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"Lilly" - graphite study

"Lilly" is my most recent drawing in graphite using a range of pencils from the very hardest to the soft and darkest.  I spent a bit longer on this drawing than the others I have recently posted just to push my skills and gain a little more refinement to the drawing.  As all artists know one has to determine when you reach a point of "diminishing returns" on a drawing or painting that probably will never be up for sale or possibly even shown outside of my blog.  These graphite drawings are for the purpose of increasing my skills and will some day be dug out of a box in my basement long after I'm gone.

 The drawing is done in a 16" x 16" size on Bristol #300 pound weight in graphite pencil.  One thing I've noticed is how difficult it is to get a really good photo of a drawing (still working on that) that really shows the white of the paper and the depth of the values....most interesting.

"Old Hippy"

"Old Hippy" is my latest drawing on Bristol Vellum #300 in approx. 16" x 16" in graphite.

Waiting for Winter to be Over and Graphite Studies!

While I am parked in my warm kitchen rather than in my freezing studio I am doing some graphite studies - something I have not done in years.  Here are some of my most recent works in graphite

"Mort"

16" x 16" graphite drawing on w/c hot pressed paper

Bust Study of "Tiberius"

 16" x 16" graphite and ink on Bristol paper

Graphite Eye Studies

"The Eyes Have It"

Snow, snow and more snow - seems like it's never going to end!  In the meantime, another graphite study.  Done on w/c hot pressed paper and is approx. 14" x 14" using only graphite pencil in a variety of leads.

SNOW, COLD & PAINTING

Not doing any painting right now - too cold in my studio so I've decided to do some graphite studies which I'll post throughout the winter and once spring comes it will be back to the studio and those gushy oils!.    

"Magnolia" #9 in the New World Series

"Magnolia" is my 9th painting in my "New World" series.  Oil painted on stretched canvas in an 11" x 14" size.

"Bizy Bea" and "Andi"

Andi, our 12.5 year old male black and white springer in behind "Bizy Bea" our new addition to our household.  Bizy so loves Andi and sometimes he tolerates this crowding on one of his beds and other times he just gets up and leaves!  Happy Pups!

Happy New Year and the Gift of Life

Here's wishing all who pop by my blog a belated Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year with much success!  We had a delightful Thanksgiving which ran into Christmas with friends, food and laughter.  We received big and small presents but the one we were the most thrilled about was our adoption of our 13 month old English Springer Spaniel "Bizy Bea."  Nothing we received could have been greater than the gift of this life into our family to replace our friend and companion "Magi"who passed from us 6 months ago at the age of 13.5 years!  Here's to the new year and lots of painting and fun for everyone!

"New World" series #8 - "Enchanting Companions"

"Enchanting Companions" is #8 in my "New World" series.  Painting is 11.5" x 24" painted on canvas mounted to an mdf panel.  

This painting was a long time getting finished due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, adding a new addition to our family, struggles with the painting surface I ran into and a combination of other obligations that had to be tended to.  Anyhoo, hope everyone likes this one and I'm off to work on number 9!  

New World series #7 "Symbol of Life"

My 7th oil painting in the "New World" series called "Symbol of Life" on a gessoed 11"x 14" 300# watercolor paper attached to an mdf panel.  I absolutely loved working on the primed w/c paper!  It intensified the colors so dramatically even after just 2 coats of glazing of the oils.  I'm very pleased with how this painting came out and even though I have other paintings started on a variety of canvases I fully intend to explore this "old world" technique in more depth soon.


While I was trying to come up with a name for this painting I did some research on pomegrantes and ran across this site which gives a long and varied account of the importances of pomegrantes in various societies dating before Christ.  If you wish to read more on this fruit you can go to:


http://www.foodreference.com/html/search-results.html?cx=partner-pub-2708377307028180%3A5o1syg-nwf2&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=pomagrante&sa=Search&siteurl=www.foodreference.com%2F#753


Hope everyone likes my latest painting!

"Nu Shi's Choice" in my favorite frame "just for the fun of it!"

I was photographing another piece of art today in this series and decided "just for the fun of it" to re-photograph "Nu Shi's Choice" in my favorite gold frame and decided to post it here so you can see the difference.  I like them both but eventually all of this series will be framed using the same frames because they will be going into a show in the future.  Just goes to show you can frame a favorite piece of art in a variety of frames and it will still look good.  You decide which you like best.

"New World" series #6 "Nu Shi's Choice"

"Nu Shi's Choice" is my 6th painting in the "New World" series done in oils on an 11" x 14" stretched canvas.  Decided a different frame was in order with this painting since I was told by a friend of mine that I might be over-working the old gold baroque frame, LOL!  Hope everyone likes my latest attempt at that "Old World" look using contemporary objects.  In case anyone is wondering, the title is my name in Chinese.

My #7 in the series is almost finished.  I tried something completely new with this painting which is painted on heavily gessoed watercolored paper attached to an mdf panel.  This has been an interesting project and I'll talk more on this combination of materials when I get it finished and posted.  Check back later.

"New World" series #5 "Ming's Pleasure"

"Ming's Pleasure" is my 5th in the "New World" series which is painted in oils on an 11" x 14" stretched canvas.  I am also jumping with joy over my new lighting set up to be able to finally get decent photos of my paintings.  I think this is the best photo to date that I have taken of any of my paintings where the colors are really true and the image is absolutely without blur and no flash back from the light in the room or glare!  Hope you like this newest addition to my "New World" series.

"New World" series #4 "Moody Blues"

Finished "Moody Blues" today which is my 4th in the series of "smaller and looser" paintings in oil on a 11" x 14" stretched canvas.  I'm really enjoying doing these smaller paintings which allows me to try painting a lot of different objects and then move on to the next painting pretty quickly.  Hope everyone likes this latest addition.

"New World" series #3 "Elva's Sugar Bowl"

My third painting in the "smaller and looser" category of paintings.  "Elva's Sugar Bowl" is a painting of my grandmother's sugar bowl in oils on an 11" x 14" canvas.  My grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 86 and she would be pleased to see her sugar bowl immortalized in a painting!  She always loved this bowl and my paintings so I'm thinking she would be happy knowing these two came together.  She also loved camelias therefore the flower on the table. 

"New World" series #'s 1 & 2 "Poppy Elegance" and "My Favorite Bowl"

I love "old world" master paintings so I decided to name my new series "new world" and these two paintings are #1 and #2 in that series.  Also in my attempt to bring my paintings down in size and paint things a bit more loose for a change I have started this "new world" series with "Poppy Elegance and My Favorite Bowl."  Both paintings are 11" x 14" in oil on canvas.  All of the paintings in this series will be painted using Liquin for a quick dry.  I normally do not put up my paintings in frames but I think these two paintings are so enhanced by the frames that I could not resist.  Hope everyone likes them!

Sweet Lady Magi

Lady Margaret (Magi to us)

November 1996 to May 2010

We Miss Her So Much!

"Mystic Mums" FINISHED or IS IT?

Finished (MAYBE) "Mystic Mums" today but can't say I'm all that happy with it - the mums, what can I say about the mums?  They drove me crazy in a variety of ways but mostly because with trying a variety of techniques I could not seem to lay down a smooth even petal.  I think the figurine came out pretty nicely and the background I was happy with but then glazing was not a "new" thing for me so not much learn there.

Anyway, what did I learn from working with Liquin vs. my very slow drying medium?  I liked very much having my surface dry the next day to continue working on but it is a different technique with the dry surface vs.the wet surface because you have to use a blending brush or additional clear Liquin to make the edges smooth when you lay wet paint over a dry surface.  I liked being able to glaze over areas which I did in the background where I glazed an Indian Red over the black a couple of times.....gives a nice deeper luster to the surface.

I did not like trying to do these one-stroke mums on a dry surface or even one that has been prepped with the Liquin or even an application of oil paint color.  There is a different look to the mum petals because they do not pick up color from the underlying color thereby giving the streaking that is important for variation in the petals.  I did not care for having to put my paints in the freezer at night to keep them from drying out.  I also did not like having to worry about my brushes drying on the palette while I was painting nor do I  like having my brushes sitting in a turp for very long at any one time, bends the hairs too much, particularly the smaller delicate brushes.   I'll have to give serious consideration as to what details I'm putting in a painting and how fast I need the painting to dry before I make the decision to use the Liquin again.    Altogether this was fun trying a product I had used before and was familiar with but using it in a different way.  In the end it was one of the few paintings I have finished in the last couple of years that turned out NOT TO MY LIKING at all!

Not sure what I'm going to paint next or whether I'll decided to tackle changing "Mystic Mums" - have many canvas panels on mdf and stretcher bars that need many additional coats of primer brushed on to them so it might be a few days before I make up my mind as what's next on the easel!

"Mystic Mums" Day 4

Had a few spare hours to paint today so I started laying in the pattern on the bottom of the scarf on the table.  Figurine is finished.  Mums finished unless I see something else that needs tending to.  Maybe some deeper shadows on the left side near the mums.  Maybe tomorrow I can find the time to get this painting finished.  Check back later.

"Mystic Mums" Day 3 WIP

Finally managed to get a few hours of painting in today.  The mystic figurine is almost finished - few highlights to go.  Added another glaze to the background and worked some on the mums.  I have found painting the mums, even using the Liquin to wet the canvas, a whole lot different than doing these flowers when working in a wet-into-wet technique......trials and tribulations of trying something new, lol!  Have all of the foreground table cloth, shadows under the mums and a few leaves to add yet - coming along so check back in a few days.

New Additions to My Blog

Everyone will have to forgive me but I'm not always the fastest when it comes to postings on my blog or updating it with the newest features so as of this morning I have added a survey, because I realized I could do that (dah), asking whether anyone is actually reading and watching this blog and wants to see the "Works In Progress" to continue.  I have also added a "followers" list and if it comes up with zero followers after a month or so then I know I should spend more time improving my painting and less time fretting about a blog.  I do know that I follow many different blogs but almost never join one so maybe there are actually people out there watching - write me a  note and let me know you are watching or join my followers list.  In time I'm hoping to figure out some of the other features of blogging so bear with me until this happens - maybe more backaches are in order to get me to my computer more often, nah, don't think so.....anyway take the poll or drop me a note if you are watching.

Artist of Interest - Alexander Selytin

Because I was restricted from moving my body yesterday with a backache  and could not get to my studio, up a VERY LONG flight of stairs, to paint I spent a lot of the day surfing the Net looking and reading.  Amazing the things you can run across when the whole day is available to surf.   I happened on to this artist's works on YouTube and watched the two videos I posted at the bottom.  I was so impressed I decided to post a couple of his paintings on my blog for anyone that has never heard about him or seen his work before.  If you Google his name on images you will come up with many more pictures of his paintings.  Enjoy!

Are you familiar with this artist Alexander Selytin?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1AbfedPFds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev0mDyDpo38&featurerelated

"Mystic Mums" Day 2 WIP

I put a frame on this painting just to get a general idea of how it looks.  Everything looks better with a frame no matter what stage the painting is at, wouldn't everyone agree, LOL?  Anyhoo, this painting is progressing even with my stumbling along learning how to work with the Liquin.  Flowers in the foreground are only at an early stage so long ways to go.  Made progress on the figurine's robe folds, laid in an Indian red glaze over the background, evened out the drapery in front to get it ready for the details that will go on it and started adding flower petals.  Okey dokey, that's it for today folks.

I've been thinking that in the future I will only post the finished painting.  If you read my blog and like to see the "works in progress" just drop me a line and I'll decide what the final vote is and whether I continue to post the WIP's.  Check back in a few days and I'll probably be further along with "Mystic......"

"Mystic Mums"

"Mystic Mums" is a new painting in progress.  I have decided to try using a quick drying medium for this painting rather than the very slow drying medium I have been using for the last few years.  If this works out well then I believe I will switch away from the old medium to the new one.  This painting is 18" x 24" in oil using Winsor & Newton's Liquin as my medium.  Much work to go to bring this "Mystic" to life!  Nice to try something new and move out of one's comfort zone from time to time.  I have used Liquin before but only to paint multiple layers of glazes in very small paintings.  I found the glazing technique to be a tedious and slow process, not suited to my personality (ha) so I switched to a very slow drying wet-into-wet technique which allowed me to paint for days without having to protect even my paints on my palette but because you have the latitude of this slow drying process it also creates a long time drying of 6-12 months before you can varnish a painting and very slow to get a painting to the customer!

"Clair de Lune" REDO FINISHED!

24" X 36" oil on stretched canvas

 

"Clair de Lune - Redo Almost Finished!

Almost finished with this "redo" of "Clair de Lune" and happy to be heading towards the finish line!  There is still a little cloudiness around the duck that needs to dry before I can add any more background paint, some very minor touch ups and some leaves up top that are missing and I think I will be finished.  This has been a hard fight to get this painting "fixed" but it really had to be done because it had a number of flaws.  1) the flowers did not show up well enough against the light background; 2) there were not enough flowers for the size of the painting; 3) the shiny vase was like a "bulls eye almost middle of the canvas which drew the eye away from the duck which was supposed to be the focal point of the painting - heavens, and 4) I just did not like it with the light background!

Now, the vase becomes much quieter and doesn't compete so much with the duck, there are tons of flowers up top to fill the space - they recede and come forward better and I just plain like the look better!  I guess since I'm the artist then I get to do just about anything I want to the painting, including throw it out if it doesn't work out to my satisfaction.  I will have it finished probably by Monday or Tuesday - hooray!  Stop back around in a few days and I'll probably have the FINISHED work posted.

"Clair de Lune - Redo Update

After several false starts on redoing this background I have finally gotten it to where I think I'm going to be happy.  As you can see I have not brought all the dark background into the middle ground just yet (everything near the duck, cloth and table) - bit wet there and that lighter background has a tendency to muck up the dark so I'll get back into it when it's a bit drier so in the meantime I headed up top to start on the flowers.  After a number of ideas and attempts I did a couple new set ups of the flowers in the vase and so this is the one I finally settled on and at this point I'm about one half through getting all of them in place.......so check back in a few days and I just might have this finished once and for all!  This painting might escape the trash after all!

"Clair de Lune" - Day 8

After looking at this painting for a few days I have come to the conclusion that I DO NOT like what is going on in the top half of this painting so I'm at present reworking and making some drastic changes to it.  Could be it will work out and then again, it might not!  Check back in several days and I might have it re-posted - then again it might get trashed, LOL!

"Clair de Lune" - Day 7 WIP

I have finished the lower level, added some highlights to the vase and added the reflections, pretty much finished the brass/copper stand and now am working on adding more color to the leaves.  Still have the right hand side (bending down leaf) to add color to plus I've deepened the color on the middle tulip and the upper right hand side tulip.  Still have to add color to the two left sided tulips and completely finish the drooping right hand tulip and then after some checks over the entire painting I will sign it and call it finished! 

"Clair de Lune" Day 6 WIP

A little more progress on the taffeta cloth in the foreground, under painting color added to plant stand and that's my progress for today!  I should be able to finish the cloth and the stand tomorrow.  There is a pattern in the lighter table cloth but have not decided whether I'm going to add that yet but will need to add further crease and fold details to that cloth.......then it is back to the flowers - whoopie and I'll be heading towards the finish line......check back in a few days for more progress.....I hope!!

"Clair de Lune" Day 5 WIP

As everyone can see I have started on the fabric to give the flowers and leaves a little more time to dry so when I go back into them they hold the color laid over the top of them better.  Duck is pretty much finished but will check it carefully before the painting is complete to make sure I haven't left something out.   Okey dokey, that's my update for today.