Orange Sections on Teal Silk 6"x 6"

I thought I would try something easy but there seems to be no such thing for me.  Still took a little over 3 hours.  Some changes I plan to try next time:  Start the initial drawing with raw sienna instead of burnt umber, paint the whites of citrus with horizontal rather than verticle strokes.
I am loving my new Canon G12 camera.  The colors seem very true. 
I hope the fog lifts so I can paint outside this afternoon.

Darcy 8"x 10"

I went to the figure painting at Maude Kerns last night.  Although I didn't quite get the drawing right I'm pretty happy with the result.

Kiwi Slices on Red Rimmed Plate 6"x 6"

I was trying again to use the view finder drawing method.  Got a little better at it but somehow the forground kiwis grew and got closer to the plate than reality.  Many things to work on here. I didn't see the kiwi reflection in the plate when I set it up but now that is my favorite part of it--and was probably the easiest. 

Delta Ponds Jan. 6"x 6"

Yesterday was sunny and 42* so I made a quick decision to go try painting with the plein air group.  I am happy with how this came out altho, as Don pointed out, the reflections should be lighter.  Also the green ground in the background should be lighter.  I'll see if I can catch more of that stuff next time.  It was great to be outside.

Grapefruit Sections 6"x 6"

This was easier than eggs but I still struggled with it.  I think it would have been better if I hadn't cut the upper grapefruit off so much.  I love the color of the shadow sides of the whites of citrus rinds.

Bad Eggs 6"x 6"

This was my first still life attempt using methods I learned at Carol's workshop.  Drawing with the view finder is a very difficult skill for me to pick up.  I want to be able to do it but wonder if my brain is agile enough.  I'll keep trying for a while.  I think eggs are a little too difficult at this point and will try easier stuff.  I scraped them off.

Landscape from Don's Workshop 8"x 10"

A local painter in the Lane County Plein Air group, Don Howard, gave us a 2 day workshop this last weekend.  He gave us lots of information and techniques that he has picked up through the many workshops he has taken.  I really learned a lot and look forward to trying his many suggestions in the field.
He did a demo of this landscape and then we were to attempt to copy what he had done.  The particular things we were focusing on in this one were the sky gradation, reflections in water and blocking in, particularly the trees.  First with a dark color, then put some very light on the sunny side, then using a brush, pulling that light color into the body of the tree.

Egg in a Glass Bowl 6"x 6"

I did this one on Friday, racing to be finished before the afternoon talk on marketing, camera work etc.  Once again Carol was extremely generous with all the knowledge she has gleaned.
I stayed on a few days longer in San Antonio to visit with the friend who put me up during the workshop.  I had a couple days to sort out some affairs for my father, then Saturday and Sunday took a workshop from Don Howard with our local plein air group.  I'll post a painting from that tomorrow.  Life's been moving a little too fast lately.

Tomatoes with HEB Snack Cups 6"x 6"

This is my favorite of the paintings I did at the workshop.  The drawing of the square cups was going so badly that I thought I should probably scrape it off.  Carol said to keep going and it did sort itself out pretty well. I was trying Gessoboard which I've had trouble with before.  It seemed managable and I'll probably try it again.

Three Strawberries 6"x 6"

Although this wasn't really timed we were fighting against the clock, trying to finish by closing time.

10 Minute Apples 6" X 6"

I attended Carol Marine's workshop in San Antonio.  She is a wonderful teacher, extremely generous with her information.  We did value studies first, then lots of 10 minute apples.  I managed to almost finish the 4th one here but I was timing myself after most of the group had gone to lunch.  It was probably more like 11 minutes.

Photo for Blue Plate Special

Here is the plate as it really is.

Blue Plate Special 6" x 6"

I did this for the DPW Challenge about changing the color of the object in your painting.  The only thing I changed was to make the rim of the plate blue instead of maroon.  I would like to have changed something else but just didn't have the stamina to to stick a couple cups in there.  Maybe I'll try again sometime.  Am heading off to Texas on Sunday for Carol's workshop and to spend time with a dear, old friend so this is the last painting for a while.

Garden Lake Park/studio painting 6" x 6"

I'm hoping it won't rain tomorrow so I can go out with the plein air painters.  I am trying some new colors for landscape painting and like them better for outside than the palette I am using for still lifes.  My camera really emphasizes reds.  Wish I could figure out how to adjust that.  I watched "Getting Greens Right" on UTube and am trying the colors suggested.  The most notable changes are using Pthalo green (yellow version) and Dioxazine purple.

Persimmons with Stainless Steel Pot 6" x 6"

I really liked the blue shadows against the orange persimmons in Carol Marine's painting so I wanted to try that.  (Using the complement)  Now I see my shadows are a bit too light but still it's a concept I want to try again.  I like the vagueness of the reflections in the pot.  Maybe I should have tried a little harder to get the drawing of the rim of the pot accurate, but I'm trying to have my paintings look a little more casual.  I hope that with time and more experience this will work itself out.

Garden Lake Park 6" x 6"

On Saturday I joined 3 others in the Eugene Plein Air group to paint at Garden Lake Park in Creswell.  I had never been there before.  It seems like a promising location to try again.  It was 39*, the coldest weather I've ever painted in.  I managed to stay warm and hope to meet them again on the 30th.
I tried Alizarin for toning the canvas and am happy with that.  I also like how the blue looks shading the red bushes in the foreground.  It was the color I had mixed up for the trees.  I just kind of accidentally used it.  Maybe using a complement can be a shading technique?  Landscapes are difficult for me, but I really want to figure it out.

Near Delta Ponds 6" x 6"

I got my new little, very light paint kit so was excited to try it out--even though it was only 42*.  Brrr.  I rearranged things a lot and was happy with the composition I came up with..except when I got home and saw those bushes all the same size, in a row.  Dot dot dot dot dot.  I also toned the canvas with an orange and think it's a bit too gay for the cold, foggy weather we are having.  I'll try alizarin next time.

Darling Lulu 6" x 6"

Lulu and I went out to the wildlife refuge at the end of Royal Ave yesterday.  We've had so little sun lately and I wanted to paint her with shadows.  It was her first time out there and she was very timid of all the wild smells when we got there but about 2/3 of the way through the walk she got a lot braver.  I painted this for the DPW challenge and really enjoyed doing it.  Much easier than painting cups for some reason.

Lemon Sections with Yellow Cup 6" x 6"I worked and reworked this silly cup

I worked and reworked this silly cup.  The handle did improve but the cup got gummy and messy.  So that was my lesson there.  But I was so happy with the lemons, plate and shadow that it was hard to give up.  I have to stop painting for several days to go help my dad.

Lemon with Grater 6 x 6

I did this for the DPW toaster challenge using the grater since we don't have a reflective toaster.  I had to put a second day into it because I just couldn't get it the first day.  My aim is to finish these in one session.  But I have one now that is going into overtime.  Not sure how to change that.  Be content to call it finished when I don't like it?  Maybe.

Cone Flower with Potting Trowel 6 X 6

This was probably the last cone flower of the season.  I still couldn't get the simplistic brush strokes I wanted for the petals.  I'll try again next year.

Purple Cone Flower 6" X 6"

I thought a simple daisy shaped flower would be easy but it wasn't.

Two Eggplants

I love the way these guys look in the photo and they do look kind of red in full light but they're just too dark really.  Wish I could ge that under control. 
Met Carol Marine at the opening of the Members' show at Maude Kerns on Friday.  I'm kind of star struck.  She is so amazing.  Also met her new friend Sara whose painting of a nude was so amazing.  So many great painters around that it's easy to say "Why bother?"  But you have to do something.

Persimmon Sections and Little Blue Bowl 6 X 6

Although it drove me crazy trying to paint the calyxes of these sections,  I'm real happy with the composition.

Persimmon with Silver Bowl 6 X 6

I'm hoping to work on reflections and glass for a while.  It's always a stab in the dark and I'd like to get comfortable doing them.

Persimmon 6 X 6

Our little persimmon tree is overloaded with fruit so I'm going to try persimmons for a while.  Those sepals (?)  sure are pesky to paint.  Hope to do better next time.

Sketches from Life Drawing at U of O

A few of the 10 and 15 minutes poses today at Uof O drawing session

10 Minute Pears 6' x 6'

Another one for the DPW Challenge. 

10 Minute Apples

I did this for the DPW 10 Minute Challenge.  Very hard for me to do anything acceptable in 10 minutes.

Lulu

After 3 months pretty much devoted to giving our puppy Lulu a good start, I think (hope) I am back to painting again. She is finally housebroken and that gives us a lot more freedom.