Orange Peel and Grapes

Orange Peel and Grapes

6x6" $29

SOLD

Painted just for fun and to test my mettle on a curling peel. The inside colors were a challenge. 

To benefit The Garuda Aviary.

Red Onions, Garlic and Grapes

Red Onions, Garlic and Grapes

8x10" Oil on panel $50

Click to Buy

Dan's course is certainly challenging but I'm learning so much. I posted this earlier but it wasn't dry enough to put up for sale - now it is! I also went back into it and tweaked some things he advised to do which made it better. I love it - people say it has that "Old World" feel to it.

Pear Martini

Pear Martini

8x10" Oil on Panel
SOLD

Painted in a Dan Edmondson workshop, the challenge for me was make the strokes and leaving them alone. I surprised myself! The colors are very rich in this - it's hard to photograph a dark painting as the camera wants to balance toward middle gray. Lots of deep color and juicy strokes.

E-mail from buyer:

The painting has arrived, safe and sound and secure and it is BEAUTIFUL!  Thanks so much for the great work!

Lilacs in Copper

Lilac in Copper

12x12 oils on panel $50

Click to Buy

As I mentioned previously, I am deep into Daniel Edmondson's Weekly Painting Class and this one I am very happy with. I love the contrast of dark shadows and light on the flowers. 

Hope you enjoy it, too!

Sussex Coastline

Sussex Coastline

9/12 oils on wrapped canvas

SOLD

I had posted this in January but had not yet put it up for auction as it wasn't dry enough yet. I would so love to travel back to England, but don't think it will happen. It warmed my heart when I posted this on Paint My Photo, thanking the photographer, Nicola B, for use of her shot, that a gentleman who lives near here wrote to me saying I had "nailed it". He gets to walk along this coast every day!

Proceeds benefit www.garudaaviary.org

After the Storm

 "After the Storm"

 8x10 in oils on wrapped canvas

ON HOLD

Please note that all computer monitors show colors slightly differently.

I have been really busy taking an oil painting class so have not been posting lately. This is a painting I actually finished in December, but just haven't had time to photograph and post! I will be posting quite a few more in the coming weeks, as I don't want to post them for sale until they are dry enough to varnish and ship. 

The proceeds support the Garuda Aviary which is currently in great need of extra funds. Sadly, one of the Greenwing Macaws, Red, had to have surgery and didn't make it. So we are raising funds to pay those vet bills, as well as the ongoing care of all the parrots. So thank you for supporting this work.

Painting Like a Madwoman

Haven't posted a lot lately, but that doesn't mean I'm not painting! I'm learning to work with water mixable oils, as well as taking a painting course from Dan Edmondson, which is turning out to be fantastic. I also signed up for his new WPC - Weekly Painting Course - which includes personalized critiques and group webinars. You don't know what you don't know till you know. He is a wonderful teacher and inparts knowledge as well as encouragement and how to relax and just paint, learn and have fun.

Here is the second still life I completed from his Still Life Course. It's just a phone photo so unfortunately doesn't show the wonderful brushwork, which I am learning to leave alone and not lick down to mud. Once I learn my new camera I'll post better photos. These can't go on sale for a bit as they are oils and need to dry thoroughly before varnishing.

Pear Martini

8x10 oils on hardbord

The next one I finished was from Module 1 in the Weekly Painting Course:

Module 1: Red Onions

8x10 oils on hardbord

This one was a real challenge in mixing the different reds without them becoming earth tones. May redo the grapes a bit after it dries - they are too uniform, I think. I also tried to really think before making brushstrokes so that the onion skins and the garlic were done in very few strokes, which gives them a free energy I love.

Then, for the January Paint My Photo challenge, which was to paint waves and water:

Sussex Coast after photo by Nicola B on PMP

8x10 oils on canvas

There's another one I've done from PMP photo but haven't shot a pix yet. So finishing four (and a half - my cows are almost done....) is not too shabby for one month!

The Joy of Sharing Art

I got an e-mail from the buyer saying "I love it!", then later in the day received this photo. She had gotten a frame for the painting and was so kind to share with me the joy she was experiencing.

This is what makes painting a joy: the joy it gives to others as well as myself.

She just said, "Here it is!" and there it was on my screen:

Her happiness made my day!

Happy New Year, everyone.

Merry Christmas Composite Painting

8x10 Oils on Wrapped Canvas

SOLD

This painting was the November Challenge on Paint My Photo, and was supposed to be "white" but I had so much white at first it just looked dead to me. The other part of the challenge (for me)  was to use several photos and make a composite still life. This was based on four reference photos.  Had to block in with acrylics and then finish with oils. Turned out pretty cheery, don't you think?

Happy Holidays!

Bowl and Oranges - and Learning to Love the Paint

 8x10 Oils on Hardboard Panel

SOLD

I finally finished the first of ten oil paintings that are part of a course of instruction I felt I was ready for (in dire need of). The trial and error approach was becoming a frustration bordering on quitting painting, and as usually happens at those times, the universe answers.

Roaming around in the interwebs I stumbled across this site: Daniel Edmondson Art Studio and decided it was worth the money. I had already investigated maybe taking local art classes as I live near Montgomery College, which has a fabulous art curriculum, and the Glen Echo art conclave - but the prices for the courses (like $400+), plus the commitment to specific days and times seemed overwhelming.

So I went looking for a style I really want my art to look like and found Dan. Now, true, my painting did not come out in the looser style I was striving for but I did learn that the medium you choose to use has a lot to do with that. I have been learning to paint with Genesis paints which are a new medium that work like oils while you are painting, but you can heat set them rather than let them slow dry. If you like glazing, this is great. Mainly I started using them as I was frustrated with acrylics for certain paintings but due to some health considerations did not want the smell of oils and turps in my small apartment. They've been great and I will continue to use them for certain paintings, but they work better for a style that is very precise - where you don't really paint wet into wet, more like value change next to value change, then blend smooth. Also, the paint has to be 'worked' with a palette knife to loosen it up, and will set up on the palette and on the canvas after a while so you can't as easily move paint around as Dan shows in the DVD.

Anyway.......I stuck with that style for this first painting, however, I watched all ten DVDs first and it's impossible to convey the many facets of painting that Dan conveys in a 'natural conversation' style.

Also, because I have not yet begun to paint 'from life', I have painted from photos, and while I know you can push the color and change anything you want, from Dan I learned why I cannot learn to SEE from photos. Being in the middle of reading John Carlson's book on painting and the many nuances we artists must learn to see, this is crucial. I have learned from experience even looking at paintings on the computer, I am learning to see colors I had not seen before. So learning to SEE is now a priority for me.

The cameras try to balance everything out to middle gray, and he showed us this on the DVD by holding up white towel to show how even watching a DVD doesn't give you the truth of color or value changes.

Example:

This is an iphone photo of the painting against my dark couch.

Notice the flat whiteness of the bowl, the extreme color bands on the orange, the whiteness of the orange slices.

Here is the photo taken against a white board, same lighting. Now the darks are too dark, but that's easier to adjust in editing software.

This taught me as much about photographing my artwork as NOT relying on photo references to learn to see nuances in tonal changes.

This is a closeup of the bowl, which is my favorite part of the painting, showing the shadows. It could not be photographed without the white paper towel giving the camera a lighter light to factor into its computation towards middle grey.

So I was tempted to just go ahead get traditional oils, and found some at a yard sale to try out. Wow, I loved loved loved how they glide on. I got a major headache from the smell however so knew that's not an option for me. 

I have now purchased water mixable oil paints and will do the second painting with those to see if I can achieve that loose brushstroke I love so much. Watching Dan paint has made me see I make it too complicated, don't use enough paint, and "lick it down" ad nauseum, which is fine for the more traditional look but not so fine if you want to use the brushwork itself to achieve the result you are looking for. I want thick juicy paint!

I don't make any commission promoting Dan's course - but I can encourage you to feel comfortable spending the money because it's worth it. I plan to complete the still life course, then invest in the landscape course. I think in two or three years I may be an excellent artist!

Hope this helps you. Will post as I finish each painting!