Spring Break!

Daffodils! Sunshine! Warmth! No painting today.

Fun With Brushes

I need a break from my usual tightly rendered style, and have been researching the techniques of Impressionism: talking to people who do it, reading online articles, looking at lots of examples, etc. So now I'm going to try it, utilizing some old canvases from the B series of the sky paintings that I painted years ago. There were 30 in the original series, and a couple have sold. They're all nicely framed and I'd like to have a show of them somewhere again, but I need first to re-do several that are just not up to snuff.

Here's the old version of B-13:

And this is the start of the new version:

The old version of B-21:

And the start of the new:

The Tower Of Light

The glass tower on the right side of this painting was changing color as I sat and watched it in the bar/restaurant. I've been debating whether to go with the actual color that was in this shot or go with one of the other permutations; there certainly were a lot of color combinations to choose from. I don't want to get too wild.

Tuesday, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Things Move Forward

Well, "Wigs And Shades" has been picked up, so I guess I can't work on it any more.

Spent some time this morning adding another layer of white paint to a few old pieces. Here's this afternoon's work:

Tuesday, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

And this evening, post-dinner and pick up of "Wigs And Shades":

Pot De Creme, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Experimenting With Skin Tones

Those online tutorials from various artists are interesting, but I don't think I quite have the hang of things yet.

 Selfies, © 2019, work in progress again; detail (click on image for larger view)

Experimenting With Water Color (but not Watercolor)

I'm trying to replicate that heavenly Caribbean blue in the pool water; I've written about this before— it's difficult to mix. I tried Manganese Blue with Cadmium Yellow today but it instantly went too greeny; just mixing the Manganese with white was better, but it loses that luminous quality. I did use the second mix in a bunch of places late today. Tomorrow I'm going to try something else.

Coming Of Age In The Year 2018, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Back To Reality

As much fun as it is to speculate about new work and be tempted by the idea of mining the photo archives for landscape ideas, I have to finish some pieces for upcoming shows. So it's back to work.

I've spent some time recently looking at how other artists set up their palettes for painting skin tones, and have applied some of those ideas on this one; I can see, though, that the modeling needs to be more pronounced.

Coming Of Age In The Year 2018, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Whiting Out

Since the basement is filling up with paintings, I decided to paint over some failed pieces. Going through the stack, I found five canvases of varying sizes, and that got me excited about the possibilities. I can go wild and do some impressionist landscapes! A survey of wiping-back techniques online led me to purchase some denatured alcohol, and gum spirits of turpentine and distilled water were already available, but the method failed completely. So Now I'm overpainting with a "loose" layer of titanium white.

Here are a few of them.

More Coffee, Please

This is #6 in the new series. So far, four of them are dessert images, and two are of coffee.

Star Coffee, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Completed: Wigs And Shades

Finally done.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019 (click on image for larger view) 

The highlights are blown out in this photo, sorry for that. I'll try to get a better image.

Spent the morning catching up on neglected housework; taking a couple of hours to recharge.

Nearly Done!

Except for the chain hanging from the center mannequin's sunglasses and some tiny touch-ups and adjustments here and there, this is finished. I'll get to the chain tomorrow, because so many areas are wet, but it will be so great to have this done.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Moving The Wigs Forward

Things are starting to get awfully busy, and last night I received a message regarding this painting: it's being used on the postcard invitation for the show! Yikes! That was a surprise to me, and I had better finish it!

Here's the latest; I've put a few hours into it last night and this morning.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

More Green

I attacked the green tile wall again, and it's turning out fine. I got the color to be a consistent greeny gradation (you can't see the gradation around the hanging lamp here because the overall image was photographed dark to eliminate glare) from lighter areas to darker ones. Next I'll glaze over the tiles with lighter highlights and deepen the edges around them. But: progress!

Waiting At Le Diplomate, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

"No Further Indictments"

I don't think here's enough alcohol in this house to get me through tonight.

Another Dessert

One more. I still have another blank panel, but here's the latest:

Pot de Creme, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

So Much Work. So Little Time.

Between looking for opportunities, marketing, applying to shows and organizations, and just trying to keep track of which paintings need to be prioritized and what's due to be sent where, there's not as much time left to actually create than in the dark days of winter when that was all I did.

I'm back to being a member of the Maryland Federation of Art; this allows me to enter a lot of their members-only shows, and the rest at a discount.

Worked on the Never Ending Tile painting. I always think I'm making progress until I see the photo of the day's work.

Waiting At Le Diplomate, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

...And Blocking In

The beginnings of paintings are always the most exciting times. Here's the initial background color wash for four of the six panels I have for the coffee and dessert series:

Re-Painting

I am not the brightest bulb on the string; sometimes it takes me a while to see the obvious.

Two paintings that I completed last year have been bothering me, and recently I've decided to make changes to them. The first one, Selfies, is a pretty good piece, but those black window frame bars have always been a problem. I finally figured out that if I remove that central horizontal bar, you can see the activity much better, and by leaving the other bars in place, you still understand that you're looking through a window.

Selfies, © 2019, work in progress again (click on image for larger view)

Repainting what's behind that bar is all guesswork, though: this is the only photo I took of the place as I strolled by. 

Likewise, the blown-out light areas on this one really bothered me, so I went back and painted in a little detail, mostly on the white chrysanthemum. And I redrew and painted the legs of the woman dancing in the upper-right hand corner. Still not quite satisfied with her foot.

Everyone Is On The Dance Floor, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Coffee And Dessert

There are a couple of professional artist associations I want to apply to this year, and having a "body of work" that's identifiable is the sort of thing they look for. I think the coffee and dessert series will be fun to work on, and I'm purposely keeping them small because there will be so much detail. The smaller size will help with affordability, too.

I entered a couple of shows recently, too, in an effort to break out of the doldrums regarding poor sales; the paintings need to see the light of day and hang on the walls of places where people will see them. They're not being seen in my basement! Anyway: I heard back from one show last night, and all 7 of the pieces I entered were accepted. So that is a good sign, and hopefully something will come of it.

Last night and this morning I penciled in two more little panels.

Next, I need to visit a few more restaurants and coffee shops!

Not Really Slacking Off

Everywhere I look online and in galleries, artists are known for their subject matter. I've always found it hard to specialize in one thing, because everything is so interesting! I love painting people... landscapes... city scenes...the sky, and the ocean. But it seems I need to have something that people can identify me with, and since everyone seems to see my work as photorealist I might as well push that aspect of it as far as possible. So, I've just received an order of really sleek ten-by-ten inch panels from Jerry's Artarama, and I'm going to create a series based on coffee and dessert.

Of course, I'll continue to work on the regular stuff.

Here are the first two images, in sketch form:

I don't have names for them yet. And the streaks of light on the bottom one are from the nearby window.

How To Deal With Tiny Branches?

One of my favorite contemporary artists is Peter Poskas, and I went to look at a book of his landscapes to try to figure out how to paint the tiny terminal branches on trees but Poskas's paintings are larger on the average than the little 12" x 16" I'm working on. So, he can use a small brush and paint them in; I've tried using a really ratty splayed brush to dry-brush in some scattered lines, but it didn't work. Now I'm trying to just smudge the treetop tip areas, and next time will use a 000 for the lines.

Meanwhile, I did put down that violet glaze I've been talking about on the lawn; also messed around with some detail but it didn't work well so I wiped most of it off. It's been a disappointing session.

L'Auberge Provencale, February, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

"Ace Fire"

That's what I tried to paint onto the pink tag today; it got so messed up I had to wipe it out and paint over it. After that, I did a lot of edge cleaning here and there.

In Case Of Emergency, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

A Late Start

I still intend to work on a couple of other paintings today, but sometimes one has to do marketing work as well as actual painting, and I'm trying to organize the information dealing with various upcoming opportunities. Am also learning some new techniques from online sources.

But: here's the work today, so far— I darkened several areas.

4th Street, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Moving Along

There are fewer and fewer places that need work on this one. And that's a good thing: I'm ready to be done with it and move on to something new and exciting.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Adding Some Color

Again, I'm impatient and want to work on things that need a little more drying time. I wanted to start putting down some of the color in the brightly lit, bizarre tower of bottles, and put in a little more detail around and on the counter.

Tuesday, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Time for a break, but the plan going forward is to try to work on (at least) 3 paintings per weekday.

Patience

This painting really begs to be worked on, but the indigo that I used in the center is still wet. I need to give it a whole week of drying time, I think, especially since I just added a lot of small wavy lines all over the place. But I feel like I have a handle on it now; there needs to be a strong dark outer wave line to keep things from getting too chaotic; darker paint in the corners; and neat (not hairy) edges to the strokes.

Coming Of Age In The Year 2018, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Overpainting The Lace

I decided there was enough going on, visually, especially with the quilt; simplification seemed to be the order of the day. So I took out the lace pattern on the sheer curtains. Also reworked the profile; somewhat better, I think; will keep an eye on it.

The Promise Of Evening, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Not Ready For Prime Time

Sadly, this one will not be ready for an upcoming show I wanted to enter it in. The deadline is a week from today and though I could get it far enough along for the jurors to evaluate it, and then spend the next month finishing it up, the contest rules clearly state that no further work shall be done once accepted. Too bad! Well, there will be other shows.

Last night, after a few days of looking at the piece from across the room, I decided to emphasize the darker outer wave ring around the boy. There's so much movement in the water as it is that the viewer needs to see some line that holds it all together. We're always trying to make sense out of chaos, always looking for patterns in what we see.

Coming Of Age In The Year 2018, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Finished Something!

It's March already, and this is only the second thing I've finished this year. And no, the background isn't done yet; I'm going to wait until the entire series is finished and then mix up a big batch ofthe same neutral color and paint them all at once.

Craig, America Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Back To America

I've been neglecting the America series, and it was time to get back to it. This is a definite improvement over the earlier version of Katie, but that's (hopefully) to be expected after the initial lay-in of paint.

Katie, America Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

And: this was on the easel when I walked into the studio this morning, so I added to the work on the left side, and started the tower of rainbow color on the right.

Tuesday, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Tuesday, Again

I'm trying to be smart and work from left to right; taped off a couple of places where I need a straight line on the left and painted in varying degrees of grey, black and brown.

Tuesday, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Soft And Hard Edges

The shadows on the back wall of the box have soft edges, while the reflections on the glass and the metal parts all have hard edges. Worked both soft and hard this afternoon. It's coming along, and I've lost my fear of the piece.

In Case Of Emergency, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Mannequin Two

Worked on the middle mannequin at the bottom of the panel today; the "skin" tones are a curious blend of multiple colors. Also worked on the hair.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Three-Quarters Done?

There's not too much left on this one. I worked on that right side beam, the mannequins'' feet, and various other spots here and there.

The Gauntlet, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

One Mannequin

I thought I'd get to all three of the bottom mannequins today, but it's incredibly tedious work and I might stop at one. There's so much blending and color matching involved! I've gone over the hair of the one on the left probably about eight times now, waiting for each successive layer to dry and then adding more highlights or a more purply color or more reddish violet; next I need to go back and pick out some very very dark purples with an extra fine brush. But I did a lot on the skin color as well.

Anyway, time for a break.

Wigs And Shades, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Closing Out The Monday Paintings

Moving Along on this one; next time I'd like to work on the skin tones. I think the boy should have a bit of a sunburn.

Coming Of Age In The Year 2018, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Blick Comes Through

The Blick order arrived today instead of Thursday! Yay, Blick!

Look at the points on these little beauties.

Stockton Street

Oh, how the tiny faces in the crowd drive me crazy. Most of this afternoon's work (so far) was on the man in the dark blue jacket, but also one or two of the other faces.

Stockton Street, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

In Which I Lose The Likeness

So I decided that the skin color on the face needed to be adjusted and blended, and of course I screwed up the likeness. Now it looks like Catherine Zeta-Jones! Not a bad thing, but not what I was trying to do. I'll get it back next time. Meanwhile, the color is a bit better; not so flat and dull.

I am also pondering whether the lacy curtains need a pattern at all, or whether it's too busy. Maybe the inner curtains should be sheers?

The Promise OF Evening, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)