Sunday, May 31, 2015

Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Tomatoes 1/ 4 x4/ oil on board/ Gifted

I have been reworking old tight paintings (again). This little 4 x 4 painting (left) is much better with the looser brushwork.

As I was reworking the 5 x 5 tomatoes below, I was reading a book on drawing. The author  likened shading changes to pixels in a photograph. He suggested that to render the shapes in a human form, gradual (pixellated) changes in value were required. I raced to this lower painting which was on my easel, failing for a second go. I added tiny steps of color changes (thinking of the pixel analogy) with the goal to achieve realistic rounded tomato forms.





Tomatoes 2/ 5 x 5/ oil on board/ HH Gallery

I have posted both to FB and asked for preferences. I predict that the artists will like the more (though very slight) abstracted version above.

I am off to buy some green pears...

The book on drawing is: The Artists's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing by Anthony Ryder. It is excellent.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Watercolor of Bluejay and Pretty Pink Iris

Bluejay Study/ watercolor/ 10 x 8.75/ SOLD

This is a study for a larger watercolor of this blue jay. Like most of my paintings, I am working on the abstract/realistic parts of each painting. The red Chinese mark is a stamp that reads my name in Chinese (at least that is what it is supposed to be..could be anything, I guess). I love how pretty it is, regardless of what it says.

















Pink Iris Study/ oil on gesso board/ 7 x 5/ HH Gallery

This is another oil painting of the beautiful irises I had in my garden this year. This variety is named "Beverly Sills" and is a no fail for annual flowers. Also, the pine voles that eat the newer iris hybrid tubers seem to not care for this variety (yeah). This is painted with transparent underfloors of indian yellow, quinacridone rose and sap green. This the over layer has white (over the yellow), mixes of quin rose, cad orange (some winsor orange) cad yellow deep and white for the pinks; caribbean blue, olive green, lemon yellow and white in the foliage. The thin lines are made with the sharp edge of a flat brush.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Three paintings: Body Surfer, Apple Study Revised, Fishing

Body Surfing/ 4 x 4/ oil on board/

This weekend I worked on a couple of small paintings: First is this little body surfer. I am working on painting enough to be recognizable...




















Apple Study Revised/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 8/ HH Gallery

This is a painting that you have seen before that I decided to revise. I wanted the apples to be "lost and found". However, the previous version was "too lost" so I smoothed out the background and repainted the tops of the apples with more detail before restating the lower apple edges








Fishing/ oil on board/ 8 x 8/

Then this painting was painted over a failed floral. That means that there is no pressure and more freedom to experiment. After all, the board is already a "loss" Again, I want enough to make the viewer do all the work

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Me and My Shadow

"Color, sunlight and loose brushwork" were the goal words for my painting exercises today.  I posted this little painting quickly, so you may see it taken down and altered. Those of you that paint may be familiar with the joy you have while painting and the feeling that what you have created is "wonderful". I think sometimes, that is one's response to the meditative part and fabulous state of painting. Later, with time (or after you see it in a different light, or in a photograph) you see the same painting more objectively. Then,  you easily find areas that need to be corrected. So, we'll see tomorrow how this same little painting looks. Til then, I love it and wanted to share it!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Iris Studies Continued

Irises and Daisies/ oil on board/ 8 x 10/ revised

I am working on large single iris watercolor paintings. Whenever I am working on large watercolors, I am too tired to post. This little oil is a break from the large pieces. While in watercolor I am working on the glow and the shine and the "feeling" of the iris's beauty. In oil, I am working on choppy brushwork and impressionistic colors. This particular painting has been painted over a failed floral. Some of the yellows and oranges peeking out are from the previous painting.  My garden has moved on. The peonies and poppies are presently beautiful...and the weeds are reappearing..sigh...

Monday, May 11, 2015

Irises #1

Irises #1/ oil on canvas board/ 10 x 8/

The irises in my garden are on the last few days for this year. They have been beautiful and until just the past couple of days the weather has been wonderful to photograph them. I am working on supercargo watercolors and experimenting with more impressionistic oils.
Here is the first of this series in oil.
The darks are rich transparent colors including quinacridone rose, magenta and dioxazine purple.















Here is the latest one to bloom. Beautiful!!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Spring Finery

Spring Finery/ watercolor/ 10 x 8/

My recent posts are of larger watercolors. Their size is a little too big for the photo cube I use, so the lighting is not the best. Please know that the background is the white of the paper while I figure out my technical issues. I am working to have the birds integrated into the background or abstracting their form. Luckily I have many willing models, as long as I feed them. This guy got his new spring duds earlier than the other guys he was traveling with. I wonder if that gave him an advantage in finding a mate.

The iris I post today was tucked down and I almost missed it. It didn't develop the usual long iris stem but it is stunning even as a truncated fellow,










Thursday, May 7, 2015

Step by step hydrangeas

The hydrangeas at Lowes jumped into my cart: two varieties. Therefore, a painting was needed.

Before I start a new subject, I will often do some color or study notes. Until recently, I have used gesso-primed mat board scraps to do these. Two dear students left me some masonite primed with gesso which has been even better (until I have used it up).

I thought as I painted this color note today that you might be interested in a "how to".
Here are hydrangeas: step by step.






This is done in one go (not dried and layered). The lowest layers are transparent colors and have a small amount of linseed mixed with them. The under painting of the hydrangea blossom is magenta. The dark areas in the blossom are ultramarine blue and/or dioxazine purple. The leaf shapes are ultramarine. The background under layer is Indian yellow (Winsor Newton)

The second layer uses opaque colors. However, this layer has ONLY paint (no added linseed). To achieve the sharp square shapes, a flat brush with a crisp edge is placed edge-into the underlayer and the lower paint is "pulled into" the square shape. The colors of the hydrangea petals are ultramarine, cobalt and serves blues mixed with each other and various amounts of white. The brush is also placed on its side to achieve the narrow marks. Some deeper dark blues and purples are reapplied with thicker paint. Small dots of white mixed with a hint of lemon yellow complete a few petals.  The background is ice blue with white, ice blue mixed with cobalt that is already lighted by white, and sap green lightened with lemon yellow. The leaves are sap green mixed with lemon yellow "dug into" the ultramarine underlayer.
I hope to have the painting ready to show you tomorrow.

July 4th/ watercolor/ 10 x 8/ $125
Purchase here
                                          Here is the  added flag. Thank you for your comments!!



Studio flowers studied..ready to paint!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Spring Color!

Beach Rainbows/ oil on board/ 6 x 6/ HH Gallery

I love the bright colors on both of these paintings. They each feel like sunshine. Likely this reflects the beautiful spring weather and the wonderful flowers in the garden right now. I love painting ahead of Mother's Day. I think about color, light and love when I think about this particular day.


Geraniums/ oil on board/ 4 x 4/ HH Gallery


















I am going to share some of my beautiful garden with you since a fair amount of time is spent looking after the garden daily now. I also hope to share (soon) some sketches from a weekly figure drawing open studio.









For today, I think this one is called "Black Magic". Beautiful, isn't it?




Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Add a Flag??

I am considering the addition of a small flag in her right hand. I think the reds in the flag would work with the small amount of red on her nose and her lips. I will add to this post and add the revised painting after I receive some feedback.

Have a great day!!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Grumpy Wren

Grumpy Wren/ watercolor/ 8 x 10/ SOLD

This is not the best lighting. The background is pure white watercolor paper.
This is a little friend that has built a nest in my rose bush and is never too pleased when I have to go and take care of plants in its vicinity.

I like to imagine that technically this is a little of what I learned from Charles Reid and my own emerging strokes. Charles Reid mentioned that he liked the color choices of Bonnard and tried to have "warm and cools everywhere".
Can you see that is what I was working to remember here?

Friday, May 1, 2015

Mother's Day Bouquet

Mothers Day Bouquet/ watercolor/ 14 x 10.5/ SOLD

To have the direct application of color work in a painting, it is important to plan the areas of white spaces. These tulips are better with white areas between their petals. painting directly, this is a challenge to think about while keeping the color moving. It seems to help to think about where real value changes occur.

Clearly, more work to make this more accessible