Lemon Dish

This is a very shiny dish with a copper bottom, and the many reflections were tricky. I was trying to use up some of the mixed paint left over from the colour charts but that went sideways for a while. I think it ended on a good note.

Colour Chart #9 - before and after

This is the phthalo blue chart - all of the colours on my palette (across) have been mixed with this blue and then with white (down). The values are supposed to be correct and the last one nearly white. There are always a few smudges where the tape was not tight and then the cat tried to rub up against it. Each chart has a mess up. Maybe the 12th one will be perfect.

Green & Red

I am making steady progress on the colour charts - on #9 right now. So very interesting! Sure uses a lot of paint, with a lot of waste - so I used some up in this little painting.

Colour Charts #2,4 & 6

Charts are in process, and being slightly impatient, I am jumping ahead to see what the mixtures will look like because I basically know that Cadmium Yellow Pale and Cadmium Yellow will have minimal differences. So I ignored the Cad Yellow one for now and went to the Yellow Ochre and then the Cad Red. Will get to the stragglers eventually.

Colour Chart #1

The time has come to really diligently learn more about colours, and this comes in the form of doing 12 colour charts as described in Richard Schmid's book "Alla Prima". After frequently hearing or reading that it is time well spent, I am now in full agreement.

Who is the Fairest?

Here I had an orange ground, with the blue cloth as the complement colour. I fiddled too much with the oranges but I like the reflections in the silver container.

Blue Plate

One more try of the same theme. The pears photographed far more green than they are on canvas. At least the plate looks correct in shape - ellipses are improving. Now colours have become the focus and I have started to make colour charts for reference. Turns out to be a rather big project!

Pears turned Green

I was reading about giving the canvas a ground colour which is to be the complement of the dominant colour. So I put down blue, thinking of the orange yellow pears. Well, paint yellow on blue and it becomes rather green and then the red lost its colour too. And the pears photographed even greener. The dominant colour is red and therefore I should have put down green. Wonder what would have happened then? This is confusing.

Bila's Birds

My Mom has these lovely clay birds, and a blooming red geranium, that Mary and I painted today. While we were painting, 20 wild turkeys came to the window and were scratching around the fallen birdseed.

Castello Archway

Today I practiced on roses, again, and worked on some older paintings. This one is from two years ago and needed some changes. I found it a bit difficult to reconnect and awkward to paint over areas.

Rose

Kept working on roses today.

Red Roses

Happy Valentine's Day. These are my third attempt at painting these roses, and I still find them difficult to do....so it is time to haul out my books and sharpen the pencils again. But I do like the composition - sort of pleasantly in your face!

Another Copy

Because I found the design and the one blue stripe so fascinating, I had to copy Aaron's Lifferth's painting. It taught me a lot about areas that I need to work on.

Scotch Broom

The Scotch Broom was in full bloom during my first workshop with Ian Roberts in Provence France. This composition was originally just a value study and now seems to be the time to complete it.

The Driveway in Moonlight

February full moon - one more opportunity to paint a deep winter full moon scene. I used Prussian Blue to get the coolness and the darkness of the night, and because the white snow seems more stark against it.

Potato Art: Potatini

This potato theme is continuing - and as much as it amuses me, it is for my sons, and there is a story behind that.

Potato Art: Potato Day

Whoops, he/she/it saw a shadow...it was sunny here today. Well, I am getting fanciful....this is the potato that sort of looked like a groundhog............in my reality.

Potato Art: Have We Met?

Today I painted potatoes. They are an interesting item to paint because of their odd shapes and sizes. The markings on one of them looked like the face of a baby seal or a groundhog or some such weasel. I got rather fanciful and the imagination started to enter other realms.

Lemons

This is an assignment exercise from a virtual course I am following. The idea was to paint with a very big brush, except for a few finishing touches, thereby avoiding too much detail - so it was fast!

Clay Vase

This clay vase has a very rough outside texture. I was not pleased with the painted results so tried the palette knife and quite enjoyed that process. I think it looks more like the real thing.

Pink Carnation

The shadow was really strange and awkward to capture. First I had it really dark, then lightened it. Light was shining through the glass bottle. The background is a cloth with a chinese type of pattern. But the flower turned out.

Bowl of Grapes

Some work is still required on this one. Have been practising ellipses, but in this case I could avoid the issue by having the grapes sit on the edge.
Reposted - light and shadows added on wine bottle.

Winter Squash

My friend Dawn gave me this squash today, one of the many that she grew this summer on our horses' formidable manure pile - can't get more organic than that! The intention was to make soup out of it, but I love its shape and the splash of orange on its side, so first it was painted and then baked.

Ode to the Orchid

Last summer, I put my orchids outside and forgot them - and of course, they were not happy and within one day, got a sunburn and went limp. I felt guilty and tried to nurture them back to health to no avail. So this week, I bought new ones, and with great reverance to this delicate flower, painted them. Their stems are longer but I thought the leaves balance out the empty corner.

Dots

Something different for today - just for fun.

Yes, it is an albino pear - pure white - and is plastic!

Shapes

Mary and I focused today again on shapes and ellipses - and we struggled with them again. One side seems good and the other side is lower, wider, crooked, shorter or something. To get the right shape is such a test of the drawing skills. So I am going to spend some time drawing.

Squeezed

Well this was a challenge - the peppers are so curvaceous and shiny and very red. They are long peppers from Spain that I found at Costco this week. From a distance, they seem to look like carrots.

A Copy

I just read that it is a great learning tool to copy others, so I promptly copied one of Carol Marine's recent paintings. She paints with such big, confident, no fuss strokes and has the most interesting compositions. I just had to try it. It was done quickly and on a canvas that is 2 inches wider than hers, hence one extra slice. It was fascinating to get into the thinking process of how this goes.

ps have done some adjustments to "Red Rules"

The Three Wise Ones

From too many hard edges, I now have nearly too many soft edges. And it seems like I have seen this composition before but these are my Bosc pears on a glass surface.

Red Rules

Here is an update after some adjustments. Have had some helpful input.
The background has been darkened which brings out the apples stronger, the reflections toned down, and added some texture to the bowl, since it is a beautiful bird's-eye maple bowl that my brother-in-law made.

So I was playing with edges and greying and such interesting things. Now that I look at it, the reflections seem a bit too strong. It is a glass surface. And an edge on the middle apple's shadow might be too pronounced. Will post for now.

Hot Toddy

Mary and I painted today. We set up this still life and then got into discussion about drawing ellipses - which were evading us slightly. One millimeter can make such a difference in whether it looks right or so very off. And I used a palette knife for some of the very straight lines - works well.
The mug and lemons reminded me of making hot toddies on a cold winter's night.

Marcio's Porch

Have been away today and so decided to post something from this summer.

Practice Quadrants

Today I was reading about edges and tried out some ideas from others. Spent more time watching the Inauguration than painting - was well worth it.

January Moon

Full Moon in Cancer during Capricorn - female/male and subjective/objective harmony and balance. And it was crisp, clear and COLD. I saw this at 6:00 am when the moon was very high in the sky and therefore the scene was quite expansive. That made it hard to fit it on such a small canvas. It is the driveway that I have painted before, from further back, minus one tree for those who know. Can you feel the cold?

The One Mug

Mary came to paint today, and it is always such an enriching experience to share the process. We discussed our way through the highlights and the mistakes. There seems to be a bit of a tilt, amazing how that happens! I am increasingly aware of how important it is to have good drawing basics.

Birthday Bouquet

Getting flowers in January is such a pleasure! My intent was to capture the essence of the assortment without getting too detailed. And I finally figured out a simpler way to photograph and size, therefore re-posted "The Driveway in Winter".

The Driveway in Winter

Plein air has its limitations. It is a bitter -19 celsius degrees today with the wind chill, so I painted indoors this afternoon from the window. When I finished, the snow turned orange with light of the setting sun.

Snowman Sugarpot

A crazy little sugar pot that has been around for many winters. Maybe it needs a darker background..... updated.... darker yet?

Ahoy!

There was a stack of four plates, and somehow I missed one along the way. Just happy to have managed a painting today.

A Pair of Pears

Today Mary came by for a visit and gave me some very helpful critiques. It always is fun to share the journey. We talked about cropping - what, when, where, why - and afterwards I painted these pears, and cropped the plate.

Snuggled

Must admit, I prefer painting colourfully - and would think it necessary in our overcast wintery north country.

Mexican Jug

A colourful start on a gray and cold January day - thoughts of Mexico! This was a lot of fun to paint and because the handpainted creamer is slightly irregular, it was also less stress!

Simplicity

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a fantastic 2009. My desire was to start off the new year with something to post - and this candle represents simplicity and yet light, warmth, life and fullness. May we all stay focused on our intentions!

Lime Lineup

Had to get the brushes going again, and limes were available.

Sunlit Corner (completed)

Last finishing touches of deepening the darks in the distance and defining the clump of trees in the middle. Painting seems like such a recurring theme of lights and darks.

Last pomengranate

Today I finally decided on a convenient still life area and set up my supplies and a proper structure for it. So much better! My friend Mary came over and we energized it by painting. Problem - in the initial enthusiasm, I didn't do a preliminary sketch and therefore the neck of the bottle is cut off. Lesson learned. But I am happy with the pomengranate!

Sunlit Corner (update)

Last posted on Nov 27, this painting is still in process as I am getting great feedback and critique from Ian.

Escape

Was in Toronto for the past 10 days - had just finished these tomatoes before I left, and was really looking forward to paint each day. Seems that my concept of a "painting a day" is being very stretched!