Zinnia Study #3

Zinnia Study #3/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ sold

I love zinnias. This week my sister-in-law painted a beautiful painting with well-executed zinnias. Her painting inspired me to paint my own small study today.

Kentucky Foal #4

Kentucky Foal #4/ watercolor/ 6" x 8"/sold

The fourth in the series of foals from Kentucky. Using warm and cool contrasting colors for form, this one has more yellow in it.

Peek at You

Peek At You /watercolor/6"x 5.5"/ sold

This squirrel watched me as I collected images on a walk, including his.

Color Harmony

Color Harmony

I had a large painting juried into a national show and the juror commented that the painting needed better "color harmony". Color harmony is defined as a pleasing use of colors: one that has a sense of order. Many references suggest that one use complimentary colors in a painting and mix those to create harmonious grays in that painting. A different reference suggested that a painting use a "mother color".  The "mother color reference" suggested that the mother color be mixed into all of the colors of that  painting. Many references summarized color harmony as "pleasing and engaging to the viewer often with a sense of order".

The top is my painting of the Hilton Head salt marsh. After looking at the painting photographed, I wasn't happy with the colors.This was an example of "poor color harmony".

I altered the colors as seen on the lower painting and I think it improved "color harmony".

However, I painted it once more and the final painting of the salt marsh is below.

HH Salt Marsh/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ house warming

Single Pansy Study on Red #2

Small Pansy #2/ oil on board/ 4" x 4"/ gifted

This is actually the third small pansy painted on a small red-primed board. I liked the pansy against the brighter orange background.

This is another pansy study on red, painted with a knife.

Fishing Again

Fishing Again/ oil on board/5" x 7"/sold

I love this model in many ways!
Here he is fishing again.I experimented with colors and reflections in this painting. Next time I will paint this fisherman with a knife to experiment with texture.

Single Pansy Study

Single Pansy/ oil on board/ 4" x 4"/ NFS

I remember a beautiful painting I saw on DPW of a single white cosmos in a small jar on a fuchsia and pink background. That little painting is the inspiration for my small series of single flowers on different red backgrounds. This is the first.

Kentucky Foal #3

Kentucky Foal #3/ watercolor/ 6" x 7.5"/ sold

Sunlit dappled light,  warm and cool colors and lots of water.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/kentucky-foal-3/103655

Road Runner and Pear

Road Runner/ watercolor/ 5" x 6"

Red Pear and Lime green/ oil on board/ 6"' x 6"/ repainted

Another bird from Sylvan Heights. This little guy looks like he had a bad hair day. He really is a Road Runner. I will repaint him with his feet next time.















This is a painting inspired by a comment about kitchen colors. When I saw the red pear at the market, I wanted to try it with the requested lime green.

"Nice Birdies"

Nice Birdies/ oil ob board/ 6" x 6"/sold

This little girl was fascinated by the pigeons in Piazza San Marco. The hungry birds kept moving just out of her reach still managing to stay close enough to retrieve any stray scrap she might share.

Hurricane Sandy Auction Painting

Scottie/ oil on gesso board/ 6" x 6" / DPW auction for Hurricane Sandy

DailyPaintWorks, the site where I sell many of my paintings has a Hurricane Sandy Fundraiser. I have added this little painting today to this auction. 100% of my sale proceeds will go to the Hurricane Sandy effort through the Salvation Army. I chose SA because most of the donation proceeds gets into the hands that need it. If you would like this little painting, please click on the DPW auction link or go to the DPW site directly and thank you, in advance.

Bird Series continued

watercolor

This is another in my bird series. It has been done twice. The lower (first) one seemed too dark at the base of its body but I like its blues.  Neither one feels finished, so this bird will likely be painted again.

A great part of today was spent painting my first class mug shot from Karin Jurik's workshop. Karin originally painted mug shots to teach herself to paint faces. She uses this exercise in her classes. It is fairly liberating to try to paint someone you are not emotionally connected to. Last year, Karin's Hilton Head group photographed each others posing as "felons" so that as each person was painted, there was less pressure to make someone you now knew, look attractive. Maria Bennett Hock organized this effort and created a wonderful narrative: http://mariahock.blogspot.com/2011/11/hilton-head-gang-wreaks-havoc.html
Wanda Rottenfusser is our HH organizer. She is equally clever with her descriptions. Our first mug was of Karin. Although Karin is scowling, there is still the desire to render a likeness. Since this is a new endeavor, I can't post my mutilated attempt here. However, after painting all 20 of us, perhaps some will be posted.

Pin Wheels

Pin Wheels/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ sold

I read recently in Richard Schmid's book "Alla Prima" about using both thin paint (dark transparent)  and thick (light opaque) paint to add dimension to a painting. James Gurney also recently describes using white as a thick impasto to make white sparkle as it sits above and casts a small shadow on the paint underneath. With that in mind, the closer umbrella has thicker paint than the one behind it. It seems to work to me.
You can check James Gurney's blog by clicking http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com

HH Royal Tern

Hh Royal Tern/watercolor/5"x 7.5"/ sold

This bird has form because of the side by side placement of the warm and cool colors. The white on the bird's head appears brighter than the unpainted paper white because of the very light value near by.
I love the bright orange beaks on these birds.

"Got It!"

"Got It!/ oil on board/ 8" x 8"/ sold

Shhhh, this is a Christmas present. A beautiful dog caught in a wonderful photograph.

 Let's hope he loves it!

Windy Tea Party

Windy Tea Party/oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ available at Low Country Gallery )(HH)

The last days of summer are still excellent tea-making days, even if a jacket is required!

HH Heron

HH Heron/ watercolor/ 8" x 5"/ sold

This guy seemed to be as interested in me as I was in him. I crept closer and closer to get this image. It is painted again with a lot of water.

Jars #2

Jars 2/ watercolor/ 8.5" x 11.75"/ 

A watercolor warmup study after this busy week. This uses a lot of water to make the glass transparent.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/jar-study-2/101049

Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"/ sold

This little painting was also painted during Karin Jurik's workshop.
One day of Karin's workshop, the class painted 4" x 4" paintings of mug shots. Now, to continue practicing portraiture, all of the class was photographed as a "mug shot" so that as we learn to paint, no one will be offended about how they come out.  Today, we were sent the first class image. This week, I will post my first class mug shot and over the weeks, you can decide whether this is an effective way to practice portraits.
The winner of Ocober's give away please send me an address when you get your e mail.

Thank you to everyone who came and supported our 15 artist art show this week. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Now daily painting can start again.

Repainted Fall Beach Walk and Possible Auction Painting

The purple in the distant water has been removed, the color of the water has been intensified and a little of the red added to the horizon line.  I think these changes make it a better painting. Do you agree?

Daily Paintworks is having an auction for a Hurricane Sandy Fundraiser. I am thinking about submitting this 6" x 6" Scottie oil.  I will see on Facebook if there might be any interest in this little painting.

Beach Walk

Beach Walk/ oil on board/ 6" x 6"

Another painting done at Karin Jurik's workshop. The weather was cooler so beach walks had warmups and flip-flops.

I think tomorrow, I'll rework the water and repost.

Fall at the Beach

Fall at the Beach/oil on board/8"x8"/ sold

Home after a 5 day workshop with Karin Jurik. Karin uses a pizza pan as her palette to hold the many many small daubs of colors that she mixes to create her beautiful paintings. She is amazing with her tiny brush strokes and a fairly large brush. This was a great workshop with great participants to go with a fantastic teacher.  I hope you will see Karin's teaching influence in my upcoming paintings. This painting done during the workshop is of a gentleman catching the last of the fabulous Hilton Head rays.

Progress of a Painting Completed

The blue tape is removed. Fine tuning is completed. When I look at this painting as finished as I can make it, there are parts of it that feel right and others that I think I can improve on. When this happens, I will restart a painting. My goal is to have a painting painted well without a lot of reworking. Therefore, although this painting is completed, in fact it is still a work in progress.