Eggplant Studies

My garden now has some beautiful eggplants which I love to paint. Here is watercolor study. The water bleeds suggest the highlights. The soft edges and warm/ cool color changes contribute to the illusion of round form.

Here is the same eggplant, turned on its side, painted in oil, The round form is created using soft edges and warm/cool temperature shifts. The bright highlight is the lightest blue color.

Companions and Value Mapping

This is the source photo for a value exercise and then a painting. After converting this image to grey scale, I drew the shapes that could be separated and assigned a value using the Munsell system where white is "9".

If you squint, you will notice that some of the areas merge together. For example, the side of the shoe and some of the dog's legs are the same value as the sidewalk. Therefore, these shapes merge. I think this drawing of the defined values is more interesting than the source photo.

I wanted the dog walk to be at the beach, so the colors had to change. Plus I wanted a more investing diagonal separating the sand and the water. So far, the values pattern in the painting does not match the plan. The dog legs and the shoe edge that I was so happy with are a different value than the sand so I will work on these areas and see if the dog becomes less "cut out"

Companions/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 13/ Low Country

Most of the value changes in this version were darkening the beach. As always, it is so interesting to see how changing one color affects others around it. For example, the blue is the same and yet it looks darker to me in this new version. The dog seems to be moving more here as well. Ready for the next exercise

Out Wandering

Out Wandering/ oil on canvas on board/ 7 x 13/ SOLD

I started a new class. We began with values. My assignments this lesson included converting master paintings to grey scale, creating both a 5 and 9 value grey scale  and then taking photographs, simplifying them and assigning vales to the simplified images. With value on my mind, I worked on some of the problems I had been having with this little study and was delighted to find solutions,


Here are my value scales. Next post I'll show my source photo, value pattern and the study I did.

These were painted on old mat board on which I had applied quick layer of gesso. Not beautiful but cheap and it works.

Out of the Garden

out of the Garden/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 16/

The garden is starting to have regular veggies now. Some are "shared" with the backyard critters, if I get out late.
This painting had several backgrounds that worked less well than this grey and grey blue. Interesting to me was how nicely the blue made the reds "pop". I have new glass jars arriving soon.....

Small Studies

"Moo are you?"/ oil on canvas board/ 6 x 8/ SOLD
Purchase here

I am working on small studies. After debuting on line, some will look for forever homes via galleries in South Carolina or by way of a sale here in September. Some will be gifted and some will likely be overpainted or adjusted.
I wish I had photographed these as I struggled to correct what I thought would work (and clearly didn't) but improved by altering color(s).

Donuts for breakfast/ oil on board/ 5 x 5

Peach Study/ oil on canvas board/ 5.25 x 5.25

Beach Study #2

I am just home from visiting Portland where my sister Kate Church (link) was teaching at NAIDA and my daughter Martha Grant (link) is a free lance artist. We made a day trip to Seattle to see my painting at the NWWS International Exhibition and stopped by the wonderful Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibition.
Now, almost back on East coast time and rested from sleep deprivation on the trip, I am painting again.

Beach Study #2/ oil on canvas board/ reworked

Here is the second of a series of beach paintings I am working on.
I love the grass on North Carolina beaches and all the colors in the sand.

Zinnia Study #3

Zinnia Study #3/ oil on board/ 8 x 8/ Low Country

Fishing Creek Flowers are always beautiful, healthy and inspirational for painting. I am continuing to work on bright color and the flowers belonging or merging into background. This is the third one I have done.

Color: Zinnias 1

Zinnias 1/  oil on board/ 4 x 4/ Low Country

I thought I would do a series of bright zinnias (maybe some nasturtiums also) over the next few days. The colors are gorgeous. My thought is to have the bright colors emerge from bright colors. Let's see how this works out!
Here is the first: hot pink/red.

High Key Little Pig

I struggled with this cute little pig yesterday. I don't mind struggling over a painting. however, I like to understand why something isn't working. Let;s start with the eyes. I usually like very realistic eyes but they didn't work in this little pig, so I left the little button eyes, though this was after several repainting. The colors: pinks are always a challenge for me and I had to have a "cool" to set back the left side of the face and a "warm" to round the advancing parts of the pig. I finally settled on glazing a purple mix and a light yellow over the underpainting. I also glazed a thin white over the background to add more light. Maybe all of my struggles were with the high key and limited value range of this little guy.  happy 4th!!