#8 Pigeon Study with Cloud

10" x 8" Oil on linen mounted on panel


For Mother's Day my sons surprised me with their own pigeon art.   My youngest made a sculpture with newspaper, masking tape, wire and paint. He signed his name on the tag around his ankle. I love everything about it. Just look at those feet and the little bits of color on his neck.

My oldest, in the thick of a stomach bug, made an origami pigeon and a card inspired by the pigeon that got into my paints. I love the little scratch painting she's doing. We renamed her Picasso (we use to call her 58, her tag number). She still has some paint on her breast feathers.

A Long Stem & Two Tangerines

4 x 7 1/2 inches, oil on linen mounted on panel

So this one I painted during the day again with two natural opposing light sources and again really struggled with the colors. And, I tried a mixture of black and blue for the background which is very different for me---I seldom use black. Maybe I should of scrapped this one but there are parts I like: the leaf on the right, the stem, the 2x4.

Lunaria #2

8" x 6" Oil on paper (paper 14" x 11")

Another Lunaria cutting...

Lunaria

8" x 6" Oil on paper (paper 14" x 11")

I carefully brought these cuttings back from our trip this summer to Portland, Or.  They're the dried seed  leaves of the Lunaria plant. I can't stop looking at them.

Third Single Cutting

8" x 6", Oil on panel

third

second 

 
On my recent flight home I met the artist Harry Ahn who, as I was later to learn, is a renowned portrait painter and a teacher in Michigan.  I showed him an image of the last painting I had done (middle image in column to the left) and he kindly and generously gave me a little critique.  Today, while looking at my second attempt of the Single Cutting, which I was never fully happy with,  I thought I would try changing some of the aspects that he had pointed out that could use improvement ---mainly the background and the shadow of the jar.  I didn't have the plant any more but I had the jar so I improvised and played around.  I think it worked. I'm much happier with it now.

The last thing he said to me before we parted was "practice, practice, practice and then practice more".

So that's what I'm doing. And I realized I am a daily painter but I rarely can finish a painting in a day that I'm satisfied with….but maybe the rarely will become often with practice.

Thank you Harry Ahn.

first

Pearl Glaze

7" x 5", Oil on canvas board

A small teacup with a pearl glaze on a stack of scrap two by fours (or on carrot cake as my friend thought).

Tea Cup with Little Blue Flowers

5" x 5 1/4", oil on panel

This is sweet, little tea cup from my mother-in-law that I set on piece of scrap wood that I dug out of a pile in her backyard---her house is getting some renovations.  I used the Quinacridone Red instead of my usual Alizarin Crimson and I think it worked well.

A Single Cutting

8" x 6", Oil on panel

This was my first attempt. I wasn't happy with the jar or the composition so I let it dry and did the double study (previous post) to see what I might do different. Once dry, I sanded  the surface a little to make it smooth again and then painted over it (above). My oldest son likes the one to the left better---he said it's happier. It's true, the poor cutting wilted a bit between paintings but I like the shape it became. My younger son likes the top painting because the little red flower looks more real. I like parts of both but I prefer the top more which is good since the the other one doesn't exist anymore---the risks of painting over something...

Double Study of a Plant Cutting

6" x 6", Oil on panel

Can of Markers

6" x 6", Oil on panel

Small Cup of Sharpened Pencils

7" x 5",  Oil on panel (sold)

Small Can of Oil Pastels

3 3/4" x 5 3/4" Oil on canvas board

Still Life with Tomato Can

12" x 12", Oil on cradled panel

Coffee Break

Another painting from the kitchen...

7" x 5", Oil on panel

Still Lifes at the Sink

 

10" x 8", oil on paper

A scene in my kitchen I look at multiple times a day and have often thought- I'd like to paint this.

So finally I did and happily I managed not to get any paint on the counters.  

Pair of Snips

My favorite gardening tool

  

7 3/4" x 5", Oil on paper

and the quick double study I did beforehand:

8" x 10" oil on paper

Bottle and Cap

6 1/2" x 4", oil on linen mounted on panel

Green Apple

5 3/4" x 3 3/4", oil on canvas

Double Tomato Study

6" x 6", Oil on gessoed Crescent Board

This week I started a small still life of a single tomato on a white dish towel---simple and straight forward...so I thought---I wiped it off twice.  I'm still working on the third attempt but decided to set it aside today because it was too wet. So I got another tomato and did these quick studies to play and have fun and remember why I wanted to paint that stinking tomato in the first place.  I toned the surface on the left side with burnt sienna and on the right with green. I like doing these studies, I often do them as a warm up exercise. I'm hoping now I'll return to my other tomato with fresh eyes.

Avocado

One of my favorite foods...

3 3/4" x 5 3/4", Oil on canvas (sold)