Tomato and Cup

Here's another still life practice... I like the saturated red color of the tomato on a neutral background.

Tomato and Cup, Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #184

Here's another attempt at this little pot with three cherries. I like it better than the previous one (#183).

Uh oh, I just noticed that I forgot to paint the reflected light (from the table) on the front cherry... zut alors :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #177: Hill Country Dusk

Thank you all for reading my blog and leaving comments (blog, emails, facebook, etc..). Even you don't get an answer back from me, rest assured that I appreciate them all.

Here's another landscape from a reference picture from Fredericksburg. For this one I did an underpainting with burnt sienna (bottom) and let it show through in the final painting (top).

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

The underpainting

Oil study #176: Red Barn at Sunset

This is one of the buildings on the grounds of the Fredericksburg Artists' School. I was done painting the sunset (it's a no show :) and then turned around as saw the light on this building and in the clouds.

Again I'm not sure I conveyed the right time of the day, but I'm happy with it.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #175: It's Going to be a Good Day

Although I painted this one from a reference picture, I struggled quite a bit with the clouds. I almost gave up on it three times. And it took me about 4 hours to paint which is an hour over my usual limit in time, energy and inspiration for this size of painting. But overall I'm glad I kept going.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #174: Hill Country in the Morning

This is a reworked piece from my last workshop in Fredericksburg with Virginia Vaughan.

I was supposed to paint a sunrise, but I got mesmerized by all the quick changes of the light and the clouds. I got to watch the best part of the sunrise, but didn't paint it :( Then I decided to turn around and paint the landscape in the opposite direction, which was interesting (and still challenging) and it didn't seem to move so fast (that's what I wanted to believe anyway).

I'm not sure I conveyed the right time of day (early morning), otherwise I'm happy with the clouds.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #165: Yellow Flower in a Blue Jar

Although I was excited about painting my new blue bottle, it didn't make it easier to paint :)
I'm happy with this first attempt and also with the flowers that I almost gave up on. I like the lost and found edge with the background.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #164 - plein air

This one has been on the mantel for a few days now and I cannot make up my mind about it. I struggled quite a bit while I was painting it: it was cloudy and I chased the light a few times when the sun showed up. Maybe it's the lack of a (simple) strong value pattern... I'm not sure, so I'll leave it alone and check it again in a month or so.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #163: Sundries

The lemon seems to glow in this one.

One thing I wish I had seen earlier is the diagonal of the shadow on the background, the pestle and the flower stem. They lined up too much. But my house critic (husband Ken) did not notice, so I left it that way :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #162: Blue Door

This was an old farmhouse along Bull Creek. I thought I would paint some water but the creek was dry. So I opted for the front of the house. Although I was pretty close to the house I tried to keep it simple. It's far from being perfect but it was fun to paint!

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #161: Three on a Vine

I wasn't sure about this one at first, but I like it now. I couldn't mix a good color for the light side of the tomatoes, so I ended up painting the shadow side darker :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #160: Sun on the falls II

This is another version of the falls at Bull Creek. I like this composition better. There was more water than last time. It was mostly cloudy and I ended up chasing the light every time it showed up.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #159

This is the palette knife version of the previous still life study (oil study #158).

Except for the object placement I painted this one from memory (right after the previous study). I wanted this to be fast(er :) and more decisive than with the brush. I stuck to the decisions that were made in the previous study. The memory part is mostly about the value and color relationships, which I think I got pretty close here. I believe that if there is a part I don't remember it's because I didn't observe it well enough in the first place. Maybe I'll change my mind in this with more complex setups :)

Oil on canvas, 5 x 7"

Oil study #158: Out of the Shadows

After a few days of finding excuses for not painting: my still life stand wasn't high enough, the light wasn't right (i.e. the one that Qiang Huang was using ;), I couldn't make a setup that was inspiring, etc... I decided to go simple and try some oranges with a dark background.

I like the translucency of the front orange wedge and the lost edge of the orange in the back with the background. Otherwise I may have overworked it a little... there is not much life to it. What do you think?

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #153 - plein air

I was happy with this one until I got home and took another look at it: it was much too dark!

I usually put my canvas or panel on another, larger (black) panel to separate the painting from the surrounding scene. I read (Richard McKinley's blog) that if your paintings are consistently too dark, then you should try a white board! I'll have to remember that next time.

Oil on linen, 6 x 8"

Oil study #152: Sun on the Falls I

I like this one! This is another attempt at painting moving water... from further away this time. I like the foreground in the shade leading to the falls in the light

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #151 - plein air

This was fun to paint, although I was puzzled about how to paint the moving water. The solution: keep it simple (try to suggest instead of getting caught up in details)!

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #150 - plein air

Everything is SO green these days; I find it very hard to mix all the subtle shifts in colors. So the grass is a bit too warm for the season. The yellow strip there should be flowers… hmm... at the end of the session I usually get tired and don't care anymore... even though that should be the fun time... So I should either get faster in the early stages of the painting or get more endurance. I should aim for the first one, I think. :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Lost Creek neighborhood - plein air painting

When two "classmates" and I were painting, a lady took pictures of us to put in the neighborhood newsletter.

Nancy Collins (left), me (middle) and Laura Barrow (right).

This was taken when we were almost done painting. It was a cool morning so I didn’t mind being in the sun. I usually don’t paint with the tripod leg in between my legs. But I had to turn my easel so I could keep my palette and painting in the shade. You can see there is no more shade on the path.

Me at the easel.

A closer look at my setup for plein air.

Here the painting again.

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #149 - plein air

I went on the grounds of Laguna Gloria to paint again. Everything was so green!
When I arrived, the water was like a miror but by the time I was ready to paint, it had completely changed. So I had to rely on my memory, which is not quite up to the task yet :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"