Wednesday is my day to oil paint in the life drawing studio. These are short poses, and so most folks there use charcoal, and some use pastels, as those media lend themselves to fast work. I like to take up the challenge of using oil paints though.

These sketches are all 18×24″, on canvas. The first two are each two short poses by the same model. I superimposed them over one another by painting one first, and then the other. This presented some interesting compositional ideas for my landscape work. Expect some experiments in the spring!

There are some stray lines on this first sketch because I did three others on this piece of canvas beforehand, and wiped it off just before this pose because I didn’t have time to get another piece of canvas and tone it before the model started! I guess I missed a few lines here and there on the wipe-out.

We all get spoiled with this fabulous model, Jean. There are lots of paintings of her here from the past several weeks. These are the last two from this morning, same size:

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 3 Comments »

Click to enlarge:

5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on clear sized linen

The three swans out on the ice during that spectacular morning sunrise put on quite a display, with their strong ultramarine coloring flashing against the reflected orange colors.

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Landscape | 1 Comment »

5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on clear-sized Old Holland linen

One of the summers I was in Maine, I looked all over Little Cranberry Island for the perfect scene to paint. I finally came upon these wonderful boathouses, set in fields of Queen Anne’s Lace, just before the boat was to leave and I had to head back to Mt. Desert Island. It was too late at that point to pull out my paints and capture them en plein air, but at least I was able to get some nice photos to work from. Painting this scene brings back wonderful memories of my time there.

This linen is wonderful to paint on. I sealed it clear, and leave some of it exposed beneath the paint surface. The texture and color make me not want to paint on anything else!

My palette for this painting:
Titanium White
Titan Buff
Naples Yellow Hue
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Pyrrole Red
Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Red Oxide

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Landscape | 4 Comments »

12×16″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD!

This is the second painting of the Majestic Morning series, which will be a set of paintings from photo references taken during an amazing sunrise here at the lake a couple of weeks ago.

Landscape, Recently Sold | 2 Comments »

Click to enlarge either image:

$100 via PayPal, free shipping within US

7 x 5″, double matted to 10×8″, Gouache on Fabriano Artistico 100% rag paper, matted and unframed
This painting is sold in a beautiful double mat (shown below), ready to hang in any standard 8×10 picture frame.

This is a painting filled with things that are so special to me. The little silver guitar was given to me by a wonderful student of mine. The red berries are from a bouquet that my husband gave me for Valentine’s Day. The beautiful red pot was made by a local potter Marilyn Price. I got it at the RiverWinds Gallery while out gallery-hopping with friends. As soon as I saw it there on display, I knew I had to paint it!

Available, Still Life | 1 Comment »

I was in the mood for something different and experimental today, so I pulled out my Sumi brushes and a video that arrived via Netflix on Chinese Brush Painting, and popped it into my computer while I painted. Although humbling, it was actually kind of fun.

Here are two of the many. Both of these are about 14″ square. I painted them on a big roll of white butcher paper that I use for sketching.

Sketches | No Comments »

8×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on clear-primed linen (shown cropped to 7×5″)

Whew, was this ever hard! I thought it would never get finished. Sometimes these little ones can take as long as a much larger painting to complete. This one certainly fell into that category, but I am pleased with the result.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Still Life | No Comments »

About 5.5×7.5″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Saunders Waterford 300 lb cold pressed, primed rag paper
SOLD!

This is third in the series of the morning with the amazing sunrise here by the lake.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Ultramarine Blue
Pthalo Blue
Titanium White

Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Landscape, Recently Sold | No Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

24×18″, oils on canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting

We had our wonderful model, John, for one more session. I pulled out a 24×18″ piece of canvas and did the painting in one fell swoop. It was about an hour and a half of painting time. I love painting this way—trying to catch the essence of a pose, and seeing how refined I can get it, in a single sitting. It makes me think of plein air painting, where the moving light sets the clock constantly ticking, and you need to be able to say what it is you want to say without fuss and deliberation.

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on clear-primed linen

This vase belonged to my great aunt, who was one of the sweetest, kindest ladies I’ve ever known. She lived to be 106, and I’m sure would be thrilled to see her vase in this painting! I love this little vase with the colorful plums circling the ultramarine blue.

This is the first time I’ve painted on clear-primed linen, and it was wonderful! The beautiful linen color and texture can be seen, and the surface is a joy to paint on. Many artists pre-prime boards or canvas to this warm linen color, but there’s nothing like the real thing!

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Still Life | 2 Comments »

About 18×12″, oils on unstretched canvas

Kerri was back modeling for us again today. I was going to do a bunch of quick oil sketches of her, but I really liked the way this was coming along, so I decided to stick with it for the full session.

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

24×18″, oils on unstretched canvas

This is a fairly large oil sketch from today’s open studio.

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

2.75×2″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on stretched canvas
Painting will be shipped with easel as shown (Nickel is for size reference only)
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting.

I saw these tiny stretched canvases in an art supply store. They were just too cute to resist! I painted this sailboat and sunset from a photo I took when I was up in Bar Harbor, Maine. The painting will be shipped to you in a gold gift box, and with the mini easel. The nickel is there for size reference so you can see how tiny it is! This would make a perfect gift for your favorite sailor, or anybody who loves Bar Harbor and Maine as much as I do!

Here’s another image of it from the sides, so you can see the depth of the stretchers. I painted the sides with black acrylic. It looks really sharp!

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Jamie's Jewels miniature gems, Landscape | 1 Comment »

12×9″, soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix
This was painted in two sittings from life. I may make some minor adjustments next week, but it is basically finished. I had a wonderful time playing with the warm and cool colors. There was a warm floodlight on, but also cool blue light from outside streaming in through the windows. The combination of light types made for some interesting challenges and color combinations.

Available, Portraits and Figures | 1 Comment »

Click to enlarge:

24×18″, Oils on unstretched canvas

This is a fairly large oil sketch on canvas, painted from life this morning. It can be shipped when dry, rolled in a mailing tube. Nudes are wonderful paintings for bedrooms and private sitting rooms, and convey a feeling of intimacy.

I really enjoyed working this size today in the life drawing studio. I cut a bunch of canvas pieces this size from a large roll I have, and I think I’ll stick with these larger ones for awhile. When I draw with charcoal in open studio, I usually go 24×36″, so although lately I’ve been painting figures a lot smaller, the 18×24″ size didn’t feel overwhelming.

The longest poses in these Wednesday sessions are 50 minutes, so the real challenge is to try to capture something special in that period of time. Everybody usually draws rather than paints because the time is so short. A couple of my oil sketches this morning bit the dust, so to speak, but I really like the way this one turned out. If I can come back from a session of short poses with just one thing I like, I consider it a success!

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

16×20″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting.

This is the first of a series to be painted from photos I took on a morning with an amazing sunrise a week or two ago. I saw the turquoise and pink sky, threw on my jeans, shirt and coat, and dashed out to the lakeshore to take pictures. I ended up with about 15 that I felt were worthy of paintings! At 16×20, this is a nice size for that special wall. In spite of the brilliant colors, it has that wonderfully serene feel to it that only a spectacular sunrise can bring.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
Viridian
Titanium White

Available, Landscape | 1 Comment »

Yesterday, portrait artist extraordinaire Alan Reingold showed me how he teaches his Parsons students to speed paint figures in oils in 20 minutes from life. It was way fun! Each of these is a 20 minute pose, in order from the first of the afternoon to the last. I painted a couple and then moved my spot. The model kept the same pose.

The paintings are 12×16″ each, though I’ll be moving up to 16×20″ as soon as I cut some canvas! They are on unstretched canvas.

Here’s a look at the palette I used when all was said and done. I premixed a few colors to start, and adjusted with the colors on my palette as needed.
Colors:
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red
Oxide of Chromium
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Sienna (Transparent Red Oxide)
Titanium White

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 1 Comment »

12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting

Normally in life drawing and painting, artists avoid the hands. They are so complex, and difficult to render in a short time. I think everybody was glad that Jean took this pose with her hands behind her back! They were all on the other side of her. I finished my painting from the front last week, so this morning I went behind her to take on the enemy directly in my own, personal challenge. It was a three hour pose with breaks, and of course the hands changed a bit each time, making a tough subject even harder.

Available, Portraits and Figures | 1 Comment »

Click to enlarge:

12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Please email me if you are interested in this painting.

This was painted from the front porch of my friend Cathy’s house. She has a fabulous view of the distant hills, and the foreground tree was lit up against the dark hillside. The tops of the grasses and goldenrod on the field were illuminated by the strong morning light, and popped against the deep shadows.

I did some sketching today and haven’t had a chance to photograph any of them, so I’m bumping up this painting for those who haven’t seen it yet. It’s one of my favorites from the fall.

Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Landscape | 3 Comments »

I have a new subscription option for my site that is working much better. It will deliver my posts, with the images, directly to your email! I tested it out last night and it works great. When you get a chance, please subscribe by entering your email address in the new box on the left, clicking to subscribe, and then following the instructions. Once you’ve confirmed that subscription, I will delete your name from your current subscription so that you won’t have to be receiving both of them. I think you will all enjoy receiving the actual painting image via email, rather than just notification of a new post.

Shows and News | No Comments »