Early Morning Mother and Son

Life is busy right now with house stuff, Zack stuff, work stuff and Lowell Open Studios so I have neglected this blog in a big way.I will try to start posting regularly again.

This is another painting inspired by my week in Ogunquit. I got up pretty early most mornings and walked or biked around town taking photos of everything. The ocean light is beautiful in the morning.

I'm going to paint out or tone down the strange pinkish squares in the upper right - what's up with those???

Early Morning in the Cove
Oil on 6x6 Panel

Flip flops again

I enjoyed painting the other flip flops so much that I painted another pair today. There is a bit of glare in the upper right because the paint is still wet.

I like the two paintings together. Is it a reflection on their personalities that Audrey places her flip flops neatly side by side and Olivia just leaves them where they fall?

Olivia's Flip Flops
Oil on 5x7 Panel

Waiting

This is the second painting that I did at the workshop ( actually it is the 3rd, I wiped the second - day two didn't work out so well for me :) ). This painting went through some stages before it got here. I can't say that it follows Karin's style but I incorporated the amazing things that I learned from her into this painting - simplification, shapes, light and color. Halfway through I decided to experiment and  lay paint down without blending. That meant that every brush stroke resulted in a color that stayed there - no covering it with another stroke. So whatever I put down stuck.

I wish I had taken a photo when it was at that stage because it was kind of cool. I finally "got" the concept that laying down colors next to each other creates an optical illusion - your mind blends them. That is what the impressionists did. Simply stated it means that a yellow stroke next to a blue stroke causes your mind to see green. I didn't do anything that drastic, but I discovered that monochromatic variations next to each other create a very cool effect. The painting started to shimmer and move.

I didn't keep it that way because even though it was cool, and I really learned something big, it didn't work for this painting. Amy Stewart (a very talented artist at the workshop - check out this incredible painting she did on day two - same day I was in misery) said something about liking the distinct shapes of color and light of the man, and that it would be interesting if the shadows were more distinct shapes. As soon as she said it I understood exactly what she was saying and I simplified some more.

So here is my painting. Its called "Waiting". I don't think everyone will like this, but I really really do.

Waiting
Oil on 8x8 Panel

 
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Struggling with red

Last weekend I tried painting some tomatoes and peppers and had a really hard time. I struggled with the reds and getting the shadows etc. I started the painting on Sunday and thought it was going OK and then came back one night during the week to work on it and it was all down hill from there. This is where it was on Sunday:


I thought it had some promise but as I worked on it things went poorly and I got so frustrated I scribbled it out, and then wiped the whole thing off, and finally ended up just painting over it with red.

The biggest issue I had was the curly red pepper (is it a chili pepper? not sure) and dealing with the light and shadows on the red. So I decided to just do a quick practice on a panel to try and work out the light and curves of the pepper.

I posted the pepper study below - and yes it is pretty ugly but it helped me figure out the color problems I was having. I went back to the studio today and started the still life of the tomatoes and peppers again - different arrangement. So far so good, and if I don't have a spaz attack and wipe it all off, I'll post it when I finish it.

Lemons

Lemons - woo hoo. Another one from last summer. I had a hard time with the blending of the shades because the acrylic paint dries so fast. I will probably try to do a few more like this in oil. It's a fun painting.