Day One Hundred-Forty Eight

                                                'Last Hoorah for Big Red'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     Well, I guess you're all glad I finally cut this bad boy in half, so you won't have to see it any more !   Well, it's time to move on, things around the easel are getting a bit wrinkled and pale... ha ! (and my veggies are getting kinda 'tired' looking, too)... ha ha     
     Found a cute little silver thing and some little girls shoes at Goodwill recently.  I guess they'll be showing up soon !

Day One Hundred-Forty Seven

                                        'Floating Forms'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I wanted to try this 'no background' background, to see what would happen without shadows... Very hard to show depth, obviously.  It's fun to try something different once in awhile, though.

Day One Hundred-Forty Six

                                       'Intense Overlap'

     I remember telling my students to let objects touch, actually flow beyond the space on three sides of the composition to create interesting negative areas in a painting or drawing.  I had that happen here, but I guess with all the color and shape going on, the negative space is about the last thing you see here, ha !
    Color Note:     I've noticed that when I've used ready-made greens most of them seem so transluscent and really not very effective.  I went back to Carol Marine's list of colors (she has a pretty limited palette, I would say) and experimented with just her few possible green mixtures.   She uses only Phthalo Blue and Ultramarine, along with Cadmium Yellow Light.   I was able to mix wonderful greens from these two sets of combinations and they were much more opaque !   I also took straight Ultramarine and straight Phthalo Blue and mixed them each with white to really be able to remember the distinction between them for the future.     (The circle on the left is the Ultramarine Blue)  
     On the green mixtures, the one on the left contains the Phthalo Blue and the other is the Ultramarine...

    For the above painting (the peppers one)  I used the Phthalo in the shadows, which was new for me...  I'm not sure if I'll use it again, but I had fun experimenting...

Day One Hundred Forty-Five

                                      'A Colorful Bunch'

6 x 6  oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I just wanted to get the most from these colors before they fade and wither.... I think I can safely say I got my money's worth on these babies !! ha !

Day One Hundred-Forty Four

                                                              'Balancing Act'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     Having so much fun, I can't stop.... I love peppers !  Now, I guess I'll have to get a recipe for Salsa.. ha !   Does anyone have a good one ?

Day One Hundred-Forty Three

                                                                      'Stacked'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I don't think I could get one more thing into this composition, Ha !  I just love using all these colors together, and couldn't bring myself to leave anything out.... Color... Love it !

Day One Hundred-Forty Two

                                                           'Colorful Combo'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     Of course I picked this group because of their intense colors, but it sure doesn't hurt to have all that reflective quality... ha !

Day One Hundred-Forty One

                                  'Eggplants and Habaneros'

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I really liked these, so I thought I'd try them again on a smaller scale.  More challenging to get them all to fit into a 6 x 6 format !   That's kinda the enjoyment of working small, though.   Everything has to be scaled down, but that's part of the fun of it !  Again, I simply love orange with purple...

Day One Hundred-Forty

                                                  'On the Chopping Block'

8 x 8 oil on panel

60.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I've always wanted to try an eggplant.  I bought one once (a really cool one), but then proceeded to paint something else, and I forgot about it.  I left it in it's bag and it went bad.... so disappointing... Well, these are mini eggplants and habeneros, and I can't remember what the little red one is... maybe sorreno? does that sound right?     I loved the multiple colors in this one...and I love orange and purple together.
     A Little note on color:
     I remember reading somewhere, when I was teaching, that to DARKEN a color, go to the next darker color on the color wheel, instead of adding a darker neutral or gray (Payne's Grey)...  I guess they also said to LIGHTEN one you would go to the next lighter one on the wheel.   It really seems to work.  I used that to get the darks on the peppers here.   So, to darken the orange I put in red-orange and to lighten it I put in yellow-orange, etc.

Day One Hundred-Thirty Nine

                                                                  'Ta Derra'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     This portrait is from a picture I took of one of my high school students several years ago.  I was looking for someone to paint, and I really liked this pose.  TaDerra graduated in 2007, and was going to college last time I spoke with her... She's a really darling girl.   She looks severe, but could be very funny and lots of fun, too.

Day One Hundred-Thirty Eight

                                          'Color Punch'

     I tried to put the color down, and leave it alone.... such a difficult thing for me, and for some of the rest of you, it seems.   I always want to manipulate it, at least a little bit... I also tried to punch up the colors, and exaggerate the intensity to see what that might look like.  I liked the way the pears appear much more vivid, and the purple shadows I was happy with, too.  

    

     This second painting is the beginning of a portrait of my granddaughter.  I learned this technique from Chris Saper's book on Portraiture.   The idea behind the terre verde underpainting is that the green complements the fleshtone which is the color in the final painting.  The entire painting, including values is completed first, allowed to completely dry (which doesn't take more than 2 or 3 days because it's only mineral spirits and a bit of pigment)   Then the final color is painted over, and I've found it almost has to be done in one sitting....  Then, the final touches can be added a day later ( darkest darks, and the highlights)  I used this technique on my entire series of 70 portraits from a year or so ago, and was very happy with the results.

Day One Hundred-Thirty Seven

                                                                      '8:00 AM'

     I can't believe I ended up with this arrangement. Originally I was going to break the eggs into a bowl, and I had a whisk to add to the mix....  I really liked the sculptural quality of the carton, so I thought I'd  just leave the eggs in it and give it a whirl.   Very challenging form !  The teal blue-green, I thought, gave it a little color and contrast.

Day One Hundred-Thirty Six

                                                            'Three's a Crowd'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I love the play of the red apple against the green... what a perfect use of complementary colors... my students would always have to learn this, and the other 4 color schemes, as well, in the color theory unit in Art I !!    Complementary, Analogous, Monochromatic, Split Complementary and Triadic... (now if I was just be able to recite the 7 principles of design from memory).. ha !!

Day One Hundred-Thirty Five

                                                             'Katie's Favorite'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I put this directly below eye level, (or at least tried to) and set it on a little chair with a light blue seat.  The colors worked, I thought.  I like the end result of the simple arrangement.  Sometimes 'less truly is more !'

Day One Hundred-Thirty Four

                                      'The Answer is Clear'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I've been looking at some wonderful clear jars and bottles, etc., that painters have done lately... One is Raymond Logan... His jars are so interesting to study that I decided it was time I tackled one myself.   Actually I had two set-ups going at the same time. One was on my left, with a light, and this one was on my right, using the light that I usually use to see my palette.   It was interesting because while I was painting my arm was getting in the way of seeing my subject !  ha!  Anyway, the left one wasn't going so well ( I didn't like the set up very much)  sooooo, I started having fun with this one, and I'm really glad I tried it....  It's STILL all just a matter of studying it with your eyes, and then painting exactly what you see !! fun !!!

Day One Hundred-Thirty Three

                               'Feeling Fortunate, Cookie?'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     While I was painting this I had the bright idea to include a fortune cookie (or two).  I stopped, got dressed to go to the Chinese restaurant down the street, when my husband happened to ask what I was doing?  I told him I had to go out, to the Chinese restaurant for a fortune cookie.  He said we might have some...  We Actually HAD some that I had bought in the back of the pantry...  Imagine that !  I included the cookies, and plan to do them again sometime.   They were hard to get the angles and precise sculptural quality just right.   What a fun, recognizable little 'form' to include with my chopsticks and container.

Day One Hundred-Thirty Two

                                                    'Chinese Lunch Today'

6 x 8 oil on panel

50.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I picked up these chopsticks while at lunch with my friend this week.   A fabulously creative art gallery first, and then Chinese cuisine....  A good time was had by all, plus I learned how to make the wonderful spicy mayonnaise that they serve on their sushi.....  All it is:   regular mayonnaise, plus the Chinese spicy hot sauce, called, Sriracha.    (You can get Sriracha at Schnucks.)

Day One Hundred-Thirty One

                                    'Relaxing in the Shade'  

6 x 6 oil on panel

40.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I liked the way the lemon was half in the shadow of the bowl.  My periwinkle bowl has been sitting for a week or so, so it has caught all of the other items that have accumulated on my work table.   It's pretty much full with all the apples, etc. from the last few paintings.  I decided to paint it with just a minor scooting items around, and the lemon really spoke to me half in and half out of the light.

  P.S.  Can anyone explain a way to get the buy now button?  I've been able to move the code (as in the case of the Fresh Paint site) but I can't seem to get the buy now button to the blog....  I've tried not clicking email  and instead clicking the website choice when I get to the code, but that didn't work either... If anyone could help me it would be so much appreciated..... thanks, in advance... Sandy

Day One Hundred-Thirty

                                                               'Golden Beets'

8 x 8 oil on panel

80.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I didn't realize until I was almost finished, that this painting became a classic example of a split-complementary color scheme.   It's dominated by VIOLET, and the two colors on either side of it's complement (YELLOW)... Those two would be YELLOW GREEN, and YELLOW ORANGE..  Not to say that there aren't plenty of others in the mix, but the focal area contains mostly those colors.   I think that's why it works for me.  Also, I had fun with the saucepan, which would actually be used for cooking these, plus the reflection.

Day One Hundred-Twenty Nine

                                 'Gabby and her Hightops'

6 x 8 oil on panel

70.00  + 6.00 s + h

      This is a painting of a painting that I painted back in 2008 of my brother-in-laws grand daughter.  I thought the painting of Gabby would give continuity to the pair of high tops.   I don't know what I must have been thinking !  I was going to simplify these !  Oh well, I'm glad I did the little shoes.  I always had my Drawing 1 students draw a pair of shoes WITH laces for a sketchbook assignment.  I loved the weaving of the laces, and the positive and negative shapes.  WELL... they were a challenge to paint !  Never let it be said that I let my students off the hook when it came to work-- ha !