10 Minutes A Pop

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#064

This was just a study I did, spending 10 minutes on each piece. I normally might not post an exercise, but this one was particularly fun and with pretty good results. As this type of exercise does, it forces you to paint quickly and loosely, more intuitively. 

I looked for popcorn pieces on google images. Did you know that people actually take pictures of their popcorn pieces and post them online? They post pieces that look like something else. One might look like an animal, another a face, or a car. It was actually pretty amusing (or maybe I'm just easily amused). Now it makes complete sense why painting these reminded me of painting clouds. HA!

OH yeah! Almost forgot! Pulled #060 from daily paint works because it was too dark and I couldn't get a good picture of it. Until now, I didn't post it here. Still has the problem, but here 'tis. I feel better if I don't skip a number. We're all a little OCD, right?

Someone complimented me on this painting, saying, "Nice beets!" That's why it's called "Not Beets" ...... they're actually radishes. :) 

Pssst! Pistachios

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#063

Growing up, pistachios were always a treat. They were always red, too. I don't even think they make red ones anymore, do they? They (whoever "they" is) also don't make the glass warming cases that corner stores used to sit on the counter to keep a variety of nuts warm. Seems like the only warmth came from a light bulb, and when you bought some the clerk would scoop them into a little bag for you. Do you remember that? Only if you're over 50 probably. 

Anyway, below are a few of the steps it took to paint this one. Similar to the peanuts painting:

Started with the sketch. Notice my half-point hash marks. I always do that. It makes this part so much easier. And believe it or not, I carefully "posed them". I didn't just throw them down and start sketching. You probably can't tell tho. HA!

Found my darkest shadows. It gave form to my composition immediately. Notice I also saved the little bit of pistachio green right away. Couldn't wait for that part!

Here the background went down. I kept it very subtle. It's a cooler gray color, as the pistachios are a warmer color and I wanted them to pop up off the canvas.

When I mixed the color for the shells, I mixed it dark then used that to mix variations of lighter values. I laid this in darker to lighter, sometimes integrating a bit of the background grays to the shells' undersides.

Artichoke

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#061

This was painted yesterday with the peanuts (below). The back lighting on both was a welcome change for me! Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Georgia

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#062

This was a fun one to paint. I painted an artichoke the same day; both with the back lighting. It was interesting to see how the shadows kind of wrapped around the peanuts. And yes, these really are from Georgia. I have friends here who made their living growing peanuts. They call their home the Nut House! 

Below.... steps to painting this. Have a great day!

Starting with a neutral background, I did a loose sketch (which was easy because, hey, it's 5 peanuts) and "grounded" the peanuts right away with the darkest shadow to give me a better feel for my composition.

I decided to paint the background first. By painting into my peanuts, I was able to get a smooth subtle background across the entire background. Painting the peanuts first would've made it hard to get that effect.

After mentally "finding" my peanuts again, I started blocking in my neutrals, working from warm and cool neutrals I had premixed. I kept these in the mid value range because the darkest values were only in the shadows.

The highlights came next. This is where to detail comes from. I worked from the darkest to the lightest lights (if that makes sense). My light values were actually just "whitened" or "yellowed" versions of the warm and cool medium values I had already mixed.

Finishing touches amounted to accentuating the shell of the peanut in the foreground, and working back into the painting with less detail (to set them back).

Any questions, just let me know!

Red-Handed

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#059

It was so hard to get this little guy to pose long enough for me to paint this picture! Ok, well actually.... I crumpled a lunch bag, then got online and looked up "mouse face" on Google. After wading through dozens of Mickey portraits, I came to this one. He's so cute, and the photo just doesn't do him justice. Thanks to the DPW weekly challenge! I never would have thought to paint this.

I'll try to take another photo when my outdoor lighting is better. Sorry. Wish you could see this little guy up close!

Had the same photo sna-fu with #058, but it's posted here below:

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#058

Apple in Glass - I used the same glass lidded bowl for this painting as #057 (below). Wanted to lean the lid on it, but couldn't get is to look right. The apple was really too big for the bowl.

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you're having a great week! BTW! FIRST DAFFODIL showed his face in my yard yesterday! YAY!

Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

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#057

Ok. So it's a bad choice of names. At least I know it! I was thinking about these sunny looking lemons popping out on this gray background. This was a really cool painting to do. It was painted on a grayish taupish (I don't think that's a word, but you know what I mean... I hope). I also used a different white. It's called Transparent White (Winsor & Newton). Not sure if I like it or not, but it had an interesting effect on this painting. I didn't intend for it to be so gray, but this white made it possible for the unpainting to show through. 

Speaking of sunshine! Supposed to have plenty this weekend! Hope you do too! Gotta say Happy Birthday, Sister!! I love you! :)

Oh yeah! Below is painting #056. I did this one yesterday and posted it on DPW.

A Day To Catch Up

Wow, I don't know how I let myself get so scattered posting my daily paintings here. While they did get posted on dailypaintworks.com, many haven't made it to my blog. Just to "true up", I owe my blog #038, #043, #046, #047 (which I actually removed from the DPW site because it was just too hideous!), #050, and #053. So here goes:

#038 - Spoons-A-Mok

#043 - OJ By The Slice

#046 - Oranges Reflected

#047 - Icy
(Sorry, I know it's kinda hard to look at! haha)

#050 - #050
Yup! Named the number. I thought it seemed significant! :)

#053 - Silverware - Umber Challenge
(Response to a challenge)

Grapefruit Spoon

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#054

Do you know how hard it is to paint in a room where the movie Jaws is blaring in the background? I think it might be Jaws III.... or IV. (I have no idea, there were so many and they all seem the same. Or was that Rocky? haha)  A.n.y.w.a.y.... I've been painting in the kitchen a lot because I have such an incredible view, and these small paintings are fairly easy to set up right on the island. The kitchen connects to the great room where my son and husband are watching the movie. 

I've got what I think is a great setup for being able to set up a mini portable studio quickly in my kitchen, take it down, and pack it away quickly. If anyone is interested, just let me know. I'd be happy to share what I've found to work for me.

Gotta go... Jaws is almost over, and my grapefruit spoon with it's teeth is starting to look like a shark head.