WHEW! I finally finished this section of the wall shelf. That red and gold espresso cup and saucer proved to be easily the most difficult still life subject I’ve ever tackled. There were several moments when I thought about removing it from the setup, and replacing it with something else. What a challenge! Not only was the color and glimmer of the gold tough, but getting the geometry right was extremely difficult. However, now I’m glad I climbed the mountain, and I can just enjoy the view!

Below is the painting as it stands thus far. I still need to paint the whole frame of the shelf, which is actually a beat-up old window frame. I’m sorry it’s not a great photo; I’ll get a better one when the painting is finished.

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It’s time to get back to this big painting and finish it up. I completed the remainder of the section I started on Friday, and will be starting the last section later today.

Click to enlarge:

Here’s a sneak peek at the whole painting so far, minus the exterior shelf edge. The center vertical and lower right section are still unpainted. I’m hoping to finish up by the end of the week.

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36×24″, 25 minute pose:

36×24″, 25 minute pose:

I love drawing on this crinkly brown craft paper, but taking photos of the results is always an insurmountable challenge. I’m finally arriving at the inevitable conclusion that if I like working on this color, I’m going to have to find a source for it that is in a form that stays flatter.

I finally got back to open studio life drawing today. It’s such a great break from my usual art routine. I’ll have 8 weeks of it on Sundays. That should almost get me back to plein air season! The poses were mostly one minute and ten minutes. We only got two, twenty-five minute poses out of the three hour session.

Both of these are available for purchase. Email me if interested.

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So, I’m taking one. I went shopping this morning for office furniture for hubby. Once back home, I brought Mango down to my studio to keep me company, but I just ended up playing with him as he chirped and climbed all over the outside of his cage, while I talked on the phone and looked at travel brushes online. This must mean that I need a day off. I’ll be heading down to New York City later for my daughter’s gymnastics competition. Maybe I’ll do some sketches down there. Maybe not!

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I’ve got just a section of a section to show for today. So much to paint, so little time!

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Click any image to enlarge

I’ve really been looking forward to painting this section with the figures, amber glass, and wooden clock. The little figures came with pianos and piano stools and were given to me by my dad, but they’ve temporarily suspended their duo to model for my painting. I got the beautiful hand-blown amber glass at a flea market. I saw it and just swooned! The wooden clock was a gift from a friend, and was made by her parents.

I still have a few little tweaks to do, but I’ll do them as I move on with the other sections, or at the end. I’m sure I’ll see more to do by then!

I thought it was time to let y’all take a peek at how the whole thing is coming along, so I’ve got two additional images for you. Below is the section I did today with yesterday’s section.

Below is a picture of my studio with the setup and the painting. The painting isn’t as wide as it appears here; that’s the photo distortion at work, and one of the reasons why I prefer to work from life. There is an excitement inherent in working directly from the source. I’d be very bored painting this from a photo, but the character of the objects, the way the light hits them and the warmth of the colors, is something I can really feel when painting from life. It transforms the experience.

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Click to enlarge:

Here’s another section of the 30×24″ painting of the wall shelf. This may still need a little more work on the leaves, but I’ll go back and do it at the end when the other sections are finished and I can better judge how it works as a whole. The image above was photographed with a very yellow light overhead. The color is actually closer to the image below:

Many have asked me to take progress images on the sections, which I keep forgetting to do! I remembered to stop for one today. It usually takes me three “passes” to complete a section. The first pass is a basic color stage, where I block in the main colors, lights and darks. Here’s an image taken at the end of that first pass. I usually stop then and take a short break, let the paint set up a little, and then work over all the elements a second time, pushing the lights and darks and starting to add more detail. On the third pass, I make sure the highlights and dark accents are strong enough, and tweak anything that doesn’t look quite right.

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Click to enlarge:

I tackled another section of the wall shelf today. Painting that racoon was so very much fun! Below you can see what it looks like with the section from yesterday.

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This is about a 10×9″ section of the full 30×24″ painting. The unpainted thing at the top is part of the racoon’s tail hanging down from the upper shelf. Maybe I’ll paint that section tomorrow. Sorry about the glare in the upper right. It’s wet wet wet and the darks are so shiny until it dries.

I ended up having to add a bit of cadmium yellow pale to my palette. I’m using a Masterson palette with a sheet of glass in it that I cut to size. I cover it and stick it in the freezer when I’m done painting.
I’ll have another installment tomorrow, so stay tuned!

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Wall Shelf #3, 30×24″, oils on stretched canvas, monochrome stage
Click to enlarge:
I didn’t get quite as far today as I’d hoped, but I finished the compositional stage and as much as I’m going to do of a monochrome underpainting. It’s far enough along to start putting in color tomorrow and working section by section. You can see that I repositioned several items since yesterday. Because the canvas is a slightly different proportion than the actual shelf, and also to emphasize certain elements, I adjusted object shapes to better fill the space. I pull out the old Artistic License when I need to make changes. *grin*

Above is a picture of the still life area in my studio. I love having a U-shaped work area, because I can step far back from my easel to view the painting without tripping over anything, and everything is within reach. The chair is for the computer on the right. I prefer to stand when I paint, unless I’m painting very small. You might think the tarp is there to protect the carpet, but it’s actually to provide additional cushioning for my feet!

I’ll be doing this painting with just four colors and two whites, unless I make an addition along the way. I chose these particular colors based upon what I need to be able to mix for the colors in the setup, and also because I want to steer the painting a little to the warm side. I’ll be using:
Winsor Newton Artist Cadmium Yellow
Williamsburg Cadmium Red Medium
Rembrandt Transparent Oxide Red
My own homemade Ultramarine Deep
Classic Artist Oils Titanium White
Winsor Newton Griffin Titanium White
I’ll be mixing the two whites together in order to get a titanium white that will dry a bit faster. I’m not crazy about the consistency of the Griffin alkyd white, but mixed with the dreamy, creamy Classic Artist Oils version, it works quite well.

My little Peach-faced Lovebird, Mango, lives upstairs, but I have an extra cage down in my studio so that we can keep each other company. He likes to climb around the playset on top of the cage while listening to music and supervising my progress.

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I spent the afternoon lugging this heavy, old wall shelf into my studio and filling it with objects from the current scavenger hunt. (See post below.) With my daughter’s help, I was able to hoist it onto the still life table in my studio, where it fit perfectly. I’ll probably still switch out a few items and move things around a bit. Then I’ll be getting down to work on this for the next week or so on a 24×30 canvas.

I’ll be posting daily to show a section at a time. Usually I work on a whole painting at once, moving around here and there over the canvas. My plan for this one is different though. I’ll do a block-in the first day, and after that I’ll likely be going object to object, a few at a time. This is going to be a lot of fun! I’ll be working on it only from life, not from a photo, but from the spectator’s perspective, it’s always interesting to get an idea of what the artist started out with.

This shelf was a flea market find. It’s made from old, heavy 2×4s and weighs a ton! I think after it’s done its duty for this painting, I’ll keep it in my studio to hold supplies.

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The Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt #25 ends tomorrow, so I slipped in in a few more sketches from the list of 26 items. These are 7×11 pages from the sketchbook I made last week. The sketches are Uniball Vision ink pen and watercolor. No time for an oil painting today.

Tomorrow starts a new scavenger hunt, and I’m the host this time! It will run from January 20-January 28 (nine days). I’ll post a link here for anybody who’s interested in joining in. I’ll put the list up early in the morning, and will post it here on my blog as well. Stay tuned!

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$100 via PayPal, free shipping within US

6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

This proved to be a much more challenging subject than I anticipated! I had a wonderful time today working through the issues presented by the interesting shapes, angles, and reflected light and color. I got this fascinating little bowl at the flea market last weekend. I have no idea what its original purpose was. It’s hard for me to envision a use for it, but it sure did work well for the painting! The mahogany boxes have also proved to be wonderful props. I love the rich, warm color and the flexibility they offer in positioning subjects .

My palette for this painting was:
Williamsburg Cadmium Yellow Medium
Williamsburg Cadmium Red Medium
Winsor Newton Artist Cadmium Orange
Winsor Newton Artist Burnt Sienna
Homemade Ultramarine Blue Deep
WN Griffin and Classic Artist Oils Titanium Whites mixed together

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$110 via PayPal, free shipping within US

5 x 5″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

When I was away in Pennsylvania last weekend, I went to a flea market. I found all kinds of old copper and brass objects, glass items, little bowls and pitchers, and a wonderful set of old mahogany nesting boxes. The woman at the flea market remembered me from last year. She pulled out boxes and boxes of “stuff” for me to sift through. The result of all this is: I have lots of new things to paint! This is one of the mahogany boxes lying on its side with a little brass pitcher peeking out.

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Here’s another watercolor sketch set across two pages of the new journal from this past weekend. You can click the image to enlarge it.

I did an oil painting today, but it has lots of darks in it which are causing a lot of glare. I’ll get a much better photograph of it if I wait a day for it to dry a bit, so you’ll see that one tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the sketches from my trip. I love working in this new journal. Can’t wait to try some other mediums in it.

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My husband and I just returned from a wonderful weekend away. I had some time to do some watercolor sketches in the hotel suite and simultaneously test-drive the new Hand Book Journal that I got from Dick Blick. The one I got is 8.25×5.5″, portrait format. I used it as an 8×10 sheet, painting across the two page spreads. This book by far exceeded my expectations! The surface takes watercolor quite well with minimal wrinkling and it has a wonderful texture for drawing too–not too slick and not too rough. The paper is thick; I’d say it’s not quite the weight of Stonehenge with a similar surface texture. Highly recommended! I’m looking forward to trying it out with colored pencils, acrylics and gouache too. It’s also available in a very cool square format, and in a pocket size version.

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SOLD!
6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard

When we were in Maine last summer, we went for a sunset sail on the four-masted schooner Margaret Todd. We lucked out with a spectacular sunset. I took oodles of photos, including the one of this boat sailing nearby. Every time he tacked, the light would catch the sails from a different direction. I was so glad to have my camera along!

I got up extra early to finish the painting this morning. I’m going to be offline for a few days after this post, but I’ll see y’all back here on Tuesday.

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Click image to enlarge:

This is the inside, 2-page centerfold spread of the Art Journal “Gallery-in-a-book” that I’m working on. It measures a little larger than 7×22″. The painting on the left, plus all of the gold frames, are painted directly on the paper. The other three abstract paintings are original “Art Card” paintings, 2.5×3.5″ each, affixed with removable tape to the paper. I liked the idea of presenting my original miniature paintings in a gallery format without destroying them as individual works. It’s fun to see what they’d look like if they were actually enormous paintings hanging on a gallery wall instead of just a couple of inches top to bottom! The titles of the paintings, from left to right are:
Jester
Struck by Lightning
Evening Music
Dueling Boxes

The work on the two pages is done with black ink, gold ink, acrylic, and watercolor. The writing just above the floor describes the paintings.

You can see my January 6 post below for more information about this 8 page journal. Five more pages to go! The journal will be posted here for sale when it is completed. You can also see larger versions of the individual paintings in my posts from the past couple of weeks by scrolling down the blog page.

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SOLD!
3 x 5″, Casein on illustration board, framed

This 3×5″ plein air casein painting is beautifully framed and ready to hang on your wall. Casein is an archival, non-soluble (when dry) milk-based medium with brilliant color and a matt finish. It looks similar to oils but without the slight gloss, and like oils, the paint does not lift. It is a wonderful and underused medium that is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, and with good reason!

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The image above is a cropped version of the 36×24″ sketch of Amy. I never feel I come away from a life drawing session with a “finished” piece since the poses are so short, but it’s great practice to keep going after that elusive goal. This sketch was done on my favorite brown crinkly craft paper, which makes it hard to get a good photo. I tear off 24×36″ sheets from a huge roll and clip them to a big piece of foamcore. I like working on the midtone surface, since I can just add my lights and darks. Amy is a fabulous model and also an artist, so she always thinks about how a pose will fill the page. The medium is charcoal and pastels. The full image is below.

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SOLD!
6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

I painted this today in oils from a photo I took while visiting my parents in Florida. My kids hate to have their pictures taken, but they were having too much fun to notice.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Light
Cadmium Red
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Transparent Red Oxide
Phthalo Green
Titanium White

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$10 via PayPal, free shipping within US

2.5 x 3.5″, watercolor and inks on watercolor paper, unframed

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$125 via PayPal, free shipping within US

8 x 6″, Oils on Canvas covered hardboard, unframed

A couple of times a year, I go on photo expeditions with my painting buddy Sue to collect painting references. I painted this from one of the photos I took at Muscoot Farm. I love painting there en plein air, but since they don’t open until 10, it’s hard to catch the light and shadow on location before the sun is directly overhead. This beautiful path winds around behind the fields, with old trees and huge rock outcroppings.

This was painted today with a limited palette of cadmium yellow lemon, venetian red, burnt sienna, and ultramarine blue, plus white. This is my favorite landscape palette when I don’t need a bright red or strong violet. It yields nice greens and earth tones, and a lovely soft violet.

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