Having been so busy getting ready for my next big project, I didn't have enough time to get anything substantial out. I wanted to keep my hand in the paint, so to speak though. So I put together this little red painting. I wanted to see how warm I could get and still have the cool vase not pop too much. Also a friend had a really cool skull and I wanted to paint it. It all seemed to go together so I had a little fun for a couple of days. I like the symbolism in a Vanitas - life and death - the eternal circle. The white flowers also represent beauty, the skull - the transience of life and the candle snuffer - well, that seems pretty obvious. The colors on my screen are a bit saturated and that doesn't surprise me as reds don't always translate well on the screen. The vase appears a bit blue here too and is, in fact, a little turquoise. I seem to have hit the limits of my Photoshop abilities in working with this one to get the color to read right. Some health issues have kept me from the studio on a regular basis. I hope to be in the "pink" soon and my next project is "Sleeping Beauty". I plan on documenting the entire process of the painting here on this site as well as my teaching blog. Should be fun so stay tuned.
I've recently been introduced to Facebook. Ok...I'm a little behind there. But then, not everyone blogs either. Anyway, as a result, I hooked up with a friend from my teen camp days and she commissioned a small painting. My friend didn't want a vase in this floral, however; she requested instead only a spray. So here it is. Hope she likes it. To see how this painting was done, see a step by step demonstration with pictures and explanation at www.musensbysusan.blogspot.com.
One of the things I've been considering as I return to painting on a regular basis is what I'd like to include or change about my daily painting routine in order to keep it fresh and, above all, interesting for myself. I'm always looking for a challenge. Daily painting - or almost daily - when you're trying to actually do a finished piece, can easily lead to burn out. As I am currently studying realism in the classical form at an atelier in Seattle, I've decided to try as often as I can to include small realistic paintings. As these are quite time consuming, I won't be doing them all that oten. But the purpose is to hone my skills and not take up a lot of studio space while I do it. So these are by necessity small, post card paintings in the spirit of the original daily painting movement. I'm offering them at low prices because they're a bit different than my usual fast work and also because I just think folks need a break these days. Enjoy.
Below is the slide show I promised from the demo at Sequim Arts in Sequim WA last week.
Ho hum. Another Sunday afternoon. I'm going to be focused over the next few months in turning out some work for the summer festival season. If you see something without a price but have an extreme itch to own it, send me an email and I'll let you know if I can part with it. I try to make nearly everything available for sale but this sometimes works against me and I end up with nothing available and having to scramble to get work together. I intend to be unruffled and ready by the summer season. Yeah, right.
A recent foray to an antique shop brought me this fabulous Asian Jar. It's over 100 years old and the symbol on the front is for "Happiness" - or so I'm told. I did this small piece as a study for a larger one that is going in my upcoming show. I'm quite happy with the way it came out, but the photo doesn't do it justice. It's still quite wet and no matter how I set the lights, I got glare :-(. But it's really quite lovely and has great detail and depth for a small piece. Check out the detail shot below. This painting was done on gallery wrap canvas with carefully painted edges so there is no need to frame - it's ready to hang as is. Please note that all my work is now being shipped in boxes.
I'm completely in love with linen! Having just purchased it, I feel all charged up and wanting to paint up a storm. I worked on this piece quite a bit, and feel pretty happy with it. I'm finding that a more deliberate and delicate touch is reuired when painting on this surface. This surprised me as I always thought that the surface would be similar to canvas. Perhaps it's the fact that it is primed with oil rather than acrylic gesso. In any case, I'm loving it and the work that comes off my brush. I'm still challenged by photographing linen however. It refracts light pretty easily - not something you notice with your eye but the camera really sees it. As a result, I've had to play in photoshop to get an accurate representation. I think this is close, however, there is a bit more orange in the larger photo on the lemons than there is in actuality. Here's a detail shot of this piece. The lemons look more accurate here. As I've taken more time with this larger piece, I'll be starting bidding at $85 with no reserve.
