Just The Frames

 Got very little work done today; just the frames on the two paintings in the background.

Specials Of The Day, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

No, Daniel Is Not Winking

Last of the day: most of the work was on the apron and shirt, though I did add some color and detail to the face, resulting in a mess of the eye on the left. I'll get to it next time.

Waiting At Le Diplomate, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Course Adjustment

I've realized that the composition on this one is a mess. A couple of years ago, I had a gallery show, and two of my friends brought bouquets of irises to th reception: one white, one purple. I wanted to memorialize the flowers in the blue vase, but they looked kind of lonely, so then I added some daffodiles for color. Then it seemed like a good idea to put in some snapdragons at the top. But it wasn't. They got too close to the upper edge. Today I decided to block most of them out and will try to find a way to redraw the bouquet so it makes more sense.

The Blue Vase, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Tamping Down The Violent Orange

The orange color in this piece was hideously angry and it didn't work at all with the soft blues and aquas and yellows. So I scumbled some whitened-down Alizarin Crimson over the raised relief areas, and then wiped it back. It looks better. I'll go back in with some more of those cooler colors next.

Untitled, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Nailing Down The Shadows

I've been pretty happy with the shadows on the left and center of this piece, but the ones in the upper right-hand corner needed to be finished. So today I took a good, hard look at the reference photo and did my best.

What it needs next is a little contrast on the woman's legs and shoes, to set them apart from the background; the pole and tree on the left; and the lines on the sidewalk.

Light And Shadow, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

First Of Several

In spite of numerous interruptions today I managed to work on a bunch of pieces; here is the first:

Sara Driving Across The Desert, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

All of the painting was on the right third. Added a lot of color to the mountains and the desert floor.

Out Of Sorts Lately

I just haven't felt motivated to paint lately, so pulling it together to finish the marsh piece was a struggle. My knee problem, whatever it is, was extremely painful yesterday, and pain is not conducive to creativity. I'm not willing to go to the doctor at this point out of fear of the contagion, so I'm just taking it a day at a time. Today the pain is muted, so it was back to the easel. Now if I can just keep from tuning in to the (mostly bad) news...

Here's the rest of today's work:

Bluemont Vineyard With Sunflowers, Virginia Vineyard Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

One Down

I've finished the little marsh painting. One more to go in the Postcards series!

Queens Cove, Postcard Series # 14, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Figure Painting Class

That class with Gavin Glakas that I've been taking online for a couple of weeks now is going pretty well, though I still have trouble figuring out how to apply paint in a reasonable succession of steps. I think it goes: after getting the proportions correct, apply the midtone lights and the midtone shadows. Then work in the transitional colors/values, the more, the better. Go toward the blue/green side of the color wheel for planes that turn away.

Here's this morning's drawing:

(After Mulready)

And this is the start of the painting:

(After Mulready)

Seduced By The Tungsten Lighting

I love the way tungsten lighting warms up a room, but I think I let it overwhelm the interior of this cafe. Today I tried to grey down the bright orange in the background; it doesn't look muted in this photo but it's better in real life. Also added some warmth to the skin tones, since they should reflect the ambience of the room, and they were a little too purple.

Selfies, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Adding Red and Blue To The Green Areas

I've been studying this for the last few days, and kept thinking, "What would Parisa do?" Parisa is my friend who does superb landscapes. I decided she'd add more color and work the form, so I tried my best, using some earthy reds and blue greys. It would be nice to get this little series finished.

Queens Cove, Postcard Series # 14, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Painting Sunflowers During A Storm

The storm did materialize, and it was or is a doozy; the lights flickered and went out a couple of times but came right back on again, and I was able to get dinner on the table before anything more substantial happened. Usually a tree comes down and crashes through the utility wires, and we can be stuck for days without power. So I try to charge up my cell phone and computer(s) in advance.

Anyway, so far, so good; after dinner I worked on the foreground detail on the sunflowers painting, adding a lot of dark shadow areas and stems.

Bluemont Vineyard With Sunflowers, Virginia Vineyard Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

And One More Before The Storm

The clouds are pulling together outside, and there's always the risk of losing power, so I'm going to post this now. I did lighten up the arm with a glaze of peachy blue; probably should try wiping it back a bit. Also did some refinements on the dashboard.

Sara Driving Across The Desert, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Adjusting The Shadows

I spent the morning tinkering with the placement and shapes of the shadows; also added some details to the woman's outfit. Note the very slender red line that marks the bottom of her jacket.

Light And Shadow, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Foliage

Trying my best to build the form of the boughs of blossoms.

Tidal Basin, Postcards Series #15, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Still Not Motivated

Yesterday was a complete washout. I wiped the Le Diplomate waiter painting clean, pulled up the reference photo, stared at them both for a while, and then got up and left the studio for the rest of the day. I don't know if it's the political situation, or the oppressive heat, or the pandemic, or my painful knee, or just laziness, but I don't feel like painting. Or doing anything else, for that matter. Ended up taking a 2-3/4 hour nap and working late into the night on some lingering technological issues with the computers.

Today I worked on some painstakingly tiny details on the bottles behind the bartender. The tiles are under control for now, so I felt it was time to do something else; if I'm lucky and I work hard, this painting might be finished in 2022. From 5 feet away, it's actually quite handsome.

Waiting At Le Diplomate, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Biting The Bullet

I decided that today was the day to just buckle down and clean up the parts of this that were looking sloppy or else were just the wrong color, so except for lunch and watering some plants I spent the day on it. Still much more to do...

In Case Of Emergency, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Inch By Inch

My ten year old MacBook alerted me a couple of days ago that it was time to back up the hard drive, but when i tried to do so I got the Spinning Pinwheel Of Death, over and over again, no matter how hard I tried to get around the problem. So I spent all of yesterday transferring files to the new computer, which has been sitting idle for the last several weeks. This was no small task, since the Mac refused to acknowledge the backup external drive. I had to use thumb drives and other, older external HDs. Around 1 a.m. I decided to stop and went to bed.

Today the old machine is running most things comfortably, as long as I don't try to back up. So I've been able to view my reference photos and use the internet to upload this file, and that's fine.

I've decided to inch along on the parts of Selfies that I never liked; this was one of several paintings that I had rushed to completion for a show, and was never comfortable about since. Today's work was adding some detail and depth to the center-left area.

Selfies, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Just Not Into It Today

Multiple technical problems are taking a lot of time and attention. I did work on the light fixture and decorations on the left side; no small feat considering the line width of the metal pieces that suspend the light fixture, but I'm throwing in the towel for the rest of the day.

Specials Of The Day, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Those Crazy Dish Rings

All it takes is a slight wobble of the hand, and the line goes awry. So I am painting these very slowly.

Île Flottante, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Banana Cream Pie, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Moving Right Along

I have another artist friend who has an innate genius for describing details in a landscape painting with just a few strokes of the brush. I've been looking at her work online lately, and have tried to employ some of her technique here. I've gotten into more detail, but I'm trying to look at form accurately and simplify.

Queens Cove, Postcard Series # 14, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Stockton Street Faces

The faces on this 9 x 17 inch panel are TINY. It's frustrating to work on them, especially with brushes that don't want to hold a point. I had to completely wipe out the face of the elderly lady in the center; I've probably painted her a half dozen times. Am now looking for something else to move on to.

Stockton Street, © 2020, work in progress (click on image to enlarge)

 

Running Out Of Steam, and Zooming

Well, it didn't take long for me to lose my way on the tidal basin painting. I stopped pretty soon after starting and moved on to Stockton Street, where all I did was make mistakes and have to rub out one of the faces. I won't even show it here.

Tidal Basin, Postcards Series #15, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Threw in the towel and puttered around for the rest of the afternoon, then at 5 P.M. had a Zoom session with an old artist friend whom I haven't seen since last Christmas. Tomorrow I'll try again on Stockton Street, but in the meantime I need to order some sharply pointed little brushes!

Monday!

I "hit the ground running" this morning. The sunflower painting is moving along nicely, and the light and shadow piece shows more improvement. I'm going to try to figure out how to mix the correct colors for the tidal basin painting next; that should be fun. And it's not even noon!

Bluemont Vineyard With Sunflowers, Virginia Vineyard Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

 

Light And Shadow, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

A Little Face Work

The face of the woman looking at the waiter has been driving me crazy, so today I fixed it. I think. It probably needs a little more refinement, but it's much more like the woman in the photo.

Specials Of The Day, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Now That's More Like It

I finally feel like I've gotten a handle on this painting. I spotted some violet grey paint on one of my palettes this morning and somehow my mind made the jump from that to using a similar color on the shadows in this piece. So I tried it, and after putting down a base color and then remixing, I began to break up the base color with some dabs of a more reddish violet. It also made sense to use the complementary color of yellow— in this case, I went with a cool lemon yellow— for the sunlit areas.

The dark shadow area to the right of the woman was still wet from the last sitting, so I'll have to wait until it dries before repainting that.

Light And Shadow, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Tiny Quilt Flowers

There are a lot of tiny flowers on the quilt, and I begin to worry that there's too much going on with the print, the stars on the blouse, and the little white flowers outside the window. Time to sit back and take stock. Also worked on the hands and curtains.

The Promise of Evening, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

The Blue Arm

Worked on the car dashboard today, and also the extended arm, which has a lovely blue cast shadow on it. But in the painting it looks weird! I'll put it aside for a few days; maybe it'll look more normal when I'm not paying such close attention to it.

Sara Driving Across The Desert, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Dark To Light

Forgot to add this one! Worked in some dark shadowy layers. Also brightened the sky color.

Bluemont Vineyard With Sunflowers, Virginia Vineyard Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Inching Along

The two dessert paintings I worked on this morning are coming along very slowly. The problem is with the decorative rings. They have to follow the shape of the dishes, and they have to be a certain thickness, although that can vary according to perspective. So I'm defining them just a little each painting session, and will be constantly refining them as I go along.

Banana Cream Pie, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Île Flottante, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Meanwhile, I made some progress on establishing some of the foundation colors and the tree limbs and branches on the Tidal Basin painting.

Tidal Basin, Postcards Series #15, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

The Lazy Days Of July

July is my favorite month around here; everybody goes out of town and time seems to stop. Coneflowers and lilies and hibiscus bloom, and the days are long and beautiful.When it gets really hot in the afternoons, storms develop and cool things down. And I get lazy.

I really don't feel much like painting lately, but forced myself to work on 4 separate pieces today. Two of them went reasonably well, but the experimental/impressionist others...

Queens Cove, Postcard Series # 14, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

4th Street, San Francisco, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Untitled, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Somerville Roses, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

 

Resisting The Urge To Throw This Out The Window

After a couple of frustrating sessions, and breaks in between, I finally made some progress on the shadowy parts up toward the top. It's a challenge to try to get the color right: the Ivory Black is very warm compared to the Payne's Gray; likewise the Gris Froid. Despite its name, the froid is very chaud in my opinion. So it's a delicate balancing act to mix those three colors plus white in order to achieve the color of the shadow.

And then there's the blending... luckily, the brushes I've got are doing the job very well. In fact, I need to go clean them now. But the blending does take a lot of time and concentration, and bits of dried paint and cat hair and other tiny artifacts show up unexpectedly, and when you try to wipe the brush point off to try to get rid of them, you lose whatever delicately shaded pigment is on the tip of your brush.

In Case Of Emergency, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Luscious

Another of the "This makes me hungry" paintings:

Strawberry Shortcake, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Thin Line Fatigue

Painting the lines of the wood grain is a challenge. The wood is mostly a warm color, and the grain lines are very dark; then the values change depending on whether there's a cast shadow or a highlight on a water spill. I'm trying to add a little dimension to the color as well, with some orange and deeper earth tones here and there. But it's fatiguing.

Two Spoons, Guilty Pleasures Series, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Revisiting 4th Street

The emptiness of the right side has been bothering me, so I went back to this one after working on the Somerville painting this morning.

4th Street, San Francisco, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

And I have to admit to still being flummoxed by this one. I've been studying leafy shadows for a week or so but am still unable to translate those observations into paint applications that make sense.

 

Light And Shadow, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

House Painting

Painting straight lines is tedious, so I avoid them as much as possible, but today I had to bite the bullet and work on the lines of the house and the nasty picket fence. I'd rather be doing the flowers.

Somerville Roses, © 2020, work in progress (click on image for larger view)