New ground

I have already put in more work on this painting changing it from how it is pictured here. I am working with a new ground on my panels in order to get the oil paint to handle better, and I am pleased with the results. My next challenge is to find a good recipe for size that will allow me to work on paper so that I can combine some of my stitching work with these painted images of birds.

Birds from life

I think I have photographed all of the studies I painted last quarter - finally! They are photographed but not entirely edited. Here are posts of the few that are complete. The actual pieces are quite small - no more than 12 inches in any direction; and they are rather gritty. The series is an exercise in quick observation and risk. I chose to make either a dark or a light painting and spent little more than an hour attacking the articulation of the form of the bird and the surrounding space. I intend to keep on with these as a way to push my ability to manipulate the paint. I think the winter break is going to help me get further in my painting of the atmosphere around the birds. I feel refreshed.

small painting

le morte 8 x 12"

One of the grad students noticed a dead creeper while on their way into the building. It is finding a second life in several different incarnations within the graduate program. I made this small sketch of a painting and a sculpture student is casting the little bird in bronze.