Visions in White

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One thing that is different about my new studio is I have true north window light! Actually, I had it (more or less) in my last 2 studios, but there were so many trees, and SO many glum days in Eugene, that I always relied on an overhead to supplement. Here I have a lot of natural light (from that big Montana sky!), and I'm right up against 3 windows, so I almost never need extra. Which has been nice! I feel like I can really see what I'm doing.

BUT, because of the way I'm situated to make the most of the natural light on my easel and palette, a fair amount of that cooler (sky) light makes its way into my shadowbox as well. You can see that very clearly here with the front bits of blue on the garlic (as opposed to the warm light that hits them from above). I loved what it added here, but I don't always love it, so I'm trying to find a way to modify my setup. I'll figure it out - it's a process.` But if you look back at my recent still lifes you'll probably see this a bit here and there. I think it's why I've been pushing my setups to the back of my shadowbox more often than not - I say that because I'm SURE you've noticed and wondered! ; )

Curious Garlic

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And now ... drumroll please ... daily painting number 3000!!! I decided for this one to do something a little different - something I've been intending to do for a while - a still life lit only by candle (and whatever ambient room light there was). I really like it.

And, so you can see where I was 1000 paintings ago -->

Sadly

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Here is one last sunflower before my batch gets tossed. Sunflowers have several great qualities - they don't move or change very much AT ALL, even when you shine a bright light on them (unlike tulips other flowers I won't name). And they last a really long time. Thank you sunflowers.

Observing Chaos

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Often when I'm teaching a workshop, setting up for a still life demo, my students will say, "Tell us what you're thinking!" But at this point (and always when I'm setting up a composition) I'm simply playing with my subjects, moving them around, looking (through my viewfinder) for fun things to happen with the light and the arrangement. When I see something good, I then look around for problems - there are usually several. I try to solve the problems (usually just awkward moments) without losing the cool thing. If I can't, I go back to playing. I never stick with any collection of items for very long - I'll swap things out or switch to a different set altogether every few minutes. When I can find a cool thing AND fix all the problems, I paint it. Sometimes this takes 5 minutes (oh heavenly day!) but mostly it takes longer - anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour for these little 6x6 compositions. On a tough day it can be longer.

Garlic Layers

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Another blocky still life. In a few days I'll be heading off to California to paint some landscapes! Until then, I'll have a few more still lifes for you.

Hot Stuff

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A few mornings ago, before I was fully awake, I had a vision of this in my head. So I painted it.