Ever Watchful

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 5x7in. - oil on panel

This month's challenge on Daily Paintworks is The Feather Challenge, so I thought I'd do something different and paint a bird. It was a lovely experience painting this serene guy. Gal?

Protective

 

Click Here to Bid (6x6in. - OIL - starts at $100)

I posted the reference photo for this at the beginning of the month/year. It was for this month's Daily Paintworks Challenge, all about resolutions. One of my personal resolutions is to paint more flowers on larger panels, but the past few days I've been doing a few little paintings as a warm up (and to try and get myself out of a funk I've been going through). It worked! And this is one of the little ones I did.

I have a bunch more references of these flowers that I'm going to play with. One thing I realized is that I was intimidated by going large, so these little studies are a GREAT way to get warmed up, try some ideas for editing, and just see what works and what doesn't. So expect more, and eventually, larger versions.

3 tries at one scene, 2 mediums

Click Here to Bid: TOP (gouache, 3x8in.), BOTTOM (oil, 2.75x8in.)

For this month's Daily Paintworks Challenge, I proposed painting a single scene in 2 mediums (more for extra credit!). I posted the photo for this scene as an idea (but you can use anything you like). It took me a while to do it myself, but this is it, and I learned a LOT!

The top one is gouache. I did that one first. I cut a panel for #2 (oil - middle painting) the exact same size, and was really frustrated in painting it. I took a break after, and came back having decided to try one more time, on a slightly shorter panel that was leftover from cutting the other one (bottom painting). I experimented quite a bit with the whole thing - tried to approach each part a little (or a lot) differently. While the result probably looks very similar, I am much happier with the third one, and this is really where I learned. 

For example after doing the second one I realized that the ground I put down tinted the whole thing kind of pink (ugh). So for #3 I didn't use a ground, and the colors came out cleaner. Also for #3 I blocked in the whole thing first and this really helped me get all the relationships working from the start without having to make big changes later. I have found in general blocking in is helpful with landscapes, since the relationships (especially value, but also color & temperature) are so critical and often subtle.

Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend doing this!! And if you do, please post what you painted to our challenge (you don't have to be a member). Happy painting!

From My Window

nfs.

This is my entry for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge - From Your Window. I decided since we're all mostly stuck inside, this was an appropriate challenge. But I was afraid of actually doing it, since it's outside my comfort zone (hence "challenge"), so I put it off until the very last day. I woke up that morning and there were several inches of snow on the ground - an even greater challenge for me! We have a steep hill that goes up behind our house, so I actually painted this from my second story studio window, of our adirondack chairs up on the hill, and the little rock fire ring in front of them. I really kind of like it, so I'm going to keep it for myself. : )

Scanning for Dudes

sold

Here is my entry for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. The reference photo is from a recent trip to Santa Cruz, CA. The sun was barely out, which made it a challenging photo. But what was really tough, honestly, were the foreshortened bodies! I had to measure like crazy. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Crazy Petals

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This was the very rose that hijacked my world and kicked off my obsession with roses. I found it on a walk with my husband. I used the photo reference for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge, and this is my entry.

Value Study - SOLD

This is my example painting for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge! It's a value study and I've arranged it so I have a dominant value (value that takes up the most room in the painting), a secondary value, and a smidge value (smallest amount). Dominant = mid value, Secondary = light, and Smidge = dark. See the value challenge to learn more.

What's Up? - SOLD

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Here's my chicken for the latest Daily Paintworks Challenge! I used the actual background from the photo as a color springboard, but tried to make the painted background a bit more abstract. There are already some VERY cool chicken paintings posted. Check 'em out!

It's my husband's birthday today and we are celebrating by doing one of our favorite things - camping. We are using his iphone as a personal hotspot so I can post - how cool is that?!

the 10-minute challenge! - SOLD

I double dog dare you to do this challenge! I promise if you do it, you will come out a better artist for it. Go to the challenge page on Daily Paintworks to read all about the 10-minute challenge!

"Cool in the Shade"

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As promised yesterday, here is my entry for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge! I found the car in St. Augustine, FL. I was pretty bummed that it was parked in the shade, but it made for a great study in reflections. There are only a couple of submissions to the challenge so far, but they are awesome! Check them out, and then do one yourself! You can see the demo video for this painting on the challenge page.

A few of you asked about a deadline - there isn't one! We'll have one challenge per week, and there will be a focus on the current one, but anyone can submit to any challenge, anytime.

"Suspicious Spoon" & Challenge! - SOLD

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I decided to revive a recent composition (or something similar) and do an exercise I often give my students. Some of you will know it as the "brush stroke exercise". The basic guideline is to mix a new color for each stroke. It was fun and I learned a lot! Mostly that I've gotten lazy with my paint application, and there are times when I should use a bit more paint!

But the timing for this is perfect because today I would like to announce the formation of the Daily Paintworks Challenge! We've been planning this for quite a while and are very excited about it. Inspired by Karin Jurick's, Different Strokes for Different Folks, we are basically (with Karin's blessings) continuing the idea. Some of the challenges will be straight photo references, but some will be more like the exercises from my workshops. Anyone can participate and it's free! Best of all, prospective buyers will easily be able to contact the submitting artist.

The first challenge is a photo of a beautiful old car I found in Florida. I painted it myself, and even made a demo of my painting! I will be posting those two things in the next day or two, however you can see and submit to the challenge, now, here.