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.

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.

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.

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"

Kizmet

How does it happen?...

The pear picture took me two days of work - maybe four hours. The Braeburn apple - twenty minutes. Where do these things come from? I have been slaving away all summer to nail that loose, effortless aesthetic of the apple painting. And lo and behold, there is no slaving involved in the execution. It is indeed effortless. Of course, I realize that all these images build upon one another and I wouldn't be here without that whole summer of painting. Blah dee blah dee blah...It's like being told to eat your vegetables because they're good for you. In this case, however, the reward is more gratifying.

I finally got some good images of my paintings not the deep dark murky pictures that I continually post. The image of the pear painting hasn't been photoshopped at all! I am forever fooled by the illuminated screen of my digital camera, thinking the picture is correctly exposed. Now I am on the path of overexposure.

Both pieces are 4" x 3" or 3" x 4", as it were.

Two more quick paintings

I should really be a bit more disciplined about the photos I take of my work. These are both pretty dark. But then I seem to be shooting things ineptly to get them on the site and going back later to either reshoot or edit the image. So keep checking back. I sneak updated images into old posts without ever mentioning it. (Bet you didn't notice I did that.)

Theses two paintings are small and in the same vein as the last two - get something down, do it in one sitting, it doesn't matter what, just how. And well, I think I loosened up and approached that juicy looking paint which is seemingly alive in its application and effortless in rendering the subject. Keep in mind I did say approaching...It's a flicker right there in the image of the garlic. The clove in the foreground happened first and happened quickly, and while it happened I was working out a new way of articulating what I was seeing. I was becoming a little more facile with my oil paint. (Quick, widen the doors! Her head is enlarging!) I will try and keep this in perspective. But it is refreshing. One more rusty painting bolt shaken loose!

(And I'm rediscovering my brown paints right now too.)

Another 3" x 5" sketch

I sat down to another quick painting today rather than working on my long term pieces. This took about three hours and was pretty challenging because the oil paint remains so wet. (Maybe I really am an acrylic painter.) I still am looking to develop a relationship with light. I feel I am drawing rather than painting - deliniating the form and edges of an object instead of utilizing paint's unique ability to convey luminosity, shadow, and highlight. I sat down again after this piece and began another short small composition that seems to be closer to this idea of capturing light. We'll see.
The photo has been tinkered with in Photoshop simply because it was too dark, but again, I think the program makes the colors a little surreal.

"A painting a day" or, "there are some paintings I just have to fling like a frisbee into the trash"

I'm feeling a little stuck lately. I was plugging away at the Dinner still life when I decided to add the magpie. Then I felt inspired. I knew what I was going to paint next. I researched it, built my support, prepared it, and sat down to paint...

Nothing.

I changed my direction. Searched some new sources, sketched out an image and began applying paint. It didn't work. The oil dried instantly, as if I was working with acrylic paint. A little research led me to conclude that the support needed some more preparation...A sizing to prevent the gesso from over absorbing the oil paint I was applying.

But still the whole process didn't feel very inspiring.

So here I was again with a blank canvas. After a few feeble efforts, I began a second painting of the same Dinner still life from a different point of view. A little boring? Perhaps.

I sat down to work on that reincarnation of the Dinner scene again today, and just started wondering what I was doing.

"What am I doing?"

So I bumbled around on the internet for a while and found a pretty interesting blog. http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com/ This guy is making a painting a day. And while I am not interested in the idea so much, I am interested in the work. It's beautiful. And perhaps best viewed by visiting his blog and clicking on the Archives link in the righthand column. It takes you to thumbnails of all his paintings organized by month. I think his work tells me that it doesn't matter what you paint, but rather how.

So here is what I sat down and wrenched out of my brush today. Yes, it was painful. And yes, I think it belongs to that category of "bad paintings".

I guess it's true. "Everyone just has a certain number of bad paintings in them. Get them out, and move on." Good advice from an old friend of mine.

Image number two...

This is a sketch in oil 3 inches by 5 inches. (By the way, the painting pictured below is 18" x 18"; and has progressed beyond the photo I published. It has not been finished as the still life went to rot. Other people must paint faster than I do, I never see mold in the paintings I look at by other artists...)