Happy Happy Birthday

Here's a birthday wish for you. May all your dreams come true and may you find happiness in the company of friends. Happy Birthday Tom

Citrus Still Life

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I've been working on this still life all week. I feel more confident with each larger painting I do and maybe that comes across. However, I know paintings have to stand on their own no matter what the blogger says about them. Some days the painting painted itself, some days it was all decisions and sometimes I just did the best I could, but it's all moving forward.

The Premix Color Challenge

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I'll be hosting this week's painting challenge on Daily Paint Works. It will run for the week starting Saturday Feb. 22nd. Here's a link to find out more about them.

This is what I submitted for my challenge below.  Have fun!

The Challenge

This week's challenge is to premix your colors on your palette for each object before you start painting. The task is to make all the hard color decisions on your palette beforehand. I used solid objects for this challenge.

Here's my take on it:

Paint one object at a time. Simplify what you see (in your mind) into a few key colors. Premix your paints on your palette with as few colors as a midtone, a lighter color and a darker one. I use a palette knife to mix my colors and then hold each color up to my blank canvas and look over to see if it matches the color of my object.

The lighter color will be darker than your highlight and your darker color may be (but not always) the same value as your shadow. Paint your object starting with the lightest part and work out from there. Try not to blend your colors. See them as spots of color.

Repeat the above steps for each object.

To tie the painting together, look for small areas of reflected color from adjacent objects and apply with one or two strokes.

Just as an example, I've included a chart of the colors I mixed on my palette for my painting.

If you normally don't paint like this, then this may be a fun exercise.

Good Intentions

Yesterday I set up a larger still life and did the drawing. Today, as I got ready to start painting the bulb in my light box blew out. I had good intentions, but after driving to two big box stores, plus other errands while out, I came home uninspired. Now my light is fixed and I'm ready for tomorrow.

Strawberry in Glass Bowl

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Whenever I need inspiration or something to spark those creative processes I head out to the antique and thrift stores. Last week I found this clear glass bowl. Intimidated at first, I thought I'd get hung up on all the fluting but I did my best to just look and paint.

Bottle Arrangement Two

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I painted another similar bottle painting for this week's DPW's challenge. I tried to be more mindful as I painted and to stop before I started to get fussy. I found it challenging to interpret what I saw and not to guess. Overall, I think it worked out better. 

Bottle Arrangement

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I painted this still life for DPW's "The Stroke Challenge-Again" challenge. The goal is to be less fussy and not overwork your painting.  My goal is to know when to stop! Thanks Carol, for a great challenge.

Amber Glass and Orange Slices

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I've taken a few days off and it seems that for every day I don't paint it takes me that many days to get back into it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this. But, alas, this is the price I pay for having a life.