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.

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.

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.

Multi-Purples

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#048

Wow! I can't believe it's been four days since I posted anything! Between being iced in with no internet, and fighting off a cold, it just hasn't happened.

This painting was so fun, and easy actually. I almost didn't do it because I thought it'd be too hard. One reason it was so easy, is that I had a whole palette full of premixed paint. The day before I painted it I mixed about every type of purple I could. I did it for another painting that didn't turn out very well. In fact --haha -- you may never see poor #047.  Anyway, I had a lot of these "purples" left. So I just started laying them in one color at a time, starting with the darkest, and viola! grapes! 

Sometimes the paintings you think will be so hard, just flow off the end of your brush like magic. Sometimes, it's the other way around. Either way, I figure its best to take it in stride. Easier to say sometimes than do, I know. I think my new mantra (like I have an old one) is going to be "either way"! I'll let you know how it goes!

Have a great weekend!

Teapot With Plastic Pomegranate

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#044

I do not like plastic fruit... period. I painted with a group today (Tuesday), and my seat was nearest this staged still life. We had fresh fruit except for the weird looking "pomegranate" on the left. Turns out that I couldn't get a good photo of this painting either... so all the fruit looks like plastic anyway. Ha! I'll try another photo tomorrow with different lighting... Seems I've been spending more time lately on trying to get my pictures right than I am on painting the pieces.

The painting below is one I did yesterday when I only had about an hour to paint. It's another example of my bad photography. I'll get it right.... eventually. :) 

The name of this one is OJ By The Slice. I posted it on dailypaintworks.com. If you're interested in it, you can click here. Thanks for stopping by! 

Friday With Friends

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#042

This is a painting I did with friends on Friday. We set up a still life... Sonja brought the fruit, Susanne brought the bowl with fruit painted on it, and I brought a pitcher (I didn't paint it in). Turns out, what I brought really didn't fit in very well. You never know.

Since Friday I haven't painted. My sister and her friend, Linda, were here for the weekend, so we had lots of girlfriend time. Thank you, sis!! :)

Tomorrow I'll get painting! Feeling refreshed, relaxed, and ready! I hope your weekend gave you that, and that your week ahead is a terrific one!

Blades

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#041

Knives just aren't as fun to paint as a fork or spoon... to me. Unless they're paired (no pun intended) with an interesting and colorful piece of fruit or something, they really don't have a lot to say.  They don't have the expressiveness of a fork or spoon with all their curves and interesting reflective forms. (I'm afraid I couldn't get a very good photo of my "dull" friends either. HA!) Better luck tomorrow.

Tomorrow I've got an artist club group outing to a local gallery. The idea is to sketch/paint the art work of the current show. I think I'll try sitting behind everyone else and sketching them. Maybe I'll  have some figurative drawings to post. I've been wanting to try some small figurative pieces anyway. :)

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!

Spoonin'

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#037

A couple of people asked me to post more images of a silverware painting in progress.... at least the way I try to do it. It forced to look at my process or method. Actually, I didn't think I had one. haha  But I took extra pictures this time and tried to lay it out. Maybe I had a process and I didn't even realize it? Images and explanations are below. (On blog only)

Hope everyone's getting a great start to the week! 

Step #1:  (After getting composition set up)
I sketched it in with a Raw Umber wash.
This one came out more detailed than
usual. I try to capture shapes, values, and the
flow (or movement) of the reflections.

Step #2:  I blocked in the lightest lights
and the darkest darks.  It's important not
to lose them! This step takes about a minute,
and defines the movement... to me. It's my
favorite minute!  :)

Step #3A:   I started blocking in medium
tones. This is also the step to make sure
to pay attention to color.... move around the
canvas getting it in, color by color.

Steps #3B:  I kept blocking in medium values.
Here I moved from blues/purples to
greens and yellows...there's actually a touch
of red too, but it's hard to see.

Step #4: I continued filling in color,
focusing now on more detail, and
trying not to lose highlights or my
darkest darks.

Step #5:  From here I started cleaning up the
edges -- making sure not to lose my shapes --
and filling in places I've left unpainted.
 Next I focus on accentuating highlights,
and laying in shadows.  (see final painting) 

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!

Claudia's Teapot

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#032

Painting with friends is so fun! We set  up this still life today (all four of us using different mediums), and painted this peach colored teapot that Claudia brought. (I didn't like the color with the lemons, so I changed it.... artist parlay ... I mean prerogative).  It's so fun painting with friends because, if you're painting with the right people, you learn and get inspired from each other.  Today was no different.  I was actually challenged by one friend to put my crutch down (raw umber) and use compliments for all shadows. Viola! Not perfect, but very colorful for me!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

10 Minute Habaneros

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#031 - $10

I really didn't have time to paint today.  After lots of chores and errands -- including a new hair cut -- I got home pretty late. But you know, when you get a new hair cut it just makes you feel excited and energized (unless it's a BAD hair cut... then the feelings are closer to depression and self-loathing). Anyway, I did a very quick painting of these habaneros... just because.  I didn't realize they were so curvy and irregularly shaped!  Not really a quality piece, but at least I got my hands on a brush today.

Tomorrow, I'll be getting together with friends to paint.... supposedly we're going to set up still life vignettes and/or model for each other.... I'll keep you posted.  Hopefully, I'll have something new to post! 

Hope you have something fun planned for your weekend!

NOT Macaroni & Cheese

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#029 - $20

I do not have the TV on today! No Food Network for me. Instead, I'm behaving myself with this cool & crispy English Cucumber and these wonderful little sweet Grape Tomatoes. 

I'm not so sure about this composition. There seems to be a lot of "dead" space in the center that almost makes a triangle. I tried keeping that space somewhat interesting by paying special attention to the odd shadows on the plate, but I think it helped very little.  The tomatoes did cast a red shadow, but I'm afraid not as saturated as I made them. 

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.

Someone's Gotta Do It!

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#027

I don't know about you, but in my house I'm the one responsible for eating every last morsel of Christmas candy and every last crumb of Christmas cookies.  It's hard to move into the New Year unencumbered until that task is out of the way!  

And alas, this is the last one for me! Does that mean I have to go to the gym tomorrow?