Blue Horse 6"x6" oil on gessoboard

Well the cookie cutter horse isn't really blue- it's metal. It does catch a lot of blue from that deep blue milk of magnesia bottle. So I guess I can justify the title of  "Blue Horse". The biggest challenge with this painting for me was the jar of medium in the left corner. I almost changed the color of the lid to a light red but decided against it.  I decided that the blue-orange complement with analogous colors was enough to make it work. I am pleased with the composition on this painting.

Blue Horse - Sketch- 6"x6" charcoal

Since this painting has a bit more compostion going on than most of my small paintings, I decided to sketch it in first with charcoal on my gessoboard. Vine charcoal is very forgiving. It can be wiped out in a second with tissue paper if mistakes need correcting. I was glad I did this because the first tonal testing (bottom) proved off balanced. I admitted it reluctantly after taking a photo to post. The next tonal (top) testing seemed more pleasing.

Hexagon Mystery Box 6"x6" oil on gessoboard

Question. How does a hexagon recede in a distance. I am familiar with a 4 sided box perspective but I don't think this one follows the same rules. All the lines of one side has a vanishing point but when you see the opposite side, is it parallel to those lines or do they recede also and if so, is it to the same vanishing point. Perhaps there are three vanishing points. Who knows. I only ask because, as Roma Quartana would have said it, I had a devil of a time trying to figure that one out.

I learned a lot from this one. 1) paint more often 2) don't use burnt umber as the undertone because I had trouble covering the white areas later 3) don't put oil paint in the refrigerator to keep- no comment 4) get the perspective right before painting. Well that about does it I think.