time flies!

Just a quick update on a couple of pictures.............I realized with a start that we are approaching the middle of January and I had totally forgotten to post anything. Actually, I took time off when my kids were here but started right up again after they left.....got out of the habit of posting, I guess. My son and I planned out the studio upgrades before he left so I am pretty excited about that......this will probably take place in late spring. It's been New England style cold here and I think I have lost a bunch of plants to the deep freeze............time will tell. I covered everything I could but there is only so much that can be done when you have tall tropical trees and it stays in the teens for two days!

correction & progress

 

 

I have been working on this and preparing for Christmas since my two children will be flying in........I can't wait to see them! As soon as I posted this painting the other day, I realized that I had mistaken the size - it is actually 22" square. Since it is so complicated I have been working on the drawing and the values more than the color. I don't like doing those kind of adjustments until I have covered the entire canvas.

French Quarter morning - 18x18"

This is my second beginning for this painting............the main reason I wanted to do it was the look of the shadows of the fire escapes on the buildings. Because of the complexity of the scene I got a bit lost in the first version so I began a second one working in a fashion that I normally never use. I actually drew it in pencil first and then did a wash drawing over that! It encourages a semi-tight approach but I didn't know how else I could do it. I now feel like I understand the structure better but it is certainly time consuming.

puzzlement - just an update

I feel fortunate to even get these updates/photos on here - somehow my camera has refused to send photos to iPhoto in the last week. I finally had the brainstorm of sending them to my laptop (windows 8) and it has sort of worked.....we shall see if I actually get this posted. The mom & girls is nearly done and I have begun the fisherman on the top. I am trying a yellow underpainting again and I used walnut oil when I toned the canvas to slow down the drying period. This might get wiped down for that very reason since it doesn't seem to be drying at all. I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all.

trio - phase 2 - 24x12"

We have had a very fall-like week here in SC. It was actually too cold to paint in my studio for a couple of days so I need to figure out what sort of heating system I can use with the fumes and an unventilated space - I lasted a few hours at most when it was under 50 degrees. But I am making some progress on this painting and began another………I also decided to use up some tubes of paint that have been cluttering my paintbox before they were too dried up to use. For some odd reason I previously thought that cerulean blue and manganese blue were pretty much the same color….warm blues and all. Wow, was I wrong and am now in total love with cerulean blue.

trio - 24x12

I began this after a couple of days painting outside and totally enjoying the process - the fresh air and the sounds…….I feel like I learned a bunch and have no desire to save either of the two things that I did. Came back very comfortable, energized and eager to get into the studio. I am finding that this is the way I survive as an artist……never get stuck on the "product." Treat your schedule as you would a job (in a rough sort of way) but never, ever lose sight of why one paints in the first place. Paintings are simply not a product for me - they have to come from somewhere else and be something else or I would just as soon make a quilt or work in the garden (both of which are pretty wonderful in their own way). At any rate, this is just the beginning so I am working the values out here more than anything. 

finishing with mixed results!

I finished these two for the most part.............since they are on my drying wall, I may see some things that annoy me but I consider them complete. Then I spent most of the day "getting into" another nearly done one that I realized had the values wrong and now I hate it. I might go out plein air tomorrow to break myself of the discouragement that hits me when I cannot do something to my satisfaction!