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.