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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Company: Asters, Plum



Still the same pillowcase, but with a glass this time, which makes for so much more yellow...
This is an improvement on glass. I dreamed I was doing it last night and today I understood it better and was able to simplify the shapes of paint more easily. Still, it helps to know very well the structure of the glass and get it down the first try.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Company: Crock of Grapes


Well, this one is a wiper for several reasons, the first one is wonky ellipses. But never mind, that can be eventually learned, I tell myself. The thing I like very much is the color, the close values and the richness of it. So on to the next one as fast as possible.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Company: Nectarines, Cherries


Everything going swimmingly.
I will try for purple, green, mustard, brown in the next one... just for fun. I like the middle murk range.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Company: Plums, Plate of Cherries


Easier today, everything settled down. I found an old pillowcase while cleaning up that is a virulent mustard color, very un-bedroomlike but a color I love - a strong dirty yellow. Even better with some bottle green and sable brown next to it. I'll have to see if I can do anything with this combination.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Company: Apples



OMG! It's really hard to do this when somebody is waiting for you. I'm afraid I would not be able to dismantle the bomb 60 seconds before it blows while everyone is watching.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Poblano,Cherries


I have friends visiting for the next few days, and I'm thinking I'll start a Houseguest Series, which means I will have only about an hour to work every day (I hope). My aim will be simple subject matter and no overworking. This is the first one, and now I have to vacuum.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Plums, Grapes

This was my first session with grapes, not as scary as I thought, but they definitely have their own specific characteristics...

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Right Handed Bunny



I have been wanting to use Payne's grey (Gainsborough's clouds, for one example) because of the silvery color it makes, and it always has a sort of strange edge to it like there is some phosphorescence in it, or some steel. I dug it out and used it here, but not to the effect I wanted really. I added all sorts of other things to it to take it down in importance and lost that element. As I was working on this hand though, I was thinking, this doesn't even look like skin and it didn't until I got that background in. I'm going to hang this with the left hand, below, on my dining room wall, along with all the other human parts I have been painting.



Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Diptych, Pt. 2, Fruit on Japanese Sash


The painting above (tricky photographing these, the black really wants to shine no matter what) consists of two paintings, one 6" square, the other 6x8". My student and I both did this exercise, doing each painting on different days and without making a great effort to match elements of the compositions. Mine can match up either way.



Above is the second painting, 6x8".



This is my student's painting. She has had no drawing experience but just plunged in. Her work has a modern, classic feel and she makes unusual color choices that always surprise me. This painting is more successful in the composition, it has that "fresh but inevitable" quality.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Diptych, PT. 1


This is a set up with a Japanese kimono belt. It is such a strong element that I thought it would be interesting to repeat it in another small canvas and hang the two together. I set this as a task for a student who is working with me and it was a lot of fun with some surprises along the way. I will see if I can get her permission to post her paintings here. I will do the second half of this one tomorrow. If I am feeling strong I might use a differently shaped canvas for the second one.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Hand Making a Bunny, J.L.


This is my neighbor's elegant hand making animals for me to paint.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Vanilla HEB Cupcake



Top painting is the redo --
Lower one I did quickly over some candy papers glued to a panel - had some technical problems so I abandoned it, but I like the idea of it. A bit more investigation needed.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Watermelon, Cherries


This was a 3 interruption painting. By the time I got back to it the first time the lamp had slipped its mooring and I had different light conditions. I decided after interruption two I needed to wipe out the bowl and re draw. After interruption 3, I went to bed. So this morning I finished up as best I could. I've come to the conclusion that I just have to finish the thing in one go because I can't hold my vision of it, the wholeness of the idea in my head if any distraction prevents me from going all the way to the finish. This smacks of The Princess and The Pea.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Apples, Cherries


Yesterday I worked on a larger canvas, 8 " square. I had saved a cornish game hen to paint, and when I paint those on that 8x6" canvas, I always struggle with the drawing trying to get most of the legs inside the boundary. I was so happy to have all that space and feeling a little cocky maybe. Things went bad fast. The chicken ended up in the middle, as did the bowl and the cast shadow did not save it. I felt like I had a desert of space with those extra 2 inches. However, I got the bowl down really well, and it was a side view, harder for me, but it was beautiful and I got attached to it, even though the rest was terrible. So I saved it to look at and admire the bowl, and I since I wasn't out of steam yet, I did this one for today's post -- and to my surprise, it went easily and ended up a bit fresh!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Screwdrivers, level


I was (and am) specifically trying to have a lighter touch with the paint. I have to sort of un-focus myself from the detail and flatten my gaze at the set up and work quickly to do it. My nervous system is not always in a state to accomplish this I find. I am so much more familiar with the paint now than I ever was before, and I am finding I can relax a teeny bit in some areas. That said, it doesn't mean a better painting though -- just some movement happening.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Vienna Sausages, Lite



I have a thing for Vienna sausages.
This one not so overworked, and I tried to let the blue shadow be as blue as it was.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Hand Making an Alligator

I had some problems with this one, but I thought it worth a post. It can be the before for the better after.... There was something so light about the positioning of the hand and the clean empty space surrounding it. A new direction maybe.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Chilis, Plums


On this painting I deliberately chose forms I know well and do not get in a sweat about so I could concentrate on the shadows and approach them with ease. The values are slightly darker in the actual painting than here -- the jump from my photo program to the blog photo seems to alter something. Anyway, this is an improvement and I am happy enough with it.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Peaches, Plum



I am trying to sneak in an ellipse here and there and keep pressing forward on them. I'm still not able to do it without tightness though, clearly it is an alien form to me. The shadows also somehow lose their depth as I paint them - when I begin them they are much darker. I will have to pay attention to what happens and figure this out.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Red Fruit, Green Plate



I found a green plate at the thrift store, a good bottle green.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Half of HEB Cupcake



Today I am posting my 100th painting (the top one) and below it is the last painting I did
before I began the blog. I really have loved every minute of the whole ride, even the bad bits.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Two Hands, J.D.


Very interesting to paint these, they were very freckled and banged up.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Right Hand, J.D.



I thought I would do a collection of parts of people and hang it all together. Maybe I can make it really huge...

Monday, June 7, 2010

HEB Cupcake #3



So glad to get yesterday's scary papaya off.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Strawberry Papaya



Today was a day full of wiped paintings for some reason. This one is the least terrible. The black is so shiny that it wasn't possible to get a shot without glare anywhere around my studio, in or out.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

HEB Cupcake #2


I am fascinated with pastries, well with food really. It's just so interesting, the look, the smell, the emotional load, the seductiveness. I could practically break into song here , Food, Glorious Food!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Peaches in Moroccan Bowl

This was an interesting experience -- lots of info to get down. I overworked the peaches, but on the next try, if I can keep the leaves alive, I might get it. Peaches are fuzzy - my brain can't quite make the paint describe the fuzz in the light areas, at least not on the first try, and when I've tried several times that shows. As they said in the Renaissance when someone stays up all night working hard at something, it smells of the lamp.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Watermelon, Black Plate



I am having lots of trouble posting - blogspot has gone beserk on me, can't imagine what else is going wrong on the other end...
I DO know that there are two peaks of exactly the same height in the top half of the painting and won't do it again.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Two Feet


I really loved doing these feet. I like the grotesque quality. I also relish the opportunity to make the beautiful fat paint describe something un-beautiful (in the ordinary sense).