Having a Ball II
Changed the angle and the background on the roses
Also painted this one during the day so had strong side light coming through the window
This is an 11 x 14
Over Three years!
I have taken quite the hiatus from painting. But I guess if you love something you will always come back to it.
I started easing back into it by starting an online course with Dennis Perrin on painting the flower portrait. The past couple of days I've painted some rather past their prime pink roses in a blue mason jar.
This is day one - "Having a Ball" will post day two next.
Shadows
Plein Air Memphis had an outing this morning at the Botanic Gardens and I chose this little spot along the creek with the pretty cherry trees in bloom. But my painting was really awful! I wiped it off when I got home and did a quick do over. The composition is much the same but I tried to simplify and tried to capture the long shadows from the trees. Not really happy with the second attempt either, but it is better than the first. Landscapes continue to be so very challenging for me. It's difficult to process so much information and so many colors.
Experimenting with Color
I spent most of today reading Brian Keeler's book, "Dramatic Color in the Landscape." I'm so glad I did. He's a fantastic artist, and because I am on a mission to improve my landscapes, I thought some instruction was in order. I was planning on painting in the late afternoon, but I went out and took reference photos instead.
So around 10:30 at night, I started this. Not sure what size the painting is, I think a 20x20, but it's definitely larger than what I usually do. This is the result - Keeler style!
Germantown Station Park
Today I ran out late in the day for an hour or two to paint. I looked online and found a nice park nearby. It had an amazing fountain, but it was the light of the green grass in the distance and the interesting colors in the water that drew me to this spot. My technique was very messy and I had to leave very fast when a sudden thunderstorm sprung up but overall I was happy with this effort.
I felt very in tune with my painting. My palette was so simple. I used alizarin red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue, white, permanent green light and burnt umber. I had also bought myself a round brush and experimented with the thin lines of the tree branches.
The Outback
Spent the morning out at Shelby Farms in the good company of Denise Rose for the March Plein Air Memphis outing. Wonderful location! I was pretty happy with my colors today especially the reflection of the trees in the water but not so happy with the trees. I imagine it's just going to take a while and perhaps the right kind of brushes to get the trees right, especially the big thicket of trees in the foreground. I didn't have any brushes for thin lines - must work on that! I do think I got closer to a focal point. My eyes are drawn to the trees beyond the lake, but my intention was for the thicket of trees to be the focal point - so I accidentally succeeded! Haha
Rain Clouds
We had a break in the rain for a short period today... and I took the opportunity to get out of the house, go to Shelby Farms, and paint! I have a long way to go on my plein air work. I don't know why my landscapes are so blurry. I guess I get impatient and don't focus enough on details. A painting needs a focal point, and I must find a way to put one into my plein air paintings!
Royal
This abstract was an experiment - I was playing around. On reflection, I think red is a very strong color that seems to invoke a dramatic response. It seems like when I attempt non representational abstract expressionism my abstracts seem to have a violent nature - like they are shouting at me. On the bright side, at least my work is evoking an emotion. So I am wondering if the work that disturbs me the most, might also be my best work?
Little Bursts of Color and Market Central
What a crazy week it's been! Sorry the lighting is so bad on these. These are little 6x6 abstract studies I was working on for our "Paint your own abstract" party at the Fountain Gallery this weekend. Right now they are on sale at the sidewalk sale at Market Central!
On Tuesday, I find out there's an opportunity to display some work at Market Central for this weekend's big Sidewalk Sale, so I spent most of yesterday getting ready for that. Artist Glenda Brown is sharing a wall with me, and we had to paint the wall, and hang some art.
I didn't have anything ready that I thought would work for the designer crowd that shops there except one abstract. So the one abstract (red and blue one I call "Eruption") is mine - the rest are Glenda's. Glenda is a fantastic portrait artist, and I've gotten to know her through Anne Enoch's Wednesday night painting from life group.
On Tuesday, I find out there's an opportunity to display some work at Market Central for this weekend's big Sidewalk Sale, so I spent most of yesterday getting ready for that. Artist Glenda Brown is sharing a wall with me, and we had to paint the wall, and hang some art.
I didn't have anything ready that I thought would work for the designer crowd that shops there except one abstract. So the one abstract (red and blue one I call "Eruption") is mine - the rest are Glenda's. Glenda is a fantastic portrait artist, and I've gotten to know her through Anne Enoch's Wednesday night painting from life group.
So I'm excited to now be at Market Central, and will devote some time to putting together more art for this wall!!!
Faces from You Tube
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I'm having a bit of a painting problem lately where I can't seem to find a subject that holds my interest. So I started looking on you tube and found a ton of interesting faces. This one in particular stood out to me. Love her full purple lips!Driven to Abstraction!
It's been so long since I posted! Crazy busy lately! I have been productive and have been painting, just not posting... haha!
I put a few hanging systems around the house. One in my office so I could get my paintings off the ground, and another in the kitchen. We have a very modern kitchen and so I painted a couple of abstracts that seemed to suit the room. ;)
This one was my fav of the two. Here's the other:
I plan to put a clear coat of epoxy resin on them. It will be an experiment since I've never done it before. I've ordered the stuff but it won't be here until the 18th so will have to wait a while.
Happy painting!
Jack White
It's extremely liberating to just paint what I want to paint! I was out of town for three weeks, and now I need to get some things painted for The Fountain Gallery.I've had this picture saved for a while now - and painted it today. I have a terrible summer cold and so didn't feel like doing much - so painting was relaxing.
My son didn't know who this was! I must have done a terrible job getting his likeness! In case you also don't know, it's supposed to be Jack White. I went a little crazy with his hair - the colors were just talking to me. Maybe I inhaled a bit too much paint thinner but I am really loving his hair! Haha
Cabo San Lucas
I was able to find some time today to paint the mountain here at Pedregal at Cabo San Lucas. It has these wonderful big sandstone rocks and all sorts of little caves and holes in them. They were a challenge!!!
Male Nude Model
If you're coming from Facebook - made ya look!! Haha!! The truth is I planned it this way so there is a suggestion of nudity. It really shouldn't be offensive to anyone.
I've been traveling and working a lot so I haven't had time to paint, and I miss it so very much! This morning I was able to go to the Friday paint group and get this done. So happy to be painting. This was the first time I've painted a male nude - I was pretty happy with what I was able to get done in 3 hours. I will be traveling a lot more over the next three weeks so I'm not sure if I will find time to paint, but I hope so!
Bikini Line
Painting from life at Nysha Studio in Bartlett this morning.
We had a great model! Beautiful girl. And it was a great group of artists - Sue Foell, Holly Wolfe, Terry Kenney, Jenny Miller, Tim Minshew, and Nysha.
I really enjoyed this pose. I think the back is so beautiful. The skin tones were so varied with her tan lines and the lighting - making for an interesting study! So that's why I'm calling it "Bikini Line!" Haha It's a 12"x16" Oil on Board.
When is a painting finished?
One of the hardest things for me (besides choosing a subject to paint) is to know when it's finished. I started to correct my mistakes - but after a few little brushstrokes decided that I like it just the way it is.
If I were to do more I feel like I would overwork it - and perhaps ruin it. So here's my final portrait of Mark Landis.
By the way, they posted the portrait on the Art & Craft Facebook page. You can see it here:
https://www.facebook.com/artandcraftfilm?fref=nf
Mother's Day Card
I feel like I've been on a painting marathon! Haha! The deadline to enter the MGAL National Show is today and of course I leave everything to the very last minute!
I started this yesterday. It's pretty large - on a 24x36 canvas and although I would have liked more time to work on it, I'm pretty happy with it. Cross your fingers that it gets in the show!
Plein Air Memphis!
I had such a good time this morning painting with Plein Air Memphis. We got together at the Wolf River and spend about 2 and half hours painting. Afterwards we met up and got a group photo. Such great artists - they are an inspiration to me!
So this is my effort from today. For the most part I was happy with the values. So much green! So many variations of green! I used a limited palette simply because I was too lazy (or maybe too hot) to get some more. So I was proud of myself for achieving these colors with just ultramarine, viridian, cad yellow light, cad red light, black, and white.
This is my third time going on a paint out, and I can tell I'm getting a bit better. Trees are so incredibly hard to paint!
Tag :
alla prima,
daily painting,
drawing,
landscape,
memphisart,
mgal,
painting a day,
plein air,
sketch,
Painting from Life
We had another drop dead gorgeous model in painting from life group tonight. Anne is on a roll! She had beautiful features - full lips, long neck, bright blue eyes.
I think I am bringing too large of a canvas to the group because I tend to paint a little larger than life, which I really don't like.
All in all, I was semi-happy with this one. Half way through I messed up all the edges like I've seen Sue Foell do so often. It seemed to help because my painting was too controlled up until then.
There just isn’t enough time to do everything I would like in 2 and a half hours!
Sketch
