#37 - Blue Rose 2

#37 - Blue Rose #2

20" x 20"
Oil on Canvas
Available

This is the 2nd of my Blue Roses. Earlier this year I painted a small version. (6"x6") Since then, I've wanted to re-do it larger. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

The painting is freshly glazed and will be available for shipping in a couple of weeks.

#21 - By Any Other Name

#21 - By Any Other Name

8" x 8"

Oil on Masonite

I see this as more impressionistic and about color than realism. This one was difficult and I'm not sure it is quite successful. But we wrestled for a bit and it's time to move on.

But enough about that...I've got a story!

At class tonight I started a new painting and ended up with a too-wet underpainting. I set the painting outside to dry a bit in the heat and when I went to get it later it was GONE! I had a painting STOLEN! Does that mean I've hit the big time? We found it later behind Staples, with the thief's fingerprints smushed right into the paint. How about that. I'm going to try to leave the fingerprint in the finished work. Maybe one day I'll run it through AFIS. I think this means it's going to turn out to be a real masterpiece!

I will take and post a better picture in the morning, I couldn't wait to post...sad isn't it.

(Edited - Picture updated. Much better!)

#15 - Rose (Unfinished?)

Pink Rose
8" x 8"
Oil on Canvas
Available

I painted this last night. It's from a picture I took of one of my first roses of the year. I have two rose bushes in my yard. A pink one in the front yard and a yellow one in the back yard. I do not have a green thumb, so they've been left to their own devices over the past couple of years. Miraculously, they are still alive and are producing some lovely blooms this year!

Again, I painted this one on a black primed canvas and again, I was able to get the shadows as deep as I like them. Black canvas is well on it's way to becoming a regular part of my routine.

My favorite part of this one? Right now it's the little bud peeking up from behind the bloomed rose.

The problem with this painting is that I'm not sure if it is finished. Now that I've slept on it, I think the leaves need more emphasis. Maybe not more detail, but more color definition. They look a little blurry to me and blurry moves into the background. A little more detail is in order, perhaps?

What do you think?

#5 - Rose Study #1

Rose Study #1
8" x 8" - Oil on Canvas
SOLD

So technically, this is the last painting for January since I painted this yesterday, but February is here and I need to get a move on. The lead out. Truckin'. I'm behind. 5 paintings a month just isn't going to cut it. I had planned on completing 2 a week. I need to whip out 3 more just to catch up. I still have plenty of year left, so I'm not really worried.

What IS worrying me is my inability to decide what to paint. I have a weird form of painter's block. I have in my mind the type of paintings I want to create, but I'm not convinced that I'm "good enough" yet to take on the subject, so I'm trying to paint various subjects in order to learn the building blocks of how to handle oils. I have to trust that my style will come. How I picked the rose - I called my mother:

"Hi Mom, what's your favorite flower?"
"Why?"
"I need something to paint."
"Paint a rooster"
"I don't want to paint a rooster, I want to paint a flower."
"Why don't you want to paint a rooster? You could sell that. I have a friend that collects roosters"
"I just don't. Do you have a favorite flower?"
"My favorite right now are those...(no idea what she said here. It sounded scientific.)...they are like bunches of little orchids."
"Hmm. I don't know what those are"

So. She gets a rose!

With the rose, my goal was to mix the correct values, tints and shades on my palette as accurately as possible so that I could use a few strokes as possible on the canvas. With acrylics I did much of my mixing directly on the canvas and that worked for me. I can't do that with oils. Everything turns to mud. And when you aren't actually trying to paint mud, that's not a good thing. I think I came out somewhat successful. I will probably do several of these to really get the hang of it. AND I painted this on my brand new beautiful wooden easel that my sweetie bought me for our 1 year dating anniversary. Isn't he awesome?