Mandarin Tea 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

This was a fun one to do. I enjoyed painting the mandarins because there was such a variation of color from the shadow to the highlights as well as the reflection of the white cup.

Good Knight 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

I was intriqued by the light going through the amber bottle.  The influence of color was more intense on the horse than how I have painted it. But I am pleased with the color mixes that I made for the shadows. I think I got that right.

"I Love You This Much" 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

I admit when my mom and I played that game, our arms would be opened much wider. But the little salt shaker ( who is missing her pepper partner) found a new love. What a pair they make!

My Favorite Veggie 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

The challenge of the week:  paint my favorite veggie. I know there are two veggies in the painting but the summer squash looked so cute when I put it next to the bell pepper, I had to keep it in the still life. I like bell peppers because they add that "something special flavor" to dishes, especially red beans.

After setting up this still life, I realized I used analogous colors on the color wheel that ranged from yellow to blue-green and used the complement red-violet for the background. I used a smooth-toothed canvas which takes some time getting used to. If I were to do this painting over, I would spend more time on the value sketch before progressing with the painting.

Me- Parts anyway 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

The Self Portrait challenge. Not something I would have chosen, Lord knows but here it is. The face seems a little wide but perhaps it needed a stronger shading along the side of the face. Well finished no matter what. I learned a lot especially not to try another self-portrait!

Me- The beginnings- the value sketch

Ok, I played with this thing long enough to try to make it look like the photo. Even though it doesn't look like me, well maybe some parts do, I still had a lot of practice in placing the values... dark against light, light against dark. Always the same thought process for me.

Me -Photo

This week's challenge: self portrait. I took a zillion photos of myself holding the camera at arms length. Finally I got a few that I felt that I could work with. After chosing the final cut, I went into my photo shop and changed this photo to a black and white so that I could more easily see the subtle value changes when I began to paint. Then using the same program, I used an artist brush to soften the look. This eliminate some unnecessary details.