Susan, Painting: October 2020

Thursday, October 29, 2020

And More Of The Same

Worked on the faces, and also some of the wall.

Some Touch-up On The Faces

There are small places all over this painting that need a second look, if not outright readjustment, and today I worked on the faces. Next time, the puffy jacket needs more contrast.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

An Experimental Piece

I did this one mainly with a palette knife, and I can see why people love to work this way; it's fun!

Cruising Along

It's actually kind of pleasant working on these paintings in their final stages.

I worked on this for quite a while today, cleaning up little places here and there, creating form, adding color (mostly the reddish-brown thin edges on the poured chocolate sauce), and graduating shadows on the plate. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

3rd of the Day: A Blue Lagoon

Added some grasses and some lily pads. Many more to go.

More Foliage

Working mostly from left to right on this today; also some of the brighter leaves and foreground grass. But it's time to take a break.

Fall In The Vineyards

I've been slowly building the values from dark to light on the vines. They still need some mid-tones, some lighter colors (mostly in the form of sunlit yellows) and some bluish-white highlights. Here's this morning's work:

Monday, October 26, 2020

Color Adjustment

I needed to change the palette a bit to reflect my own take on things, so I added some yellows and blues in the sky, and brightened up the landscape.

And I refined the woodwork on the door and tightened up the drawing on the lower owl; getting closer to being done!

Friday, October 23, 2020

Cutting Loose

I've been a good girl and have spent the week on tight, tedious work; now it's time to have a little fun.

Wood Grain

This got old very fast this morning. I'll wait for it to dry down a little and then glaze some more color over the wood grain.

Big Sky

Worked mainly on the sky and mountains today, also a little of Sara's blouse. I keep finding small areas that I missed that need to be finished.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

That Moist And Chewy Texture

I am really sorry I chose to work on this one last piece late this afternoon, because I have nothing in the house to eat that's anything like this, and working on it makes me hungry for a piece of dark, delicious chocolate cake.

I picked out the crumbly texture with the tiny tips of brushes.

Finishing The Sidewalk

I lightened up some of the shadowy areas that were just a bit too dark, and diffused the edges. I don't think I need to do anything more to the sidewalk or the wall. The tree, the sign post, and the woman with her shopping bags are all that's left.

Many Tiny Lines

I've resurrected this painting from the back of the stack in the studio, and spent the last hour or so adding very thin, very dark green shadows on the tile edges. After it all dries, I'll work on integrating them more subtlely with the more natural green of the tiles themselves.

Spoons

This morning's work; graduating the light on the plate and cleaning up some of the details on the spoons. Getting closer to finishing.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Tasty And Fun

Of all the dessert paintings, I think this is the most fun to work on.

A New And Different Palette

I have an artist friend who does the most beautiful, effortless-looking landscapes, and I've long wanted to be able to paint like her. She was generous enough to share her palette with me, and since I wanted to do the next painting in the vineyard series with a sky color other than blue, I thought I'd try her colors. Unfortunately, while it's working harmoniously, and does resemble her work, it doesn't look anything like mine. I may have to mix in some different greens.

Faces, Again

I feel like I'm making progress on some of the faces in the room. They're harder to paint well than I would have thought. Am also adding a chair to the table in the foreground so it doesn't look like the write is sitting alone.

A Few Small Touches

More refining strokes here and there.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Trees

I can't tell if this is truly hideous and I should just stop, or if there's something there to build on. I've lost the original reference I used when I started it, so I'm having to go with my instincts. I'd like to have a thin edge of glowing red around the leaves but am afraid that would kill their spontaneity.

Also, since I've actually finished a couple of pieces lately, it seems okay to start another vineyard painting:

Dusting This One Off

I've been taking a break from three or four of the more complicated genre paintings, but it's time to start working on them again. Everything I did today was on the patrons in the booths and chairs.

Monday, October 19, 2020

A Little Lace

It seemed like a good time to change things up and get back to something I haven't worked on for a while. This little piece needs a lot of work yet, but at least I got started with the lace doily, which is complicated and detailed. There are also a million tiny textural lines on the tablecloth to paint in very carefully.

It Was Better Before

I thought I'd apply some of the techniques I've learned from other artists over the last year and repaint the face on the guy peering at the newspaper. But somehow things went awry.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Bold Sky

I toned down the contrast in the clouds; it was too much. Still working on the sky, though.

Another One Down

Completed!

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Cake

This dessert was photographed at an outdoor restaurant and the lighting cast a strange red glow over everything; the cake's shadow on the tabletop, in fact, was a deep red. I'm not sure how to handle that. Should I stick with the red or would it look too weird? Going with the standard grey for now.

Another Pass

Time to let this dry before I start smearing the paint on the upper desserts. But I'm happy with what I did this morning.

Friday, October 16, 2020

Peanuts

I put in a second coat of paint on the peanuts in the little glass up at the top; hopefully they look more rounded. Tomorrow I'll do more work on this one.

More Color

After spending the morning updating my website (which I've been ignoring for the last three weeks), I played with mixing some new greens and making the sky less anemic.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Sara Does Some More Driving

Mostly worked on the dashboard today; many interruptions.

Tech Foo

It seems like I've angered the techie gods lately; there's always some time-eating problem that has to be solved. I had to get into this blog today through a kind of back-door solution, but here's the latest work on:

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Foiled By The Wind

I was working on this when the power went out. It's back on now but I'm just going to take a break as it's late in the afternoon. I'm trying to mix greens that don't look artificial; sometimes that's a struggle for me.

Some Additional Wood Grain

It turns out that floating a layer of glazing medium or Gamsol over the tabletop and then pulling streaks of brown or earth red through it produces a quick and believable wood grain. Which is of great benefit when you have so many other pieces to get to.

This still needs work on the whipped cream and the spoon. And the plate.

Edge Fatigue

This one is so close to being done, so close! But I need to let the edge of the plate dry so I can refine it and then add a bluish-white highlight to the upper right side. Taking a break now from the tedium of using a 000 brush.

Monday, October 12, 2020

And One More Before Dinner

This is coming along better than I thought it would; the contrast on the weird little trees makes a big difference.

A Productive Monday

This is going to need several layers of glaze— right now, the color's really flat and dry— but I got the base color done in the area at the top, and worked on the grassy extension.

Completed! Banana Cream Pie

I finally wrestled those blasted green decorative rings into submission.

Variations No. 5

Made a little progress on this, this morning. The edges are sharpening up on the door.

Sunday Fun

Once in a while you have to cut loose and do something that's not so terribly serious. This is a cat who lived with me long ago. I think the background's too somber for her, though; she was a great cat.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Just Another Thursday In The Studio

Tightening up on some rough areas on this one:

And some more detail on the bushes/trees/grassy areas:

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Two More

I tried some new things on this—worked on the pleated attire and shoes; darkened the woman's legs and really tried to make them 3-dimensional; changed a lot on the side wall; it looks like progress so far. But I have more ideas about those shadows, particularly as they recede from the trees.

Meanwhile, it's fall, so it's time to get back to this one again. I do this every year, and every year I fail to get it finished in time for the holiday season. But I think after today's session, that beige shirt is done! This might be the year I actually complete this painting.

Completed!

Hubby likes to refer to this one as "The Italian Girl." (It's a family in joke.) Anyway— after realizing there were some problems with the window frames, and a final pass on the hands, I spent the last couple of hours working on this and now it's finished!

Some Dishes

Forgot to post these yesterday:

Needs a bright white highlight at upper right, near the plate; a last pass on those green rings.

Picked out the tiny white highlights on the water spots; added some detail to the spoons.

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Moving Along, Slowly

Not feeling terribly motivated lately. I'm hoping that after November 3rd my spirits might improve. Nonetheless, I did work on the sky and the vines today.