Gathering Safely In

 

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This is the last of the orange slices for now. The title is a line from a song I like. 10 points if you can guess it without looking it up online. : )

Orange Pals

 

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I've been thinking a lot about friends lately, old and new, and specifically friend groups, and all their dynamics. I think I subconsciously pour my feelings about these kinds of things into my paintings. You can see it in all the groupings of objects. Some get along better than others.

Guarding Plates

 

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I found this purple-ish glass recently at the thrift store. It was quite a challenge to make the colors read right since you can see through to the white plates and the green background in different places. And then of course the glass gets thicker and thinner, and add reflections on top of that! Whew.

A Juicy Snack

 

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A few more orange slices. You can see that little white cup again, sneaking around, trying to get closer.

I painted the silly little white cup by itself below to illustrate what I was talking about in this post. The bottom image is the bottom of my palette, beneath which is a simple value scale I made with acrylic paint. You can't see it perfectly because of my photos, but I mixed each color for the cup above the value it corresponded with. This helps me keep them all straight in my mind. I only used the lightest value for the highlights.

And before someone asks how I mixed these colors, I used red, blue, yellow, and white. : )

BTW, I painted it on a little Richeson 4x4in. panel that I got a free sample of years ago. The surface was smoother than the gessobord I'm used to, and the paint application was very different. It seemed to kind of soak up and dry the paint super fast. Weird. Anyone else use Richeson panels?

Orange Delights

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Here's another one with orange slices. I try not to cut them up the same way every time, although this is my favorite. I think the cups like it too. Especially this white one keeps sneaking over to spend time with them. I get it - they're cute.

A Loose Line

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I used my smaller, zoomable light for this one, and focused it in on the larger cup and a few of the orange slices, like a spotlight. This made it much more challenging as I had to capture the subtle differences between each slice as they moved away from the light. Not to mention the rest of the scene. But man I just revel in this kind of challenge!

Organized Orange

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x8in. - oil on panel

I got an email today from a gal who says that she "struggles with the middle values." And I can honestly say - me too! Recently I added a new thing to my studio that has helped. I painted a simple little value scale (with acrylic paint) that I put under my palette so that the values peek out along the bottom.

When I'm having trouble, I mix colors with corresponding values right above each value. This helps especially with all the white cups and plates I paint. I also think to myself, when I'm looking at the plate, for example, what like value can I find? Is there a value in the cup that is similar? And every time I mix a new color, I look for like values to compare it too (as opposed to looking at only the colors right next to the thing). I might even put a little dab (on my palette) of the new color next to a color with a similar value just to compare.

I will try and post a photo with paint on the palette to show more of what I mean. Hopefully this all makes sense, but feel free to email me with questions!

Let's Talk

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Here's another one using two lights (one stronger and warmer than the other). The cooler light did some really "cool" things to the otherwise warm shadows. Haha, I'm a riot - you know it.

Wandering Away

 

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I used two lights again for this one - one stronger than the other. You can see that it sort of fragments the shadows. I have to move the lights around for a while before I think the fragmenting is happening in a pleasing way. But I'm just finding it much more interesting than solid shadows at the moment.

Ripe Reflection

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I love hitting up thrift stores for clothes with fabric I like, and then turning them into something new. They also work great cut up and used as drapery in a still life. : )

Swimming with Apples

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Here is another way I have been experimenting using a second light. I shine my regular (strong) light on my subject from one angle, and then I play around with a second, dimmer light, from another angle. Sometimes it makes extra shadows, but sometimes it just adds little fragments of lighter bits in fun colors to the existing shadows, like it does here. Also, because my main light is a little warmer and my secondary light is a little cooler, it adds some cool colors to a mostly warm scene, which excites me. And that's really what I'm looking for 30 years into painting - things I can get excited about.

Networking

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

When I was younger I dabbled briefly in web design. I didn't know how to get my name out, so I joined the Austin Chamber of Commerce and went to a few networking events. For me, securely in the introvert camp, it was painful. This is my re-envisioned "happy" networking event, with happy apples and cups, all completely comfortable with each other, no financial advisors allowed. : )

Ready and Waiting

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I tend to like orderly scenes. I think it's the German in me. Of course my mother would say that I wasn't orderly as a child. But it's definitely something I embraced as I got older. In my environment and my paintings.

As for the bird I posted yesterday, the general consensus is that it's a Great Tit. Thanks to everyone who emailed me. : )

Apple Sniffer

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x8in. - oil on panel

He takes his job very seriously. I mean someone has to make sure the apples smell ok.

Spin the Bottle

 

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

Here's a throwback to childhood. It was always a bit awkward when the bottle landed in between people.

Too Much Cantaloupe

 

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I did this one as a study for a larger piece. It was difficult because the canteloupe kept trying to wander off. I don't often paint canteloupe, and now I remember why. They need to go to obedience school I guess.

Orange You Bottles?

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x8in. - oil on panel

Titles are hard to come up with. That's all I got today.

Finding Each Other

 

Click Here to Bid - 8x10in. - oil on panel

One of my students from last week sent me a photo of her temporary solution to a panel holder. The idea is that it holds the panel in place, and allows you to paint off of every edge with nothing blocking the strokes. She basically taped paint-stirring sticks (the same thickness as her panels) to a board with very sticky tape, which then holds the panel with friction. It works! Here's the photo ->

Shine On Crazy Apple

Click Here to Bid - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I've got a workshop coming up, so I've been thinking a lot about teaching, always trying to improve my game. One thing I tell my students, because it's important for me too, is setting expectations. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves for the next painting to be "good." But it often leads to disappointment. So my thing is to always expect "eh." That way I am pleasantly surprised if it works out. 

Also it can help to do a bunch of paintings without judgement, and then instead of asking yourself if any one is good, rather, ask which are your favorites, and what you learned that you can apply to the next batch. That way you're always moving forward. If you get too focused on one painting that wasn't your best, it can easily lead to fear and discouragement. And then you're not painting anymore, and then you're definitely not improving.

Plate Obscured by Peaches

 

Click Here to Purchase - $200 - 6x6in. - oil on panel

I painted this one twice before I was happy with it. It looks deceptively simple.