# 28: "Blue plus Red"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I am almost done with my painting a day for 30 days quest. I am going to continue on this journey, but will be dropping my Tuesday painting because I can't even get started until 10 pm.

#27: IF-Disguise-"Kiwi Surprise"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

The Kiwi seems to be a fruit in disguise. Within it's egg-shaped and fuzzy brown exterior is a sweet and tangy surprise.

I decided to push color and it might have gotten a little out of hand.  Magenta is just so much fun, but perhaps some more practice with a limited palette would be better.

# 26 : "Pear Pressure"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

# 25 : Two 2 hour poses

6" x 8" oil on canvas paper

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

Since the Saturday sessions were cancelled at the Laguna Beach Art Center, I found a new group to paint with. The Courbet circle has a nice little set up in Santa Ana. The place is small and packed full of painters. The people who run it are very gracious and it was fun meeting a new group of painters. They even served pizza!

About the painting. The model had a hard time getting back into the same pose and what I really needed to do was to spend more time getting the drawing right away and then trusting it. I had trouble with this and wanted to go back an "fix" things based on the changes in the pose. The important is that I learned something.

# 24: "Orangilocks"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I didn't set this still up intentionally to illustrate a fairy tale, but once I saw it, it was impossible not to take it all the way . Everything felt great exce3pt for the darn porcelain.  I will have to try to paint the tea pot again. again

# 23 : "Escape"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I decided that I needed a lesson on green. The paintings look a lot better/richer now that I am photographing them rather then scanning them. However, they are also probably  just better paintings.

# 22: " Odd One Out"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

This time i took a photo of the piece...rather then scanning it. The colors come out much richer.

I am finding the painting a day to be revealing on many levels. yesterday I did not get to start  painting till it was late...9:00 and I dragged my feet because I was not " in the mood". Good thing that I am not allowing myself any excuses, because I actually fell into and had fun ..until the end when I really started getting sleepy.

In regards to the composition, the green apple is too far to the left. I have to watch my borders, especially since I tape then off. in regards to the value, i could have pushed the value contrast in the apples more, but over all I am OK with it.

# 21: "Debbie and Oliver"

6" x 8" oil on canvas paper

I had an opportunity to paint form the live model...and one of her dogs.... last night. It was a quick 2 - 3 hour session. I tried to stick within the Zorn palette again, but I was pretty liberal with the cerulean and red. I have found out that the blue that he used was a cobalt,

I can see now, that I need to drop the left shoulder. Maybe I will fix it or maybe I just move on to the painting in front of me today. The important thing is that it was a good process and I learned from it.

# 19: "Zorn for Tea"

 

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

This number is 18 of a painting a day. My goal is to paint and post a small painting every day for at least 30 days in a row. The palette of this painting is influenced by Anders Zorn. Zorn was renowned for his limited palette, often only using the two hues, vermilion and yellow ochre plus black and white. For his more colorful paintings he would broaden his palette to include Veridian green and a cobalt blue.

#18: "Passion Flower"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I am posting this even though I am very dissatisfied with the composition. The goal was to work with light and dark contrast but it ended up being about the flower, which was challenge to paint. I call it passion flower because the triangular composition reminds me of a christian passion painting.

# 17: "Pink Tea"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

# 16 "Contrite Rose"

6' x 6" oil on canvas

The rose was scrapped and re-painted a few times before I was satisfied and now it looks like it is almost sorry for causing me all that trouble.

# 15 : " Pepper Hearts"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper
 

# 13 "White Bear"

5" x 7" oil on canvas panel

The little white bear has a swollen tummy after eating too much honey. This is one of my painting a day studies. I decided to limit the palette in order to work on value. The value and warm cool contrasts need another push.

# 12: "Red Tomato"

5" x 7" oil on canvas panel

There was another painting that I skipped due to it's tedium and non-cooperativeness and so I posted what I worked on today. I only had a little over an hour and so it isn't "finished" whatever that means. but it is good to post. This is the stage that I have the most difficulty...There is an end in sight but so much of the time, I keep on missing the exit.

I am off to Idyllwild. If all goes well and traffic is to sluggish, I will try to do another quick study tonight

# 11 "Coyote Skull"

 6" x 6" oil on canvas panel

I love bones...I  think that the forms are beautiful. I have to admit that I wasn't loving the paint process this time.....I was in a mood. Despite that, I will pick up the brushes again today, but perhaps something cheerier...like a sunflower..... and I think that I will stay away from red for awhile.

# 10 "Shiny Red"

6' x 8" oil on canvas panel

Shiny glass is fun to paint...but elusive.

# 9: " Two Pears"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I tried a patterned fabric in the background...I don't know what possessed me.

# 8: Three Pears

  6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

A little play with the primaries. I love the shape and the sheen of pears. They are fun to paint.

# 7: "Onion Rings"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I cut up the onion form the previous painting and cried all the way through.   This painting was fun despite the tears. I did a tonal painting first with burnt sienna and then painted over it after it had dried a little. You can still see some of the under painting which was my goal or proof that I wasn't over fussing it. I also focused on integrating the negative space more. There is a bit of a compositional issue...unbalanced to the right and I still need to push the contrasts.

Thanks for the magenta Mardi!

# 6 : "Red Onion"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

I should probably come up with a more creative title. I thought when I set this up "this will be easy and quick"

Well it had to be quick, but easy it was not. Working the highlights into the the lush red tones was a bit of challenge. My inclination is to go in a work this some more...but I must resist over over fussing things! The goal is to keep it fast and loose after all.

#5: IF: imperfection

6" x 6" Oil on canvas paper

 When thinking about imperfection, I thought about all of the quirky things that I keep despite their flaws and uselessness. A windmill salt shaker without it's mate, a dented coffee pot and a funny kitty that my son sculpted are just a few of the things that seem to have found a permanent home

For those of you just tuning in, I have made it my goal to complete a small painting everyday. Since my last entry was so saturated, I decided to try something more muted this time.

# 4: "Orange Glow"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper       

I enjoyed working with the color combinations with this one and I think that I avoided over fussing this time.

# 3: "Three's a Crowd"

6" x 6" Oil on canvas paper

The two reds and keeping out the imposter green

Third day and I broke some of my rules....I worked and over worked this until it died. The green pepper eluded me to the end and in it's misery pulls way to much focus. Today I will keep to a two hour time limit!

# 2 "Three to Squeeze"

6" x 6" oil on canvas paper

Second day of a painting a day.

Self portrait study

OK this isn't done yet. I was having major issues...better then last time...though the mouth and nose need work.