Speaking of Painting

Who was speaking of painting?

I was, in yesterday’s post, when I told you about the man who said, “You draw better than you paint.”

Indeed, the paintings begin very very roughly, thin paint, general shapes, although I drew the bridge first in pencil, so it isn’t as rough as it sometimes is when I begin.

I didn’t take many intermediate photos of the 10×10″ bridge. After a few layers, I pulled out the 24×30″ painting, dusted it off and dove back in.Getting there on the 10×10″, wondering how much to perfect things. It took a long time to figure out how to interpret the cliffs and the shrubs. By the time I was finished for the day, the light for photography was poor. The bridge itself needs more refining, especially those miniature spaces around the railing. 

As always, I have two main thoughts about my beloved Oak Grove Bridge:

  1. A bridge picture is the perfect blend of architecture and landscape.
  2. This is sort of too hard for me, in spite of it being about the 26th time I’ve painted it. I may not live long enough to paint as well as I draw.

Oil Painting Progress Report

Last week on a very good painting day, I scanned and varnished 5 finished paintings, finished 4 with their details, and signed 3 that were almost dry. That leaves 7 unfinished.

Have a look at the 5 finished paintings:

Ethan’s Eggs, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100
Poppy #50, oil on wrapped canvas, 6×6″, $60
Iris VIII, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60
Iris IX, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60
Farewell Gap XXVI, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $100

Once again, I forgot how hard the Oak Grove bridge is to paint. Will it ever get any easier? Am I a case of arrested development?

Don’t answer that, please.

Below: The top two and bottom one are drying, the snow scene is inching forward (feels giant at 11×14″ after all the 6×6 oil paintings), the lanterns are low priority (just doing it for the purposes of learning–can you tell that the 4 lanterns on the left are further along than the 3 on the right?). Carla’s Sunflower (on Samson’s window shelf) has been finished since I took this photo.

Painting Mineral King, Continued

Remember this stage of all these Mineral King oil paintings, as seen last week?
Here is the next phase – skies done. Sort of an assembly line method of painting, but I can’t think of a better way to finish 11 paintings in a short amount of time. (Remember, I have a show coming this weekend called Gray Matter? Gotta hang the show, and then who knows how long it will take to figure out what to wear and how to make my hair behave!)

Kind of scary looking to see them all in this stage of semi-completion. Not as bad as sausage, I’ve heard. And once these are finished and scanned, we will all be pleased with the outcomes. I’m confident of this.

I also dabbled a bit more on the lanterns. They are too small for this much detail, but I’ll keep on keeping on.

Because of the lanterns and the recently painted iris and sunflower, my palette is pretty these days. Often it is nothing but browns, grays and greens, so this is more fun.

May Flowers!

Last month my 9th blogiversary slipped past unnoted. However, I am giving us some flowers to mark this milestone. Milestone? That makes it sound as if it has been a slog, a triathalon, an endless amount of work. Nope – I have loved everything about it (except finding someone to fix the blog when things go haywire.)

Belated Happy Blogiversary to us, Beloved Blogreaders!

(These are all in bloom in my yard now, last week, the week before. . . just part of the commute between the house and studio and a big fat distraction from painting.)

Speaking of distractions. . .

This last one is a little oil painting I began as a gift for a friend. We recently reconnected, and I learned that sunflowers have a special meaning for her. She is tough, brave, and is using some horrible circumstances in her life to help others through similar difficulties. Carla, I salute you! (I gave you my card but neglected to get one from you – get in touch with me soon, okay?)

Painting Mineral King

Sometimes I do my “homework”. Studio work. Planning. Educated guesswork.

I looked through my records of paintings sold at the Silver City Store over the past 7 years or so. I made lists by subject matter and lists by size. I averaged the total number of paintings sold, and made a new list of which subjects in which sizes that would most likely sell this summer.

Nothing in college as an art major prepares one for this sort of exercise. Of course, attending 4 schools over the course of 5 years and earning a 2 year degree isn’t exactly a stellar climb up the artistic ladder of excellence.

Never you mind, I know what I am doing here.

Maybe.

Oh yes, there is more and there will be even more. I’m working hard at figuring out how to paint the same scenes over and over in a manner which isn’t just mindless repetition. This could be trying different colors, light, or even testing my memory and trying to paint from what I remember.The most popular scene is by far and away the Crowley cabin with the stream in the foreground and Farewell Gap in the background. It is the scene from the bridge at the end of the road and used to have two large trees. It is uncannily symmetrical, but two years ago the taller of the two trees, a red fir, was removed because it was wearing out.

Trail Guy and I were quite surprised to learn that most people didn’t even notice that one of the trees was removed. People don’t seem to notice in my paintings either, so sometimes I paint it with the 2 trees as they were. 

Here is the one that sold most recently.

More Iris Oil Paintings

In thinking about painting Dutch iris, I got curious about the previous oil paintings of my favorite flower.

So, let’s have a look. A couple of these might be Japanese iris instead of Dutch. And the colors always photograph a bit bluer than the beautiful blue violet of real life flowers and paintings.

I like this last one best, but think my current two are better. 

YEA! GROWTH AND PROGRESS!

Maybe. Taste is an individual matter, or in Latin de gustibus non est disbutandem. My dad liked saying that, and it made me smile, so I learned it too. I think it translates as “is it useless to argue about matters of taste”.

 

Iris Oil Paintings in 3 Layers

Layer #1 on these iris oil paintings is rough but recognizable. If I painted with a palette knife, using thick paint and finishing it all in one pass (“alla prima”), then the finished version of these would be similar to this. 

Sorry to disappoint . . . that’s not my style, although it might be fun to try.

Layer #2 is better.

And layer #3 brings them to completion. I love that contrast of light against dark, those crisp edges, that precise detail. And the colors are better in person than on screen here.

Why two paintings that are so similar to one another?

Because Dutch iris are my favorite flower, because it is makes sense to paint multiples, because I am 57 and I can do whatever I want.

Fall down laughing. . .

. . . if I had more sense, I’d be painting multiples of poppies, because those are more popular than Dutch Iris.

Oh yeah?

 

More Oil Paintings in Progress

Lest you think I only paint eggs these days, here is a look at other oil paintings in progress. The way I keep myself glued to the easel is by audio books – The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls was captivating and pushed me through many paintings last week.

Poppies, always need poppy paintings. And I love Dutch iris but haven’t painted any for several years. The lake painting? It’s been in this state for several months. I had another painting of this view for several years before it sold, so I’m not sure that this is a subject that is in demand. 

Those lanterns are definitely too hard for me. So, I dab away, adding one layer at a time, working from back to front and dark to light, wondering if I am learning anything or just reinforcing bad habits. That ignorance is one of the set-backs of being self-taught and working alone.

Decision time. First, the lake. If it took several years for a buyer, why am I painting this again?

Forget it. Bye-bye lake, hello Farewell Gap.

And more Farewell Gap – summer’s coming, and the Silver City Store will want paintings to sell. Here are 2 in progress.

One more layer ought to do the trick on the poppy. Seventeen more attempts on the blue and white plate under the egg might do the trick.

Special delivery!

Eggs, One More Time

Before we have one more little talk about eggs, here is Samson, in case you were wondering.Ethan’s eggs are so interesting to me that I took many photos and started 2 new paintings. These are in the category of This Looks A Little Bit Too Hard So I Will Challenge Myself.

The little plate will really test my ability to control a paintbrush and see elliptical shapes. 

The egg needs to become the right color. Why? The current color is believable, but I am always testing my ability to mix colors accurately. And that plate might just be the undoing of me.

Meanwhile, Samson is testing himself while neighbor dog Tombo is oblivious.

 

Speaking of Eggs

Yesterday’s post was about not drawing a face smaller than an egg; today’s is about Ethan’s Eggs.

Who is Ethan? He is a kid in town who raises chickens that produce eggs of several colors. They are quite beautiful, so I decided to convert a painting of a plum to a painting of Ethan’s eggs. Something about the plum didn’t suit me, so I just made it go away.

Turning things sideways or upside down helps me see the shapes more accurately.

I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of the colors working from a photo, so I brought the eggs to the studio to verify.

I think one more pass over the canvas ought to finish this up nicely. 

This is 8×8″ and will sell for $100. Or not. Maybe I will turn it into a pine cone in a year or two. . .