Vintage Tricycle

6" x 6" oil on gessoboard


I came across this great little vintage tricycle
on Etsy Status Dog and loved the photo of it. I asked
permission to paint it for my "practice" in painting.
I learned the importance of a good background to enhance
the subject matter. Still trying not to add every little
detail in a painting. My brain is wired for detail
so it is harder for me to do the basics, so I need
to put a time limit on my painting time.

Little Wren

5" x 7" oil on canvas

My third successful painting...some have been mediocre
and so I scraped off the paint before it dried and
tried a different subject...cute little bird and fun
subject to paint. Enjoying painting with payne's gray
and how adding various blues affect the value. Learned
just how much faster burnt sienna and "browns" dry,
so much faster than the other colors. I did
this painting in about 3 hours so I didn't have
to finish it the next day and oil in on half
dry paint.

Red Tricycle

6" x 6" oil on gesso board

A painting I did of a vintage tricycle
I saw in a second hand store. I loved
the red and white color combination and
the memories it brought back of growing
up in this time period when they were
used by my generation.

Just Practice

This is my first attempt to paint every day. My
struggle to get in the mood to paint has taken a
different direction. I am no longer stressing about
painting that perfect painting anymore and am taking
the next 6-8 months to "just practice" the techniques
in the medium of oil. Trying to paint every day and
use smaller canvases or gessoed hardboards. Hope to
see improvement in the next few months.

"Day Break"

watercolor 18" x 20"
Prints available
e-mail: lilesart@yahoo.com

Photo reference of the pinto horse had mud
on the horses' fur, not a pretty photo to
paint. Decided to paint more of a texture
appearance to the horse hair and add touches
of blue in the white areas to add interest
and soften the hard edges between white
and dark areas.

Dry Dock

watercolor

Inspired to paint a marine scene since I am
around the water now that I'm in Port Angeles,
Wa. Will try to do more of these to expand my
subjects, not everyone loves portraits.

My Imperfections

watercolor 12" x 13"

I have been going through my older paintings
deciding on finishing, tossing, or framing it.
Decided to finish this one and set it aside
to contemplate if I should frame it or store
it away. This painting is about our perception
of the "beautiful people" that they are perfect
in every way. We constantly judge other people,
especially those more beautiful than us. Everyone
has imperfections, visual or not. Stop judging
and concentrate on what we have in common.

Dusk

pastel on wallis paper 5" x 7"


I haven't done a pastel painting in a long time and
decided to take out the pastels and play around with
different color combinations. Tried to stay away from
natural color of the subject, this one is from my
imagination about an hour from the start of my doodling
around with color combinations. I will do more soon as
this was a good exercise learning about color and just
going with your instincts.

The Red Head

9" x 12" on gesso hardboard

My third attempt at painting a portrait in oil.
I am learning about the different mediums that are
used with oils and the canvases vs hardboards. Had
some issues with this one, but I am learning from
my mistakes.

Water-based oils

8" x 10" oil (NFS)

I bought some water based oils since my art
supplies were packed away during our move and
did a practice painting of Tidor's Nagley painting
to see how the water based oils worked and study
Nagley's style. They clean up nice with just water,
but they do not have the nice buttery feel while
painting. For sketching or plein air painting,
they would work well. Drying time is about the
same as regular oils.

Sea Stack

11 x 14 oil
Been busy with family and moving to another state.
Finally settled and now I have time to paint again.
This is an oil painting of the sea stack at the
local beach here in Port Angeles, WA

This is a collage that my daughter,
Alyssa Liles, has been working on and
finished recently for her class at MCAD.
It is titled "Self Glorification". Visit
her blog and check it out!

Old Woman

I haven't painted a portrait for months, so this is the
second try on this one. This is from a photo taken by
Kaiwalya Rangari, a graphic and website designer
who lives in India that gave me permission
to paint his wonderful photo of an old woman he
took on one of his recent trips. I may paint a few
more paintings of this photo and try to leave out
more of the details of this photo.

Peachy Keen

BUY NOW

oil on hardboard 6" x 6"

Still practicing my oil painting. Pleased with
this one as I was inspired by the juicy colors
of this pitted peach slice. Nothing better than
a ripe juicy peach full of peachy flavor.

Forever In Bloom

oil on hardboard 6" x 6"

Haven't painted much this summer, but
did this small one while sitting outside
enjoying a wonderful day.

On the Beach

6" x 10"

This is a 40's photo that I transferred to
watercolor paper and then painted with fluid
acrylic paints. Love these old classic photos
of the past.

Help Japan Challenge- SOLD

oil on hardboard 9" by 12"

I am donating a painting to be auctioned off
to help raise funds for the Japanese Relief
Fund on the Dailypaintworks website.
If you are interested in this painting or any of
the others posted on their website, click on the
above link to bid. The sale of this painting will
be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Burnt Out

oil on hardboard 6" x 6"

I haven't done an oil painting for quite awhile
and did this one as a daily painters challenge
of zippo lighters. The only colors we could use
was ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, and white.
The hardest part was painting in those air vent
in the lighter, had to redo them three times
before I was ok with it.
Also working on two watercolors when I have time.

Daily Crossing

nfs watercolor

A painting I did way back in 1997 which was
to hang in a restaurant in town with a group
of local artists. I was actually in the
process of painting it as I received a call
to see if I had the painting ready to hang in
three days,...I work better under pressure,
just glad I didn't mess it up really bad. I
have since learned not to put a date on the
front of your paintings. My youngest daughter
called dibs on this one.

Reflecting

pastel 13" x 19"

My latest "fix it" after the painting stayed
packed away for several years. It was way too
dark on the left which made the painting seem
heavy on that side. I lightened that area and
evened out the colors more and it is much better
now. Will probably work on it a little more.
This is a painting of Rattlesnake Creek in the
early fall. Now on to other things.