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.

The Baby of the Family

The Baby of the Family
6" x 6"
Oil on Gessoboard
Click to Bid

Jolly Boyz Body Shop

Jolly Boyz

24" x 15"

Oil on Canvas

I've recently discovered how much fun painting vehicles could be! This was the first one I've painted. This fun, older beauty belongs to a family member who let me take pictures and paint her. I'll definitely be doing more in the future! 

Larissa

"Larissa"

16" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

This is my niece Larissa. I shot her picture in one morning while we were having breakfast in a restaurant. She was trying to be interested in the conversation going on around her, but really wanted her pancakes to arrive. 

Brenden

"Brenden"

16" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

I took a photo of Brenden after football practice one night. The field lighting was fantastic and I shot a few pics of both him and my son. I've posted the original image with the background loosely blocked out in Photoshop below.

Original Photo

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.