Day 19 of 30-30 Challenge

"Bright Flowers and Pears"

6x6

Day 19! Well, as I said the other day---real life is pressing in so I have to find a way to paint something that is quick and easier and fun to do. This took about an hour to do after I laid down the transparent colors last night. I am thinking that I might work better and have more fun painting when I do it the Hedi and Dreama way. Others use this method of laying down all transparent colors first also. But for me I think it helps me to get something down on the canvas as a underpainting color map. Again, I really should have taken a picture of the underpainting but it doesn't look like too much at that point.
Here is the little Tombo marker sketch I had in my mind but I was working on a square canvas so I can to crop it.

By the way, when I work here at home in my little closet art room I use Holbein Water soluble oil color. I really am thinking about switching completely over because the OMS seems to give me a headache and I hate the cleanup and the pour-offs etc. The WSO are just as good as the regular oils and clean up with water. But I have a fortune invested in regular oils and there are a few colors that I like to use that Duo doesn't have---namely Shiva Ice Blue. I could possibly mix that color up from Duo and put it in this.

Day 18 of 30-30

This was an interesting process to this little 6x6 painting. As I try to set up simple still lifes I try to make it pleasing to my eye but then I also need to remember a few of the rules of composition--namely the rule of thirds. I think that this one didn't quite fall into the correct area for the rule of thirds. I will surely paint this darling Fiesta Ware cup and saucer again and try to slip it into a more successful still life.

I saw an excellent "Artbyte" by Patty Mollica that is very helpful.  I highly recommend the Artbytes which are extremely helpful tutorials from wonderful painters in the Daily PaintWorks site.

Day 17 of 30-30

Just when I think I am sailing along in my daily painting, here comes a simple still life that

throws me for a loop. I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to capture the white bowl, which is a new purchase from the antique store. White is tricky for me because it's not white really. I think I need to paint this set up again and see if it gets easier to paint. Not only is it hard to paint white it's hard to get the shape right. This was on a black background and I pretty much licked it to death--except at the top. I like to keep a little of the black showing. There's always tomorrow.

Day 16 of 30-30

Leslie Saeta 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

This is day 16 of my everyday journey of painting from life.

Whew!  I had to make the decision that I had to paint these daily painter faster. I haven't cooked my sweet hubbie much of a meal in 2 weeks and the clothes have piled up (again!) so I had to paint my daily paintings faster. So how to do that? Go smaller I guess. Sometimes it takes me just as long for a smaller one. Luckily this one only took about 2 hours so I am done for today. I decided to paint 6x8 and start from a black gessoed background which is something I enjoy doing. I have several black small canvases ready to go. 

These sunflowers were in a clear antique vase but it just wasn't happening so I changed the vase.

It worked ok.

Day 15 --Oil over Collage paper-8x10

I apologize for not taking a picture of just the collage paper on the panel but as you can see it's a harlequin design at the bottom and the top was an off white Japanese paper with some thin black geometric shapes. Sometimes I just have to sit down and paint from my imagination. This image seems to come out a lot in my imagination. I must be drawn to red flowers and yellow-ish (yellow ochre and white that is) background. I still like things that are rather grungy looking so as I progress in my painting-from -life journey maybe this will emerge there too. Right now while I am painting from life it is hard for me to decide how I edit what I see. So for now I am just going to paint what I see while I am waiting for my voice (painting style) to come forth.

Day 14 of the 30-30 Challenge

Day 14 of 30-30 Leslie Saeta Challenge

16x20

This is the last of the orange daisies!

You are probably so tired of these daisies. I bought some Sunflowers at Publix last night. 

We'll see how it goes with them. 

Day 13 of 30-30 Challenge

Day 12 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

This blue pitcher always makes a painting pretty. It's not the easiest to paint with all the designs but it's one of my favorite things to put into a painting. It was only $8 at the antique store. 

This is a 9x12 on a canvas.

Click on the Vocaroo Link below to hear me talk about this painting.


Audio recording software >>

Spots of Color Day 11

Day 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days by Leslie Saeta

I am really looking forward to taking Trisha Adam's workshop here in Jacksonville next month. I love how she uses color. This is a painting inspired from one of her paintings that I painted last night after studying her paintings and trying to figure out her technique.  So glad I will be able to learn from her soon!

Day 10 of 30-30 Challenge

More Tulips 12 x 12 on Gesso Panel

As you see I really changed this one, leaving out the window and pumping up the colors.
I started this painting with a dark brown, almost back gessoed background. I am just trying all the different ways to start a painting. There and MANY ways to start a painting. That's the confusing part. Which "start" will I stick with? I don't know yet.

But I decided to help it out in Photoshop before I painted it so below is the image I painted from.

Apparently I 'blued" everything in the painting but I guess while I was painting my inner muse choose blue. I am trying to paint with my instinctive artistic gut so this is how it turned out.

I added the picture below to show where I put the "to die for" window panels. They will live there very nicely. Just need to put a picture over them. As you see I paint from my iPad. 

Day 9 of Leslie Saeta Challenge

It's Day 9 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days from Leslie Saeta's blog.

Whew! And it's only day 9!

 I set this still life up in my studio with my new vintage window panels that I bought at the antique store around the corner. I had been eyeing them from quite some time. They were to die for but I quickly found out how hard they were to paint. Luckily they found just the right spot in the studio to live in.

"Tulips and the Window" 8x8 on Panel

Below is the picture I took. The limes didn't make it into the painting and neither did the shadow on the vase. It just didn't look right so I took artistic license and left it out. I actually hand painted the striped canvas cloth on the table. I am still trying to set up a really good still life that I am passionate about painting.

And just look at this sunrise this morning! 

 This picture doesn't even come close

to doing it justice.

God paints everyday so of course He is The Master Painter! 

Maybe I will try to paint it myself.

Orange Tulips--Day 8 of 30-30 Challenge

These beautiful daisies were fun to paint and with each still life I think I am improving in my quest to paint from life. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think I should paint these flowers one more time before they die maybe with a lighter background. I am watching Hedi Moran videos and I think she is one of the best teachers out there. I love the way she paints. I watch her then go try to do it and mine just doesn't do it like hers. She sometimes uses a little cheap .99 brush. I think there is magic in that little cheap brush.
I did use all transparent colors as a underpainting like she does---and this is how it looked. Maybe I should have left it. I think I might like it better.

Day 7 of 30 paintings in 30 days

"Ripe for the Pickin'"

12x12 on Birch Wood

Ok, so here's the thing. I have taken workshops by several different talented and well known teachers in the last year; Alice Williams, Dreama Tolle Perry, Connie Winters and I have Trisha Adams coming up in February. Every teacher has a different method of painting from start to finish. They have their own particular colors and brushes that they like to use. I wonder if all this instruction from these vastly different but fabulous painters is helping or hurting me. I need to rephrase that---it's helps tremendously if you want to continue painting like that teacher but then here comes another one who does it the complete opposite. Then there are the DVD's I have watched from wonderful teachers like Hedi Moran, Richard Schmid among others. My head is swimming with techniques.  After I do Trisha Adam's class I am just going to paint and see what gels from all this instruction. I am hoping that a little from everyone will come out in my style.  But so far I am not sure which way I want to paint. I love the way all of them paint.  In the fall I am planning on taking Angus Wilson here in Jacksonville. I absolutely love his paintings. That one should really shake things up for me! But it's all so fun just learning and absorbing and trying and sometimes failing and getting up the next day and trying again.

Day 6 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

This is Day 6's painting. I actually painted this one twice. The first was a scrape-off but I am not going to get upset over scrape-offs because it's just that many more hours into my 10,000 hours to become a master oil painter.(I am reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell) This was a simple set- up on some fabulous material I just got from FabricGuru.com. Actually it has cute dots in it too that I attempted to do in the first painting but...so  much for the cute dots.

Red Vase--Day 5

"Little Red Pot"

12x12

Day 5 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days. 

Hope I make it!

I completely turned my studio around and put the big easel into my big room. Here is the new painting area. It gives me much more room to spread out and have a good runway to back up and look.  I have to add more cool natural light because you can see from the picture how warm the lights are in there. I can also set up a still life to my right which is something I couldn't do in the sun room. In the other room the light might have been a bit more natural but I was just too crowded. You can see below how small the little sun room is where I was painting. So I 

moved it all. It was a feat but well worth it.

I have moved all my calligraphy supplies in this room so this is a nice area to do calligraphy, watercolor and work in my journals. I will have to put all that off until after the 30 day painting challenge.

Here's some calligraphy just to remind you.

Painting over an annoying painting-Day 4

So this is Day 4 or Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings and 30 days challenge.

Sometimes I see an acrylic painting in my studio that was ok at the time but basically annoys me now. This was one of those paintings so I decided to just paint right over it in oils from a still life set up. I like it much better now and it was certainly good practice to sketch right over the paintings with my oils and go for it. A little bit of the original painting is peeking through. A closer inspection shows it better.
I wish I had taken a picture of the original and I know that it is posted somewhere on this blog but I couldn't find it. It was a little village with a graffiti-like background.  I probably would paint over more of these graffiti -like paintings but several of them sold a couple of years ago. Who would'a thought???

Day 3 of Leslie Saeta 30 in 30 Challenge

"In the Blue Glass Vase"

12x12

I wanted to paint this one just with the palette knife which I think is fun to do. I might even become a palette knife painter. Washing brushes is a pain and the "odorless turps" give me a headache so it  might come to a point that I have to just put away to brush altogether and use the knife.

This was a still life that I set up in my quest to paint from life. This is a beautiful blue glass vase which is much prettier than I painted it. I will have to try it again.

On this one the background was dark and I turned it light. Not sure if that was a good idea actually. Anyway, this is painting 3.

Day 2 of Leslie Saeta Challenge

"Grungy Pear"

6x8

I just found out about Leslie Saeta's challenge to paint a painting everyday for 30 days for the month of January. I decided I would try it. I painted this very quickly last night. I enjoy just putting paint down quickly and not thinking about it too much. This is a throw-back to my "grungy" mixed media days with acrylic and I think I still am drawn to this distressed look.

"Blooming Tulips" 12 x 12 on Gesso Panel

Hey Y'all!!

I sure hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and I hope 2013 will be an artistically prosperous year

for all of you. I am starting out with fresh inspiration and a new outlook to my painting journey.

No more beating myself over the head just because my oil painting didn't meet my expectations.

Remember my little artist alter ego, Mattie Lou? She is still alive and well in me. 

But if this little girl in the picture kept it up and persevered then she is a master painter now.

I have been reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and have been intrigued by what he says about successful people. Is it talent, or hard work and practice? I am sure you know the answer to that. I am sure talent does play a part but it's hard work, and many many hours of practice---and of course a passion for the thing you are practicing.  He surmises that it takes about 10,000 hours or about 10 years to become a "master" at your craft.  I am not sure how to count my hours of painting. I have been painting in watercolor and acrylics for years but still lifes in oils are another whole thing. So I guess I have many many painting hours to go. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy the journey and realize that every painting will not be a masterpiece but it surely will help me to click off the hours of practice. Sometimes the bad painting may take a really long time because I sometimes spend hours trying to save it.  So this is my mantra for the new year: 

"The painting might be a miserable failure but 

I am just that much closer to becoming a master."

These were some beautiful red Tulips that I bought at the Fresh Market and as soon as I turned the light on them they started opening up. I didn't want them to do that but they wouldn't listen to me so this is how they were. I have been buying some pots, vases and fabric for my set ups. I know that now in my oil painting journey I need to paint strictly from life or from photos of my set up still lifes. Deciding on the objects, the composition and colors in the set up are still a huge challenge for me not to mention the painting part.

Happy New Year!

Well, here we go into another year! Goodness, they are going by fast. As I said above I usually don't make resolutions because I either break them--or forget what they were...but I do want to go into this year with a new and renewed excitement for my art journey. I want to paint for the enjoyment of painting with no expectations other than the fact that with every painting I am learning and getting better. Good or bad, agony or ecstasy, I am moving forward to becoming the best oil painter I can be. I know that it's going to take years but I am in it for the long haul. Next year if I remember, I am going to post my first painting of 2013 and my last one of 2013 and compare to see the improvement.

So, here we go... hello 2013!

Bucky says Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to check in a wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I am in Greenville having a wonderful time with the grands! I hope everyone is having a joyful Christmas season.

Hope everyone survived the end of the world yesterday. Apparently the Mayans had it wrong. This is probably really what happened!

Sending blessings to all!!!

Giving Thanks

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be taking a break until 2013--wow, that sounds like a long time! But when I get back maybe I will be an even better painter so I will have some new paintings to show. In my upcoming workshop with Alice Williams she says to bring BIG canvases like 24 x 36 or 36 x36. EEEEK!  It will be a challenge for sure but hopefully really fun too. We are doing still life as well as a clothed figure---EEEK again!

Also I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year too!
ox

Daily Painting number 80ish

Sometimes when I think something will be easy to paint it's not. But I am working on my 120 paintings. I have about 80 so far. And remember the thing was that you have to paint 120 bad paintings before you are a really good painter.  So that actually takes a lot longer than just 120 paintings because not all of them turn out bad. But believe me I have my share of bad ones. On this one the table legs gave me a fit with shadows going everywhere and lights and darks on the skinny legs and only a very thin line to paint them.  This is only an 8x8 so if it had been larger then I could have maybe had more room the shape up the legs. Good excuse anyway!  I believe that a cup of coffee is put on the table it might just topple over.

Sometimes my bad paintings are bad because the composition or photo I started with was not that good of a composition (not a good notan to begin with)--- so that will never make a good painting and you are pretty much dead in the water from the get-go.  Sometimes it a drawing issue and sometimes it's a value and color issue. If I can get all these right in the same painting it will be a good painting!

But with each painting I am learning. I have another workshop coming up December 1-3 with Alice Williams.  Her style is really loose!  I am looking forward to that.

The Buckster

One thing that has been on my painting bucket list is to paint Bucky. This was a very cute picture of him so I decided to try it. I was holding my breath the whole time because just like people, if you don't get the eyes right you are dead in the water. The wicker chairs were a booger but I think I got his eyes. He is sitting here in the porch of the Red Door Art studio looking out over the land with a big smile on his face. He thinks he is the protector of the land. I'll never tell him any different.

Here is the pic.

Be strong...

I enjoy putting together these letter collages---and I love using my new face stamps from Pam Carriker. I love face stamps. I have several of them but I am always looking for other ones. I like the ones with the interesting faces that seems to be thinking hard about something. It's always relaxing to sit down at my desk here at home and create these.

The Cummer Gardens

This is a painting of the Cummer Gardens here in Jacksonville that I started in the Connie Winters workshop. The gardens are just beautiful and I have some beautiful pictures so I wanted to attempt to paint one.   I thought this one was very difficult to paint because there is so much going on but I am happy that I painted a big one (16x20) from a photo that I took myself.

Another Crop

It started like this...just rather uninteresting and not a very good layout although

 the colors are pretty good.

Cropping with the mat board corners---always use black.

After I found a good layout I brought out some stamps to enhance.

I wanted it to be very subtle so I used the Distress ink pads.

All done.

Letter Collage 2

Yep, that means never...

oops, I left out a word.."know"..

I do that a lot when I am writing in calligraphy.

But you get the gist of it.

PS That's a Pam Carriker stamp.

Letter Collage

I enjoy sitting down and constructing these letter collages. Of course there are

more elements than just lettering but that's where it begins and it's the backbone of the

design. I use graft paper in a pad and start with a CalligraFun word or two

then start building from there. I love to use my stamps that seem

to be so neglected these days.  This is very similar in construction to my

big grid journals. It's all fun and very stress relieving for me. 

So, right now, I am very stress free!

On the easel...

I have been working on this one all day. I started this one in Connie Winter's workshop here in Jacksonville. I love the way she paints but it is so different from the way Dreama paints. I now have to decide what way I like better. Actually I like both of them so hopefully I can take aspects from each and merge them into my style. I actually thought this one was pretty hard getting the angles right--and I see in the picture that they are not right. That's hard for me but that come with drawing practice. This is a church in Charleston, SC. It is on an 18x18 panel.

Bright Flowers in Pots

Just still painting along every day that I can. At times I feel like I am on a roller coaster...at times flying by the seat of my pants and other times chugging up a giant hill. But I love oil paint, what it does and how it moves now that I am becoming acquainted with it. My color charts have been extremely helpful. I check them all the time to see if I can find a color. If you can do some color charts then your painting will go much easier. Richard Schmid says that he still uses his (at least when he did his videos he did.

If you are interested on how I did these color charts then leave me a message and let me know. I could do a free video tutorial. They are good for acrylic and watercolor but of course I would be using oil paint. If there is enough interest then I will do it.  I am not sure how many of my blog friends and visitors are oil painters. But I bet most all of you use some sort of paint in some kind a way!

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of the "Credit Card Flowers"

          online class giveaway is...

                         Kandilin !

   Please contact me so you can start your class!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Giveaway-Credit Card Flowers Online Class!

Hey guys,

You know what to do.  Leave me comment that you would like to win a free class and I will 

let Mr. Random.org pick a name for me tomorrow night. (Monday, Nov 5th)

Diane's Patio

I painted this one of my painting teacher, Diane's, patio when she lived in California. I painted it from her painting just for practice so I can't sell this one but I really enjoyed painting it. I know that I can more easily paint from looking at other's paintings because they have already done the editing work on it whether it was a photo or plein air. I am learning to simplify and edit my own photos but this is hard for me because I have a tendency to add way too much detail. Diane is a realist painter so I painted this in a chunkier style.

I do have to brag on my teacher here in Jacksonville. Oprah has a collection of her paintings. She's that good.