Since the oil painting didn't turn out well at all, see below, I decided to try some watercolors. I am much happier with the simple rendering here. Should have started lower on the page, but overall, color and shading I'm pleased with. Thanks for stopping in. 
Oh, dear, this one is a flunkie. I call it muscle pears, because it looks like these poor Bosc pears went on steroids or something, tricked out with oversized bottoms. I am posting it because I think it's important to show that not everything turns out, and to admit that we are all limited by our skill level. Maybe by this time next year, I'll be able to look back and see exactly where this one went wrong. Oil 8" x10".
The eighth painting, eight days. Rolling along here. I find that the second attempt at just about everything is the better version. EDM folks have been talking lately about right brain-left brain functions and warming up before drawing and painting, and as I mull over the comments, it just makes sense that you can apply what your right brain has learned at a first attempt in a second, more freed up version. I also like the blue bowl here, and I sprayed the lemons with water so they weren't drying out so fast. Another lesson applied. Next I think I'll try some limes, maybe, or maybe some fortume cookies that I spotted, leftover from our last take out order.
Day seven of the trial run on daily painting. Trying some yellows, and finding the shadows on yellow are really tricky. This one is definitely shakey, but I'll let it dry before i try some refining. I DO like the one lemon slice at the side of the bowl with the little shine spots. Oil on canvas board, 5" x 7". Thanks for looking.
This is the second version of the still life set up. See first attempt below. This one much better on the shadow color, softer. And the skin of the eggplant looks smoother here, more like how it should look. Continuing with the effort to do a painting a day. Watercolors are gonna count.
First attempt at a small still life with eggplant and a nice pepper. The color of shadows is still an elusive thing for me. This version is too blue, I think. But I had stretched and stapled two small pieces of watercolor paper on the same board, so did two at the same time. While one was drying, flipped the board around and worked on the other. A nice break from the oils.
. I was needing a break from the desserts, but I want to try this one over with a larger brush and see if it comes out more loose and painterly. Glad you could stop by.
The Christmas cupcakes, second version, with one of the green ones included. I'm happy with this one, although the shadows are a little odd, going off and up the napkin like they did. Expecially like the frosting on the white cupcake, after scraping it off a couple of times. The papers were fun to do, since who counts the folds anyway? Just imagine them in and you're done. Thanks for looking.
Another small painting of some Christmas cupcakes from Giant. The green ones actually look more Christmasy, but I wanted to try two of the little paintings with cupcakes. I did better with the frosting here, I think, than the eclair.
This one I'll call home serving, since it's the size of a slice you'd never eat at a buffet or at a restaurant, or at a friend's house, but at home...well, totally different story. It was melting as I painted it in the spotlight, but I kept popping it into the freezer for a minute here and there to firm up again. As you can see, things were sliding off the custard topping. The elclair I had a hard time with, especially the whipping cream, that's so hard to get right, I'll have to try again a couple more times to get that white and shadow right. Thanks for looking.
This took about two hours to paint last night and I admit that I was in a hurry. I didn't want the filling to spoil before I could eat it, and it did have a light shining on it. I am happy to report that it was indeed delicious, the berries especially. The flakey crust had gotten a little mushy by the time I got to it, but overall, yummy, nice smooth vanilla filling, oh my yes! Done in oils on canvas hardboard, the masonite scraps from Home Depot which I cover with canvas. Thanks for looking.
. Nice to play with good sharp pencils though, as always. Thanks for looking.
What a neat feature of the photo editing programs! You can go black and white, and check to see how you did with your values. I almost like the grey scale version better than the color version. But it sure is useful for the tones in the color version.
Our painting class spent a very cold afternoon trying to paint outdoors on Tuesday, doing urban landscapes. This one was almost sucessful, though I think I overdid it. The yellow here is much brighter than it is in the painting. In the painting it's more of a white-yellow. I do like the way the sun falls on the front wall, and I think the shadows are finally starting to work here. The windows were the most fun to paint. Thanks for checking in.
The green comes too much forward. Thanks for looking.
Ahhh, brown paper bags filled with flavored ground coffee; scoop up those nice fragrant beans and grind them into these cute little bags, a nice occasional treat. Usually it's whatever happens to be on sale at the Giant. But hey, I needed to draw brown paper bags anyway, right? French Vanilla and Chocolate Almond anyone? This one was done with pastel pencil on toned charcoal paper with a small spotlight to bring up some highlights. All the midtones are just the paper color. Worked out pretty well. Thanks for looking.
Three watercolors of apples, all sorts of apples. I think it's Roma, Delicious and Granny Smith. The trouble with these kinds of watercolors is the "background" or what to do with all that negative space behind and in front of your items, whatever they are. In these little studies, I have not done much of anything, but my professor suggested looking at the work of Charles Demuth, who did a sort of fade away drapery in some of his still lives. Worth a look. I think I'm most happy with the one above, the Romas, they had the most interesting markings, and I think the shadows work better than the other two below. The purple shadows seem too strong to me. The shadows in the Romas (the yellow and red apples) are more subtle, using a grey brown color, with a small touch of purple, just a touch. 
Thanks much for stopping by.
Linda suggested using Picassa, and their Blog This feature for uploading photos, so I'll give it a try. I have not been happy with the way my great camera and its high resolution photos wind up looking so mushy on the blog. Do you think it could be operator error, LOL? Anyone with suggestions on how to post really nice photos to blogger, please chime right in. Thank you, thank you.
Working in oils is a challenge and a pleasure, entirely different from watercolors, and just as much fun. I love both, but have to really scratch my head when I switch back and forth. This photo is pretty blurry, but it does show the idea of trying to think in terms of shapes, values and color notes, a la Kevin Macpherson. His new book about oil painting looks just terrific, Landscape Painting Inside and Out. Can't wait to get into it reading and studying.
This has been a gorgeous and longish fall for me, starting in Massachusetts and then enjoying the peak all over again in Maryland. Our November colors are so rich with wonderful grays and purples, deep beautiful browns and reds. The plein air class I'm taking has me frantic to paint, all I want is more time, more time, more time. Here are a couple of the oils I've been working on. There are a dozen more, all unfinished of course.
Been going on Saturdays to our local college, and participating in a life drawing session. It's a great opportunity to work on drawing skills, intense and absorbing. Most of the time it's so quiet, everyone concentrating fiercely, you can hear the scritching of the pencils and vine charcoal going. Most of my drawings are badly out of proportion, head too big, shoulders too big, arms too long, off kilter, but every once in awhile, it feels almost right. Posting a couple of those. This lady had her forearm stretched, and the back calf is deformed, but I am amazed at how hard it is in ten minutes to get it right.
Thanks to Casey from EDM, I got excited about trying pastels again. Dragged out some pastel pencils and found a sheet of charcoal paper, and purchased brown eggs. The color of the eggs is so wonderful, a cross between sienna and ochre, yummy. However, I remember now why I don't work with these much, the pencils need to be sharpened with an exacto knife, and you just can't get a good point, mostly the pigment drops off in the middle of a sharpen, and you get to start all over carving wood. Then you've got this coarse, chunky stump of color to work with, and the work is crude at best. The upside is the wow color you can get with the pastels. Anyone ever found a good way to sharpen these, beside using sand paper and blade?
Visiting at my daughter's in Massachusetts, helping out with the four grands while her DH is out of state for work training. Gorgeous fall colors, maples all firey orange, reds and yellows. But had to do a quick watercolor pencil drawing of city monkey, my grandson Max's second best monkey. Country monkey was taking a nap with Max, so not available for posing. The oils are on hold while I'm away from home, but have been doing some artwork with the grands, and loving just being with them. Did bring my camera and some watercolors, so I'll see what I can do. Thanks for looking.
