daily painting practice - Peaches and Peonies Series Part 2

around the Day 2 - Continuing the series of painting Peaches and Peonies. Only this time I left out the peaches. Painting a series allows me to experiment with many of the ingredients that go into the recipe of a painting. Here I changed the size (from 5x7 to 8x8) and the format from rectangular to square. I also added a peony to the arrangement and started with a darker pre-toned board. I painted the lighter background to create a silhouette of the form.

The paper is a list of focus points I keep attached to my easel. It reminds me of the main ingredients I should be using in my composition.
Another benefit of doing a series - Comparing one painting to another before adding the finishing touches.

click on the painting to enlarge the image

White Peonies in a Green Glass Vase
8"x8"
oil on Artboard
SOLD

I like the composition of this painting. The leaf on the rightside pointing down adds just the right amount of movement and balances the fan of leaves on top.

daily painting practice - Peaches and Peonies Series part 1

Blocking in the darks and lights is so much easier when the background is already toned. I have lightened the background just a touch but I have not painted in the halftone in the shadow of the peonies. This gives the illusion of form very quickly.

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Peaches and Peonies
5"x7"
oil on masonite
Sold

It occurred to me that I have not yet done a series of paintings using the same objects. So, using these peaches and peonies, I will arrange several compositions. Stay tuned, this sounds like fun!

Daily Painting Practice - Study study study

A quick sketch in charcoal to place the composition. These are more flowers from Saturdays Farmer's market. I think I should get an artist discount the next time I go there. ( by the way... the grapes are plastic... sssshhhh! don't tell)

I think I read someplace recently that values are more important than color. I tend to agree with that. I would add to it though. Values are more important than detail.
Here's a better look at the block in of lights and darks. I left a lot of the pre-toned orange panel poking through. It helps tie the colors together.

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Color Study
8"x10"
oil on masonite

This is a study for a larger studio piece. These still life studies always seem to have more expression than my more finished or more detailed daily paintings. I think that spontaneity has its own song in paint. Being more spontaneous with the brush can make the painting be more engaging to the viewer also. I think it's the freedom of the brush strokes that leaves the viewer more space to enter the picture and more time to use their imagination.

Helping people use their imaginations ( especially in today's world) is one of the magical gifts art brings to the world.

daily painting practice - flower color study

I recently moved my studio to the basement of our house. It gives me more room to arrange a still life and also allows me space to back up from the easel. I bought these beautiful flowers from the farmer's market in downtown Omaha on Saturday. I thought they would make a great center piece to a larger figurative painting. I have constructed a backdrop that imitates a more formal setting. The wall and curtain actually are hanging from a pole. The wall is cardboard.

I will show more of the composition and final piece in later postings.

click on picture to enlarge the image

Still Life Study
8"x10"
oil on masonite

This is the color study for a larger painting that will have a figure sitting in the chair. I will use this painting and a color study of the figure together with photos to do the final painting. The color study helps on several levels. First, it helps me capture the mood and the lighting. It gives me another way of comparing values and colors that the camera and monitor can't do. Second, it helps me get familiar with the subject. It is like practicing a piano piece before the teacher says " OK, let me hear you play"

daily painting practice - everybody goes through a slump

Everyone goes through a slump. Baseball players that are paid millions of dollars a year do it. Moms that don't get paid anything do it. CEO's, writers, sales people, students, even industries go through slumps. So it should be no surprise that artists can go through a period where things just don't flow.
I can say this now because I feel I have just gone through one. I define an art slump as an emotional disconnect from the creative process. Here are the danger signs of going into an art slump.

1. You begin to talk to yourself, doubting your ability
2. You begin to worry what others think about your art
3. You are not enjoying the process, instead you are thinking about results.

Peony Study
8"x10"
oil on masonite

This painting is not one of my best works. It is a practice piece and I love it because I had fun painting it. The best way to end an art slump you ask?

1. Be grateful - Gratitude propels all things forward!
2. Enjoy the process, results are the gifts others bring to you not what you bring to them.
3. Keep repeating 1 and 2.

There is a reason we all enjoy art. What is yours?