Thinking...

3.5" x 2.5"

 Trying to think out loud with sketches.

ArtRage sketch

Purple Vase

Purple Vase   12" x 9"    Pastel

Banged this sketch out in pastel, trying to work out a large flower painting that I want to do.

Painting Clark

Quite some time ago, I painted a portrait of my nephew, Grant. 

I was taking an oil painting class with one of my favorite artist/teachers, Jane Terzis.

I didn't save progression paintings from Grant's painting (at least I can't find them right now). To make it easier on myself, I painted it upside down ... 

the painting was upside down, not me.

Recently, I did the same thing for much of this painting of Clark.

Here is the sequence of Clark's portrait.

Initial sketch, 7" x 5"

Sketch on canvas - remember, this was actually upside-down.

Clark   13 x 18 (approx)  Oil on canvas

And here are both brothers together.

Tangelo+Egg

Tangelo+Egg      8"x8"   oil on canvas

Seems to be a series going on here ...

This one's a bit more whimsical, and I love the blue acrylic underpainting.

 My little egg is holding up very well to being in the limelight. 

Lots of sitting very still!

Avo + Egg - fini

Egg + Avo    8" x 8"    oil on canvas

Avo + Egg

Or, egg and butter pear!

All five

Here are all five paintings.

And here is how I feel.

"If you hear a voice within you say, 'You are not a painter,' 

then by all means paint

... and that voice will be silenced."

 -Vincent Van Gogh

And so I paint.

2.5 x 3.5 DownChannel

2.5 x 3.5 DownChannel

This is the last (I think) of the DownChannel series. 

This size is the ATC or Artist Trading Card size -

so I left it in a small version here.

It is fun to see the five paintings all lined up.

Will take a photo and post tomorrow.

3 x 5 DownChannel

3 x 5 DownChannel    Oil on Wallis paper with oil stain

5x7DownChannel

I am loving this exercise. I'm not adding as much paint as I thought I would, but it still is really fun to see how each painting comes out - looking only at the one before it.

DownChannel 8 x 10

DownChannel 8" x 10"  oil on prepared canvas board

Here is the second painting using as reference the first. It is lighter down the channel. I used a more limited palette and didn't use any greens or blues other than the ultramarine blue.

I think it was fairly quick, and there is more paint, but not a ton more.

I've decided to use this as an exercise -

 I will use this painting as my reference and make a 5" x 7" painting...

then that one and do a smaller painting and then

maybe even a smaller one. 

They should be getting faster and faster, as well.

I commented yesterday in a "comment" (because I forgot to mention it when I posted)

 that VPO did post my Uncle Tim's Bridge painting.

Yay!

Oh - this is an update. I forgot to include the b&w value study:

 

Down Channel, 8 x 10 - Day 2

Didn't get tons done on this today.

 

 Am at the point where I will have to keep talking to myself and say, "Use more paint!"

For some reason, with all the water and the sky it is hard not to blend blend blend.

I did finish my two 12 x 12's for the Juneau City Museum fundraiser 

- set to open First Friday in February, the 7th.

The theme this year is Black & White. 

I will post those progressions after I enter the paintings in the exhibit.

Lots o paint version

I dunno, I even like this the way it is in its sepia-toned form.

Look familiar?

I am going to paint Down Channel with MORE PAINT.

Painting something over again, using the painting as the reference is a good exercise.

Also, it is interesting (to me) how the palette looks afer you finish a painting.

This was after Uncle Tim's Bridge painting was finished.

... and I haven't seen it posted on the VPO site yet.

VPO Uncle Tim's Bridge

Uncle Tim's Bridge     12" x 12"     oil on canvas

This is my Virtual Paintout painting for January. 

(I hope it gets posted to the blog! ... do have a look in a few days. There are a great many good paintings there ... and lots of the Nauset Lighthouse! 

... we visited Nauset Light and took its photo.)

This was not a fast painting, but not too bad, either. Tried to keep it impressionistic.

Here is the link in Google Maps to see where the Google Car took the photo. You must allow the site to load so you can see the street view.

It has a special meaning for us (Matt and me) since we were really there in October, instead of virtually there, as I usually am for VPO.

I figure this was springtime. Can you see the people on the bridge?

... and THANKS for taking a gander at my blog!

VPO - Day 4

VPO - Day 2 & 3

Pluggin' along ...

Virtual Paintout - Cape Cod - Day 1

Virtual Paintout this month is Cape Cod!

Well that is serendipitous because we visited Cape Cod on our October east coast trip.

This bridge joins a trail on the other side of the marshy tidewater area 

with a Wellfleet town main street.

 

It is called Uncle Tim's Bridge. 

(that link is a Yelp app, handy for finding out about all kinds of things as you travel)

eek, hope i can do it justice...

Down Channel - Day 3

Down Channel      13" x 16"     oil on panel

Down Channel - 2

Down Channel, from the bridge

This is the beginning of a painting. Was going to post two progressions but blogger and iPhoto are not working with me.

Abstracted Pear, and Egg

Pear&Egg(abstracted version)

Messing around with iPhoto's effects ... and this came out! I like it!

...aaand Happy New Year!

Pear&Egg        8"x8"      oil on canvas

The color is strangely golden because of the lights I used when photographing this...

I sure love pears. Both to eat and to paint. This will not be the last pear I will paint...or eat.
It is already eaten. It was a Royal Riviera pear from Harry and David.
A juicy delicious box arrives nearly every Christmas from Matt's sis and b-i-l.
Thanks again, Mar and Bill!!