Monday, November 30, 2009

Sleep is way overrated

We've got that group show this coming weekend, and I got a late start (VERY late) in painting work for this show, so I've been staying up till all hours trying to finish some works. I believe I have painted about 20 paintings in the last 3 or 4 weeks, with all kinds of interruptions, and the holidays, etc. etc. This one is large - I did several fair sized works - not huge, but bigger than my usual. There will be a couple of 18x24's and some 16x20's. And then lots of little ones too.
I currently have 4 more that are in process.

This photo is blurred.. I think.. maybe it is just my sleep deprived eyes. I like painting silver because it pretty much disappears into the background except for highlights and reflections. That makes it fun to paint.
A friend and fellow artist once told me, about painting silver, to either paint it as a light against a dark background, or as a dark, against a light background. Here, the background is very dark, so I painted that old silver pitcher as a lighter value, and then let its shadows just fall back into the background. That's a nice way to lose an edge, and it makes the viewer "fill in the blank", which is more interesting than having every single line drawn in.


My hubby Steve has to cat-sit while I am painting. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Murphy is an old cat, and he needs a warm lap. In fact, if he doesn't get his 20 hours of sleep a day, he's just worthless....


Next post, which might be after the show because it's getting down to the wire and I have lots to do still.. will be a fun little tip about painting a clear rocky stream bed... or any shallow clear water. I just finished a painting with a creek in it, and of course didn't take photos in process, so I'll do up a demo and share that... probably next week....

yawn...


2 comments:

Judy P. said...

Ah, the life of a popular artist!
Lovely still life, good painting tip, and thanks for taking the time to leave that nice message on my blog.
Now go get some sleep!

Philip Koch said...

Deb, your paragraph about Murphy the cat made me laugh out loud. It is sad to see those over tired well fed house cat struggling to stay awake isn't it.