Fresh Sliced Lemon

Fresh Sliced Lemon 8x8 oil on museum board

to purchase for $300 click here

I'm still on my lemon binge. I had so much fun painting the

knife and the lemons, and the shadows, and

the color shifts under the martini glass,

and the reflections in the shaker.

 Why do I procrastinate?!

But I do, just a little on a daily basis.

Maybe it's that haunting feeling I get about finishing

and feeling like the painting should more this or more that.

'Should' is a very bad work I believe

and I'm trying to eliminate it from my mental vocabulary.

What keeps you from the joy of painting?

 

 

Two Down

Two Down   6 x 6  oil on museum board

to purchase fro $100 click here

I'm enjoying the primary palette, the distortion of the liquid

and the reflections on the shaker.

The combinations seem endless yet each

painting is a new challenge.

I'm experimenting with a different surface this week.

I've coated each panel with three coats of gesso

sanding in between. After I play

with it a while I'll let you know which on I like best

and why.

 

How do you prepare your panels.

I order Ampersand from the states.

What do you use?

Cherry Triple

Cherry Triple  6x6 oil on museum board

sold

I switched the color of my under painting and my

tinted palette I've been playing with.  

It makes all the colors change.

Have you tried this? If so I'd love

to hear about your experience!

Cosmo Down

 

Cosmo Down 6x6 oil on board

 

to purchase click here

 

This is another version of the glasses done on a

palette that was tinted the same color as my under painting

on my board.

 

I think I'm getting used to it, although it's a bit

confusing. To me the colors

seem to harmonize and pop more.

 

What do you think?

 

 

 



Shaken Not Stirred

Shaken Not Stirred  6x6 oil on board

sold

I'm still having fun with colors, reflection and

the distortions created by liquid in colored glass.

I tried something with this painting that I've never done

before. My friend, Abbey Ryan, suggested I try

painting on a palette the same color as I toned my canvas.

That's right quinacridone red!

I usually work on a mid tone palette so I can easily tell

what value the color I mix is, on the light side or the dark side.

Sometimes I work on a white paper palette which is 

super easy clean up, especially outdoors.

But a hot pink palette?

It was crazy confusing for me at first but I really 

started getting into it and want to experiment with this some more. 

I did this by painting paper the same color as I toned the canvas

and placed it on the mixing area of my canvas. 

Then I put a piece of glass on top and proceed as usual,

well almost as usual.

All In

All In  16 x 20  Oil on Canvas

I'm really getting into this gaming series. This one is

quite a bit larger and took me about four painting

sessions to compete. Yet it was a pure

pleasure to paint!

There are alot of details in a painting like this

but my goal was to keep it as loose as possible.

I think the key to keeping the painting as

direct as possible is to be as

accurate as possible with the drawing underneath

before any real painting is done.

Fortunately I really like to draw and find

it very soothing.

for purchasing information click here

Two Pair

Two Pair 8x8 oil on museum board

Most of the work on this painting was done before I ever

dipped a brush into the paint.  It actually took me

a couple of days to get the set up right. 

Then I did about ten preliminary black and white

sketches, trying to simplify each time down to

three values. 

 By the time I got to

the actual painting things went pretty smoothly:)

I painted it in one day, then let it dry a  bit

and added the finishing touches the next day.

That's the way I like to work the best, 

looking at it the following day to get a fresh perspective.

To purchase for $350 click here

Red Drink Down

Red Drink Down 6x6 oil on board

I'm really having a good time with this theme and

the abstract quality in the glasses.  I stayed with my

one inch brush much longer on this

version and it made my 

painting time a little shorter:)))

to purchase for $100 click here

Three Martini Floor

Three Martini Floor 6x6 oil on museum board

 

to purchase for $100 click here

 

This painting was inspired by my friend Patti Mollica.

She made a cool artbyte on Daily Paintworks

call Fast Loose and Bold.

 

She had done some martini paintings that I really admired.

I have some in my studio and this was my

excuse to give painting them a whirl.

This is how it went:

Please click here to see short step by step video.

 

The Daily Paintworks challenge was to try a style of

another painter on the site whose work I admire.

I really want to be faster, looser, and bolder so

it was a no brainer for me to try to

use some of Patti's suggestions from her artbyte.

 

I would have loved to nit pick things more and 'fixed' stuff.

But I resisted!

I started with a one inch brush, but switched down to a half

inch when it started getting muddy.  I set the timer trying to spend only

ten minutes on each glass but spent fifteen instead.

It took 30 minutes to draw and stain the canvas,

45 minutes for the glasses

and another 15 to finish it off.

(That's not counting the photographs!)

So one and a half hours to paint this.

That's my best ever time!

Normally it takes me three hours.

Please let me know what you think, I enjoy the feed back.

Thanks!