# 243: Covert Cutie

6" x 6" oil on canvas

The Cutie has been caught spying on the eggs while they have been hatching iniquitous plots. Let's just call this a play on focal point and color. Something about the balance of the piece is bugging me, but maybe the sense of imbalance just adds to the tension.

# 242: Four Eggs

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 241: Cutie Consultation

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I started of trying to avoid cutting the painting in half with an edge, but then I forgot and so there it is. I think that there is enough activity with the oranges that it is not really a problem. It might even provide some necessary stability.i have been feeling more on the ball with the painting activity these last couple of days. Working out a little color template before I start seems to help me keep the hues and values singing.

# 240: Half a Dozen

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Painting from life again. i started with a small color this time, based on the palette of a painting that I admire and i am trying to push the color and to kick up the contrast a bit.

# 239: Blue Collection

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Blue is really difficult to keep bright and saturated. I am going to Minnesota for Thanksgiving so I will not be posting for the next couple of days

# 238: Squash Huddle

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 237: Blue Marble

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I had fun with the palette and lighting, but have to confess that the little blue marble took way to long to paint!

# 236: Three Gourds

7" x 7" oil on canvas

I was inspired by the Caravaggio exhibit at LACMA and worked to push the contrast

# 235: Crab Apple Jam

8" x 8" oil on canvas

I have never seen crab apples at the market before, but they were there the other day, looking a bit irrelevant next to their more hefty cousins. When I was a little our neighbors had a crab apple tree and we used to munch them...though they are quite sour.

I haven't been painting as much as a should be lately..I was sick last week and then being unemployed sucks! The lack of structure of going to work is very difficult for me...I imagined myself doing so much painting during my tome off and it just hasn't worked out the way I imagined.

I promise to be better and to spend time perusing and commenting on other blogs as well

# 223: Oh Happy Day!

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 232: Golden Hibiscus

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I felt a little better painting this today. I have been a  bit of funk, wondering what and why and how to paint.  I have been too hard and not enjoying it very much. So with this I jsut tried to be open to creating something fresh and to capture the beauty of the paper petals. Keeping it simple.

Why do we sacrifice so much energy to our art? Not in order to teach others but to learn with them what our existence, our organism, our personal and unrepeatable experience have to give us; to learn to break down the barriers which surround us and to free ourselves from the breaks which hold us back, from the lies about ourselves which we manufacture daily for ourselves and for others; to destroy the limitations caused by our ignorance and lack of courage; in short, to fill the emptiness in us: to fulfill ourselves. Art is neither a state of the soul (in the sense of some extraordinary, unpredictable moment of inspiration) nor a state of man (in the sense of a profession or social function). Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light. Grotowsky pages 211 – 218.

 

# 231: Three Vessals

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 230: White Zucchini

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 229: Tea Time

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 228: Four Oranges

6" x 6" oil on canvas

# 227: Red Refreshments

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Working through some of the color harmonies. This one, in the split complementary range.

# 225: Shy Mandarin

6" x 6" oil on canvas

Oh how I struggled with this! My still lives have been very simple lately because I am focusing on color harmonies. Another triad, but this time of the secondary colors. It is an unusual palette for me. Even though I couldn't seem land this painting, I do enjoy the triad effect.

# 224: Katrina

12" x 9" on canvas panel

Another 3 hour session extended to a 4th hour of over-working and "fixing" without the model. Still there were some good moments. Katrina is a great model and is capable of holding a lovely S-curve for 25 minute stretches

# 223: Pomegranate and Blue

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I was out of commission for a few days with a nasty sinus infection and then proceeded to have a couple of bad painting days  (the evidence of, I choose not to share at this time) and then had a camera breakdown. Those are my excuses of not posting for almost a week.

I have been attempting to paint pomegranates and I am mystified as to why they have been causing so much anguish. They end up looking like bright red alien eggs. Anyways this one turned out OK....still a little alien, but OK.  Perhaps the triadic color harmony helped.

# 222: Blue Bottle

6" x 6" oil on canvas

I realized the other day that I hardly ever paint anything that is blue and so I decided to take on the blue glass subject again. It is difficult to keep blue fresh and bright especially in the ultramarine and cobalt range. I did enjoy the palette however and so I will give it another attempt tomorrow.