What?! October?!

I know that summers always whiz by, but September? It's been over a month since my last post, and I really have no excuse. I just lost that entire month. While I keep thinking I'm going to get out on the lake for one more swim, the leaves are changing color before my eyes. True, I've been busy, but I HAVE managed to paint about 15 small daily paintings since my last post.

Below are the first 5 of them (#s 95, 96, 97, 98, 99). I'll post the rest over the next 2 days. Then I'll be caught up! again!


#95 - Lemons For My Water

Getting back into my warm-lemon-water-first-thing-in-the-morning routine!

$30

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#96 - Slice of Sunshine

Wow! This was a lot harder than I thought it would be! And it still doesn't look back lit. I should probably try it again another day, when I'm seeing better. Instead of painting what I was seeing, I seemed to be trying to paint a lemon. Do you know what I mean?

Anyway, that's my excuse... and I'm sticking with it!!

And for those artists that nail back lighting every time, I'm open for some pointers!! Thanks!

Sold

#97 - People Watching People (Crowd-Of-People Challenge)

What a challenge for this week's challenge!! Whew! Before I do a small figurative piece again, I'm going to learn how artists paint these small figures and make it look so easy!

Sold

#98 - Decision

I did this study today on a 5x7, because I'm actually considering painting this image on a 24x30 canvas (with a different background). I may have truly lost my mind! lol

Sold

#99 - Lake Shea

I wanted to paint something different today, and on a larger scale than most of my daily paintings. This one is 16x20, and took me about 4 1/2 hours. The reference was from MorgueFile. I don't think Ive ever painted a waterscape -- and only a handful of landscapes -- so decided on this one. The foggy mist grabbed my attention. Because this is a "daily painting", I'm keeping the price lower than my larger show pieces.

$200

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Bisque With Oranges and Mint

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#082

Another shadow box painting. I haven't had very many views of this on my daily painting site. Wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that the pitcher is bisque. (A pottery that hasn't been glazed and fired again, so it's dull, almost powdery looking.) Maybe viewers expect highlights, so it doesn't look right to them. Or maybe it's just too ordinary or boring looking overall. I'll never know, but I like it.

The spearmint was picked from my deck. Love, love, love fresh spearmint. Put it in my water everyday and just keep filling up the waterbottle over and over until I've had a gallon of it. A sprig of mint lasts through all of that. Cinnamon sticks are another great thing to add. Even fresh ginger. It makes drinking all that water everyday actually enjoyable. Cheers!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Edamame

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#051

Sometimes it's really hard not to eat your props. The other day, I was drawing a large image of one piece of popcorn. I had my prop sitting right on the paper so I could really see the details 'up close'. I had more popcorn (for eating) out on a paper towel next to me. I don't know if you've ever drawn popcorn in detail, but it takes some effort and time (for me, anyway). So I was almost finished, I looked up at my piece of carefully positioned popcorn prop, and... it was gone. I had eaten it. One good thing that came from it is that it caused me to pay special attention to not eating my edamame today. (Actually, I had two so that I could put them in the 'empties' cup.)

This painting was done over a purple background, and there is actually quite a bit of purple showing through in this painting. Unfortunately, my photography skills are pathetic. And my editing skills are worse. Guess I just have to keep trying!

Complements

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#049

This painting was done with what "purples" were left on my palette from the painting before it (Multi Purples). The grapes appear a bit more blue because I used up most of the reddish purples on the first painting. Maybe I should've made them blueberries! (history: The day before I mixed up as many different purples as I could.  Had some left over, and didn't want to mix more just for these few grapes. I don't paint with purple very often, and besides that, I'm "thrifty"... My sister would call that "cheap"! haha)

I'm really enjoying painting on the wooden panels! I put 2 coats of acrylic "gesso" on this one and then lightly sanded it before I painted. It was so smooth and even! Very nice to paint on. I definitely would recommend trying it if you haven't.

Hope everyone is staying warm, or at least thawing/digging out from this crazy weather! We're iced in up here in the north Georgia mountains, but there's plenty of fire wood. Even tho there's no sledding snow for my orange saucer, I'm still enjoying every minute of it! 

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!

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!

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)