12:13 - Seth 17

"Seth 17"

16" x 20"

Oil on Wood Panel

This is a portrait from a snapshot that I took of my son after his first football practice of the season. He was showing me the marks the new helmet pads left on his neck which looked like giant hickeys. 

When I decided recently that I wanted to try some limited palette paintings, I thought of the lighting on this picture and knew it would be perfect.

The colors used are: Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ocher, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Zinc White. I have some step-by-step pictures on my facebook page, here.

Also, if your interested in some great expressive portraits, you should really go check out Brian DiNicola's work. He has some great stuff and he's nice and open about his materials and methods, which is invaluable. Seems like a really good guy.

12:12 Melina and the Ball Pit

Melina and the Ball Pit

10" x 10

Oil on Canvas

I was tempted to name this one "Bazinga!" after a certain Big Bang Theory episode involving Sheldon and a ball pit, but I didn't.

This is from one of my favorite photos of my niece, taken by her Mom, whom you've met before in "Melina and the Llama". Painting all the spheres was a challenge. I'm happy with some of them, not so much with others. 

It is also a challenge to paint children. They don't have many lines on their faces so you have to be really careful not to make them look old. I tried to accomplish this with color.

12:11 Pear and Back Again

Pear and Back Again

4" x 6"

Oil on Canvas

A while ago I did a few pears and they are always a favorite of mine. Having painted several apples last week, I changed it up and went back to pears.

12:10 The Forgotten Pomegranate

The Forgotten Pomegranate

10" x 8"

Oil on Canvas Board

I painted this quick pomegranate and then forgot all about it until today. And I actually really like it. It was a spur of the moment decision when I needed a break from the commission piece I am currently working on.

12:9 Even More Delicious

Even More Delicious

4" x 4"

Oil on Gessoboard
Click here to bid

My continuing saga to perfect this technique and save the world, of course.

12:8 Red Delicious

Red Delicious

4" x 4" 

Oil on Gessoboard
Click here to bid 

I decided last week that I am working too much from photos and I need a break, work from life and remember my college classes where we all painted the same set up or model. 

There is a health food store right next to the studio where I take a studio class on Wednesday night. I found the cutest teeny red apple there. While I am trying to work on some tweaks to my techniques, I also want to keep the set up simple and what is more simple and yet still visually appetizing than an apple?

So, I set this up on some white paper, adjusted the natural vs. room lighting and had at it. The is the first of two apples that I worked on that night.

Have a great day!

12:7 Emily

Emily
8" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Board
NFS

And last, but certainly in my mind, not least, there's Emily.

For a long time, there were not many girl kids on my mom's immediate side of the family. Mom was the oldest of 6 and the only girl child. She in turn had 3 children; myself, my big brother and my little sister. The rest of the cousins for many years were boys. 8 more boys. It was 9 to 2 for years. Then came along Emily and later, her sister Jacklyn and our cousin Cassie. My sister and I were thrilled. Finally, more girls to try to even things out in a very old-fashioned, male-centric family. Poor Emily had to grow up with 3 older brothers. But from a very early age, she had steel in her gaze, holds her own with the brothers and they would kill just about anyone that would hurt their little sis.

Today things are still lop-sided somewhat. My family has gained more girl children with the next generation of kiddos which consist of 6 boys and 4 girls...so far.

So even though Emily and I don't get to see each other nearly as much as I'd like and are separated by twenty-something years, we are just. like. that. (Holds up crossed fingers) and I hope she knows that in years to come, no matter what, she can always give me a call to bail her out of trouble.

12:6 Luke

Luke
Oil on Canvas Board
8" x 8"
SOLD

And here we have the next sibling in line, my cousin Luke. Luke and my son are almost the same age so I've always been able to call my Aunt, who has two other sons along with Luke and ask..."Is this normal?" quite often.

I've never, ever seen Luke mad or upset. Whenever I think of how to describe him, the first word to cross my mind is "happy".

12:5 - Saturday Night Apples

Saturday Night Apple

4" x 4"

Oil on Gessoboard

Click here to bid

I love painting with broad, big strokes and with a nice and loose look. Two of my favorite artists who are experts at this style are Carol Marine and Karin Jurik. These women both make their living with their art, which is my dream. Not only do they work on paintings on a daily basis, they also travel the country teaching workshops...also a dream of mine.

Carol and her husband David, have created and run a website that I belong and post to called dailypaintworks.com. The site is a large community of painters who post and sell their paintings but also help and support each other. I am eternally grateful for the generosity of Carol and David. Recently, Carol shared her story on the new site area Artbytes, which is a combination of technique and real-world experiences. She unselfishly shares with the rest of the painting community. The biggest tip she can give painters that are working toward developing their talents is "do something with your art every day". (I am paraphrasing, but this is the point.) The painting above is the first of what I hope is the beginning of my daily painting.

My son leaves for college in a little over a year. Maybe he won't be the only one in the family taking some big steps.

12:4 Josh

Josh

8" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Board
SOLD

This is Josh. He is the 2nd eldest son of my Aunt and Uncle. I really love how this painting came out. The original photo that I was given to use for him was sort of unflattering when I removed him from the rest of the group, so I ripped one off of his Facebook page and worked with it. I'm thinking if I showed him the first picture, he would thank me for that.

12:3 - Michael

"Michael"
8" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Board

I gave my Aunt a painting of her youngest child for Christmas. Almost immediately after, my uncle asked me to paint the other 4 children for her birthday in April so that she would have a complete set. This is Michael, the oldest son. The other three children follow!

I have now completed several monochromatic paintings. For these I used an Old Williamsburg paint called Italian Black Roman Earth. This stuff was super thick, had a nice warm grey base adn dried super, super quick. I definitely need to get back to color now!

12:2 - Kristen

Kristen

Oil on Canvas

12" x 12"

NFS

Meet Kristen. She's a friend of mine that I was fortunate enough to meet through work. We have spent many a conversation laughing our butts off. She is one of those women who you meet and just know that they are what we refer to in KY as "good people".

Kristen is currently busy whooping the nasty butt of breast cancer. There's not a doubt in my mind that she will be victorious. Recently she posted a photo of her gorgeous baldness and she gave me permission to paint her. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I wanted to portray her spirit, her fierceness and her downright sassy-ness. She's awesome. Thanks Kristen for letting me paint you!

12:1 - I Had A Bad Day

#01 - I Had A Bad Day

4" x 5"

Oil on Canvas

Hello 2012! Let's get started!

So far, 2012 hasn't really been anything to write home about. Today was a particularly frustrating day, but I'm not going to whine about it. I only bring it up because I didn't have time to get my thoughts together about what I was going to paint tonight. That made me even more grumpy (grumpier?) I thought, well, why don't I paint that. My grouchiness. I snapped a quick pic with my camera phone and shazam. By the time I finished it, my mood was much better. It's pretty hard to take yourself seriously when you're making faces at your phone. And it's a lot cheaper than therapy. I highly recommend this method.

I haven't quite decided to attempt 100 paintings this year yet. We'll see how it goes.

Welcome to 2012!

Well, so long 2011! I didn't quite make my goal of 100, but I did end up with 47 paintings that for the most part, I am very, very proud of. So onward to 2012! I will be changing the name of the blog to reflect 2012, but the address will stay the same, so all of my 7 followers, don't you worry, you're good!

What are my goals for 2012? 3 days in and I haven't quite decided yet. I could try to do the 100 paintings again. I did learn a lot about how to accomplish the task. A couple of main things:

1. Work Small - Stick to 8"x 8" or under. 6" x 6" is better. Something that can be finished in one sitting, whatever size that is for you.

2. Dedicate time to paint! - I don't like to plan. I like to be spontaneous. This often leads me to unintentionally procrastinate and things slip through the cracks. This task forced me to plan ahead and schedule my week. Thank goodness for my set studio class time that I had each week for most of the year. I will take that class as long as they will let me just so I have that time dedicated each week!

So, how did it all turn out in retrospect? You be the judge. Keep in mind that I'm blowing the dust off of around 10 years of no painting.

Here's the first painting of the year:



















Here is #47:
























PS -The guy, Adam, whose blog inspired me to attempt 100 paintings in the first place? He started in March and did it again! 2010 and 2011. Wow! Go check him out.

Update: Snapshots of the whole year.