Hot off the easel. I just finished this little piece. Usually I paint by the north light that comes in from the large arched window in the studio. I started this under north light, however, here in Washington in the winter, the light fades fast and with so many overcast or rainy days, the light fades even faster in my studio. I like to paint in all day sessions but the fact that by 2:00, it's too dark, put a damper on my work day. So I added some artificial light to supplement. It did warm things up a bit and made it possible to work through the day, but I'm not entirely happy with the cast the light put on my set up. The shadows turned rather cool in response to the warmer light and the work just didn't have the same feel. I'm thinking that in the future, I'll either paint entirely in warm artificial light or just wait out the weather. Your comments are always welcome.
"Tea and Mandarins"Oil on Linen mounted on Board, 8" x 6"
SOLD
I've been doing some small alla prima paintings to post on Daily Paintworks and this little piece is my latest. The crystalline glaze teapot was a gift many years ago and has remained my favorite over the years. I love it's shape and the way it holds light very softly. I've painted it in a dozen different ways in both alla prima and a very polished high realism.
"Tea for One"Oil on Linen Mounted on Board, 11" x 14"
My friend Anne, routed out her lovely kitchen looking for pieces that I could add to still life and I settled on this little tin teapot. One of my students is a farmer and has been bringing me these wonderful brown eggs. Actually, of late, they are many different colors, but these just happened to be creamed coffee color and so that's what ended up in the painting. Some days, I decide which ones I'll eat by how many I have left of a certain color.
I'm happy with this piece. I find that since I left the atelier, I have internalized my teacher's voice. Drives me crazy. But it also keeps me honest with myself. I don't settle anymore. And if it's not my best effort, it doesn't leave the easel. Hope you like it too.
It's been a very busy and hectic year. While I've been a full time artist for years, sometimes working 60 hour weeks, I never dreamed that the top item on my bucket list could be more stressful than that. Attending an atelier is both an exhillerating and exhausting journey. I attend four days a week (day five I have to teach at my own studio so I have enough money to attend school the other four). Because I live so far from Seattle where Georgetown Atelier is located, I have to spend those three nights with a friend and a relative. Then I drive the three hours home late on Thursday after class.
I'm on a brief vacation now and I have quite a few pieces I'll be posting over the coming weeks to show off a bit. This small piece which is only about 11" x 12" is a small color study for a larger still life I'm still working on at school. We generally do these as they help to iron out problems which occur during the painting process before we actually get to them. Some areas didn't come out well in the photo. Another student took them at the atelier during the past two weeks and forwarded this to me so I can't account for the the faded area in the lower right hand corner. But otherwise, it's a good representation. The edges need a bit of work and you can tell it's not a finished painting in and of itself, but over all, I'm pretty happy with it. The large piece is proving to be quite a challenge. I'll post it when it's done and perhaps share some of it's development along the way.
Hooray! I'm finally working out some of the kinks in photographing my work with my digital camera. This never used to be an issue but lately it seems I've had a horrible time getting a good shot with it. So today I spent an hour or two figiting with the manual mode and the (OMG) user's guide. It's a good thing I have a Master's Degree. I needed it. Anyway, the research helped and I have a much better image to show for my time.
Most of you will recognize this Tea Pot as it's been the subject of many paintings. I first painted it in pastel about 10 years ago. I've shown that painting here before and you can see it below as a comparison. I've never been able to capture it quite a well as I did in that pastel, but I think I've come close here. I've been working on this piece as an entry for the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Juried Show. I've taken it as far as I think I can. Now I'll just hold my breath. It's my first attempt so I don't have high expectations, but I can dream can't I? Here's the old pastel. What do you think? Did I do a good job with the oil? The light is, of course, different. In the original pastel I used warmer artificial light and in the recent oil above, I used natural north light. Additionally, the cool green against the warm red cloth and background do make the pot appear a bit brighter and more colorful although I've done my best to play that down a bit. Groan...I'm perseverating.
Time for detail. I took an extra day to let things dry so I could put a bit of detail into this piece. I adore this little blue tea pot and have used it in a few other paintings. I've yet to capture it's sweet essence. I picked up this red woven scarf in Spain in October and I had a lot of fun painting it. Imagine what I could do if this was a weekly painting instead of a "daily" one?
I spent the week at a workshop taught by David Leffel. I turned out this one during the week and put some finishing touches on it today. The workshop was incredible but intensive and exhausting. I'm happy I can offer this to you as it has the approval of the Master. Enjoy.
I guess I'm just in a Rosy sort of way this week. I snapped up this little tea pot on a recent shopping trip. It seemed to go well with the roses. Busy day today. I taught a class in the morning and painted in the afternoon, helped a friend with their blog in the evening and now I'm off to make dinner. Phew!
First off - to see how this painting was created, click here. A recent trip to Victoria, BC netted me this lovely Dragon teapot from China Town. I just love the light on this pot and the way the peaches just glow. I'm tempted to just hold on to it for my upcoming show in September but as I still have a few days until my official vacation from dailypainters.com, I thought I'd go out with a bang. See the detailed photo below.
As summer has arrived - in most of the country, anyway - I will be painting less of my "almost daily" works due to the demands of local tourists and upcoming festivals.
I'll still be posting to EBay, but dailypainters.com requires a "leave of absence" when painters take more than a couple of days off at a go. As I'll be needing extra time for my show and other demands, I'll be taking from May 30th to July 31st off from DP but will continue to post to this blog and EBay a couple of times a week.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all my regular customers and my new ones as well for all the support they have given me this past year. Here's to wishing you all a magnificient summer and a restful vacation.
