Sit and Go

6x6

Oil on Canvasboard

DPW

Here's another study for a larger piece.  It's kind of funny that I thought that it would be hard to see what it is, since I didn't put in a lot detail  - but I think it's pretty clear?...

What would happen with even less detail?  Something I could push a lot further with a larger piece.

On a different note, I want to thank Archana who came out from Dallas to paint with Daggi and me this weekend and was kind enough to be my guinea pig today as practiced sharing what I've learned.  She did an amazing job taking on some new painting exercises (among them 10-minute apples, thanks to Carol) and excelled very quickly!   It was such a pleasure to paint together!   And I learned that I can always get even more organized...what?...:-)  I look forward to seeing what Archana will paint next!

Lemon Lean

6x6

oil on gessoed panel

DPW

This was painted on hardboard I had bought and gessoed myself at some point.   I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked working on this surface!   I think it was the brush stroke texture of the gesso.   And I practiced drawing the way we did it in Carol's workshop and started out with my vulnerable areas of color, painting my islands:-)   Gotta celebrate those times the process is a breeze...

and now I think I need to get some more hard board.  

 

What's your favorite surface, if you paint?

Oregon Chew

8x8

oil on Gessoboard

DPW

This painting was from several photos I took on the way to the airport in Eugene Oregon after the week in Carol Marine's workshop.   

Traveling somewhere new is such a visual treat.  Every place has it's own personality and paintable views.    In Oregon I was mesmerized by the fog and it was a welcome change for me to feel a chill in the air.  And with all the moisture the grass had this lovely green color.   I had seen these sheep on the way from the airport and on my way to leave I just had to stop and take some pictures.   One thing I'm working on right now is - using what I know to design my painting so as to improve on what I see in nature, not just copy what I see.

Time to Focus

Time to Focus

6x6

Oil on linen on panel

Study for larger painting

Loved the composition of this scene when I saw it and this was a quick study to prepare me for doing a larger piece...so much fun.   Going larger means I will have to focus more on how to apply the paint and create interesting areas with more texture, since I won't be describing them with a single brush stroke like here.

Exciting and a little intimidating.

A Brush with The Mouse

6x6

Oil on Gessoboard

DPW

I've been painting a few more still life paintings than usual after being back from Carol Marine's workshop.   PS.  One of the best, if not the best workshop I've ever taken.   Click here if you want to learn more about her next workshops

It's great to be painting from life.   The big difference from plein air is that cropping and getting the measurements right is not as easy.  As I'm squinting through my home made viewfinder, to get my drawing on the canvas, I have to keep one eye closed to see it in the same way each time I look through it.  I probably need to find a better way to hold the viewfinder, so as to keep it in the same spot each time I look too?  Maybe if I attach it by a wire to a hat on my head?...Ideas anyone?

Day 24 - Last day of Carol Marine's Workshop

Carol Marine Workshop Day 5

For our last day of Carol's workshop I knew I probably wouldn't be painting, as I had to leave a little earlier for my flight. 

Still, I was looking forward to the daily structure of watching Carol paint her demo in her deliberate, thoughtful and methodical way.    There is just something so calming about watching Carol paint!   And what a fabulous egg!   I'm now saving our expired eggs, hoping they won't smell by the time I get into practicing some egg paintings:-)

 Carol told us that for painting eggs she doesn't actually paint islands to oceans, but paints both at the same time and she loves looking for lost edges where the edges blends into the background.   The thing to remember is to paint the egg-yoke and everything else dark enough that the highlights will sing.   The cute fabric that the bowl was set on is one that Carol painted herself.  It's so organic and varied, which is really difficult to find in a store-bought piece of fabric so doing it yourself is a great way to get exactly what you want.  One company where you can go to create your own is Spoonflower.

Here's the great group of painters participating in Carol's workshop this week:

After the demo Carol gave us all the in's and out's of photographing your art and preparing your photos for the web.  We also got the scoop on the art of blogging, how to ship your work after it sells, building a following and maintaining a newsletter.   So much valuable information and...so much to do:-)

Day 23 - Gnome'ore doughnuts

Carol Marine Workshop - Day 4

This is the cute set-up for Carol's demo on day 4.   The two tomatoes add a nice compliment, and variety to the mostly cool colors of the grouping.    I didn't get a picture of the finished piece.  I must have been too engrossed in the demo....but here's one from half-way through, for now.

Some useful tips for the day:

CreateSpace is a good company for self-publishing.

Kemper tools/color shaper/clay shaper - great tools for erasing.

Carol uses the wedge for her signature and it's great to use for re-finding your drawing if needed.

We talked about color today and two different color wheels. 

 The regular one with 3 primary colors, and one that Carol feels is more intuitive - the Munsell Wheel.

I found the picture above on this blog and 

James Gurney has a nice blogpost on the Munsell system as well here.

The main difference being that the Munsell Wheels has 5 main spokes (see the 2nd sample) instead of the 3 spokes in the traditional color wheel so it offers some more options.

Looking online I found a few more color wheels and theories and it seems like there is a depth of study that can be done to get the most out of color...and add to the confusion...:-)

We did an exercise on colors and how they lean, and attempted to mix a perfectly neutral grey.

In the afternoon we painted our own set-up and I was struggling with getting started.   I finally started a painting with a doughnut from a local hot spot.   Beautiful blue frosting with pink sprinkles, how cool is that...but it didn't quite work out the way I had planned....sprinkles are a little difficult to paint in a "chunky brush strokes kind of style":-) and I didn't like the way I couldn't make it read well in planes so....on Friday I ended up replacing the doughnut with a pepper. - see below.

First Version

Second Version

Gnome'ore doughnuts

6x6

oil on gessoboard

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