What's on the Easel?

Two portraits I've been working on for a while. The top is a selfie and the other is a little girl from paint my photo. I've just started one of her sister too. The first fairy has been an incredible challenge, for some reason and I'm still not finished with it. I think the lack of strong lighting could contribute to the difficulty. At any rate, I decided to do a better underpainting for the sister. (What cute sisters!) I think the second one is called Serious Fairy. The selfie is the first one I've done in about 20 years. I must have worked on it 5 times before today and today, I just started throwing paint at it. Whatever...

Peonies

This is a study I did this morning at a color lab workshop at the Southern Atelier in Sarasota run by Charlie Miano. He stressed thinking of the flowers as balls. First we did thumbnail sketches in pencil, then with color. Then we thinly painted the balls in local color, and added details/petals on top. This was a 2 and a 1/2 day workshop, but I was only able to attend a 1/2 day, really 2 1/2 days because I got to see his demo yesterday. Check out the Southern Atelier at southernatelier.org

Anna Maria

I took a series of photographs at Anna Maria Island a few years ago and have painted a bunch of pictures from them.  I"m always attracted to the little groups of people and the scenarios they compose. I also love how the beach walkers add to the scene. The beach is simply a voyeur's paradise. Thanks for stopping by.

Painting Portraits from Life

I am taking a portrait class with Charles Miano at the Southern Atelier and attending weekly open studios as well. I am so blessed to be able to study with Charles, as he's a wonderful, inspiring teacher and a fabulous artist. I'm painting with oil with walnut oil on Canson oil/acrylic paper. Painting with the walnut oil keeps the paint fluid while you work as opposed to gamsol, which drys rather quickly. There's a learning curve to be sure, but a I'm enjoying the medium and getting the hang of it. I also like the Canson paper. It has a nice feel and it's reasonably priced. Thanks for stopping by.

My Studio

I've been working on a couple of pictures and now that I'm off for the summer, I'm spending more time in my studio. So here's how it's organized now. I have a few easels around the room, kind of like in "stations." Space is definitely an issue because the room's only 12 x 12, so I'm constantly moving stuff around. I have my paint hung under a shelf and that's real convenient because I can see it all and the tubes don't get sticky. I hate that! Thanks for looking.

Chelsea's Cosmetics

These are some items I grabbed from my daughter's vanity. She's very elegant and glamorous.

Horn Player

I painted this from a photo by Debra Duke from the paint my photo site: https://pmp-art.com/debra-duke/gallery/26506/tooter It's a great site with tons of inspiration. Thanks for looking.

Rainy Day Woman and a Model

School's out for summer... I'm taking a portrait class with Charles Miano at the Southern Atelier and I'm really excited because I haven't worked from a live model in about 2 years. There's also an open studio that I'll attend, as well. Talk about pig heaven! The black and white painting is from a photo by Bobby Cook from the paint my photo site. Thanks for looking.

Annabelle

I've thought about trying the Zorn palette, (white, black, yellow ochre and cadmium red) for a while and finally did it. The black and white makes convincing blue eyes.

More Black and Whites

Grace # 30 in 30

Well I did it! I completed my 30 in 30 challenge. I made it easy on myself by painting with black and white on canson paper and I used a paper palette. I bought the canson oil paper in Walmart and didn't have high hopes, but I love it. It's great for alla prima painting and I recommend it, if you're looking for a way to free up your process. The same is true for the paper palette. I limited myself to black and white, so I could focus solely on values and brushstrokes. I started painting photos from the Paint my Photo web site when I ran out of inspiration and photos that I took. That's been a lot of fun. It's where I found all the pirates and this little girl too. What's next? I was thinking about trying the Zorn palette, about repainting most of the same paintings in color. What I hope to maintain is the free spirit and openness I've gained in terms of subject and paint handling. (here I think there are 2 or 3 still life paints I haven't photographed and posted yet.) Thanks for reading and looking.

30 in 30 Days 23 - 26

30 in 30 #'s 21 and 22

30 in 30 Black and White Days 16 - 20

30 in 30 Days 12 - 15

30 in 30 9-11

30 in 30 Days 5 - 8

Day 2 - 4

30 in 30 Black and White Day 1

Backlit Bones

Backlit Snack

Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and George

This painting was a lot of fun to paint and challenging to say the least. This is the last image from the little book I sacrificed to paint the Titian copies, so I had to look it up online to get the title. Well guess what? Turns out my little book's colors were completely off. The drapes are green and St. Dorothy's cape is an ochery color... Sa la vie. The painting needs to be oiled up and I'll do that in a couple of weeks and post the better picture. I've grown to love Titian's work and I hope that the copies I made will inform and improve my own work, which I have to get back to.