Rooster

6"x6" oil

Thank you
Judy Pritchard O'Hara‎ for allowing me to paint from the photo of your beautiful rooster.  I actually did two paintings of him today, this one is oil, and another one in acrylic on slate.  I am not sure what the attraction is for chickens and roosters, but I have to say, I am drawn to them to paint.

Day 29 Slate - Chicken

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Who can resist a chicken with attitude?

Day 20 Slate - Cardinal

11"x14" acrylic on slate 

It is a beautiful sunny, but chilly day in the Northeast.  I am hoping to accomplish a lot today.  As I wind down in this 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge, I will be returning to oil painting on panels.  I have enjoyed doing this challenge and painting on slate.

Day 3 Slate Piece - Cedar Waxwing

acrylic on Vermont slate   11"x14"

Fun things about painting on slate include the background texture and colors.  I like how the paint grips the surface, which is so different from painting with oils on a slick panel.  I don't even consider painting the background, rather, it is about painting objects on the surface.  This Cedar Waxwing, displaying it's full colors in all their glory, was a great subject.

The Visitor

6"x6" oil 

In the summer I frequently have visitors that are not of the human species because mu studio has garage doors I open.  Hummingbirds have made numerous visits and chipmunks seems to love my work as well!

8"x8" oil

I set up this still life in my little solarium with natural light on it and the background with the back yard through a window.    I was just playing around with some things I like, a patina bronze bird sculpture and a  antique bluish glass bottle I found at a yard sale/plant sale.  I was there for the plants, but didn't find any I liked and as I was leaving this bottle called out to me.  I really don't like yard sales or collecting things I don't use, but this bottle was such a lovely color, I new I wanted to paint it.  So it has been sitting around for a while and this is my first attempt.  I don't know why I put the mum on the back of the bird...but I did and I like it.

To purchase go here.

30-30 Challenge #29

2"x4.5" acrylic SOLD

 

There is a pond behind my house that has a creek running into it and creek running out.  It provides the lovely sound of babbling water and frogs in the summer.  My grandkids love to fish there, although actually catching a fish is secondary to just standing or sitting on the dock with a fishing pole!  We get interesting visitors to that pond , including an occasional heron and ducks and geese.  I have seen a ermine and on rare occasion a moose or bear.  This photo reference was the product of wildlife photographer Dale Waack, whom I really appreciate giving me permission to study it and use it for this painting.

30-30 #21

2"x4.5"

This also is from a reference photo by Dale Waack.  It was hard to paint this mighty bird with enough detail and energy to suggest its magnificence and strength, but I had fun trying and also to make it worthy of copying the photo...like adding enough color to the water to make it interesting.

30-30 #20

This painting is from a reference photo by Dale Waack, who is a wonderful wildlife photographer.  It is a red winged black bird, one of my personal favorites because of the brilliant flashes of color they have on their wings.

30-30 #19

2"x4.5"

This was painted from a reference photo taken by Dale Waack who generously gave me permission to use some of his photos which he posts to facebook.  He is a wildlife photographer, a skill that takes a good eye and tons of patience.

Raven Mad

This is the second raven I did with an abstract background.  It was a demo for an art class I taught this week to beginning artists.  I have put a couple of their versions here as well.  This was about color mixing and experimenting with ways of applying paint.  For some it was there first painting since elementary school!  We have 2 hours to do a complete 16"x20" painting.  I think it is rather a daunting task, but it is always fun!

Raven

9"x12" oil

Several weeks ago there was a challenge to paint a raven on Daily Paint Works.  I am a bit late with it, but I finally got around to it.  It seems like everyone eventually paints a raven or a crow.  I like it because of the dramatic high contrast design.  I used lots of different dark colors to get depth in the feathers.  I also did an exercise mixing up greens from my blues and yellows for my color chart book and decided to make an abstract background with the colors.  I painted the background first then the bird.  I am so glad I did this exercise because I discovered some really cool ways of making green in the process.  This is a bit larger than usual and is on canvas rather than a gesso panel.

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Practicing #243 #244

Yesterday I took paintings to two galleries where I will be the featured artist. The openings are both today (don't ask). It is also the day a group of us gets together with a model. Long story short, I didn't get much actual painting done. I squeezed in a few small watercolors and am posting this one from an Artist Daily challenge. I am trying to teach myself how to manage watercolors and this is a good opportunity. On the right is a 5 minute sketch and I really like the weighted pose.