February Daisies still life painting

This painting is finished 

and has a new home - (thank you Cheri!)

I wanted to show you how the progression, well ... progressed!

It began like this. 

I had a Masonite board that I painted with some abstract shapes:

I had a very nice bouquet of daisies and Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily).

February Daisies     Oil on Masonite      18 x 12 inches

Matt made my frame. 

I put an Ebony stain with some red paint splotched on the inner portion:

I am very happy with the result.

Thanks for checking in and viewing my art!

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm - Fini!

3 M Ranch is the nickname my folks gave to our farm ... the real name is

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm.

Did you guess the 3 M's?

Mud, Misery and Manure!

Fairmeadows Jersey Farm    ca 1972    oil on Masonite panel    13 x 16 inches

Here is what my palette looked like after the final paint stroke/mark 

(I used a palette knife in the final stages).

Looks like a ton of blackish paint there, but I didn't use much.

Matt got busy and made the frame already, so when the paint dries a bit more, 

I'll put it in the frame and post a photo.

Today as I pondered this painting of my childhood home -

a poem popped into my head that Mom used to read us.

 This is the first verse:

The Raggedy Man

By James Whitcomb Riley

 

O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;

An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!

He comes to our house every day,

An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;

An' he opens the shed—an' we all ist laugh

When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;

An' nen—ef our hired girl says he can—

He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.—

    Ain't he a' awful good Raggedy Man?

         Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! 

 

 To read the rest of the poem, click on the title. 

I am not sure I understand all of the poem, reading it now. 

But the line that I remember the best is -

 

"An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers the'rselves"

 

- from paragraph five.

Here's to good memories! May you remember them and keep making more.

Thank you for viewing my art.

 

Painting - Day 4

Progress!

(The lighting for these two photos seemed to have changed, making the colors different 

and I am not sure why, but you can see the barn and some of the other buildings are getting some paint.)

Still more to do in the foreground, but it is coming along nicely, I think.

Painting this REALLY brings me back to the farm, 

which my Mom and Dad call the 3M Ranch! (They still live there.)

When I was very little, the long low building in front of the big barn was the milking barn, 

with stanchions where my Dad milked some 18-20 head of Jersey cows. 

And when I was still only about 2 or 3, 

my Dad and my Grandad built the milkhouse, where 4 cows could be milked at a time (the building to the left of that old milkhouse). 

Wonder if anyone can guess what 3M stands for? I couldn't remember

correctly and my folks had to remind me.

Thank you for following along. I will be finished soon with this painting (I hope).

Painting - Day 3

Deciding on colors ... i love purple, and what is purple's complement?

Yes, yellow! 

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and commenting if you have time!

New Painting - Day 2

Adding some color! Attempting already to keep as moody as the block-in.

There's my phone and Jambox for listening to music and podcasts such as:

SavvyPainter

Leslie Saeta's ArtistsHelpingArtists

and about a dozen others

while I paint.

What do you listen to?

Thanks for checking in!

New Painting Progression

This painting is on my easel right now.
I have had the reference photo for a long time. Something my brother took. He has given me permission to use the photo.

It is the farm where we (my brother, sister and I) grew up.

I prepared the Masonite panel (13 x 16) - smooth side - 

with 3 coats of acrylic gesso, creating a bit of a rough foreground 

using some Golden "Extra Heavy Gel (Matte)" 

acrylic medium in the second layer. 

Third layer is a gray gesso that I made by adding some acrylic black.

It isn't much, just a bit, because I really love texture - but this painting doesn't need much.

The gray paint is Payne's Gray mixed with my medium.

Thank you for viewing!