I Painted All Weekend!

What a productive weekend!

I rarely have a weekend with no big plans. It seems like there's always a race or a game to attend or something going on. This past weekend I had one early appointment on Saturday and the rest of the weekend was wide open. So I decided that I would paint as much as possible.

In my head I imagined that it would go something like this... around noon on Saturday, fed and well caffeinated, the muse would blast into my head and the next 36 hours would be a unfettered painting frenzy! Not quite, BUT I did get a solid 12 hour of painting in before bed on Sunday night. And I am extremely pleased with what came out of it.

The first thing I worked on was this purple pear. I had just bought the paint (Cobalt Violet - Gamblin), I had to use it! So, VALUE STUDY TIME!

Who says a pear can't be purple?

After the value study, I moved on to full color:

Single Pear
5" x 5"
Oil on Gessoboard
Click here to bid in auction

With the pear and the following rose, I worked from still life set up on the coffee table with a desk lamp providing the lighting:

New Rose
6" x 6"
Oil on Gessoboard
Click here to bid in auction - Begins 9/26

That was it for Saturday! Sunday was spent working on this...

This is the 3rd session for this painting. I've spent around 12 hours on this one now. i've been posting progress pics on Facebook.  Check them out!

So there you go. I would love to have a marathon painting weekend, minimal sleep, stopping only for bathroom and food breaks! I've heard of artists that challenge themselves to 12 in 12 hours or 24 in 24 hour challenges. I wonder if I would have what it takes to do that. 

Three Pears

Three Pears
6" x 6"
Oil on Gessoboard
Click to Bid

I'm happy with this one. I began with an ocher ground wash, sketched the shapes in with my brush and raw umber. My goal was to keep from getting overly detailed.

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.

#31 - Three Pears

#31 - Three Pears

14" x 11"
Oil on Canvas Board
Available
(Needs drying time. Will be ready to ship on Oct. 26th)

So this one began as a contest entry. I had forgotten the painting that I was currently working on when I went to my studio class that week. However, a contest was announced during class. Paint fruit or vegetables. It had to be 14" x 11" and it was due the next day. I worked as fast as I could, but couldn't meet the deadline. So this board sat with one complete pear, one about 30% complete and one still blank.

I've got a small list of paintings that I need to do stacking up and this one kept looking at me. So I took about an hour and a half last night and finished this one. And I really like it. Mainly the dark/light contrast.

#12 - Class Pear 2

10" x 14"

Oil on board
Available

This is the 2nd of the finished class pears. It started out as a black and white painting:

but then several layers of glazing were added. Glazing is a technique where you add color by mixing oil paints with a medium and layering over the painting. In this case, I mixed paint with Liquin and added one color at a time. I believe, if I remember correctly that I added a red layer, azo yellow, ultramarine blue, added some highlights with lead white, then another layer each of red and yellow.

With glazing you get more of an aged effect for lack of a better term.
You can compare this with Class Pear #1 to see what I mean.




Class Pear #1 was painted with color from the beginning.

I learned alot from this exercise. In particular, how dark or light to make your underpainting in preparation for how it will show through the layers of glazing.

#8 - Class Pear 1

Pear 1
10" x 14"
Available

You may remember this one. It was a class project. It's finished now, so I'm counting it. I really like how the gold in the pear turned out.

The other pear will be posted shortly. I am glazing it and have another 2 layers to go. Also in the works are a blue rose and a cottage painting that I think I'm really going to like. AND prints of the red door are in process too! Lots going on.

Class Update

I am loving my oil painting class. It is a complete switch from acrylics. I have to think and paint in a completely different manner. It's a challenge, but I am really enjoying myself.

The first class was pretty basic. We painting a color wheel and a color grid chart. We didn't use brushes, we used q-tips. We all felt very kindergarten. In a good way! I need to snap pics of my grid and wheel and post them. I'll try to remember to do that tonight. Class #2 was still a review of the basics. We had a demo about the different types of brushes and how to grid your base drawing. Then we painted a black and white pear. The point was to learn how to mix shades and tints. She had us grid off a photo of a pear, draw it upside down so that our mind break the connection with "pear" and we could just draw what we saw. We will be glazing this in a couple of weeks. Here t'is: (Sorry for the crappy photo - phone camera)

Class #3 was last night and we graduated to a color pear! She wanted to teach us shading with compliments (complements?) And here it is:

Next week we have been asked to bring in samples of subjects that interest us. That should be when the real fun begins. I wonder what I will come up with!