Yellow Orgy

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It took me a few tries with yellow. I finally realized that it's such a light value - it needs a dark background! Duh.

I just created a NEW FREE ARTBYTE about shipping small art. I've gotten a lot of requests for ArtBytes on different subjects, and I have them all in a list! And I will get to them, I promise.

Stacks of Red

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For some reason this is the only one so far (of my one color series) that came somewhat easily. And it's my favorite. I painted yellow today too, but I think I'm going to give it another try tomorrow. What sucks is that often, the paintings that are the most painful, are also not very good. You'd think it would be the other way around - that the hard work would pay off in the end. Alas.

Not Affiliated

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Here's my second version of orange.  Really, I just wanted a second chance at the pig, AND I thought these two just went so well together. What I discovered is - paint is limited when it comes to shades of orange!!! Oh, and the title is a reference to a line in a Pixar movie, The Incredibles. "I'm not affiliated with you!" Does anyone else know it?

Orange Crew

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Coincidentally, I painted two orange versions for this series too (along with 2 blue's). This is the first one. Painting this one was quite a challenge, and it was the lighting that was hard. You might notice that some things are in a direct light, but the sailor is less so. You'll see in tomorrow's painting that the value of the yellow coat is actually lighter than the orange pig, but because of where they are in the light, the coat had to be a little darker. Honestly, there are so many objects in this, I should have painted it larger than 6x6. But you know ... habit.

I'm Blue One & Two

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Continuing my series of still lifes that each focus on one color, here I tackled blue. Twice. In between paintings I read a few pages of Richard Schmid's book, Alla Prima II, where he talks about doing a block-in. I wanted to try it, so I decided to paint the same (general) scene again. Sometimes I like to paint the same thing again in a different WAY rather than a whole new thing.

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On the first painting I added some palette knife work, and on the second I decided a brush was enough. Someone asked me today to show a picture of the new tools I've been experimenting with, so here that is.

The green thing on the left is a bowl scraper that I got from Amazon. Then a Catalyst squeegee (this and all the rest are from Dick Blick). Next two rollers/brayers, large and small. Next a small Catalyst squeegee thingie on a stick. Then two Blick palette knives. Maybe someday I'll be able to say HOW to use these tools. But at this rate it might take me many years to really figure it out!!

The Greenies

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For a while now I've been keeping a list of painting ideas. And mostly ignoring it. But one of my ideas (that I actually kind of did once a long time ago), is to do a series of paintings, each focusing on a particular color. And I decided to tackle it (again)! My friend Pat gave me the green glass cup the other day, so I figured green was a good place to start.

Three Amigos

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I heard a quote the other day by Edgar Degas. He said, "Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do." I love it.

Sunflower Sidekicks

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And here's another sunflower study, but with texture added via palette knife. The new stuff is fun, but it requires a lot of thinking in ways I'm not used to. Ugh - my brain hurts!

Sunflowers on a Cloudy Day

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Here's another of my sunflower studies. The pig just snuck in there last minute. Stinker.

Frenemies

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Recently I went looking for some flowers to do a large painting of. I tried the grocery store first but their selection was paltry. And what they did have looked very sad. So my husband suggested we stop by the florist at the bottom of our hill. How novel - a florist!? And what did I find? Happy flowers!! Sure, they were a bit more pricey, but well worth it for me.

I decided to take pictures for the large painting. And so that I fully understand the colors that the photos won't capture, I did several small studies from life, of which this is the first.

Tiny Foodcart

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I painted this one the regular way, with brushes. And I liked it, but I decided to experiment on top of it with my palette knife. And now I kinda love it. My husband says I should never do another painting without it. We'll see.

Let's Pause

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Here's a scene from Germany. Can you tell she's holding her glasses? And can you see the little, white dog? Ah, the little things.

Trash Talk

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Here's a quaint Oregon scene. I took the reference photos a few years ago, on the way to visit some friends out in the country. What you can't see is the washer/dryer set off the left. And the 15 other cars in various states of disrepair.

Adjacent

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And here is my last texture-y rose(s), for now. Today I experimented with palette knife on a people scene. I'll show you that soon.

Pale Purple Rose

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And here's another texture-y rose. I take as many photos of roses as I can in spring and summer, so I have lots to paint in the dreary months. We are lucky to have a wonderful rose garden here in Eugene, and another in Portland.

Shadow Roses

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Here's my second attempt at roses with more texture. I took a detail photo so you can see what I'm talking about. For this one I mostly used brushes and a palette knife. I'm also exploring with rollers (brayers?) and squeegees. I've had some luck with each, but so far can't achieve anything consistent. But I'm having fun trying!

Orange Creamsicle Rose

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One of my goals for this year is to experiment more with texture. I've done some work with rollers, squeegees and palette knives, but I want to step up my game and do more, really figure out what I can do with them. I'm starting with a series of small roses. Next time I'll take a close-up too so you can see more of what I'm talking about.

Mr. Grumpy Pants

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For those of you who saw my Painting People ArtByte, you know I used the reference photo for this painting as an example of one NOT to use. Yep. My reasoning was - the main character blends into the background too much, because his values are too close to what's behind him. But I painted it anyway, because at the end of the day, everything should be questioned. And I always did like this scene.

Shoe Complement

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Here are some tourists from France. I took this in Roussillon, a town near some very colorful cliffs, where they collect the dirt and sell it. I have to suspect these folks had just walked through some particularly orange dirt, and they're reflecting on the mess it left on their shoes.

Elevensies

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Never before have I had a tiny little head go so well as this! And it only took one try. Man oh man that feels good. : )

Where's the Hotel

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Hello again and happy new year!! We are home again from our holiday vacation, and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I wish I could say I've painted already, but I spent the whole day catching up with more menial tasks. I have this and one more painting to show you from before I left. Meanwhile, I will get the really terrible (rusty) paintings out of the way, and hopefully post something new in a few days. : )