One More For Today

 

                                         Before The Hurricane, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

This One Has Turned A Corner

In the last session on this painting, I realized it had suddenly started to come together. Sometimes things work that way; I slog along on a piece day after day, and while there's progress, it doesn't excite me. This one did, all of a sudden, so now I'm more motivated to finish it.

Worked mostly the right hand side today.

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

Background Sky

The sky portion of the painting is now a graduated blue-black to deep blue, in preparation for the stars in the night sky, some small trees, and an owl. 

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

Floor Cleanup

 I'll be going over those individual parquet slats again and again in the next couple of weeks as I create a sense of the varying colors and the woodgrain. And in the end, I'll float a glaze layer over it all to pull it together. 

Also worked on the suit.

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

Background Week

 Yesterday's tragic painting session involved the back wall of Standing Room; It's a big space and I wanted a graduated sense of light in the middle, and darker upper corners. Unfortunately, the paint got away from me and now I have to wait until at least Saturday before I can try to fix it.

Today I decided to use pale yellow on the walls of the two below:

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

The yellow is so smooshed in on the one above that you can't really tell it's there. It took fifteen minutes of scrubbing to get it to work.

Below: much more obvious, and I'll probably tone it down.

                                                  He Was Curiously Drawn To It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Looking Forward

 Eventually Spring will arrive. At least the temps have climbed into the 40s today, and there's abundant sunshine. Time to get this one finished and sent to market.

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

The Painting Did Not Go Well Today

Been Itching To Do This

 Today I allowed myself to work on something that would make me happy: trying to get the subtle flesh tones right on the museum guard. It now needs a little drying time and then I'll get back to some tiny changes.

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

Vague, Not-Quite-There Resemblances

Portrait work is so frustrating, especially in as small a size as this. One millimeter off, and the whole thing goes awry. Both of these need much more work once they dry. 

                                                  Joe, America Series, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

                                                Lenny C, America Series, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Crazy, Wild Color

 Sometimes ya just gotta let loose

 

                                                  Cindy's Sunset, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

More Details

 I'm at the point of aggravation with the small details that need to be done on this one; specifically, I have to go over the window logos with deep blue to straighten out any wobbly lines. And the red highlights in the windows as well. And, do those highly lit areas above the shop really work?

Still, getting close to done.

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

Little Touches

 Added some definition in the background and on the ceiling today, using glazes to create depth.

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

Color Change Experiment

Added new color to both the wall and the floor. Not sure if I'm going to keep it that way. 

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

Covering Space

 I added a lot of paint to this one today all over the canvas. Some progress!

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

Second Coat

Needs another. 

                                        He Was Curiously Drawn To It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

The Battle Scene

 I really dislike having to work on the painting within the painting. It's tedious and the details are tiny in the size of the painting, which is a mere 16" x 16." And I really dislike Napoleon on his horse up on the hill, waving his hat and watching his troops go to the slaughter.

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

Next session I think I'll concentrate on the guard.

Harmony

 Ever since I mixed up that big batch of neutral color, I've been trying to find ways to use it. It now occurs to me that putting some of it, or a mix incorporating it, into all of the museum pieces will help to unify them visually.

Here's this morning's work:

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

Second Coat

 All walls always need a second coat of paint; this one might need even a third. It's hard to get the graduation from light to dark on a large area— those upper corners aren't definite enough for me yet.

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

Roses On A Cold Day

 The temperature is supposed to reach a high of 20 degrees today. It's currently 19 degrees.

I made some changes to the flowers, and reworked the table top.

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

 

Back To The Floor

 These days I am not only spending a lot of time painting the museum floors, I'm also having to tackle the debris that we track into the house. But here's today's work on the parquet floor, and while it still needs a lot of cleaning up, I'm happy with it.

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

Next

 Added some color in a bunch of places today; I need to see this one take shape.

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

A Good Fit

 That extra paint from Standing Room turned out to be the right color for the "white" areas of this one:

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

 
 

Onward

 Using a palette knife, I mixed up a lot of color that will serve as the wall molding. There is a huge amount of paint on the palette, though, and it's going to end up being unused. I'll see if i can put it into another piece.

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

And I added some blue black glazing to various places on this one:

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

Defining The Figure

 Here's one I haven't picked up for a while. It's a snowy day, and I need bright sunlight for the 30x40s, so I'm trying to do other things until the sun returns.

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

Recuperating

 Back to the easel for a short time this afternoon; many preparations needed to be made in advance of the coming snow. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get in some more bench time.

Below: a pinkish wall.

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

Next:  More wall, but greyer this time.

                                                  He Was Curiously Drawn To It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

And finally, a little color work on the blossoms.

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

Life Throws A Curve Ball

 ...in the form of a bad, bad tooth/gum infection and a scheduled root canal. Still, I've managed to work on the floors of the two 30x40s. Not feeling quite up to painting today but maybe later.

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

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

Wall Angst

 When I started out in art school, I had to be conscious of every penny spent on textbooks and art supplies; my parents were not wealthy, and we had always been frugal. This affected my art work as I squeezed out the bare minimum of any color on my palette, and it continues to this day. Unfortunately, I end up not taking chances with color combinations, and even worse, like today, I mix less paint on my palette than I really need to cover a large space like the back wall, below.

I'll have to re-do the wall. The color's entirely too happy, it needs to be greyed down and less forthright; museum walls don't demand attention. And the paint was actually setting up (drying) as I moved from one side to the other! (I blame the lack of indoor humidity in the winter.) 

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

Also, my original plan was to subtly introduce a soft yellow above each of the paintings, and dark corners to focus attention on the middle of the painting. So I will try again.

Much Improved

 I was right to take out that extraneous information; the painting is much more cohesive now.

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

This Bothers Me

 There's been something about this painting that bothers me. At first, I thought it was the boring color palette, so I started studying Sargent to broaden my idea of what the wall colors could look like. But in the last couple of days I've realized it's the fact that the open door and the two display cases just make the space confusing. I'm going to take the door out the next chance I get, and probably the display case on the left as well.

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

Paintings Within a Painting

 I did get to work on the wall paintings in Standing Room. It took longer than I would have thought, but I managed to get the basics of the pieces brushed in. I'll have to adjust for color next time I work on them, especially the yellows in "Woman With a Necklace" and "Girl Looking in a Mirror."

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

And I put down a base layer for the walls and floor in this one: 

                                                 He Was Curiously Drawn To It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 I was disappointed with the color, though. I have a very accomplished friend who does extraordinary shadows, and one time I asked her what pigment she used to achieve such naturalism. She seemed a bit perplexed at the question, and said, "It's just Raw Umber." So I've used it in a few things since and it's always worked pretty well. But here it looks odd.

I'll see what it looks like tomorrow; perhaps it just needs a little blue mixed in. In any case, I now have 5 museum paintings in the works.