Go Figure Contemporary colorful paintings of fun and figures.
I know I need to do some serious flower studies to understand the shapes, colors and turning of the pedals. I am so glad I did these when I did, because later today I looked at these flowers in my garden and they are starting to wilt. I wanted to post this morning, but we had a thunder storm and our power went out, the phone and internet service went down and I couldn't get cell service. I felt like I was under siege. It doesn't take long to realize how dependent we are on our conveniences. I am happy with this painting, but I know that I need to really practice how to make confident and varied brushstrokes. I am limited in this respect. I also did this for the Daily Paintworks challenge about interpreting music. My music selection was based on my desire to paint lilies so I listened to every rendition I could find of "Consider the Lilies." My favorite was an old-time bluegrass gospel rendition. It is a song based on the "Sermon On the Mount."
I have been painting on canvas and am back to panels which I like so much more because of the slick surface. I tend to get get much softer edges with canvas and I am sure it is from my inexperience. I would have to do many layers of gesso on canvas to get it to where I'd like the surface, so panels are a good option. I like this painting and submitted it to the "Reflections" challenge on daily painters. I feel like this painting has the elements of things I learned in Qiang Huang's workshop and is still in a style I am comfortable with.
Something that Richard Schmid said on Saturday applies to this painting. He said if anything doesn't work in the painting take it out. I had a blue pitcher in this painting, close to dead center, which was a bit of a mistake anyway, but I never liked the way the pitcher looked. It wasn't symmetrical for one thing and the color was too bright. So, I took it out. Now I have a painting that is heavy on the left side, but I like the grouping and it looks like they are overseeing the approaching crab apples. I like the dark background and soft edges. This was on a bright red cloth and again, it was hard for me not to go crazy with the beautiful red.
This was a Daily Painters Challenge to paint this image upside-down. It was a lot of fun and is really, very much a right brain exercise and fits in with my Fun In the Sun series. Go to:
The idea was to do these small portraits of my family from photos where they aren't smiling...problem is that Alistair is always smiling!
This is post 300 and it seems like it has taken forever for me to reach it. This painting has a long title, but can't you just hear him saying it. They are two and are learning how to "play" together. I was on the go today so grabbed some acrylics and did this during my breaks. I like how it turned out.
2011 has been a crazy year so far. I broke my leg in March and am finally off crutches, after falling in NYC a couple weeks ago while attending a Karin Jurik workshop. I have had a lot of company the last month, which has been so much fun, but I have neglected my painting through it all. I am ready to get back into the swing of things with a series of "Fun In the Sun" paintings.
My son gave me this can of spinach because he thought it would be interesting to put it in a still life. Last week the Daily Painters challenge was to paint your favorite veggie. Being a vegetarian, there are many veggies I really like so it was hard to choose...but you just can't beat spinach-strawberry salad and tomato, spinach,feta cheese anything. Plus, Popeye had a big impact on my life. Maybe that is why I am a vegetarian!
This is my brother. I am struggling with these family portraits because there is so much family history and not just what each person looks like, but how our relationship is. I have a lot of respect for my brother and I think I emphasized my father's gene contribution in this portrait, although he really looks like my mom. I can see why other artists (Karin Jurick for example) chose to do mug shots!
This is my daughter who is very beautiful and as much fun as you can have when she is in touch with her inner child, but even as an infant she had a really serious side and had the ability to freeze a grown man in his steps when she gave her deeply brown-eyed stare.
Adam, my eldest, is a father, a man of many skills, an intellectual and one of the best storytellers who ever lived.
My sister is very animated. This was a rare non-animated moment, so it looks like her, but it doesn't.
