Dancing Tulip

New picture - same painting...

Well, lost quite a bit of blue out of the background and in the foliage. I'll take a better photo tomorrow weather permitting. Again I decided to paint the tulips. This one was quite rebelious and wouldn't sit still. Real flowers are nice, but they like to move - the flower opens up and the stems stretch toward the light. Very annoying when your subject doesn't hold still.

What does everyone think of the black background? Is it too much contrast? too dark?

Hello World

Here's a new photo taken under natural light.

 

This one was taken late at night in my studio.

This lone tulip was a pretty good subject - didn't quite hold still, but she did okay. The longer I painted the more the flower opened up, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I feel that I got the values correct and everything fell into place. It reminds me of a Paul Mann painting the way he only uses 3 values when he paints for magazines. I like the fact that I was able to nail the values and keep my brush strokes clean. Sorry about the glare and the bad lighting, but one of these days I'll get a photo cube and hopefully eliminate that problem. Until then I'll just wait til I have good daylight and re-shoot. It may take several days - we have snow forecasted for most of this week.

I'm not thinking of any good titles so please help me name this one... please post your suggestions.

I AM painting

Well, even though I'm not posting a picture I want you to know that I am painting. Finished a painting last night - a floral piece. Turned out nice. I had been painting flowers from photos but wasn't getting the results I wanted so I bought some flowers. I talked to the lady at the shop about what I was doing and she may take some of my work into her shop on consignment! So I'll update you on what happens when I take my work by.

Tonight I worked on my Etsy site and packaging some paintings to ship. Shipping takes a lot more time than I anticipated! Once I have a system it should go much quicker - I hope.

Update - daily original oil paintings

 Okay, so here are all my daily paintings so far except one (didn't fit into the grid). I've re-photographed them - they are more acurate in color etc. As you can see in teh picture below I found a somewhat sunny afternoon and was able to photograph them outside on my deck.

This is a project I've been working but not posting to my blog. It's actually 8x8, but it gives you an idea of what a small painting would look like framed. This is an awesome frame from KingOfFrame.com. I recommend these guys if you want a quality frame at a reasonable price. BTW the painting is available to buy, but not frame. I'm hanging onto that for a different project.

Apple Pieces of You - SOLD

Well it's late and I just finished. At one point the painting fell off the easel into my lap and at another point I had to install a new light to eliminate glare. Combined with all the color correction and shooting I did of my existing photos earlier made for a long night..Tonight required a little Jimmy Eat World and Goldfinger to stay awake. It worked but now I'm ready to crash.

This piece was inspired /sort of commissioned by a friend so I worked some symbolism into the painting. But the interpretation would be hard to guess. What symbolism do you see? Extra points given to obscure references to mid-evil art in your interpretation!

It's HERE! My New Camera!

Wheww...Heeew! It came today! This is a picture of my new camera taken with my now retired point and shoot camera. I'm happy I found a digital camera that works with all my lenses I had that worked with my film SLR and the guy even threw in 4 Compact Flash cards and 4 rechargeable batteries and charger. Now I have to re-photograph all my paintings and post them. Stay tuned... 

Sitting Citrus - SOLD

So for whatever reason I decided not to go with red or pink - subconscious rejection of Valentine's? Perhaps the sour lemon wasn't a coincidence? Well, for whatever reason here it is. I like the color combination of the fruit - very analogous.

Strawberry Split

So with valentine's day just around the bend... I thought I'd make my daily painting have some red in it and serendipitously the boys requested these at the store so I had the perfect subject. A little sad symbolism there for those who don't like valentine's day. And I do have to acknowledge some help I had on this painting - thank you, Michael Buble, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Griffen House, etc. It's almost midnight! They kept me going since I had run some errands tonight and someone came over to buy a desk I had sitting in my garage. It made for a profitable evening and paid for most of the purchase of my new camera - soon to be arriving! Yes, you heard it right. No more lousy pictures!

So I really like the way this one turned out, but that's me. LMK what you all think. Please feel free to comment. I love the outside perspective.

The Cool Apple

Okay - it's late but here is the "cool apple" as my boys dubbed it. They've been after me to eat it so now that I've painted it they'll be so happy they can and so disappointed that it tastes just like a regular apple. Just so you don't doubt my painting skills here's a photo of the actual apple....

Salsa in Waiting

So here's what I painted today. I used another metallic bowl so i got some great reflections! Again using the green peppers before they completely die and added a red onion and tomato. I think i may just have to go to the store and get some more tomatoes and actually make some fresh salsa. I probably should have done that instead of making spaghetti for dinner. The kids liked it, but my stomach is telling me that I should have passed on the pasta. It's funny about the same time I started these paintings I changed my diet to include more fresh vegetables so I usually have a quite a selection of veggies to paint and sometimes I eat what I planned to paint before I get a chance. Right now I in my refrigerator there is an apple with a very interesting strip pattern that I want to paint, but haven't yet. I have to keep telling my boys not to eat what they've dubbed "the cool apple." Stay tuned...

Apples and Reflections of You - SOLD

Well, I got off to a late start and worked on two paintings tonight, but I'm glad I did. Went with a metal bowl so it would reflect and complicate my life as well as five apples. I also tried paint more loose - it could have ended in disaster, but I like the way it turned out. Again sorry for the glare - my nice camera takes film and a week to develop! Maybe it's time to upgrade? This point and shoot digital camera of mine isn't cutting the mustard.

Fire Roasted

Well, I decided to paint these peppers again. The colors aren't too bad, but the colors in the photo are off just like most of the photos and there is a glare. I need to find some time and take pictures during the day, but with my schedule and the sun going down so early it's difficult. For awhile they weren't working, but then i turned off the TV and what'd ya know they started to come together. It's funny how depending on the task I can watch a show and paint at the same time, but other times not at all. I find that I miss alot of the show - I'm more listening than watching. 

Anyhow, nice little painting. The underpainting is a purple and half way through I was tempted to change the background color - they were working well with the underpainting. Perhaps I'll have to paint them yet again! Stay tuned..