Here A Minute Ago 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

This poor rooster got separated from the rest of his family who decided to find a safer area on the other side of the fence in order to escape the paparazzis (namely my son and I). We took dozens of photos but I have to admit his turned out better. This is one of his photos. More rooster paintings to come since I have enough reference photos to last me from now until next Christmas.

Back In the Saddle Again 6"x6" oil on gessoboard

The Line Drawing

This was a more complicated composition for me because of the horse so I wanted to play with it a while by using vine charcoal. Very forgiving. Just wipe it out with a tissue and start over if you don't like it.

The Value Sketch

After doing the line drawing with vine charcoal, I smudged areas with mu finger or pulled out whites by using a kneaded eraser. I used a heavier hand using the vine charcoal to show the dark areas. A thumbnail sketch on a sheet of drawing paper would have done the same thing. I will use my still life to hone in on this for the final painting. The practice was important before I got started.

An Underpainting of Burnt Sienna

In order not to lose all that hard work, I loaded my brush with Burnt Sienna and did the line work again. Letting it dry somewhat, about five minutes, I took a rag and wiped the board. This helped eliminate any whites and toned my canvas.

The Finish

I started by painting in areas of  the horse, moved to areas of the background and foreground, tackled the bottle since I had the surrounding area colors chosen and pretty much ended with the grapes. Then I jumped around filling in areas to tweak adding deeper shadows and highlights.

Two Apples for Two Birds 6" x 6" Oil on gessoboard

I painted the background first. The bird was the next thing I focused on and then I put spots of color on the apple to relate it to the bird with similar color. The metal pot gave me fits until I realized putting in the tablecloth and finalizing the apple would make it look more like metal by showing what it was reflecting. The bird shadow was next and the rest of the ceramic tray.

Orange Reflections 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

The still life of the orange reflecting on the mayo bottle was incredible. But I decided to tone everything down a bit because the orange really did overpower the painting at one point. That delicate pink flower didn't stand a chance of being noticed if I had left it that way. It took me a while to come to that realization.

Harvest Gold 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

The joys of autumn! I loved the way the bottle softened and magnified the pumpkins. Almost ghostly.

Blue Bottle with Lemon renamed To the Rescue 6"x6" Oil on gessoboard

Well what it lacks in name, I think it makes up for in form. I really liked the way this painting developed. I didn't fiddle too much with stuff so it kept its' freshness. After I set the still life up, I kept moving the light fixture around until I got an interesting composition. It is amazing how when that is right, it will motivate me to follow through with painting it. I guess the old saying is true- you can't paint what you are not excited about.

Delf Creamer 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

I started this painting as I usually do using a value sketch on the board using burnt sienna as my only color. I feel I could have eliminated corrections during the painting process had I spent more time either using the vine charcoal or even a pencil and paper to get more familiar with the form of the creamer. The direction that the creamer faces proved to be more challenging than I had realized. It is one of my softer paintings-not too much contrast in value. Sweet. The value of the creamer was first painted in before evening thinking about the windmill scene. That was the fun part!

Jeepers Peepers 6" x 6" Oil on gessoboard

I do not use black on my palette. A lot of artists feel the same. It seems too harsh so I mix Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, and Raw Umber together to get a close-enough black. It produces a more rich color instead of a vacant black hole.
The painting turned out a bit on the whimsical side.  Oh well.

Left Behind 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

This painting sat for a while. I couldn't put my finger on the problem but eventially it surfaced. The original flower was pale and washed out, the bottle on the left did not reflect enough colors from the other two objects and the glass in the middle, well I am still not sure about it. There reaches a time when you take the brush away from your other hand and say "move on!".  Why the title? Ask my daughter.

Vaseline Jar? Oil on Gessoboard 6" x 6"

I found that little green jar at Goodwill. It probably isn't a collectible Vaseline but if it is, what a great deal for 99 cents!

Cafe Gambino Show

Several of my minature paintings will be on display at Cafe Gambino for the months of September and October. The opening for the show will be Sunday, September 11, 2011 from 2:00- 4:00. It is located in Metaire, La. on Veterans Hwy.
Hope to see you there.

Pair of Bottles Oil on Gessoboard 6" x 6"

Looking down on the bottles meant the sides of the bottles would not be parallel to the side of the gessoboard. I had to keep that in mind as I worked back and forth from bottle to background. Overall I like the softness of the painting. I did not get too picky with the details. 

Pair of Bottles

Yes, I have been bottle shopping. I found the brown bottle in an antique shop on the discount shelf! And the other, which contains oil to lubricate fishing reels, at a local consignment shop. What treasures!

I started with a sketch using burnt sienna. This helped me to see the shapes and shadows before committing to the color. I was happy with the negative space along the top, and the light shining on the back pear through the brown bottle, and the light shining through the front bottle. There was a pleasing movement to the whole painting.

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.

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.