# 76: Six Skulls

6" x 9" oil on canvas

This is a double entry. A submission for the IF challenge word "scary" and the scary 10 minute DPW challenge.  I had a lot of fun with this. The challenge was to complete each small painting ( 3 x 3 section) in 10 minutes. You had to get simple and look for big shifts.  I am going to repeat the challenge today, this time with a pretty flower

# 75: Sad Jester

8" x 11" oil on canvas

5" x 7" oil on canvas

SOLD

Once again the small study turned out  better then the larger version. One of these that trend will be reversed

# 74: Peared Up

6"x 6" oil on canvas

SOLD

It is fun to paint reflections and extra fun when there is cast shadow involved as well. On top of that love to paint red pears. So this painting was a fun one. I am pretty happy with the composition, the color and the value contrast. I also think that I finally find my brush of choice. It is a Da Vinci Topacrylic long handle bright, It holds it's shape very well and seems to be lasting through all of my abuse. I tend to be a one brush painter in that I don't tend to switch my brushes much while painting. Is this a bad habit?

# 73: Sun Bathers

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

I only had a couple of hours to set up and complete this painting and though it has it's misses, I am pretty happy with how non-labored it is. I should probably give my self two hour time limits more often. The DPW challenge this week is to paint a series of 10 min studies. It sounds like an good exercise for me and I will do one tomorrow. i have been working on my palette and i think taht i have found my basic starter. Indian yellow, Prussian green, Thalo blue, Cobolt blue, Thio Violet, Quinacridone red, ivory black and Titanium white. I know it seems to strange crowd, but I like how they work together.

# 72: Banana Jar

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

I wanted to work with a more muted palette and decide that I needed to get another painting out of the mini bananas before they turned brown. I am almost happy with this..there were some finishing issues that didn't become clear until I saw it on the computer screen.

# 71: Small Fuel / Mini Bananas

6" x 6" oil on canvas

SOLD

This is a bit of stretch for the IF entry...but one can say that bananas...big and small...provide excellent fuel.

#70: Woman in Green

6" x 8" oil on canvas

This is the small quick study that I did before the bigger one...which was a wipe out. Even though the bigger version was a  wipe out, I felt that I learned a lot in the process. I am getting more confident and am taking more chances when I paint...though not every painting will be a success. In fact, I suspect, that as I experiment more there will be more wipe outs ahead.

# 69: Last of the Lilies

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

This will be the final lily painting since they are fading fast.

#68: Pink Lilies

 

 6" x 8" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

# 67: Owl be Home for Dinner

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

Another study in neutrals. I feel that this doing me good and so there will be couple more times.

#66: Girl with a Fan

8" x 10" oil on canvas

SOLD

# 65: Knowledge

6" x 6" oil on canvas

The painting of the hand went better then last time, but I  am going to have to give at least one more go.

# 64: Make a Move

6" x 8" oil on canvas

Another study in white with some good moments and some missed moments.
I used blue paper to reflect this time and so the painting is cooler. I also started with an wipe-out and so the under painting was dry and very dark. I found that I missed working into the wet surface of a fresh under painting. It was like starting with a different opening...

Painting is a lot like chess in that you need to be able to plan a couple of moves ahead and be flexible at the same time. There is also an opening a mid game and an end game. The end game I find the most difficult to learn,(this one felt like a stale mate), especially when I have to deal with interruptions and distractions like making appointments or even cooking dinner. I am going to give the subject another go and explore  white on white further tomorrow.

#63: Lucky Dice

6" x 6" oil on canvas

This was a second attempt of the same set up. I decided to tone down the color for a while and work on using neutrals. White on white is a bit tricky.

# 62: Damned Tomatoes

 6" x 6" oil on canvas

The title says it all. One of those frustrating paint days when the tomatoes kept falling out of place and the contrast never made it to the canvas. I felt the need to explore red and black...mostly because of a dream that I had about painting red and black. I worked out something in that dream.....

# 61: On the Edge

6" x 6" oil on canvas

SOLD

# 60: Wall Flower

8" x 10" oil on canvas

I was happy that the art center in Laguna started a long pose session on Sunday. It is a great group people, even though one of the members, who was painting directly behind me, started hiccuping during the last sitting. I totally lost my focus and did not end up happy with this painting...though to be honest, I struggled throughout with the proportions and the lighting. I can see it so clearly now that the hiccups are gone..how I should have dropped the left shoulder.

# 59: Excuse Me

6" x 8" oil on canvas

 

Sometimes I think that my color choices are a little irresponsible. I didn't think of the color wheel at all when I put this together, but you know sometimes a after fussing with this and that a color combination strikes me as being "paintable" and I go with that. What is missing here is value contrast, still I really enjoyed painting the blue glass with all of its bumps.

# 58: Support Group

6" x 6" oil on canvas 
Sold

I like the color harmony of this painting and I feel that I am getting better at working with red. For some reason, I find stems difficult to paint. Now that I look at these tomato stems, I wish that I had put some of the background color ( a warmer green) into them. 

# 57: Red Delicious

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Sold!

# 56: Totally Radish

6" x 6" oil on canvas

 Sold!

These radishes used to have lovely leafy greens...but they had rotted while they had waited patiently to be painted ( I was stuck on squash). So I discarded the greens and set the little fellas up for a painting anyways.  I loved the color of the radishes, their funky shapes and curly little roots. The problem is, who would know that they are radishes. Thus the title of the painting.

# 55: A Private Conversation

6" x 6"

Another color study and the last of the squash for a while.

# 54: This and That

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I focused on establishing a color harmony and went with the Munsell color wheel and triadic harmony.  Almost everything is in the mid tone area and so it ended up looking muddy...or at least I was fighting muddiness throughout the painting process

# 53: Ridges

6" x 8" oil on canvas

bid on this painting

So many ridges in this and so many opportunities to over work it (which I did).  One of the most difficult things about painting is reducing all the visual information down to what is essential and to suggest with less. I may have bit off more then I could chew with the fabric, but I was inspired by some Carol Marine paintings to try it.

I tried something different, based on the DPW weekly challenge, which is that I started with a pretty intense ground color...a manganese violet and I tried to keep from going over all of it...to allow it to show through. It worked in the places where I was not stressed..but that darned squash had me again. I swear that I had a harder time painting that little fella then a portrait and so we will seeing it again again until I "get it".

I also worked on having a dominant color (light blue) and a dominant value (light), however the composition is not quite balanced..I think that I need some darker areas under the squash on the right.

# 52: Attitiude

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Bid on this painting

I don't have  a lot to say about this painting...except that painting the glass felt good but painting the little squash did not. I really have difficulty with creating a sense of form when I am using warm hues such as reds and oranges. I know that it is about using the complement in the shadow areas but I am also going to try something else as well. I will paint the little squash again today and work on establishing a neutral in order to unify and neutralize the entire palette. Then I will be able to use pure color for a bit of "pop" in selected places. I learned of this trick by reading another blog.