Another Titian and Egg Cup

I'm still alive

sold

I've been making studies to get back in the groove after taking time off to paint my kitchen cabinets and of course, I've gone back to work. Painting the cabinets was harder than painting pictures and took forever, bur it's done and it's a great improvement. When I started painting again after not painting at all for about 2 months, it seemed like every brushstroke was an exercise in self-doubt. So, I decided to copy some master paintings, hoping that would help me get past this block. I have this tiny paperback of Titian's work and decided it could be sacrificed for the sake of art. I just finished my third one and will post it tomorrow, as I didn't get a good photo. I'm really enjoying painting the copies. I'm loving the intense scrutiny of Titian's work and I'm starting to feel freer in the process.

Riverwalk

24x34 oil on canvas

Ahh summer. No one loves summer like a teacher. Summer's when I get to paint full time and paint when I have good energy. The only multitasking I need to do is laundry, etc.  Kind of ironic that my first painting is of children. The standing figure is one of my now former students. Next year he'll go on to the middle school. The picture is few years old and finally I got around to painting it. Here's a bit of my process. First I gridded the photo and drew with pencil and painted a thin coat of gesso over that. I blocked in with acrylic and then tackled one section at a time in oil. I listened to a few books on tape while painting and the last book was one from the Outlander series and I am so hooked!
Thanks for looking.

Blue Sky Vine

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Just a little study. The blue sky vine is amazing. It grows 50' a year and has a ton of flowers. The only problem painting them in the house is they are covered with ants. Any ideas on how to get the ants off without harming the flower? I need a mini Pied Piper.

The Neighbor's Backyard

This is the view out my studio window. The trees are hung with Spanish moss, which glows while the sun sets.

Black Bunny and Shells

 Final answer.

White Lotus

Pink Lotus

I think this is the finished version, but I uploaded so many...

What's on the Easel?

      Still working on the top painting on and off since summer and I'm not sure I'll ever be happy with it. Maybe it's a learning painting, a stepping stone. Anyway, I had fun painting the plastic bag. I started the pink lotus yesterday and the photo shows some value problems that hopefully I can fix tomorrow. (My daughter said, "That's a really long stem.") There's my palette, it's glass and I use a table top easel to keep it vertical, which helps with both glare and reflections. I mix clove oil in my paint to keep it wet, which has its pros and cons; I can work wet on wet for a couple of days in a row, but then I have to wait for about a week for it to dry. I experimented with liquin over the summer, which is a total 360. I liked how it made the paint flow and having the painting be dry the next day had its benefits, but I hated having to throw so much paint in the trash plus liquin's very hard on brushed. No pun intended.
   
   

Buddha

Backyard View

Waiting Off Stage

12x12"

This was painted from a Paint My Photo reference ( http://pmp-art.com/linda-willason/gallery/120979/lil-beauty ) I loved the photo, had a lot of fun painting it and I'm happy with the way it came out. Obviously, I took pictures of the progress.

In the works...

The top painting is the next iteration. I wanted to compare the progress and this seemed like the only way because once it's changed, that's it. Duane Keiser has a series in which he paints a scene then paints it again right on top, in different light, with slightly different objects. He photographs each finished iteration and displays the changes as a slide show.  It's like a modern version of Monet only braver because he destroys the original masterpiece in the process. (Please don't think I'm comparing myself with DK. I know better.) Anyway, today I stopped being precious with the painting and I'm hoping I made some progress. I don't think I like the noise in the background. Think I'll go in and brush it to flatten it out.

These are two paintings I've spent some time on but haven't gotten around to finishing. The trolls have been put aside since summer when I spent a lot time working on them. I got frustrated because I wasn't getting what I wanted fast enough, and that combined with the stupid subject matter made me turn it towards the wall. (The preK teacher across the hall from me threw all these trolls out a couple of years ago and I rescued them to paint. Why? Maybe lost youth. I don't know. ) The shells are a fall painting that was painted with natural light, but we had so many rainy afternoons that I couldn't work on it and put it aside. The rainy season seems to be over, so I hope to finish it soon. Anyway, both of these set ups are taking up space in my 12x13' studio, so I really have to finish them because I need the space.

Hello Kitty

Why? You might ask. Maybe it's because I'm an elementary school art teacher, cat lover and halloween lover. Maybe it's because I bought a rigger brush from Rosemary and co. but whatever the reason, at least I finally finished something and posted it. I'm having a finishing problem. I've heard that starts are great, but I think finishes are better.

New Plein Air Paintings

Anna Maria and Backyard View

I've been wanting to paint outdoors, but it's Fl. in the summer and it's hot! I finally went to the beach and painted the clouds and water. It was exciting to paint in public instead of nerve wracking like it sometimes can be. I used water soluble oils and my homemade cigar pochade box. I realized have to rig up something to clip boards onto so I can paint a little bigger. The backyard view is out my studio window and at the end of a day of working on 2 larger paintings, I felt the need to paint fast and loose. The sun was setting and really lighting up the spanish moss.

Peppers

This was an engaging challenge to paint because of all the highlights, funny shapes and the gold plate.

I'm still listening to Infidel.

Chinese Bowl with Limes

I have a Goodwill store habit and that's where I got this lovely bowl. The limes came off my hybrid tree. I haven't acknowledged the books on tape that I've been listening to lately while painting. I'm now listening to Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which is intense and very moving. I'm hearing it for the second time. I'm also reading her book Heretic. Also great. I listened to Barbara Kingsolver's new book, Flight Behavior for the first day of this painting, which was kind of upsetting because we've been having crazy weather including tons of rain just like in her book. I won't tell you the bad news about that because I don't want to ruin an interesting read. I'm also reading Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf and I'm loving it. Reminds me of Ann Tyler's writing. 

Zinnias

This painting is brighter in real life, kind of odd because colors usually seem brighter on the blog. I love to grow zinnias because they're ginormous and easy to grow, not to mention they're self seeding. O.k. maybe I help them out a little bit. I so miss the soft flowers of N.Y. and I guess these remind me of my old home.

Two Limes

These limes were growing on my hybrid tree. I enjoyed painting the leaves and it's still a big thrill to pick fruit off my tree.

Egg Cup

sold

The fabric in this painting is embroidered with flowers and I was going to add them and maybe I will, or maybe that's another painting of just the fabric.
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Monochromatic Buddha

I got this statue from morgue file. It literally took forever to paint. I could probably keep going...

Florida Flowers

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Lotus

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White and gold

I bought a bunch of tea cups to paint and this is one of them. I stacked it on a gold plate and added a gold spoon. It's been sitting on a shelf under another larger still life that I'm working on and I took a break from that and painted this.

Rose

I've been painting larger and am having trouble finishing, but I finally finished this and another painting today, which has to be rephotographed. I'm having perfectionistic problems.

Jerry

Meyer Lemons

OMG I'm finally back! I've been experimenting with different ways of painting, such as using liquin to speed drying time instead of clove oil to prolong it, and painting from photos instead of from life. I also started the Bargue drawing course and I have one more profile to go to I finish the second plate. I even started listening to music while painting instead of listening to books on tape. That was fun. I listened to a bunch of Steely Dan, Sting, Amy Winehouse, Adele and Beyonce on Youtube, which coincidently kept my screen bright as I painted. Then I read DG Paints blog on staying consistent...
So, today I set up the still life and painted pretty much the same way I had for years, the exception being the liquin. I listened to A Bowl of Cherries, which is an interesting story read by an amazing reader. More on that later.

Argggggg what's going on?

I've been working sporadically during all this time of no posts, mostly on a large portrait of Jerry Garcia, which has been reworked and reworked probably to the point of death.  Every experience has its learning curve and this one has made me literally go back to the drawing board. This is what this painting has taught me so far: don't begin  a color painting with an unsatisfactory black and white photograph, do an excellent drawing before starting to paint, do a small study decide what style the painting will be in and then stick to it, don't combine different photos on the spur of the moment, or in the heat of battle, don't switch to student grade paints because the painting is large and you are a cheapskate. As you can tell I made quite a few mistakes and the painting has been a battle pretty much all the way. And I spent a ton of time on it. So... angst and performance anxiety abound and inhibit.

When not struggling with that stupid portrait, I watched a bunch of inspiring videos on painting. One of my favorite artists is Scott Noel, whose work I've been following for years at the Gross Mcleaf Gallery in Philidelphia and one day as I was trolling the wonderful blog Art Odyssey, I found his work and a video by John Thorton, who's made a bunch of great art videos, and then I found more videos, etc. I found a new brilliant artist to love named Vincent Dessedario, who paints from an apparently photographic memory. Thank you John Thorton. You can check out his videos here:
John Thorton

Last week I took a fabulous workshop in Barque drawing at the Southern Atelier with Charles Miano, Elizabeth Jenness-Burge and Mandy Hallenius. Check out the Southern Atelier here:
Southern Atelier
As I said earlier, I've literally gone back to the drawing board. I bought a set of the plates and the book and I'm going to do the course! I'll have an add on blog for the drawings. I've always struggled with drawing and lately, I'm tired of fixing drawing mistakes in an otherwise decent painting. So that's my long winded story of why there are no posts. I did do a nutcracker painting, which I'll post later, need to photograph it.

Merry Christmas!

Starbursts and Jellybeans

I wanted to paint some jellybeans and had these 4 left at the bottom of my candy jar and there were some starbursts too, so I decided to add them. At first I thought that the color combination was off, but then it grew on me. I like the reflections on the plate.
Still listening to the Fall of Giants.

Tropical Fruit

Star fruit always make me think about my brother who worked in a produce store as a teenager and introduced my family to its tart flavor. Hey Charlie.

Acorns

Fall is very exciting in Florida! O.k. not very exciting, more like something to be endured, kind a like February and March in New York. We're currently happy the temperature has dropped into the 80's. Ooo it's only gonna be 86 today. Perhaps I'll wear my fur lined boots today. On the bright side, we do have acorns and it's almost over. Soon it will be paradise for about 6 months and I'll remember why I moved here. Maybe...

A Pair of Pears

How can you tell if the still life is finished? Easy, just knock it over and if the pears transform into mush on the carpet, it's done!
I'm now listening to Fall of Giants by Follett. Wonderful.

Pitcher

This was meant to be a first pass, but for now, I like it the way it is.

Buddha

Blue Plate Special

Still listening to The Winter of the World by Follett. It continues to be excellent.

Katydid

I've been gone for a couple of weeks because I went back to work also because I was working on two larger paintings that aren't resolved yet. What a pleasure it was to be back in the studio and painting again. I had a similar still life set up for a while and finally, I got around to painting it. I found this bug last year and have been meaning to paint it but I guess I was intimidated by the wings.  I found a dragon fly too, so I guess there's more bugs to come. I'm hoping to find a butterfly and birds eggs. I'm always looking for weird stuff when I walk my dog. Recently I found a plastic teradactyl.
I listened to Ken Follett's The Winter of the World while painting this picture. I highly recommend it and his other books, as well. He's just brilliant!