All The Way To The Left

I've been ignoring that whole left side for months now, and decided this was the day to tackle it. Still more to do, but I resolved several small areas.

                                                      Another Thursday Evening, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

More Of The Same

 Concentrated on covering the canvas today. And the floor planks are too yellow, so I'm toning them down a bit.

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

Wall Color

Have been experimenting with the color of the wall and the chair rails/molding. There's a slight golden haze around the paintings from the lighting, which makes things all the more interesting.

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

'Tis The Season

 Not getting a lot of paint time; too much holiday prep to do. I did, however, make some "notations" as far as testing colors go.

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

Improvement

 I'm quite happy with the way this is developing!

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

Forging Ahead On The Curtains

 I'd really like this to be done, but there are a few places that need more attention. The curtains annoy me. The wood grain on the table needs to be toned down.And I still have three roses to paint, as well as developing a strong sense of light raking the bouquet.

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

One More

 Even though the floor is drying, I was able to work in the simple-looking right side hallway. Much blending made it a longer task than you would think.

                                          A Quiet Moment At The Met, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Two For A Tuesday Morning

 Was glad to get started early today; let's see if I can steal some time to paint this afternoon as well.

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

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

 

Parquet Olé!

 In the past, when I've tried to measure things like the parquet floor precisely, it's never worked out. So I decided to just eyeball the wood strips and make adjustments as I go along. I'm surprised to see that it's working out (for the most part; there's still some tinkering to do).

Will have to let this one dry for several days, then I'll go over
the floor with a light wash to pull everything together. 

 

 

                                          A Quiet Moment At The Met, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Early Days

 Even before coffee this morning I was at the easel sketching in and applying basic color. Time now to take a break and try to get back to some of the unfinished pieces.

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

Champing At The Bit

 This stage of working is really hard, as all I want to do is slosh paint on that clean canvas and get the message started. But first I have to plot points (a time-consuming and tedious process) so I know where the paint's going.

Soon, though.

(And yes, the correct usage is "Champing," not "Chomping."

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

 

New Beginnings

 All of the new large canvases have now been stretched, and I am excited about getting started on them. There are three 30x40s; one 28x42, and a 36x48! Looks like I'm going to have to start buying brushes from the local hardware store— I need bigger sizes!

The biggie:

 The one I'm starting ASAP:

 And a couple of the 30x40s— the third one of these is in the downstairs studio.

 

Not Impossible!

 The signage on the restaurant windows consists of many tiny lines, and to make it worse, it appears in TWO of the windows. I've struggled with the problem of painting it several times already and really doubted my ability to paint it at all. But with an abundance of patience and two very small brushes, I was able to pull off at least part of it today.

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

 

Taking It Further

 All is quiet in the studio as the paintings continue to dry. I'm going to do some more canvas stretching in a little while, but wanted to post this. Luckily, it's big and wide enough for me to find places to work on while other areas dry.

                                         Another Thursday Evening, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Where it Was/Where It's Going

 I got very little done today (the result of a crisis of confidence) but managed some small progress on one of the figures in Another Thursday Evening. There is so much yet to be done on this painting, all subtle changes in lighting.

Where it was:

Where it's going:

 

Small Strokes

 I tried a few new strokes of color on two paintings today, just little experiments to see if the new colors will work.

The two white roses should stand out now from the background.

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

And I'm trying to add some warmth to the bricks:

                                          In the Halls Of Morpheus, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 
 

Solace

The news is never going to get better is it? I'm trying to take comfort in painting; especially some beautiful little gems of sunlight and water. I have three 6" square aluminum panels, and am going to indulge my cravings for color  while I wait for the other recent pieces to dry.

The first one:

                                          A Sunset For Cindy, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

A Slow, Dark Day

 I put a lot of dark tones into this to match my mood. Also, the piece needed more contrast. The setting is stark; maybe I should add some climbing vines?

                                        In The Halls Of Morpheus, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Progress On The Canvas Front

 Here's how the 28" x 42" canvas is shaping up. Far fewer little wrinkles.

 And next: two 30" x 40" pieces.

Working In A Little Color

 I'm adding some violet and yellow to the mix of otherwise ordinary greys.

                                               A Street In Old Town, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

                                       

 

 

Some Sidewalk Work

 I worked on the sidewalk, the road surface, the cars, and a bit on two of the upper-story windows.

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

More Parquet

It's coming together slowly. 

                                          A Quiet Moment At The Met, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Wobblies

 I'm doing gallery wraps on all of the big paintings— that is, I'm wrapping the canvas around the supports and stapling on the backs of the stretcher bars, so they can't be seen when hanging on a wall. But it's tricky. This isn't the first time I've had to remove a dozen or so staples to re-stretch more smoothly. Usually I get to a point where I can't get the wrinkles out, so I have to spray the back of the canvas lightly with plain water. And that always tightens the canvas up enough.

Earlier today:

And then the second pass, later on—

 

Still more to do...

The Mystery Of Parquet Floors

 Every day brings the chance to learn something new, and today I learned about parquet floors in the Chevron pattern. There are two ways to lay such a pattern, apparently; you can trim the ends so the pieces finish up in a straight line, or you can stagger them. The painting I'm working on has a staggered pattern that's been baffling me, and I'm not sure I have it worked out correctly yet.

                                          A Quiet Moment At The Met, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Painting Work That Is Not Painting Work

Some behind-the-scenes action here, so to speak: I'm in the process of stretching several large canvases in hopes of creating some really amazing work. Yesterday I stretched a 28" x 42"; today I worked on this 36" x 48" until my hands gave out. There will also be three 30 x 40s when the job is done. I can't wait to start them.

 

Oak Wood Grain

 Not as simple as it looks; there's the drawing of the lines, the areas between them, dealing with the graduating light and color, and some softening of the edges. This is only Step One on the table surface.

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

 

 

Done!

 This is finished, at least until next Tuesday when I look at it and decide it needs something else...

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

Saved!

 I used a different mix on the red facade today: Grumbacher's Cadmium Red (which the company has assured me is their original Crimson, my favorite, just with a new name) and Gamblin's Radiant Red, which is a sort of pink. The Radiant series from Gamblin has proved to be extremely useful for me; the colors fill in some missing bright spots in the palette and have the ability to lighten up an area without using a chalky white.

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

I still notice a slight bluish tinge in the facade in the reference photo, obviously due to the strong sky color. How to incorporate that? Hmmm.

Also, please note that the tree shadow on the building is not a flat black, but a deep red on top and a deep blue-green below. This helps to make the image more realistic.

I Forgot To Post This

 I must have worked harder than I thought today. Began to include one of my favorite atmospheric colors, Holbein's Violet Grey, in the woodwork.

                                          A Quiet Moment At The Met, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Self-Imposed Deadlines

 By the end of this month, I'd like to have two or three more paintings finished. It won't be easy, no matter how finished they look now... I still can't get a handle on the tiny fragmented clouds in the Radiant Sunrise painting, for example, and the floral needs two more roses and a lot of detail in the woodgrain. Likewise with the El Centro: bits here and there require a lot of work.

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

I spent some time waking up the dark interior areas, and adding a few reflections. Also made the face more visible. The hard part is going to be getting the company logos right— there are two of them and they are miserably tiny and detailed.

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

 

 

 

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

The recent order of 36" and 48" stretcher bars may have been a bad idea, but I had to do it. I'm planning to stretch two or three large canvases this weekend. And then we'll see what transpires.

 

Close To Done

 There are a few spots on this one that I could tinker with, but it's basically there.

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

And: I feel like I'm spending all my time on the left side here. I'm anxious to get on with the rest of it. Surely by now that dark blue sky should be dry.

                                        In The Halls Of Morpheus, work in progress (click on image for larger view)