Pears II

Second pear painting. Spent more time on this one, but didn't finish because I had the lamp too close to the pear on the right and I cooked it! I couldn't figure out why the color kept changing.

I hope you like pears, because I have a few. The hardest thing for me is getting the shadow right on the blue plate. I haven't really been successful yet and I've done 4 or 5 paintings.

Which you will get to see, you lucky devil.

Pears Pears and more Pears

One of the things I struggle with is that I get bored with a subject too quickly. (hmmm, not that I have ADD or anything) But when you look at the really great painters' work, you see that they paint the same subject over and over again. Abby (painting teacher again) suggested that I do this. The reason for doing it is probably obvious, but it helps you work out a painting's problems in subsequent paintings of the same subject.

I really like pears - I love their shape and the different colors and since I don't really get bored looking at them, I decided to do a bunch of paintings of pears.

I found this great ceramic plate at a junky antique store - its a fantastic blue/green color that is a wonderful background for the color of pears.

So far I've done four or five of these paintings and this is the first. It is small - 4x6 - and I did it pretty quickly in about an hour or two. Not a finished painting, but I liked the way it looks so immediate and fresh so I left it as is.

More pears to come.

Apples and Oranges

Last of the acrylic paintings. I did this in January just before I started using oils. I forgot about it and found it the other day. It's about 11x17 and done on paper.

I'm moving to a new studio in July. Same building, just a smaller space. I love the space I'm in but it is about 430 sq feet and too expensive. The new space is about half the size and half the money :). I think it will be fine - though I may have to consolidate some of my stuff. The light is really nice in there and I will still have two big windows.

Mum's the Word

This one's for you Mum :)

I did this acrylic painting last summer and it is a landscape from my imagination. My mother loves this painting and we disagree on this one - I really don't like this one at all. Maybe the little house in the background - that's it.

The one thing that was cool about it (and a little spooky) was that when I was painting it, it was like the scene was already there and I just filled it in.

I'm looking forward to painting outside this summer and trying real landscapes.

What do you think of this painting?

Underpainting II

I couldn't paint much today - started very late. But this is the underpainting from yesterday's post with color layers added. It is still in progress, but I put it aside for a while because it was bugging me.

I changed some things from the original after getting feedback from Abby and removed some of the folds in the lower left. Among many things to be done - the background needs to be toned back to a more neutral color and I want to work on the cloth. (Also the drip of paint on the yellow bowl :) ).

It's been at least a month since I've touched it. Here's a pic of what's on my easel now and you can see this still life sitting there in the background waiting for me to finish it. I think I might start working on it again tomorrow. I love 3 day weekends!

One of the greatest things about having a studio is that you can leave things up - like still life setups or paint or whatever - and not worry about it. Can't do that at home.

Tip for those family members (Mum, Dad?) and friends who are new to blogs, etc - you can click on the pictures themselves and they will open in a larger window so you can see them better.