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:)

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.

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!

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:)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Sunday Morning

I read an article this morning that is in keeping with my goal for this year, please see the link below.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Be-a-Creative-Monk---Know-Your-Priorities&id=6107778

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".