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.

More apples

Here it is again after a little more work. I'm still very excited.

Apples on a plate 9" x 12"

I'm very excited about this piece. This picture is after the first session only, and the paint appears fairly transparent. I'm working some more on it right now and have been able to deepen the colors and opacity.

Ewer again

Well, I reshot this painting and am deleting the previous entry. This photo more closely represents the colors in the painting. And I have finished this piece. I got a good build up of paint on the surface of the piece and am beginning to work differently. I am excited about laying colors down without blending them together...I can't really be more articulate than that right now. Take a close up look and you'll see what I mean.

Ewer 2

Here is the new still life after a little work. There's not much of a change, except that more of the canvas is filled in with the first layer of paint.

Here too are a couple pictures of where I work on all these paintings.

Ewer 18" x 14"

I took a break from the portrait for a little white on white still life. I'll probably keep working on both at the same time.

I think it's going really well today. I loosened up and reintroduced the "mark" into the surface of the face. I also stopped worrying about the background (and the composition). Who cares?..

Earlier today I walked to the library and checked out their only book on painter Lucian Freud where I read a good quote. "If I'm putting someone in a picture, I like to feel that they've fallen asleep there or they've elbowed their way in. That way, they are there not to make the picture easy on the eye or more pleasant, but they are occupying the space of the picture and I am recording them.' Composition, in other words, is never more important to a painting than the subject. 'In my case the sort of odd ease and calm of a composed picture could take some of the life out of it...One of the things in Stanley Spencer I'm so conscious of is his composition'('Shall we put this there?')...I felt that the way I put things looked awkward, in the way that life looks awkward."

Just an updated photo of my painting. It's proving challenging, and I'm a little frustrated; but I am going to keep going.

Beginning of a self portrait 20" x 16"

I like a painting when it is in this stage of emerging. Today I started a new self portrait over an old piece that I never finished. After recently adding a few links of artists I enjoy to the blog I remembered how much I admire juicy oil portraiture. It inspired me to get back to the figure myself (for the first time EVER in oils). I was so surprised by the result as I have never been able to achieve the same sort of subtly with acrylic paints. I think this is going to be a fun painting.

12" x 24" Patterned background

This painting was started before Christmas and was then put on hold. I have just spent the last few hours hashing it out - teeny tiny brushes, lots of yellow and purple paint. I am still considering sorting out some of the irregularities in the pattern, but at the moment my mind is spinning. The plan is to use this as a background for a few animals, perhaps birds or bugs. We shall see. I am obsessed by ornately patterned vintage wallpaper. This particular design comes from a photo taken in a bar I like downtown, Chez Nouz. Yes, the wallpaper is that obnoxious gold, and the actual design is enhanced with flocking!

Pigeon 5" x 7"

Blogger updated to a new format?...These things boggle the mind, but I noticed the last two paintings I posted have fantastic "detail viewing potential". Just click on the image on the screen to get a better look at the pieces.

Abstract 4' x 5'

This blog is looking a little stagnant, yes? I have been working albeit only a little. Christmas was very busy, but I found time to finish a piece my parents want hung in their living room. Here is a photo of it. It was painted to their specifictions - abstract and using certain colors - so it isn't really in the same vein as my other work. Enjoy.

Pinecone

I am still finishing this piece. There is a green pinecone on the upper corner of the dish; but I like the way the pattern has turned out. It's been refreshing to work with such a different pallette.

Egg

Admittedly the subject matter was ripped straight from Duane Keiser's Painting a Day Blog; but the idea intrigued me. It is such a seemingly ordinary image that is really beautiful; and very technically challenging. In the end, I am simply moving on to the next painting.

Well, I painted over the previous egg painting. It bugged me. I didn't think it had turned out very well. The above image isn't a finished piece yet, but I think I am constructing a much more believable and concrete bowl. I didn't crack the egg in the still life this time because I was trying to make things a little easier on myself. We'll tackle the raw egg another time...

Another 4" x 3"

I am just trying to get going again after my recent two or three week absence from painting.

There is another small painting that I can't load onto Blogger right now. I have been trying all day to get this picture posted.

Looking at my last few paintings I think my approach was effected by an article I read. Check it out, it's entitled "On Finding the Right Mark"