Proper

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#065

If you saw this one on the Daily Paint Works site, I commented on how I seemed to lose the "vision" for it toward the end. I couldn't get the perspective to look right to me, no matter what I did to "fix" it. It's kind of like when you spell a simple word a couple of times and all of a sudden it just doesn't look right anymore. Maybe that's just "over thinking it"?

Anyway, I did capture photos of my steps UP TO my state of complete confusion. lol Here they are:

This background color is a taupish-gray that I'm really liking; it reminds me of damp clay. I used my white chalk pencil to sketch it in. At this point, I still liked the composition. (It's hard to see my half-point hash marks, but they're there.)

Next, found the  darkest darks. I love how this easy step gives so much dimension to your objects and sets your composition "in place."

Usually, I would save my lights at this point, but I wanted to get a little of this turquoise color down first. After I did it, I didn't really like it. It seemed over powering, and it wasn't easy to tone down. 

After saving my "whites", I blocked colors in, dark to light, one color at a time. 

Lastly, I added the background, keeping it cooler than the silverware overall. Then I tried to refine, working here and there. This is the part I over analyzed until I just could not see it anymore.

Sorry to get you to the end and then just say, "And this is were I lost it!" Ha! Almost sounds like an April Fool's Day joke.

On A Board

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#045

This is my first painting on a board! How fun! I've had the thin wood slabs around for a couple months, and finally got them cut into 6" x 6" pieces. The paint just glides on! Smooth, smooth, smooth. I enjoyed it so much, I painted two pieces today. And it was the perfect day to paint and look out the window. I had to, after all, keep an eye on our anticipated winter storm. 

I waited and waited....  I've been waiting.... all winter. :/  I still haven't had a chance to jump on my new orange saucer. It's been years since I flew down a snowy hill clinging to one of those things. Moving to the Atlanta area from Michigan really put a damper on that! None the less, I've since moved to the North Georgia Mountains... I know my chances are much better here. So far though, only rainy icy sleet. Tonight I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

If you don't hear from me tomorrow, you know what I'm doing! Weeeeeee!

In A Pickle

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#040

....On eating your props:  It started out innocently enough. I bought a small jar of Mt. Olive Petite Snack Kosher Dill Pickles.... to paint. Almost 3 hours later I have a painting, am posting a blog, and have managed to eat half of the jar of pickle props. The pickles were delicious. Nice and crunchy, salty and "pickley". See photo below.

Ha! I just noticed (after posting this) that the pickles in the painting look they have their fingers crossed! 

Psychedelic Servers

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#039

Stars, a desert landscape, a hand, and an easel. I'm beginning to feel like I'm finding figures in the clouds. ha!

The weekend sneaked up on me. So glad that tomorrow I get to paint with my friends here in Big Canoe. Hopefully, I'll have a weekend painting to post. Hope your weekend is great!

Three Ordinary Olives

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#036

Can you tell that this is a small cocktail fork? These are also very small salad olives. I like the larger olives - especially the ones stuffed with blue cheese or jalapenos, or better yet, the Calamata type from the olive bar at the grocery store. I didn't have any of those... I guess I ate them, or they ended up in a Bloody Mary somewhere along the line. The good ones are always the first to go.

I actually tried painting this from a photo today, leaving my props set-up for an occasional referral. I'm glad I did because the olives dried up quickly and weren't as shiny. So besides being ordinary, they were also dull! ha!

Steps I took, below...

Step 1:  Sketched it in, paying
attention to value, and
double checking
composition.

Step 2:  Grabbed my greens
and tried to catch the
swirling motion in the
silverware.

Step 3:  Filled in my color, making sure
not to lose my drawing. Saved shadows
and highlights until the end.

Trio

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#035

Decided to try to squeeze in a painting today.... and ended up spending most of the day on this. It took quite a while to feel okay with a composition, almost 3 hours to paint, and about the same just to get a decent picture of it. Part of the trouble I had was that I wanted to paint in the dining room room today. 

To make a short story a little longer.... It was such a beautifully sunny day that I wanted to keep an eye on our koi pond in the front yard -- just in case the water warmed up enough for Bubba to surface for food. He, nor his 6 gold fish buddies, ever came into view. But the movement of the sun through the panels of the bay window kept the reflections, shadows, and highlights dancing around my silver props. It was a little more frustrating than normal. It's already tricky with shiny objects because a simple tilt of your head will move all the shapes and colors around.

All in all, I think I like this painting! I'll drop in some pictures below on steps I took to paint it. NOTE: One thing I noticed after I posted this is the way the reflections on the knife made it look "tilted" too much in the final painting. Yicks! So I tried to fix it, and reposted the next day. (first one is below)  :)

 Step 1: (After getting a still life composition and lighting that I liked) I sketched it in with a wash of raw umber, starting to define the range of values, but also finding the movement in the reflections.

Step 2: I loosely blocked in color, trying not to overly mute color or blend edges together. (This step really could've been broken down into two-three photos.)

3. I refined the painting by focusing on dark first, then on to highlights. This is when I really focus on the reflected light, and how it "plays" off the darker colors. Shadows are worked in towards the end (probably because I have a harder time with them).

After I finished and posted this, I realized that the reflection on the knife made it "bend", so repainted that portion and reposted it. (see above)

Weird Slice

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#034

Today was another one of those days when I didn't really have time to paint, so I hurried through this one just so I didn't miss the day. I tried to slice the apple a little differently, but instead of adding interest, it just looks cumbersome. I decided to go ahead and share anyway because it may be the only one I get to this week.

Sizes In Silver

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#033

What size spoon do you use when you eat soup? How about cereal? And pudding or ice cream? I always go for the largest one. Not the serving spoon, but the largest soup-type spoon. What does that have to do with anything? Well, actually, nothing at all. I was just thinking about that while painting these. I noticed that most of my teaspoons look pretty shiny and new. The larger soup spoons...not so much. Anyway, it was fun to try to paint the difference. Hope you enjoy it.  

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that your weekend was great, and that your week ahead is fun and fulfilling!

Fork n Spoon

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#028

Yesterday's trip to the grocery store was all about buying "good, healthy" food and getting back on the bandwagon of healthy eating after the holidays (ok, ok, the holiday eating should've ended over a week ago, but I'm a little behind).  Anyway, I bought lots of vegetables and fruits; good lean meats; stuff for soups, salads, and smoothies; ezekiel bread, and almond milk.

Then today (for some reason) I painted with the TV on (which I never do).  And of all things, I had it on the food network. I didn't realize you could make so many wonderfully fattening varieties of macaroni and cheese! Now, I'm starving! And not for ANY of the things I bought! 

Just a coincidence that I painted this empty fork and spoon today! :)   ...guess I'll go make myself a salad now.