subscribe to my youtube channel for quicker updates on my painting videos. It’s free. As I was saying, one of the paintings is an acrylic painting of zinnia flowers, and another is an acrylic painting of fresh sliced vegetables, which I titled “Burger Friends”.

The zinnia painting was derived from the zinnias in my backyard. I love zinnias. They’re one of my favorite flowers, along with sunflowers and snapdragons. I admire their over-saturated neon colors. They scream psychedelia and they bloom all summer long. To my knowledge, there are two types of zinnia – one type is a tuft of brightly colored petals, and the other kind is like a daisy, with a single row of petals around a center disc. I particularly like the daisy-type variety the best. I had started the painting a year prior to the making of this video (before I began making painting videos), so the beginning of the painting was not recorded in the full video. I titled the piece “Early-Autumn Zinnias” because summer was over, and the petals were beginning to fade and wilt. It’s mid-July right now and our backyard zinnias are still very vibrant, by the way.

I painted the other piece, “Burger Friends”, in the weeks before the 4th of July (Independence Day, in the USA). I had to step away from the painting many times to work on projects around the house, so it took longer than it should have to complete it. ”Burger Friends” is evocative of summertime grilling and the toppings we put on a burger around here. I enjoy smoking and grilling food and I do a lot of it for my household in the summertime. Aside from brisket, ribs, kabobs, chicken, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers are a common staple food during the summer months. It’s easy and delicious. Who doesn’t love hand patted quarter pound “Dad burgers”? I particularly like lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, and mayo, on mine. I can’t help but admire the beauty of freshly sliced vegetables, brightly colored, crisp, and juicy, just before I destroy the presentation by piling up my cheeseburger.

I’ve already started a timelapse video of another new painting, in between painting my bathroom and garage (different kind of “painting”). The projects keep coming.

Prints of “Early-Autumn Zinnias” and “Burger Friends” can be purchased in my online store. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!