Saturday, October 29, 2011

back in the game!!!

Rooster sketch, after R. Schmid painting
About 15 min. pencil on paper

Just wanted to let ya'll know the leak is fixed (or at least, the roofers have been here and charged us big bucks to do the work!).  We have a new keyboard, and I can finally use this computer again.  Don't have any paintings to share yet, but am working on a few.  
Meanwhile, here's a quick sketch done in the car on the way to the Grand Canyon last weekend.  It is very hard to draw something you see out the window - objects tend to go by really fast, ever notice that?  So I was browsing through my copy of Alla Prima by Richard Schmid, and sketched these roosters from his fabulous painting of poultry. That panting is pure poultry .... er, uh, POETRY ...

More stuff to come soon!!!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A small mishap

Our roof sprung a leak in yesterday's rain - right above the computer desk.
The keyboard and mouse got soaked and are not working.
Since that's the only computer with camera software and Photoshop I am unable to post paintings till we get it up and running again. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Orange and Brandy Bottle

Orange and Brandy Bottle

This is the latest larger piece I've been working on.  I had been wanting to do a "focused light" sort of set up, and the peeled orange with the copper pot reflecting it back allowed me to really put all the light in that one area.  The brandy bottle had such a pretty label and shape, it seemed like a good addition also. I've been unable to get really good  photos lately. For one thing, my "good" camera broke, and I only have a small digital.   Secondly, I like to photograph in natural light, because I paint in natural light.   Our downstairs has huge windows (passive solar) and there is so much light bouncing around that it's impossible to avoid glare, or it sure seems that way.
Though it doesn't show much in this poor photograph, I've been trying to change up the brushstrokes, loosen up, and use variation of paint application. There's both transparent paint and impasto. Plus some knife work here and there.
The 120 painting project is ongoing.. I'm on #9 now, and enjoying the fun of cranking out a small study every day as a way to warm up and get my brain in gear.   Plus it allows me to practice and experiment with some different ways of doing things.  Some of these will be for sale and will be on my main website.
Here's the latest in the series.. and yes, that is probably the same orange as in the painting (the one that's not sliced, silly) Here's the link to the 120 paintings blog.