Finished onion drawing

Here is the finished onion drawing.

Les Ongions 10" x 10"

There's something about posting on here that gets me working. I put in a little more time with the artichokes and then began this piece. It's marker, India ink, and white acrylic on paper, and I think it's coming along nicely. The marks along the edge of the piece are masking tape that will be removed when the drawing is finished.

Finished artichokes 10" x 11"

I may do a few touch ups on this piece. The artichokes have long ago rotted away, so I am forced to be done with the drawing of them. In my mind the background of this piece was dark so I filled in a square area around the artichokes to get a sense of how it would look, and then decided that I may crop the image into the square format pictured above. The graphite on panel was an interesting experiment, but I am not sure it's the right medium for me. It is very irreversible like watercolor. Once something is layed down on the wood it is hard to remove it even with sandpaper. In the past I have drawn with India ink and acrylic paint which allows me to completely alter the work, and I feel much more comfortable working in that way. Perhaps I will try it again, but I am not sure.
I have made a few new sketches this week and will be adding them to my sketchbook link soon.

Artickokes 11" x 36"

I started this piece today. I am working with graphite on a birch panel. It is a very long thin format which is how I most commonly worked six years ago, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to get back to it. It's such a strange size I know; but I really feel comfortable composing on long "canvases". I love it. Below is a picture of the piece in it's entirety so you can get a sense of the composition.

* Also we had a new addition to the family

that I am very excited about. I just

bought her today at an excellent price

in the shop round the corner.

Asparagus 5" x 7"

I worked on this small piece last week and was able to put in two one hour sessions on it. I found myself racing against time because the asparagus changed so dramatically between the two sittings. I don't really consider this painting very successful. I think I was spending my time getting familiar with the subject and perhaps I can turn this "study" into something more at a later time. There are some exciting passages in the piece but the painting doesn't function well as a whole. So I recommend clicking on the image and looking at it close up. That's how I like this painting best.

Lemons 5" x 7"

Here is a photo of the lemon painting. This was taken after three one hour sessions working on the piece. The branch is beginning to die so the leaves are losing moisture and changing shape ever so slightly between each session. I have enjoyed the colors in the subject as well as working on something I love that I encounter each day - the lemon tree next door. The last oil painting of apples led me to working in this palette - highly saturated colors (fruit) on white plates. I love the contrast and the clean look. I purchased another sketchbook the other day, this one for pen and ink drawings. And I work in it when getting to the easel seems daunting. Check the blog for links to that book and my Moleskin soon.

Eggs 4" x 5"

I have been trying to paint everyday again, but just for a short time. Here is a small painting I started yesterday when I realized it was the wrong time of day to work on the apples. (The shadows in the still life were very different in the early morning.) I finsihed the eggs during my session today and began a painting of a branch from the lemon tree in our neighbor's backyard.

Tyler

I have wanted to paint Tyler for a while now. And this weekend we started small - a one hour sitting. We'll be back at it again next weekend. So I'll have updates of this piece to post.

My Moleskin

I broke down and bought one of those tragically expensive trendy little Moleskin sketch pads this week after visiting their website and finding some really nice examples of watercolor sketches. (Clever advertising idea...it worked.) It has solved a small problem of mine which is that my studio is located in my house. Thus, long days painting also mean long days in the house. Now I am able to be more mobile and I spent Tuesday painting pictures of lettuces at an organic farm. Watercolour is not really my forte and I am doing this for little more than play - diversionary art. But perhaps it will open me up and get me less focused on product and more on process. This morning I woke up and made a quick watercolour of the apples set up in my studio for my current oil painting. Here they are.

Here too is a link to the Moleskin website as well as Amanda Kavanagh's work. Click on the sketchbook icons in the left hand column of Amanda's website. It's really beautiful work.