Sliced Orange

When there are lots of things going on painting is a way of centering myself, getting away from it all. I had the need to paint something different, so I painted a portrait, a landscape and lots of flowers. All things I'm not comfortable painting, but I needed to get things out of my system. Now that it's done, I can go back to painting still lifes.

The Glass Challenge

This still life was painted for Daily Paint Work's The Glass Challenge. I love painting glass so I was excited to see this as the week's challenge. That doesn't mean I find painting glass easy. As I painted each object/shape, it became more interesting than the previous one, so there was a lot of wipe-offs and restarts. In the end I was pleased with the results.

Flower Studies

Daisy Studies

Poppy Studies

These studies were copied from Joyce Pike's book "Painting Flowers".

Bananas and Teal Jar

I worked on this painting hoping to get it right without too many strokes but it wasn't meant to be. Actually my favorite part, the jar, was easy. The foreshortened bananas on the other hand were tricky. I may go back and retake the image on a clear day with less glare, so if you see a change you'll understand. 

I've gone back and both cleaned up the painting and took a new image. Better!

Rose Studies

I've been trying to learn how to paint roses and flowers in general. Without instruction it's been hard. I found an artist on YouTube whose video instruction made roses look doable. These rose studies are copied from Joyce Pike's book "Painting Flowers". Her flowers are loose and lush and I like that.

Egg and Lemons

Back to daily painting on gessoboard and it feels good.

Almost There

In golf there's an expression called "choking". It means on a three foot put to win the game, your ball goes two feet. I had to paint the lion on the far right two times.  I was thinking I wouldn't be able to make sense of it. But, I'm almost there and can enjoy tonight. I'm going to put this away for a while and work on daily paintings now.

I know some people who are going to party tonight.

Work in Progress Part 2

I've been working on this composition painting daily one stuffed toy at a time. Once they're all painted in I'll go back and decide how to tweak them. What I find challenging is to keep each successive one as simple as the one before. My inclination is to put in more detail. Overall, they are so much fun.

Work in Progess

I've changed out the teddy bear on the end to a different one. This one makes me happier.  Lately, I'm having a lot of trouble taking a good image of my paintings, and I don't know why. So for the past several days I've placed my paintings by a north window (as opposed to open shade outside). I'm sure I'll figure it out so please "bear" with me.

Mandarin Orange on Folded Cloth

This week's DPW challenge theme is "Paint Some Fabric".  I'm having fun painting these oranges. The fabric gave me an opportunity to loosen up my brushstrokes and play with color.

Mandarin Oranges

First painting of the new year. Time to get back to painting daily or as often as possible. What I've learned so far is that if I paint regularly, I get in a groove, painting becomes easier, and my work is more successful.