Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Pastel- Silver Metamorphosis

I was writing up a supply list for pastels for a possible workshop and thought I'd do one since I had them out.
4x3 pastel on board

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Silver Metamorphosis continues


I tried a darker yellow background which is another way of saying raw umber. I tried a new tube of Old Holland Raw Umber to see if it flowed better than Winsor Newton. Maybe a bit better. Since it takes so long to use a tube up I'll see how it acts in a few years!!
I bought some pears so I may do them to keep up with my yellow addiction at the moment. We'll see, never know til I sit down to paint.
4x3 inches, oil on board

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Silver Metamophosis

This might be my favorite so far. But then again many times the last painting i do is my fav.
Feel like I'm mining for gold as well as silver here!! I used a palette knife to get lots of paint in the background. I also smudged the whole thing (I think I talked about this in the book) after I did my block in and then put more paint on. Feel like I've pushed the brushstokes farther. Walking that line between getting too messy and not wanting to be too literal. Been looking at Stanley Bielen. funny how you can look at and want to "do it" like someone else but can only go so far. As long as I keep painting and enjoying that's all that matters.
"Silver Metamorphosis" 4x3 inches oil on board

Monday, December 21, 2009

Silver Metamorphosis


I am continuing my painting of the same set up always thinking I've got to do something different/better. Liking it a lot.
3x4 inches oil on board.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Silver Metamorphosis

I became aware of the background in this one. Not to mean that I usually don't care about the background but I think that after doing these for the past couple of weeks I get to see more of how the background can be handled in almost an abstract manner as opposed to negative space that supports the positive shapes.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Silver Metamorphosis continues




As a neighbor pointed out, this is getting very zen(ish). What if I could spend the rest of my life painting this setup? OMG! that would be phenomenal but I'm nowhere near that state.
Anywho, there are two more that I just varnished and waiting to dry before I scan them.
This has been a great trip; one painting leading to another. I changed the backgrounds and worked on brushstrokes. I just noticed that the backgrounds were getting abstracted and I could play with that more. I don't know if I've ever kept the background so close to the foreground color. I like it.
These are all 3x4 inches on archival board.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Silver Metamorphosis



My trusted Permelba White seemed much much drier than usual. I don't know if you have this experience but sometimes it comes out of the tube oilier or not so oily. I don't know how old this tube is (I'm sure I don't use it as much as most people since my paintings are so small and I would always prefer to use any other color besides white to change the value).
Anywho, I have a tube (old also) of Old Holland Light Yellow which is a really nice white with just a touch of yellow in it. I figured I'd use that until I get to Pearl Paint to get a tube of Permelba. (BTW, the shelves at Pearl were almost bare; what's up with that?) My plan was to either keep doing yellow/purple palette paintings or go out of my box and use it in one of the other palettes. As it turned out I have gotten smitten with yellows. Two of the four paintings are dry so I've posted these two. I was working on getting more subtle; instead of pink flowers do whitish/yellow ones. and gray down the background and the tabletop.
I've been dreaming brushstokes this week. Really nice. Love when that happens.
Also, was watching "The End of an Affair" with Julianne Moore and noticed that the sets all seem to be tones of yellow!!! OMG!! Our grandkids are coming for dinner tomorrow so I won't be able to paint until... Hope this feeling continues.