# 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.

IF: Gesture

Flowers are a nice gesture. I pushed the brush work and the color. not much else to say except that this was much more fun than the previous painting.

3 hour pose: Man with Big Ears

Another 3 hour pose...the eyes appear a bit high, but this guy really had very little in the way of a forehead and his ear was very large...i needed more time to get to get it right as always

IF: An Apple a Day

I may be over doing the fruit here, but you know what they say about an apple a day and so it just worked out that way.

Lemon and Limes

Another little color study...this time with some tang to it.

3 hour portrait

Another 3 hour portrait study. There was just not enough time to resolve everything ( such as the neck and chest area) and I find myself in a time limit panic during  the painting session.

Still, I do believe that I am getting better at this and despite the panic it a whole lot of intense fun.

Plein Air study

I had a couple of lovely days painting in Laguna. it was fast furious and fun. Now that I have a set up all worked out,  I am looking forward to heading out again. There are so many great places to explore in California.

Two Pears on a Gray Square

 

I have been busy painting outside in Laguna this week and will post the paintings as soon as they are dry enough to scan. In the mean time here is a little color study that I did inside.

IF: launch

A graduation ceremony is a way to launch students towards future pursuits. James graduated last week..i saw it as an opportunity to take a picture of my son wearing a funny hat.

IF: Windswept

I thought that I would paint clouds this week..something easy I thought. Found that they were not so easy, at least to paint with oils.

sitting gal

Another painting from a 3 hour sitting. much better then last week. I don't know if I will be attempting another self-portrait any time soon. Still..it is strange how many things in painting become much clearer after I upload it. The lower left corner feels like it was left behind the rest of the painting..and event he thought he hand is behind the head, I need to something more to articulate it.

IF: Shadow

I am attempting a self portrait. It is not done yet, but I decided to post the first sage. The eyes are a bit high (Ha...so funny to make such a common mistake)

Still-life with banana peel

Another still life study. My son had finished eating a banana and some grapes and thought that the discards looked kind of interesting and so I decided to paint them. I worked on pushing the contrast more and on an sharpening my edges.  I also worked on applying more paint. It was a good exercise.
The grape stem in the foreground needs work as does the ellipse of the plate (aargh..I did not catch the asymmetry till I saw it on the computer screen)