Friday Paintings...

I did two paintings Friday after running errands all day! I was so proud of myself for not just wasting the day since I did not get to paint at the start of the day like I normally do. I love this one of the tomatoes! The blue reflection is more understated in the actual painting, but I can't get it to show up like that on the photo. This is 11x14.
This one I had trouble with the yellow underpainting making my purple so dull. I will probably go back to my old system of dry underpaintings. Who knows. this is an 8x10.

Trio of Reflections 18x36

Well, after the paint-a-thon on Wednesday I only had one painting in me today. Lots going on. One friend scheduled an MRI for next week because of symptoms she is having and another has a daughter in the hospital with serious troubles. I found out that I was not accepted into the art show in Ocean Springs on Nov. 3 and in the light of everything going on with others it just isn't that big a deal. I'm still on for October 20/21 in Fairhope so I had better get to painting.

Two Day's Work...

I have painted my patootie off, as I said I was going to do. In fact I painted so much yesterday, that I didn't have time to stop and photo/post my work. So you get two day's worth today.

Welcome to Tabasco land. I am getting ready for a show and these things sell in this part of the country. I love to paint them, too. (good thing) This first one is 18x36. I was not happy with it at first and then I went back and worked on the background and darkened the shadow and BOOM it came to life. After Carol's workshop I think I am better maybe at diagnosing the problems in my work. Next...
This one is small by my standards...a mere6x12". I really like the mood of it. This one was painted on a black background.

This one I was really liking...until I painted in the background. I thought with so much teal and green, red would be good, but there is just something off about it. I guess I just figured out what it is. The photo of these was taken outside on a pretty neutral surface with trees in the actual upper background part. If these were actually on a red surface, they would be reflecting red somehwere, now wouldn't they? Ok...more tweaking to do.

I got so frustrated with the bottles, and I felt like I was not happy with where I was headed, so I just decided to go a totally different route. I got out my pallette knife and decided to do a pallete knife painting. This is from my Santa Fe collection. This one is 20x24". The colors did not translated just right onto the computer, but I really like this one. Much better in person. Ok, so after that one I was on a roll and decided to try to do a loose pallette knife wine bottle. Just something small. I did this 8x16. I didn't like it as much as I did the one I did in the workshop. So I went and got an actual wine bottle and set up a little still life and did another one.This one is so similar, yet so different. I like them both in their own way.

Well, that's it for show and tell. I need to get in the studio if I plan to have anything but a blog post to show for today.

Wine Line-Up and Hot Stuff

These are the results of my paint-a-thon on Monday... This wine bottle painting I did from a photo from a trip this summer where we saved the bottles from the weekend on a rail by the deck where we were staying. (There were 7 of us there.) I struggled with this one and got caught up in the details. There are parts I really like, though. I plan to tweak this one a little more. Now that I have seen it photographed I notice the "fluid" look of the second bottle from the left. I like that look and wouldn't mind it if they all looked that way, but since the others are a little more "soldierly" I think I shall do a mini-makeover on this guy.
This one I did after I had gotten totally frustrated with the wine bottles. I decided to try to really apply what I had learned in my Caorl Marine workshop. I set up a still life, got out my view-finder and did this 10x 20. I think the influences of Carol are pretty evident, but I think it is still "me", too. (Thanks, Carol)

Faye's Flowers

This is the photo that I took outside of the hotel that Faye and Jeannette stayed at during their Santa Fe stay. I was wandering my last morning there and remembered that they were checking out around that time so I hunted them down and was able to visit with them for a few minutes. While there I took this photo, the last one of many from my trip.

This is the 30 x40 painting that I did from the photo. I had both the photo thumbnail and the painting thumbnail next to each other on my task bar and I noticed that the painting was dreadfully lacking something. It was amazing how clearly I could see it on the little thumbnail. I seem to remember Carol mentioning this technique in class. Very useful let me tell you.
I am still having trouble photoing my paintings and getting the right colors represented. But this is the closest I could get. In the modified version (even though you can't see it as well on the photo) I upped the highlights on the leaves that are catching sun and the sunlit part of the urn. I noticed in the thumbnail that my values weren't different enough. Ok, so now I guess we can say I have officially learned something from Carol's workshop and applied it! Woo-woo!

Results of my Santa Fe Class...

This is the first painting that I didn't wipe off in Santa Fe. It is three little grape tomatoes.

These three peppers are my next effort...I did these on the day we talked about composition.

This lemon was done on the day we talked about different values and how to use them in a painting to get the most dramatic effect.

These three red peppers were also done on the day we talked about values. I love the red on the turquoise background.

This is the last painting that I finished in Santa Fe. It is my favorite for many reasons. It is an 8x10 so perhaps the slightly larger size was a little more comfortable for me. I love the colors and I think the brush stroke are closer to what I have in mind trying to achieve for all of my paintings.

This is a sunflower that I finished after I got home...ok, I admit it....I took a photo of the flower before I left. So shoot me.






This is a 24x30 painting that I had started on a while ago before I had to take a work break and do other things besides paint. It was great to finally put the finishing touches on it yesterday!

Corona on the Beach...16x36

This is my first painting since returning from my art class/extravaganza in Santa Fe. I cannot express what an effect that week had on me as a person and as an artist. The workshop itself, the people I met and the art that I saw while there all bonded together and hit me right between the eyes. I came home wanting to be a better artist and convinced that I could be one. Thanks to Carol, Bernie, Paula, Bruce, Faye, Jeannette, Vicki, Kathryn, Bonnie, Mary, oh my gosh, the list just goes on....suffice it to say, thanks to all of you who touched my life.



This painting is certainly different from what we did in class...to start with it is 18" x 36". But, I was able to apply many things that I learned in class to a painting such as this, as well as the small format that we worked on.



This is a painting that I had committed to weeks ago for a pal who did wome work for us, so this one is for Stephen. As promised it is the first one I did when I "started painting again".