Reflecting Glass Chicken

Reflecting Glass Chicken/ oil on board/ 4 x4/ $75

Cleaning up after a busy family-filled holiday. In addition to ongoing large projects, here is a small warm up still life. This time, I used a blue cloth and a little glass chicken with the reflective brush washer.


















http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/reflecting-glass-chicken/189670

I also had my painting "Apple Swirls" accepted into the Women Painters of the Southeast Third Annual Juried Members Exhibition and Sale opening in March 2014. I will post a larger image closer to the opening.

Christmas Reflections

Christmas Reflections/ oil on board/ 4 x 4/ SOLD

A small study done as a warm up before working on a large commission. I loved the red reflections of the Christmas cloth napkin on the brush washer.
Hope your Christmas was great....only a little more company and then painting full-time can resume.

Thoughtful Santa

Thoughtful Santa/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 8/ SOLD

Not many more days until Santa has visited and returned to the North Pole. I may have one more that needs to be painted. Today, I worked out painting a background loosely using rectified turpentine. Perhaps, I will be able to show you how that works out soon. I also painted and wiped a jar that just wouldn't work three times. Tomorrow will be better, no doubt!!

Christmas Magic

Christmas Magic/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 8/ $125

This little painting is a change from Santas but continuing in the season's theme.

Artist Note:  I love painting the bright red color and the orange, yellow and purple to give red its form. Recently, I have switched from cadmium yellows and orange to Holbein permanent yellows and orange. The red remains cad red light and alizarin crimson.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/christmas-magic/187845

Let's see what the elf has reported....

oil on canvas board. 6 x 8/ SOLD

This is the third Santa painting. I wonder what you think about the "elf on the shelf". I feel like Santa has gotten so aged that he has had to recruit a not-so-nice tattletale.....
I love using Santa to learn to paint. His beard and mustache cover a lot of the face and make it a little easier. That said, today I again wiped one before I got the next one to work.

Sylvan Duck

Sylvan Duck/ watercolor/ 6 x 5 1/2/ $75

Another little watercolor of a duck from Sylvan Heights. I often find adding some drips or spots onto the watercolor adds interest.
I also worked on a still life setup: something small with a trial of rectified turpentine in the background. I'll post it tomorrow. The background was very interesting and artistic using this turp. It made the surface a little tacky. Unfortunately, I painted over the background completely losing that interesting effect..but there is always tomorrow!

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/sylvan-heights-duck/187304

Ho Ho #2

Another Santa to work on my small figure series. Love the blue in this background!

Busy cleaning for company!!!


SOLD

Little Red Duck Watercolor

Little Red Duck/ watercolor/ 6 x 6/ SOLD

Before I start painting the large painting I am working on each day, I start with a small exercise to warm up. Sometimes, the "exercise" takes way too long. However, I always learn from each one . Usually, the little paintings are painted onto a piece of the back of a large painting that didn't work. This habit seems to provide the "magic" because these little gems usually just work out.
This is one of these small paintings. It is another duck from Sylvan heights. I love these colors. Sometime, I will look up what the duck species is and where it is from.

Artist Note: The form is made possible by the warm yellows against the cool cerulean/cobalt blues.

Ho, Ho, Ho

I am working on goals for 2014. I think one of them will be to continue these little studies of impressionistic people. One of my heros, Karin Jurick painted 100 criminals to learn to paint faces in her unique style. Carolyn Anderson didn't tell us how many paintings she painted to learn to paint. Instead, she remarked that "she had done this for so long...." as she masterfully corrected our messed up lips, eyes, legs etc during class. I think 100 studies sounds like a target for 2014. However, I will have to ask people to send me well-lit photo references to get enough material to do this. I would especially like to paint well-lit children for this exercise. These would not be commissioned portraits. For example, the reference Santa of this painting would not find any part of him recognizable in this painting. I even changed the color of his glasses....
Now that he is photographed, I will return to him and fix his nose and the color of his right cheek.
Otherwise, I like him pretty well.
Looking for more Santas to paint!!

In case you are interested, this is the start of this Santa painting


Below is the image that is for sale. I took down the highlight on his nose. Here is the link:
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/ho-ho-1/187151

Still Life Study #3

This painting followed 2 wipes. However, the wipes were drawing problems. My color and strokes are improving. I am working on "painterly" paint application.
Probably this is too fresh to post because I think it is improving...
Will recheck tomorrow.

Child Study #2

I loved the knobby knees on this little guy. I wanted to paint the bright sun-bleached skin on a cloudy winter day.


Artist Note: This is painted with individual brushstrokes paying attention to the edges, especially the ones that are lost. I am practicing what Carolyn Anderson taught in her wonderful workshop.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/child-study-2/186458

Child Study #1

Child Study #1/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 8/ $125

I have two directions in my oil painting presently. The first is still life which prompts me to paint directly, work with color mixing, follow light and learn to paint more "painterly" as Qiang would say.
The second is to learn to see photographs as paintings: to interpret the edges and use brush marks to paint paintings not reproduce the photographic image. Both of these exercises, I hope, will allow me to grow as an artist. Today, I am sharing a painting from a photograph I took.

Artist Note:  I like this painting's looseness. I like the lost edges, especially those produced by different colors side by side that are the same value.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/child-study-1/186045

Beagle Study

Beagle Study/ oil on board/ 4 x4/ $75

This is a small (4 x 4) painting that I did as a demonstration while at Hilton Head earlier this week.
I painted it on a primed black background. I had to wait until it dried to touch up the left eye.

Today, was a struggle. Two wipers and then finally something worth keeping. I'll post tomorrow!

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/beagle-study/185515

Study #2

Continuing on small still life paintings, after working on completing commission and entries.

Update

Home late yesterday from hanging work at Lowcountry Gallery in Hilton Head.
The space is great and the paintings look fantastic.
Here are images of some of my paintings in place.

Opening this weekend is the 6 x6 show in California. Be sure to visit the link and look at all the paintings.

Back to painting now....

Study #1: Reds

Study #1: Reds/ oil on canvas/ 6 x 8/ $75

While I have not been posting, I have been painting. Large, complicated, slow paintings and small quick studies of still life objects.
For daily painting exercise, I will work on a small still life setup for the next month. I will put the ones I like on DailyPaintworks and continue to learn from others. Let's see what a month of directed effort can do.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/sue-churchgrant/study-1-reds/184350