Experimenting with Color - White

"Spooky" 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord
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As all artists know, white is not actually white.  It is a combination of the reflected colors, the light source, and some of the kitchen sink!

So I was presented with the challenge of this little white pumpkin this morning.   Do I paint it off white and yellow, or do I really push the colors and experiment.  I feel like I don't really experiment enough and try to keep my oil paintings safe....so we went with the experiment today.

I used the "posterize" feature in Photoshop and played with the level of shapes and colors.  Sounds easy enough right?  Just paint the shapes and colors you see.  Wow...was I wrong.  This is going to take some practice, but I think its a good challenge and will do more this way.  I think in the end it will help my traditional little daily paintings.

Mini Pumpkin 4 x 4

"Mini Pumpkin" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord
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Back in the studio today...and what a beautiful, cool fall day it is.  Stopped at the grocery store this morning and picked up four little mini pumpkins.  As my Emma would say "they sooooo cuuuute".

I've said this before but being off for several days from painting doesn't do much for your momentum.  I feel like I have to retrain myself every time I come back from some time off. 

Peach and Blue Bowl...Emma's Next




"Peach and Blue Bowl" 5 x 5 Oil on Gessobord
SOLD

 Back to oil painting today!  Somehow this reminds me of fall and some fresh peach cobbler.  But I'm not a gardener or tree "enthusiast", so the peaches may be past their prime. This was from a photo shoot earlier this summer.

Hubby and I are getting ready for two days of Emma-Palooza!  Maybe a little craft time along with some good old physical exercise like climbing and running!  See you in a couple of days.



Strawberry on Plate...Experiment Finished!

"Strawberry on Plate" Colored Pencil over Oil

I am finally finished with this and very happy with how it turned out.  The first stages of the progress can be found here.  It was a very boring oil painting that I decided needed colored pencil.  This approach required the use of my new heated drawing board, the Icarus.

Apple a Day

"Apple a Day" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord

SOLD

Big day at the studio....June placed an order from Blick for a whole load of art supplies...gessobord, brushes, paint.  Then hubby and I went to Hobby Lobby and found brushes were 40% off...so bought a few more plus some Turpenoid and paper palettes. Guess I'll be painting a while longer!

Hobby Lobby also had their fall wreaths and garlands on sale for 40% off, so we bought a big old wreath for over the fireplace.  Tomorrow is decorate for fall day, and repot my mums.

Cherries Jubilee and an Omaha Visit

"Cherries Jubilee" 4 x 4 oil on Gessobord

 Sold

Oh my!  No painting since last week and did I struggle today.  This got wiped off once, but by the time I got through I was happy with how this turned out.  Gestural and colorful.

My hubby and I were in NE last weekend to visit family.  My sister-in-law got tickets to see "Jersey Boys" and it was excellent.  I love musical theater and this one did not disappoint.  We went out for great pasta and salad afterwards, so it turned out to be a lovely weekend.  Hubby and sister-in-law spent the rest of the time playing Five Crowns...I'm still not sure who won overall.  I stayed with my Mom, a lovely spirited 82, and my little sister.  We had a great time laughing, in fact, poor Mom laughed too hard and the old bladder just wasn't what it used to be.

Great fun, but ready to be back in the studio!

An Experiment (Work in Progress)

Last week I ordered and received my Icarus Drawing Board. It's a heated board designed for working with wax-based products such as colored pencil. One of our CPSA members, Ester Roi, and her husband, Mario Bassi, manufacture and sell the boards.

One of the experiments I had tried earlier in the year was putting colored pencil over an oil painting, but I didn't really get too excited about the results until.....the Board!

When I lay my oil painting done on Gessobord on the heated section of the drawing board it gets hot enough to soften the wax pencils (I'm using Prismacolors). The heat is enough to make the pencils really lay down some pigment and make marks.

I've always been interested in mark-making, in colored pencil, pastels and brushwork in my oils. I'm sharing this experiment not because the painting itself is all that great, but it was a great piece to experiment on. The first pic is the painting in just oil. The second pic is where I've started to lay in marks of color particularly in the foreground and background. I'm trying to figure out the white plate. I think the marks give the painting a bit of life that it was missing before.

"Strawberry on Plate" Oil on Gessoboard 10 x 10"

"Strawberry on Plate" Colored Pencil over Oil

Another Underpainting

"A Passel of Homegrowns" 6 x 6 Oil on Gessobord (WIP)

NFS

I've been asked to do a painting of these lovely tomatoes as a gift for a gardener. So I thought I would share the underpainting with you. I always start a painting this way, no matter the medium. In this case I used Burnt Umber, thinned in places with M Graham Walnut Oil, to sketch in the shapes and values. I then took a very soft mop brush and "fluffed" the edges. This is because I won't be able to get back to it for a couple of days and don't want the underpainting strokes to leave ridges that I can't get rid of when adding color. I guess you could call it "alla prima" in two stages, rather than one....or a daily painting in two days. My energy level some days is good others not so good. This is one of those days, and rather than hustling the painting to an OK completion, I'd rather get the underpainting down and give the color stage my full attention another day.

Pear in the Shadow 4 x 4 Oil

"Pear in the Shadow" 4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord
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It was wonderful and cool in the studio today. I haven't painted since last Thursday and I have totally missed it and felt all thumbs today.