Susan, Painting

Friday, January 24, 2020

On A Dark Afternoon

Apologies for the darkness of these images; it's been dismal all afternoon and we're expecting a lot of rain overnight. I did the best I could with the photos.

Above: Still struggling with the green wall color. Whenever it dries down, it looks murky. I tried to pep it up today with some Emerald Green in the mix, but it still looks dark. In the restaurant itself in the daytime, the color's lovely and bright.

I managed to kill the bright, unreal blue on the porch and pillars, but now think I may have gone too far.

Minor Issues

The painting below is going to be entered into a contest, but the eyes looked weird so I repainted them. Then went on to the next one below, making adjustments here and there. I think politics is sapping all of my energy. Am going to take a break.

Yellows And Greens And Blues

I like working on foregrounds in landscapes. Right now this painting is at the stage when applying the colors is relatively loose and easy.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

And One More For Good Measure

Picked out some details on the whipped cream and the brownie. Feeling at least a little bit virtuous for having gotten some work done today.

Smooth

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the second coat of paint tends to smooth things out.

Some Sweets

Painted lots of oozy detail in the center of the dessert.

Back To Work

Have been inundated with all kinds of distractions; running errands, dropping off artwork, and even a little partying. But now it's time to get back to work.

I finished (finally) the repaint of the damaged painting and am letting the last coat dry. Next I'll varnish it and send it back to its home.

Received some good news yesterday: "The Gauntlet" has won 2nd place in an online competition that ha entries from all over the world.

Meanwhile, I delivered it to my local gallery, where it is presently occupying the front window.

Have been stretching a few small canvases in anticipation of doing some landscapes. I recently discovered Tonalism and am completely enamoured.

Last but not least; this morning's work. Mostly right side stuff, darkening of the quilt and curtains, etc.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Need More Americans

I finished Cheyenne just a little while ago, and she was the last person I had photo reference for in the America series. So now I have to get out of the house and talk to people!

Once I have everyone done— whether that turns out to be 25 or 36 or 49 people— I''m going to mix up a big batch of sky blue and do all of the backgrounds at once. I had been planning to use a neutral greyish-beige but now I like the idea of sky blue better.

Meanwhile: some detail work in the center of the painting today—

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

The End Of A Productive Day

Somehow I ended up putting in an entire day of painting, with few interruptions.

On the painting below, I reworked the grassy foreground. The blue on the porch is still too intense, so I'll have to knock that back next time around.

Next: After reviewing some alternate photos of this image, I realize I need to add some more flesh color under the water to indicate the legs. My primary goal is to intensify the lighter colored water in a ring shape around the boy, getting darker outside the ring. Some redrawing is necessary on the right side.

And last, since I was working with blue pigments anyway, I went back to this personal piece and brushed in the sky on the left side.

I Feel Like I'm Cycling Backwards

The spoon in this painting has a very lovely, lyrical curve to the handle. Today I thought I'd redraw the shape to show off that curve, but quickly started making mistakes everywhere, one of which was to introduce an entirely new color to the current palette. So now I have to work that in all over the tabletop. But there's some improvement on the spoon.

Whipped Cream And Ice Cream

I'm trying to portray the sense of roundness on the ice cream ball. The colors are close to the ones used for the whipped cream, but the brushstrokes on the whipped cream are very different from the ones on the Ice cream. So it makes for an interesting painting session. Also trying to firm up the lines on the metallic areas.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Hot Fudge

Much reworking of the cone, which has strange pinkish tones to augment the golden ones. And a darkening of the hot fudge.

Another Pass

It's Monday morning, and I have a lot to do, but I thought I'd block in a little more color on this one since the thin layers are drying rapidly. Soon it'll start to shape up.

Also, I need to lean a little more toward the cooler side of the palette.