Less Of A Mess

Back on the 23rd, this was just a blotchy mess, and it still needs work. But it's starting to come together; I'm just feeling fatigued and want to go on to something else. It's a beautiful day and the weeds are growing apace in the garden; might take a break to work on that.

Sky Series, B-2, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Darkening The Corners

The concept behind this painting is that the young man is in a spot of light, with dark corners surrounding him. So today I mixed up some indigo and a few other dark blues and went at it. I'm painting each stroke with the greatest of care, trying to keep their edges clean and not hairy looking; aiming always for a sense of fluidity.

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

 

I'll have to make the central portion significantly lighter.

Went back to this; people say that you don't have to be so specific about every little detail because the eye will fill in... but I don't see that working here. Plus, I went too dark on those clouds.

 

Sky Series, B-21, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

A Plethora Of Paintings

I have been working here and there on small areas lately; just haven't been posting.

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

 

Maybe this one is done now.  You probably don't see much of a change in the red lanterns, but after several layers of red, orange, and yellow paint, I'm satisfied now.

Next:

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

 

I did a lot of work on the left side, adjusting the color and shading of the walls. Also the chairs below the bar on the left.

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

 

Played with the color of the paper tablecloth and the saucer. Also deepened some areas on the chocolate.

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

 

I'm starting the wood grain on this.

 

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

 

Trying to guess at what may have been behind the central horizontal bar that I removed is challenging; I worked the right side and added some deeper blacks in shadowy places. Also attempted to coordinate the light and shadow areas on the purple sweater.

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

 

Catastrophe! A metal rod scratched the paint off in the upper left-hand corner; on closer inspection, it only took off the paint and did not gouge the aluminum surface. This means: I can scrape the paint off if I like! So I have much more freedom to apply the paint and ten remove it where I need to! Catastrophe turns into useful knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

Sneaking One In On A Saturday Afternoon

Today has been busy, but there was enough of a break in the routine for me to put a little time in on this one. I'd really like to get this series finished and find a gallery show for it.

Hot Fudge Sundae I, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Last Of The Work Week

I'm still not sure where I'm going with this one. Should I abandon my style and go for Impressionism? I tried a bit of that on the cloud at the far right but I can't imagine breaking up the sky with little brush strokes.

Will figure it out next week.

A Farm At Dusk, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

The Pot De Crème

Now I'm not so sure it was a good idea to abandon the burnt sienna background. But I'll play with it a bit longer; probably some adjustment to the color of the plate would help.

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

Blending And Blending And Wiping And Blending

This painting has been at the back of the stack since January, and since I had a palette full of blues from yesterday's work, I decided to pick up on it again. I thought the blending of the sky around the moon would be easy, but it took an hour! Now trying to decide what to work on next.

Variations On A Theme #5, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

And The Fire Extinguisher

Last but not least, for the day's work:

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

 

Focus was on the label, all red areas on the device, and the handle on the left side of the case.

Sky Stuff

I continue to repaint some of the old Sky Series B pieces; first, this is the one I've been noodling around with for the last several weeks:

Sky Series, B-13, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

I still don't feel like it's working but I don't know how to fix it.

 

Here's the start of another. It's very rough right now, and I'm putting it atop the original piece: 

Sky Series, B-2, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Really, the upper left corner was very nice, but the rest of it was a disaster. We'll see if the new treatment is any better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dessert Paintings Are Going Well

I guess it's because the colors and values are easy to identify. Had fun with these two this morning.

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

Hot Fudge Sundae II, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

A Productive Day

Spring house cleaning and myriad garden tasks have really cut into my painting time lately, but today I got a few things done on several paintings. This of course includes the ones in the entries below, but here's the rest:

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

 

This probably needs a little more color in the cheek area, and some darker value where the cheek turns away from the window.

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

 

Still trying to get those red lanterns to really glow.

Sky Series, B-13, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Is this finished now? I don't know. I'll have to keep it around for a few days to decide. And, the color's not as washed-out in real life.

Meanwhile

I added a few strokes to this one:

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

Lessons Learned

The things I've learned over the past few weeks are starting to pay off; the face I worked on today looks a lot less like a cartoon character and more like a real person. There is still much to learn.

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

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

Crème Brûlée

Though there were chocolate desserts available, I ordered this for the color. I can't paint nothing but chocolate! Anyway, it was incredibly delicious and now I am on a diet.

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

Fear And Learning

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Sometimes, the paintings I'm working on just scare me away for a while. After a few weeks distance from this one— the last time I worked on it was April 26th— I was able to approach it with a fresh viewpoint. Apparently all of my online research over the last few weeks has provided me with some good tips, and I used them this morning. For example: Zinc White is good for mixing with reds to produce skin tones.

So here's where things were just before I took a break— I lightened the color of the water around the figure, and applied color in different values to the back.

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

 

And this is where things are now, after blending some of the color with a dry brush, and wiping it off in between value changes:

 

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

 

Sweets

Started with this one this morning, and got a decent amount of work done, then switched to domestic mode.

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

 

Later on, I worked on these two; it's a start...

 

Hot Fudge Sundae I, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

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

 

 

 

Hot Fudge Sundae I

The hot fudge sundae pictured in version 2 has the fudge poured over the ice cream. This is the start of the first version, where the fudge sauce was served alongside the dish in a little silver pouring container. I'll begin to add the color soon.

Hot Fudge Sundae I, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Making Some Changes

I've been lucky to have good friends, and for some reason the stars have aligned in such a way that I've been able to see nearly all of my closest local buddies in the last week, with an option this weekend for yet another get-together. The last couple of visits— lunches out in restaurants— have yielded some pretty good photos for the dessert series.

Originally, I'd thought that I'd do all of the backgrounds in the same color— a sort of Burnt Sienna that matched the tabletops for nearly all of the images. I guess the tables all come from the same manufacturer... But recently, I've been sat at tables with a different color faux wood. And they're lovely. So now I'm thinking to abandon the original plan, and mix it up where the backgrounds are concerned.

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

 

The tablecloth in the restaurant where this was delightfully consumed was white, and it picked up a lot of the ambient lighting and color, but I painted it reddish brown to match the other ones in the series. Now, however, I'm going to return it to its real, original color and have fun with the hues.

Here's the hot fudge sundae one:

Hot Fudge Sundae II, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

I do love the dark wood on this one.

 

The birthday lunch I attended included a really fine strawberry shortcake dessert. These desserts are little works of art in themselves! I'll get started on that one soon.

I Have A Lot To Learn

I've been trying very had to get a handle on the skin tones on girls 1, 4, 6, and 7, but feel like I'm floundering, especially on girl 6. (Heavy sigh)

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

Some Saturday Painting

Yesterday yielded two more photos of desserts for the series, as I had another lunch out with a friend who had just arrived from down south. One is a glorious Crème Brûlée and the other a Smith Island Banana Cake. But today I worked on these two:

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

I have been paying close attention to the words of Scott Waddell in his videos, and feel like I'm learning a lot. He talks in great detail about the minutiae of what he's doing, and I understand now why his portraits look so real. Anyway, I've been using shorter strokes, keeping the paint away from the ferrule as much as  possible (this isn't something he talks about, it's just what I've observed), and thinking constantly about the balance between chroma, hue, and value.

Most of the work on the above has been on the whipped cream, with a little on the glass container.

Also:

Hot Fudge Sundae II, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2019, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Have got some gardening to do this afternoon, despite a few sprinkles; later I hope to get to some of the figurative work and try out the new ideas for skin tones. I already have the palette set up.

Lunch With Dennis

Lunch today with an artist friend; got to hear about his trip to New York, and we traded info about painting, upcoming show opportunities, technique and other art stuff. It's good to get out of the house for a while and talk to other human beings. We also visited the art supply store where I dropped some more money; non-artists don't always realize how much it costs to produce work.

Before heading out, though, I put in a little time on this one:

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

 

AND I got to take photos of both of our desserts for the series!

An Online Painting Course

Lately it seems all I do is complain about my inability to paint accurate skin tones, and today I realized it's been a major detriment to painting in general. Many of my current pieces feature people, and I've stopped working on some of them because I'm so unsure of how to go forward. So this afternoon I signed up for an online course with an artist whose painting I admire, Scott Waddell. I've been considering his tutorials for a while, and decided it was time to jump in with both feet.

His instruction makes a lot of sense, and what I've seen so far, coupled with a podcast about artist Nick Alm and his work, has made me rethink how to move ahead on a bunch of things I've set aside, especially this one:

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

Tuesday's Windows

The windows behind the bartender have a lot of tiny rectangular shapes in them, windows on the buildings outside. But before painting those in, I had to clean up the first layer of paint.

Also made a vain attempt to adjust the shadow color on her face.

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

Greyness

Worked the bottom 6 inches and up the left side a bit.

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

Some Progress, At Last

I really had to push myself through some of the more difficult parts of this today, but it's finally beginning to pay off. Worked the sleeves, the front of the shirt, the hand resting on the pillow, and most importantly the window frames. The gradations are starting to be believable; there's a window frame area that's not yet showing the light bouncing off the blouse, so I have to fix that, but otherwise it's better than it has been in ages.

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

 

I should mention that work on this one yesterday afternoon was a disaster; I repainted and wiped out the face 5 or 6 times.

Some Glazing

The glazing on the green tiles looks like it's working. At least they have some depth now.

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

 

And I brightened up the red glow of the hanging paper lanterns:

 

 

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

This Was Boring, So I Changed It

Starting the week off with sunlight and yellow/orange. It's been raining or cloudy for the last couple of days.

My original intention with this image was to memorialize the two bouquets that friends brought to one of my show receptions. I guess irises were in season then; it must have been a spring show. Anyway, after I stopped working on it, I realized it was because it had no magic whatsoever. So I bought some snapdragons and sunflowers and brought in some daffodils from the garden, and photographed them in the same vase. Now I'm filling in some blank areas, and the color is just what the image needed.

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

Yum

Have done a little work on the tabletop this morning, creating a sense of the faux wood grain. And added some color to the whipped cream. It's surprising how much yellow and blue there is in the whipped cream.

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

Taking The Day Off

The sun is shining for a change, it's not gloomy outside, and the temp is up around 86 degrees. Went out and bought some perennials for the garden. Might get back to painting tonight.

A Lot Of Pieces Are Drying Right Now...

...so I pretty much concentrated on the little dessert paintings today. Last one for the night:

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

 

Sorry for the glare, natural daylight was gone. Had to use my studio lamp.

A Flight Of Desserts

This is a fun departure from the solo desserts; there are variations in coloring, and the items are placed on what looks like a slab of obsidian.

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