What I Like About This One

This little scene has some tinges of blue-green in the window, and it makes a nice complement to the warm browns. 

                                                  Plat Du Jour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      
 

New Work

 So here are a couple of the new pieces I started over the weekend:

                                                  Glen Echo, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)    

This next one is kinda faint but at least you can get the basic idea:

                                                  Plat Du Jour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      

Now I Think The Foreground Looks Too Busy

 I'm going to have to even out some of those bold strokes. But so far, so good.

                                                  Stone Tower Winery, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      

 

This One Is Begging To Be Painted

 Several years ago, I started a series of 18"h x 24" w paintings called "Saturday Night." It was going to be based on evenings when we go out on the town and find interesting things going on inside store windows. So far, all of the ones I've done have sold, and for a good price. Here is the newest one in the series— It's a coffee shop on 14th Street in Washington DC. The window frames the scene perfectly.

                                                         Dolcezza, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

The Best Laid Plans

 I had everything planned out. I was going to finish the vineyard and the dessert series. I was going to finish the little genre pieces, like A Rainy Day In Alexandria; Starbucks; and 'S Nice, with an eye toward putting them up on Saatchi. I was starting to create a brand new website, with a shopping cart and options to buy. Then I was going  to get back to the three large pieces that share the same location on Mulberry Street in New York, and finish Persephone in time for Spring. 

But a request from one of the galleries that show my paintings came in over the weekend, and now I am shifting gears. New pieces will begin to show up in this blog as I get them started. Here are two:

                                                         Girl In Museum (working title), work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                  

 

                                                         Glen Echo, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 
 

Testing

So, now that I've finished the grisaille, I can start using color. I experimented with it a little last night, but only on a couple of places that I was certain were completely dry.  

I ran off to the art supply store yesterday in search of Holbein transparent oils, as I think they'll work really well on top of the grisaille. The background wall color is an interesting and rich combination of red, yellow, and green. The chalk work on the blackboard is mainly blue. It's going to be so much fun to work on.

                                                          The Happy Hour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

A Re-do

 I'm planning to do a few repaints over the coming weeks as I prepare to offer some works for sale on the Saatchi website. Today's work was on the left half of the piece.

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

Trying New Things

I collect images of work done by other artists that I think are awesome for one reason or another, and lately have been sifting through those images to see if there's anything I could try. The green lawn in the vineyard painting below looked awfully monotonous to me, so I took a hint from one of the artists images and tried to add a lot of yellow green to the scene. And I used a square brush instead of my usual pointy-round.

                                                  Stone Tower Winery, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)       

 Worked on a different skater today; this one in a bright turquoise jacket.

                                                  Winter Skaters #5, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      

Dark Days

The weather report, according to my spouse, looks pretty dismal for the next couple of weeks. I'm skeptical that the weather folks can predict that far in advance, but then, it is Winter and I seem to recall it was pretty wet and cold last year. Today I couldn't focus on painting, just did a little bit here and there, and spent most of the afternoon cutting up veggies for an enormous pot of hearty ratatouille. That should keep us warm and happy for a few days.

Reworked some of this:

                                                         Postcard 15, Tidal Basin  (click on image for larger view)                    

and moved on to the girl in purple: 

                                                          Winter Skaters #5, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Night Work #17

 I'm suffiently jazzed about this one to want to start another grisaille underpainting, called "Dolcezza." But it's an 18" by 24", yikes!

This looks good to me. One more session should do it; then— Color!!!

                                                         The Happy Hour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Wet Paint

 I might have to take tomorrow off, since everything I wanted to work on is drying. I guess I could go back to some of the larger pieces, like the ones of New York.

Meanwhile, today's work:

                                                          Felípe (click on image for larger view)  

                                                                          Persephone, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

I still think it needs to go darker around the back of her head to set the hair off.

And:

                                                         'S Nice, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Skaters

 I should get this finished while we're still in the winter season!

Made some color choices today, I think the two girls in the upper corner should be wearing coats in complementary colors of burnt orange and steel blue.

                                                  Winter Skaters #5, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      

I Keep Finding More To Do

 There are so many palaces in this painting that need adjustment. I started off this morning with the idea of drawing in the rest of the vine lines up on the hill, but quickly found I needed to apply some underpainting on the slope itself. And the big tree foliage just looked formless to me, so I worked on creating some distinguishable boughs. And the foreground looked too chaotic. And I don't want all of the green shrubs to be the same color; some of them have more and finer highlights, and the base color might lean more toward ochre, or blue.

                                                  Stone Tower Winery, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)      
 

Blue Light

 I added some blue to the window, adjacent wall, and the floor tiles to amplify the feeling of daylight outside the shop. Also worked on the spotlights.

                                                          Starbucks, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                  

 

 

Chairs and Umbrellas

 As I get nearer to finishing this, I take a step back to assess; it has a nice feeling about it, despite the problems with the chairs and umbrellas. Hopefully it'll only need a couple more sessions.

                                                         Cana Vineyards, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

 

Experimentation

I know how to paint the tabletop and its objects, and I think I'll do alright with the green dress, but the street scene outside the window has got me flummoxed. I think I need to smear the paint around a little more so it looks hazy outside and doesn't compete with what's going on in the restaurant interior.

                                                          A Rainy Night In Alexandria, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

The Best Laid Plans

 So, the plan, or at least the hope, was to get 8 small paintings finished by the end of the month so I could concentrate on the larger stuff. This is one of them. The plate rim has been increasingly bothering me due to its flat look; I decided this morning to mix a glaze of darker color and add it to the inside of the plate. However, the glaze medium itself (as it often does) then made visible about a hundred thousand tiny hairs, dust mites, etc.

I had to keep brushing it down to eliminate most of the debris, but now it seems I'll have to wait for it all to dry before adding another layer. Bah. And there's still the spoon handle, the fork, and the chocolate specks.

                                                         Molten Chocolate With Gelato, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 
 

Slogging Through

 It's wonderfully dreary outside today, and I've been taking advantage of the fact that there isn't direct sunlight on my monitor (as it usually is this time of the year). I worked on this last night, and then picked up on it again this afternoon. The stacked glasses are a challenge but I just go slowly, like the proverbial tortoise, towards the goal.

                                                         The Happy Hour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Closing In

 There's not much left on this, mainly work on the hands and the apron. Two more sessions?

                                                          Felípe, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Atmosphere

This is starting to work in terms of "believable space," despite the chunkiness of the canvas weave.

                                                          'S Nice, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

A Better Figure

Though this still needs some work on the face and the hand on the left, it's much better than any of the previous iterations.

                                                          Starbucks, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 
 

A Sharper Image

 It's been tricky, trying to paint the myriad of tiny shapes that make up the glasses and bottles, but it's coming together. 

                                                         The Happy Hour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

I Forgot To Post This

 Worked on it yesterday; I'm trying to get the background images in the two window frames to work in harmony. Had to overpaint some lines.

                                                         A Rainy Night In Alexandria, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Filling In The Foliage

 There sure is a lot going on in terms of twigs, leaves, branches, flower buds and blossoms, etc. in this piece. I'm trying to work up the upper right hand corner. Then I'll move back to the figure and the hair. The hair is ridiculously beautiful in the reference photo, so it"ll be a pleasure to work on.

                                                         Persephone, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Another One Down

 Finished! I painted the last of the tiny salt flakes a little while ago. And the final one in the series, Molten Chocolate, will be done soon.

                                                         Profiteroles, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Around And Around

Getting the contour of the plate to look correct is no easy task. You can see the wet areas that I worked on today in an effort to both clean up some raw spots and whittle down areas that were too wide. I'll have to spend a couple more sessions on this to get it right; meanwhile, I realized today that I still have to do the sprinkling of very fine chocolate dust over the plate when everything else is finished.

                                                         Molten Chocolate With Gelato, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 
 

Shirt Stuff

 Worked mainly on the folds on the sleeves this morning. Seems like there's some blue light coming in on the right side. Time to move on to something else.

                                                         Felípe, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Two More

 A pink umbrella. Does it work? It certainly wakes up what had been a fairly monochromatic scene.

                                                         Cana Vineyards, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                  

 

 

And, since it's winter, I thought I'd get back to this little piece.

                                                         Winter Skaters #5, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

One More

 Though I toyed with the idea of just moving the shop name to the center of the dark area, I left it where it was. I'm going to balance out the emptiness of the left side with a plant of some sort. That'll help balance out the harshness of the straight lines, too.

                                                         'S Nice, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 
 

Tuesday Painting

 I've worked on two paintings today, but it's taken a long time to do just a little. My hopes of finishing eight small pieces by the end of the month are becoming dimmed.

                                                          Starbucks, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                  

                                                          Annuals, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Night Work #14

 I get excited while working on this. It's going really well.

                                                         The Happy Hour, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Less Grumpy

 I'm not sure this man was completely happy about me wanting to paint him, and that may be reflected in this pose. 

I need to get those values right; the high points of the cheeks should be much lighter than they are now.

                                                         Felipe, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                 

Dimension

 My figures always look so flat. This afternoon though I mixed a lot of glazing/blending medium into the flesh tones and smooshed it around. I think some places need to go deeper in value to describe the way the planes connect and turn, but it's a start.

                                                         Persephone, work in progress, (click on image for larger view)                  

 Also detailed some of the lower blossoms. Time for a break.