Susan, Painting

Sunday, February 23, 2020

My Little Experiment

There is an amazing amount of very fine cat hair on this painting, so I've had to pick it out as I go along. Otherwise, I'm having fun adding color in spots; there is an actual method to this madness— I'm trying to make all of the strokes look like they're emanating from a central vanishing point just behind the figure. And I'm adding a spring green and yellow mix to places where the hazy shadows fall from organic origins, like the boughs of leaves. The hard-edged shadows are cast from tree trunks, the woman walking, the street signs, etc. There will be many layers of color, all overlapping.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

It Takes So Little To Make Me Happy

Look at this color! It's perfect for the light and glass tower on Tuesday. Yes, the Quinacridone Magenta arrived in the mail today and it does mix with the Ultramarine Blue to make a satisfying purple. My excitement knows no bounds!

Friday, February 21, 2020

Light Dancing On The Tiles

Stayed up late into the morning hours watching "Earth Girls Are Easy," so I slept in this a.m. and then had a hard time pulling it together the rest of the day. Had a visit from an art collector in the afternoon, which required some quick housekeeping— but now we have the benefit of a clean house for another couple of days— and finally got a couple hours of work in on:

Oh; and was notified this afternoon that two paintings were accepted into an online show for March.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Everything I Want To Work On Is Wet

This is all I have for today, unless inspiration strikes. I've got Waiting At Le Diplomate on the easel, thinking maybe I'll find an entry point... The tiles? The waiter's apron? but until then, I'm taking a break. All of it— the tonalist landscapes; the 6 dessert paintings; the cast shadow one; even the swimmer, which I last painted about three weeks ago— has some not-dry spots.

I had planned to work on Tuesday, but have been struggling with mixing the exact right purple to illuminate the right side of the light-and-glass tower. Some online research reveals that the best way to get a brilliant, vibrant, in-your-face, true purple is to blend Ultramarine Blue with Quinacridone Magenta, which of course I do not have. I've got it on order, though, and hopefully it'll be here in a few days.

So I attacked the left side of this painting today, where the whitish-and red fake poinsettias are. And the ceiling.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

More Chocolate, and Wood Grain

I have put the brushes down for the night, and tomorrow will work on either the tonalist paintings (if they're dry!) or the genre stuff, or both... The dessert paintings are too wet for me to go any further, so I'll take a break from them for a few days.

On the painting below, I paid careful attention to the little tiny round chocolate things, trying to make them look as 3-dimensional as possible. Also added some depth to the pudding by darkening some receding areas.

Now, the thought of painting every single line of tiny wood grain in the works that have a wooden tabletop has been the main reason I've been avoiding the little desserts. But yesterday I spotted a slightly messed-up brush, one that I hadn't cleaned properly, and realized I could use it on the smaller wood grain areas. So I mixed some glaze medium in with the brown pigments and dragged the brush across this surface:

Of course, I'd tried something similar on the Cherry Cobbler painting a couple of months back, but with a heavier hand, and I pretty much loathe the way it looks now. But the glaze medium softened the paint and the stiff bristles created just the right spacing for the smaller grin lines.

On A Roll

Definitely feels like I'm making progress with the little desserts; this afternoon I carefully brushed on small amounts of pure white into areas of the Banana painting below; it made a surprising difference, and really added form to the whipped cream.

Chocolate

Sharpened up the layers of chocolate and the highlights in the little glass; also made the left side of the container more visible— it was too close to the color of the background. Deepened the cast shadow.

So Far, So Good

The idea of limiting myself to 5 or 6 of the dessert paintings is working out. I don't feel such heavy pressure. This morning I worked on the creamy sauce that surrounds the floating island, and also the bowl and tablecloth. The drawing of the bowl is still a bit off, though.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Fun With Red Glazes

The strawberry sauce and the cherry in the two works below required some transparent reds, which I always enjoy layering and blending. I used Winsor Red Deep, Alizarin Crimson, and Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Hopefully they won't dry lighter than they are now; I love the deep, rich look of them. Also did some fluffy whipped cream work.

Two Plates

I think if I just concentrate on 5 of the dessert pieces, I can finish them quickly and start shopping around for a venue.

Added a glaze of rich, deep red to mask the mistakes I made on the light reflection at lower right last time around. Don't paint when you're mad, is all I can say.

Moving Across The Picture Plane

I thought there was a good chance I could work on the sketchy right side of the painting without smearing any of the wet paint from last night's session.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Working On The Jacket

I'm renaming this one, since "New Year's Eve" isn't very descriptive of the goings-on. Used quite a mix of colors for the jacket, mostly oranges and ochres and browns; looser brush work than usual.

Trying The Palette Knife

One thing I have discovered right away about painting with a palette knife: you use A LOT of paint. And it's unwieldy.

Not sure how well this is going. And I have the usual problem with greens: They look artificial to me, not natural.