Sunday, October 23, 2011

10 Minute Pears


This is my response to the Daily Paintworks weekly challenge, to set a 10 minute timer and paint what you can in that time. I had a lot of fun with this challenge and learned a lot too! I will admit that three of the pears were over the 10 minutes, but not more than 5-7 extra minutes and usually for the background and shadow.

A very worthwhile exercise and I hope to remember to practice this again.

Monday, October 10, 2011

October Pears


I had a flat of pears given to me by my neighbor and upon my daughters suggestion, painted a bowl of them. This painting was a little more complicated than most of my still life set ups up till now. I was quite happy that I was able to paint all the pears in the bowl with just a quick sketch in an under painting. This photo turned out a little darker than the original and I hope to find the time tomorrow to correct it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tofino Beach Value Study


This was my response to the Daily Paintworks Challenge this week. I sure enjoyed leaving colour out of the equation, as this photo is one I've wanted to paint for sometime but the colours in this sunset were a little intimidating. Now that I've done the value study I feel a little more confident about approaching this in colour.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Tin Wis - Calm Waters


I painted this in response to one of the Daily Paintworks Challenges, painting with only rectangles and each being a different colour. I did not submit it to the challenge as I didn't really follow the rules all that well:)

I really enjoyed painting with a different technique. I have wanted to paint some of these photo's for a couple of years but kept putting it off as the colours that inspired me also intimidated me. I am quite happy with quite a few areas on this little painting and will probably touch up a few once dry enough.

This painting was painted from a photo my husband took while staying at Tin Wis Resort in Tofino, BC, Tin Wis means "calm waters".

Monday, July 25, 2011

One Tree


I was painting last night to some music (One Tree by Mishka) for the Daily Paintworks Challenge and this little tree popped out. It still needs some TLC once it's dried a bit, I really loved the soft colours and edges and the calm mood.

I used Winsor Newton w/s oils and they are terrific, very soft and buttery and do not seperate or get gummy when you thin with water. The other  w/s oils that I have painted with are very sticky and don't accept much water to thin them out before they start to gum up and seperate.

There seems to be alot of debris that got mixed into this painting, I was using a old wash cloth to wipe my brushes as I had run out of my blue disposable shop towel that are so handy to have around, so I'll have to try to pick that out!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Coin


I did not have a lot of spare time tonight so I just did a quick little study of the coin, only had about 20 mins or so but it was fun.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Good morning Marble

I jumped right into this painting this morning before I even got dressed, thus the title:) I love Saturdays, a nice change from the 9-5 Monday thru Friday!

This is my first complete start to finish oil paint only painting (at least that I can remember). I have been playing with oils for about three months now on and off again (mostly off) I usually block it all in with acrylic first as I find it difficult to not make the colours into "mud". This marble isn't the greatest, I had a few areas that started to get muddy on me and I will be working on them once this paint is dry, sure is fun to work with oils as they are very forgiving.

I used Lucas water soluable oils and I find that when I use water to thin the paint it starts to gum up so I bought some Liquin and that worked just great, a little harder to clean up though. I just used some linseed oil to get most of the Liquin/paint off and then Murphy's oil soap for the final clean up. I placed an order yesterday for some Winsor Newton w/s oils and can hardly wait to try them, I also ordered some walnut oil alklyd from M. Graham and Winsor Newton slow dry medium for acrylics, I have alot of materials to play with......just need to schedule the time in.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Ancient Artists


I went kayaking today to find a new pictograph site that I have wanted to explore for quite awhile now. I always find it exciting to find these spots just from some vague directions from a map, this one was quite neat as there was a small cave with pictographs inside and it took some investigating to find it. I have always been intrigued with cave art, it's interesting to see through out the ages there have always been individuals that feel compelled to make marks. I would like to research this a bit more as we go from cave art to graffiti is there really a difference, other than the fact that graffiti is usually on someone else's property. No painting for me today, too busy playing around, maybe tomorrow:)

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

M&M's

This is the first time I have painted this subject and it won't be the last, I quite enjoyed painting them and desposing of the left overs:) I tried my hand at a plein air painting today as it was a beautiful day but encountered nothing but trouble. I think that's why I chose this subject, I knew it was something I could render and build my confidence up a bit after the plein air disaster this morning.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Tequila & Limes

This was a challenge and a half, but once I got past what I thought I saw and just really took a good long look at what was really there, it got easier. I am finding as I paint on a regular basis it is getting easier to recognize my bad habits and create some new ones. Little by little hey!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Mono Chrome Glass Fishing Floats


This weeks painting challenge from Daily Paintworks was painting monochromes. I really enjoyed painting this glass float earlier this week, I had painted it using acrylic and full colour. With the monochrome I really enjoyed just concentrating on the values and edges. This painting also reminded me how much I enjoy painting in oils, so forgiving:)

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Glass Fishing Float


I have painted this subject before and it is a bit of a challenge as the colour from cloth shows through the green glass so that can be a little tricky.

This was painted with Golden Open acrylics Jenkins Green, I received a sample package from Golden and was quite excited to try the Open acrylics. They definetely stay workable alot longer which makes it really easy to blend. I will post shortly on more info regarding Golden Acrylics.

Chillis Before and After

 












After living with this little painting for a while I noticed that the chilli pepper's seemed to almost hover over the shadows, I added just a small darker shadow along each chilli and I think it made a difference.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Chilli Peppers


I have been looking for red chilli peppers for a couple of months now and finally found some at a small grocery store. I really enjoyed painting all the reds in these spicy little beauties. My main focus for this painting was to loosen up and remember to leave some soft edges as I have a habit of wanting to have clean edges.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Two Pears


This was another quick study I did using acrylic for the under painting and oil to finish. I am struggling to be able to match the colors though after I take a photo of the finished painting, trial and error maybe? I also noticed that the photos "skew" or stretch the painting, the upright pair in the photo is quite a bit wider than the actual painting.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Kiwi



This was just a quick study I worked on tonight. I bought a few tubes of water soluble oils a couple of days ago, and I am pleasantly surprised and how easy they are to work with and clean up. My brushes look great with just soap and water clean up.

All of the studies I have done so far have an acrylic under painting, which has worked great. I will be trying some studies with water soluble oils only with out the acrylic under painting to see how workable they are from bare canvas to completed work.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Red Potato


Well this little potato was a bit of a struggle, I like that it is more "painterly" than most of what I do. My goal this year is to skill build and loosen up and although I'm not crazy about this painting, I do see that I have started to loosen up over the last month, and that's a good thing. I might add some finishing touches tomorrow night.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Garlic, before and after

                                              Before                                                      After

I played with the color a bit and tried just laying down some paint with out pushing it around too much, and I like the results. White seems to be a hard color with all the subtle variations that it can have, but it's a skill building exercise for sure.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Garlic


I thought I would tackle a reflected image, this was fun. I will be making some changes tonight to it though. Purple garlic is much more fun to paint but I can't seem to locate any this time of year.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Apple


I washed this apple for my lunch yesterday, and thought I'd take a few minutes to render it. I was almost late for work and left this apple behind in my haste (had to go and buy one for my lunch) but I must admit my day did flow better, so I spent a few more minutes on it this morning and hopefully will remember to throw it in the lunch bag.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Dragonfly


I love dragonflies, quite often they land on the bow of my kayak when I'm out on the lake or my daughter and I rescue them when they have become bogged down on the water surface. They just hang out on the bow till their wings are dry (about 10 mins) and then they continue their journey.

I have decided on days when I just can't get to a still life and all the set up, it would be in keeping with my goal to just create some of these small "artists trading cards".

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Salmon River Delta - Sold


This was a painting I did this winter for a juried members show at our local gallery. Unfortunately I did not get a great photo of it before I sent it in and I was lucky enough to have it sell, so I did the best cropping and alignment job I could of the photo I had. I love this spot and have spent quite a bit of time there in my kayak, the painting also shows the valley of which I haved lived at the far end of for over twenty years.

Purple Haze - Sold

This is a painting I did in August of 2009 at a music festival, it was a silent auction gallery fundraiser. This was the first year I had participated, actually the first time I have ever painted plein air in public, which was a little nerve wracking at first. This is not my usual style, I think I was influenced a bit by the music and my surroundings.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Christmas Island Meditation


I had some extra time this morning, but not enough to paint so I thought I'd post this painting that I did last year for a member show at the local gallery:)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Gaye Adams, workshop paintings.


This weekend I spent three days with some great ladies and we painted up a storm. I learned alot from these still life paintings and hope to mindful of these lessons while I continue to push on painting from life. I was fortunate enough to have Gaye dive in and help me out on each one of these paintings (some more than others!)

Friday, March 11, 2011

Abstract # 1


I am attending a workshop this weekend and the paint list had a few new colors that I have not tried before. This is the result of having some fun and just creating......I love the new colors:)