Next Best Thing to Heaven 5" x 9"

This was a commision that I recently finished. It is only 5" x 9" but took as long as a large painting. I wanted that sky to sing.

Larger Paintings

No I did not fall off the face of the planet. I know it has been a while since I posted. I have been busy with "larger" paintings- 16" x 20". I thought I would share some of these with you. They are more time consuming of course to paint than the smaller ones. The 6"x6" paintings have been such a tremendous help in fine tuning my value skills and color mixing. I will be getting back to them very soon.

"Morning Thoughts"

I enjoyed doing this painting I think because I like the architecture of old buildings. I hope to get into New Orleans soon and take some more reference photos.

 "State Your Business"

Thanks to my elder son and his photography, I was able to get a good reference photo for this painting. Those roosters would have been hard to paint on location!

" Madisonville Boat on the Tchefuncte"

My youngest son already stated claims to this painting. He is my biggest art collecter of my work in the family. I am so fortunate that all my children have an appreciation for art. I guess I dragged them to enough galleries and shows when they were younger.

 "My Girls and Honky Donkey"

I keep changing the faces. Help! I am afraid to show this to my daughter yet. She is so much more prettier than the painting and my grand daughter also! Might need to hide it in a closet.

P.S. Honkey Donkey still resides with us, a favorite stuffed animal of my kids. Well two of them anyway.

These are some changes that I decided to make. The foreground water is more constrasty and has more interest, the fishing pole was added and I put some birds in the trees and in the sky to add more life to the landscape. Yikes the faces are giving me challenges. But for now they will have to do. Time to move on.

"Hillcrest Memories"

This one is still in progress. Several additions needed like a fishing pole in Paw Paw's hand, some facial changes and also I want to work more on the forground reflections and water image. Even though there are three people in the painting, I still feel the painting is serene.

The White Filly 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

The little filly was painted using various shades of light grays. From cool pinks and violets to warm yellow ochres. It helped tie the bottle and the flower together.

Stage Left 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

Breyer horses are so great to paint. They are the next best thing to a live model.

After a few minutes, I wiped out the whole thing with a clean cloth. It left a toned canvas and the image as a line drawing. It seems sometimes that it is a lot to go through but I wanted to make sure I got a better feel for the direction of lines and form of the subject. Now for the color.

This is the finished line work using burnt sienna oil on a paint brush.

I sketched the setup onto my gessoboard using vine charcoal. I smudged for halftones and used a kneaded eraser to lift the lights. Yes, a thumbnail sketch on a sheet of paper would have done the same but now I can just do the line work right over this with burnt sienna to get started with the painting.

This is the set up using a box open to the right, the light comes from that direction. In front of the set up is my clamp that holds a frame that is cropping the area I want to paint. I use this until I get it sketched on my canvas, using marks on the mat and canvas to get the positions and proportions accurate.

Granny's Closet 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

Ok, why the title? I remember my grandmother with a navy blue dress with white polka dots.
This feather stuff is getting kind of fun to paint. Haven't quite figured out the best way to layer it yet.

Designer Clothes 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

If this rooster didn't look like it belonged down a runway, I don't know what rooster would. His pose formed an abstract design that cried "paint me".

I chose a dark gray green background to complement the focal point of the head and provide a nice contrast.

Fancy Feet - second attempt 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

Today was still overcast but a bit brighter so I decided to make another go of it and take another photo. For those eagle eyes, yes I did change a couple of things.
The thing I like best about this painting is that it plays the light against dark, and dark against light. The shadowed bottom of the rooster plays against the brighter green ground and the lighted top of the rooster plays against the darker background.

Fancy Feet 6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

I usually take a photo of the finished painting in a hall that has a high window. The ambient, natural light usually gives the true colors of the painting. Today was rainy and overcast. It was more of a struggle to take the photo than paint this fancy fella. The glare washed out some of the more delicate areas of the painting. If tomorrow is a nicer day, I will try to photograph it again. Really, the painting looks much nicer. Really.

Everytime I looked at this fella's "feet", it reminded me of a Clydesdale. (It's just the way I think.)

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.