My sort of daily painting

8" x 6"
oil on RayMar canvas panel
this is finally done. Actually, if you put all the time together (3 sessions) it could be a one day painting.  The difference between this and the last post took about a half hour. Well, as long as one moves forward and not sideways.

Just hung the paintings for this show. Nice space, the other artists' paintings are superb. I look forward to the opening.

Well, I hope it is getting better. Things are in more accurate proportion. I miss the clarity of the color I had original...particularly the green. Perhaps wait a day or two and redo the green? No What happened to a painting a day? Move on.

First Daily Painting

Dying daffodils.
oil on RayMar linen panel
8" x 6"
It's a bit raw...I'm unaccustomed to working so small...also the idea of working in one sitting. But it is exhilarating even if the end product isn't so hot. Perhaps something less ambitious  tomorrow. Imogene Cunningham when asked which of her photographs was her favorite, used to reply, "The one I'm making tomorrow."

Parot Tulip Shopping

I purchased a silk parrot tulip for a friend...thought I would draw it before I gave it away.

Painting for faculty show Newbury College, Brookline, MA

This is one of 4 paintings that will be on display in the library at Newbury College in Brookline, MA.
I frequently use wood grain in my paintings. The shoe lasts were purchased at Brimfield Fair last fall. The chunk of wood with the square nails is a chunk of old chestnut that was from the framing of an antique house a friend was working on. The square nails were hand forged sometime in the late 18th century. The box that the chunk is sitting on is nothing special...an old packing crate that was stained...however the old plank in front under the marble is also old chestnut.

Second parrot tulip

Ok I am procrastinating. Pastels are fun, but they are wicked costly to frame, hard to store unframed, and toxic as all get out...also I think my use of the media is too raw. I am walking around avoiding painting. The drawing yesterday begins to approach the silveryness....but the paper I am working on (el cheapo acid free sketchbook stuff) isn't doing much for me. Any suggestions regarding paper for graphite sticks? I'd like to get that silvery quality from the graphite. I haven't used Bristol because you really can't erase it.

I also think I want to use real tulips...what would be cool would be to get that silvery quality that they have just before they fall apart. How's that for a comment on being in one's 50's?

This is my first blog

Well, after much hemming and hawing (mostly hawing) I have gotten into the rhythm of drawing daily. I have recently completed a painting to include with four others in a faculty exhibit at Newbury College, Brookline, MA.  I have dabbled in watercolors, acrylics and oil for years. The only really consistent work I have done is my sketch book. I am hoping that by painting one ala prima painting daily, I shall start to see development in my work and can take myself seriously as an artist.

I guess I should write about the work.  The first drawing is a of a silk parrot tulip as seen from above. The floor below and behind it is a dark walnut stained oak floor. I find myself drawing wood grain frequently.   I was mostly intent on defining the flower and creating some depth within a rather tight greyscale range. My sketches are mostly notes I think...I do them in preparation to paint. I am generally looking down or down and away (45 dgree angle) This is habitual.Perhaps I'll change it. Michael Naples painted the back of a gerbia daisey...a delightful and interesting painting.

Yesterday I drew the gourds and knitting wool. I may or may not paint it, though I believe I will paint the tulip. I have started to work with textures. My earlier work was not as concerned with the textures of my subject matter.

The onion is an old pastel I did a couple of years ago...I still like it. I especially love pastels as a preliminary to painting. It is much like painting in as much as you are laying down layers to support layers that will be applied later. One also works from the dark to the light, mass to detail.