Oil study #108

I painted over the value study from yesterday. That way (I thought) I could concentrate more on brush strokes. Well it seemed to work at the beginning with the orange. After that I had trouble to leave the brush strokes alone.
BTW: I didn't notice the big blue stroke on the orange sticking out so much until I took the picture :(

Oil study on canvas panel, 6" x 8"

Oil study #107, 106

I did a value study today because I had trouble with my values again in yesterday's painting (below) . I also replaced the pepper with an orange.

Oil study on canvas panel, 6" x 8"

This is yesterday's painting. I thought it was a no show before the end: I wiped out the pepper a few times and got tired.. and careless... A few hours later I regretted not being more careful in finishing it. I had trouble with the values on this one. The bottle in the back is almost black... so either the pepper was too dark or the bottle too light...

Oil study on canvas panel, 6" x 8"

Oil study #86: Favorites Cups

I painted today but it's was a no show and I wiped it :(

So here's an oil study I did in June. These are my favorite coffee cups that my mother-in-law gave me. There were a lot of things going on with the front cup: it's mostly white and translucent in places with the light angled that way. I'll have to give it another try sometime...

Oil study, 5" x 7"

Oil study #103

I felt out of practice today. So I went for something "familiar" and simple. I had a hard time to leave the brush strokes alone.

Oil on canvas panel, 8" x 6"

Oil study #102: One fell out

This one looks like a step forward. I like the looseness of the brush strokes and that the ground color is showing through.

Oil study , 8" x 6"

Oil study #101: Envy

Since the workshop I've been overwhelmed with all the things I learned and that I'm trying to remember and apply... I have an idea of what I want (or would like) to achieve and I'm not there... so I have been wiping my paintings ever since. Then I decided that if I want to follow my "progress" I better keep some. Here's one that I should have of left alone 15-20 minutes earlier :)

Oil study, 8" x 6"

Show at the Scarbrough Blg, dowtown, Austin, Tx

My art buddy Jan and I have a show downtown at the Scarborough Building for the next month. We went this morning to hang the (pastel) paintings. It's in the hall of the business building. The paintings are displayed in two glass cases of about 3 feet deep by 15 feet long. Here are some pictures of the show. If you have a chance go by and have a look.
Scarborough Building, Congress Ave. & 6th St. (101 West 6th St.).

Workshop - Oil study #95: Green Flower in Red Creamer

This oil study was done the day after the brushstroke exercise and after a demo/instructions about the use of grays (as opposed to saturated colors). It looks like I worked on my grays and forgot about the brushstrokes... I was happy with the inside color of the creamer (warm gray) , the gray on the left side of the creamer and some of the darker red brushstrokes.

Oil study, 6" x 8"

Another oil study done during Carol Marine's workshop #93: Cherries Reflected in Ceramic

This oil study was done at the workshop after the value exercise, but before the brushstroke exercise.

Oil study, 8" x 6"

Brushstroke exercise

Here's a few takes on a brushstroke exercise we did during Carol Marine's workshop. With a limited number of brushstrokes we had to render a convincing shape. The shadow side of the apple on the first one was too light, in the second one it was too dark and I was satisfied (and tired) with the last one. I'll need to practice some more...

I also learned not to be afraid of wiping off part or the entire painting when it's not working. So there were a few wipes before the first one.

Value studies from Carol Marine's workshop

At the workshop last week (with Carol Marine) we did some value studies. The first one is the same pepper I had painted in color that day (see previous post).

The next day we did three more value studies with 3 values. We had 30 minutes for the first one, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes for the next two. We had to choose which value (dark, medium or light) would be dominant, which one would be secondary and the "smidge".

My first value study is an orange on a plate where the medium value is dominant, the dark secondary and the light the smidge. The second value study one has a dominant light value, a secondary medium value and the smidge is the darkest value (the cherry and the cup). I wanted my third value study to be dark dominant... in 5 minutes... well I tried it and wiped it not long after. If I recall it was definitely the dark value dominant but there was not much else. It looked like a mess. This exercise turned out to be more difficult that I anticipated. Probably because of the time constraint. But almost everyone did better with less time. It forces you to make quick decisions and stick to them. You don't have time to change your mind anyway.

BTW: here's a group picture for the workshop.

Oil study from Carol Marine's workshop

I really enjoyed my workshop last week with Carole Marine. Here's my first oil study I did during that workshop.

I may have cropped my picture a bit too much on the right side. This way it almost looks like a kiss (the pepper kissing the edge).

Oil study, 6" x 8"