Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Coffee Anyone?

Yes please. I used a composite of two colors to make my black for this painting; Ultramarine Blue and Quinacridone Magenta and other than the background color, that composite and white are the only colors. I think the less colors is more works very well for this subject. I like the finished work... it makes me want to pour a cup.

Carol Maine's Challenge

Carol had a challenge on the daily paintworks site using two different shades of "dark" to fake out atmosphere. Interesting idea and I actually think it worked on this painting by suggesting distance in the buildings. This is so different from my usual ideas, but it was fun.




My Brushes

Brushes are the love of every painter... we buy more than we need, we covet them, we accidentally ruin them, we have favorites, we love our brushes. I don't paint much with these two brushes - mainly because they are too pretty. I like the shadows in this painting and the metallic sheen on the ferrule. I am happy with the end result of this painting!

Will Kemp and the Apple Lesson

Another lesson from Will Kemp. This time more fruit - an Apple. I kinda love how this painting turned out. I learned I never go dark enough on the form shadow side and how doing it right gives such a greater depth to the form. I even think my stem looks very stem-ish.


More Still Life Acrylic Lessons with Will Kemp


 This was a lesson on painting a simple sky in acrylics with Will Kemp. Trust me, his looks way better, but, my motto is... Just Paint! Don't worry so much about liking it or being perfect, this whole process is about putting paint on a brush and putting the brush to a canvas. End of story. Yes, I am talking to myself in case you are wondering. I love the blue sky color... this was done using "strings" of color made from light to dark. Great exercise.



Monday, May 4, 2015

Still Life Acrylic Lessons with Will Kemp

I have been working on lessons by artist Will Kemp from the UK. He is a delightful teacher and I learn a lot from his videos and lessons. The three paintings below are his lessons from the arttutor website. They are in acrylic which has it's plusses and minuses, but they are small studies and lessons so I am good happy with the end result. I like the onion the best... probably because of the beautiful color. The lemon next - I was surprised to realize how dark he had us paint the inside of the lemon, but it worked. Last the pears... struggle city with those two- they were quite the pair.





Pansie pants.

I have been trying to grow pansies for my sister Roni and have been failing at getting the to grow, so, I decided to paint some for good luck. This was from a photo reference book I have on flowers. I was hoping to get more of the fragile nature of the flower but I think they look tought as nails. Still the dark background makes them pop.



Eggy.

Another egg painting. This one is a single. I like the lack of focus in the background versus sharper in the foreground. I also like the dots on the egg... I think it captures the real one.