Day 15 - The Blessing Within

 Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. 
The goal is to find it. -Buddha

"The Blessing Within", oil, 12"x12", click here for purchasing details

I love the sweet gentleness that this lady exudes.  She is here to remind you to find the blessing within all things, and above all, be gentle with yourself and others.

This painting was a little different for me as I experimented with my painting process... Normally I'll oil the surface of my panel before I start painting so I can paint wet into wet.  But today, I applied a light ground of burnt sienna, thinned with Gamsol (an odorless solvent) which dries much faster than the oil.  You can see a blush of the ground in the picture below.

That surface dried pretty quickly, leaving me with a much drier surface to paint on than I am used to.  

After I blocked the elephant and flowers in, I applied another wash of darker paint to the background, using the Gamsol again.  

After this mostly dried, I finished with thicker paint, leaving the background to pop through in areas.  (Finished painting at top of page) Painting on a dry surface is not as easy for me, but you can get different effects with a dry panel that you can't achieve with a wet panel..

The blending properties are very different, brush work  and brush strokes look very different and I found myself wiping out certain areas to take them back down to the original ground.  :)  

Day 2 of the Daily Art Plus Challenge - Troo Colors

Today is the 2nd day of the October daily challenge and today's painting is one I started last week in West Chester from the back of my van. I am away from my home studio several days a week and had to figure out how I could keep painting.. so I bought a van and embraced the van life!  (Lol.. its fun and its also challenging, so, the verdict is actually still out on how tightly I will be embracing van life, but for now, it's an ok compromise.. I'm sure I'll be writing more about my Van Painting adventures as the month wears on..  :)  Anyway, back to Bessie.. I put the finishing touches on this sweet gal in my home studio, and now she's showing her Troo Colors. She's a nice companion piece to yesterdays frog since they both have pretty flowers on their head, and the sunny butterfly about to alight balances things nicely. I chose this cow for the main subject for the graphic black and white which I thought would contrast nicely with the brightly colored flowers and I love her unabashed gaze too :) 
She is currently for sale at Visual Expansion Gallery in West Chester. 

 

"Troo Colors", Oil on panel, 10"x10", 

please contact Visual Expansion Gallery in West Chester for purchasing details.

Day 8 of the 30 in 30 - High Summer Perch

 Good Sunday Morning. As this week begins, I am posting Day 8 of the 30 in 30  with another garden painting.   My family decided we were going to have a garden this year, after 4-5 years letting our garden plot go fallow.. It has been an enormous amount of work, but has given us an enormous amount of satisfaction and of course produce.  And a wonderful result has also been the time I've gotten to spend with my husband and children as we work in the garden   A few months ago, I found an old but very pretty chair sitting out for the garbage, and immediately knew it would find a home in my garden.  This vintage beauty may not be needed anymore as an inside chair, but I had a need to sit and rest after harvesting and a pot of very prolific portulacas were in need of a perch.  We also installed a few bird feeders near the garden and I always see all manner of little feathered friends perching on the fence and this chair.  I have been enamored with this chair and finally had to paint it.  I hope I've done this old girl justice!

High Summer Perch, 10"x10", oil, to purchase click here

Day 10 of the 30 in 30 - Heads above the rest

I decided on another sunflower for today.... had a conversation with my Mom and Dad and they both commented on the first one I painted,  saying how much they liked it... I thought it would be nice to do a different composition and size.  This one is painted on a stretched canvas, which is a little different from painting on panel.  Can't decide which one I like better... well, o.k., I like painting on panels better - just feels different.  But canvas has it's benefits.  This one is titled "Heads above the rest" because...it just looks like it, but also, because both of my Grandmothers, (whom I planted the sunflowers in honor of) were heads above the rest.... Both were strong, liberal minded women who loved to live life to the fullest! Hope you enjoy...Viva la Sunflowers!

Heads above the Rest, oil on canvas, 8"x10"
Please click here to purchase

Summer Roses

So, I have been painting.  I just haven't been doing a lot of posting.  We are getting ready to go on vacation, I am busy with my garden and summer stuff, and time just seems to get away from me.  Today, I made some collages of the rose paintings I have been working on for the past few weeks.  These paintings were done from photos I took of the beautiful rose bush that is in my back yard. It blooms perfusely (sp?) in spring for about 2 weeks and then its done until mid to end of summer.
The first 4 paintings are on 6"x6" panels.  I recently ordered these panels because I know of other artists who paint on panel and wouldn't paint on anything else.  They definitely take some getting used to as they react completely differently to the brush.  The paint has to be a different consistency as well, and after painting on several of these panels, I came to realize that you must also put medium down on it first and then paint wet into wet.  Geeze.  For those of you who use oil paint, I hope this makes sense.  For those of you who don't, you may choose to disregard all of this nonsense.  Regardless, I did come up with some nice rose paintings, and well, frankly, one or two I don't like as much.  But you can't love, love, love every single painting you make now then can you.

Summer rose collage.  Each painting is done on separate 6"x6" gessoed panels

2 summer roses.  Both are oil on canvas

Iris I was this beautiful (get it?)

Man.  Flowers are incredible.  So complex, deceivingly detailed and challenging to paint.  This one took, I am not sure how many hours total to paint, because as I said in my last post, I have been busy doing other things what with the end of school and the gallery I am involved with.  So, this painting was done in several sessions which happened sometimes days apart.  I do hate painting this way and I am trying to get into my studio every day.  Got to get there now!  So without further ado, here is the new Iris.... Hope you like!

Iris I was this beautiful, 18"x24", oil on canvas  (currently NFS)

This painting will be displayed (hopefully) in the bank I do business with.  Once it is dried and framed that is!

Darling Dahlia

Flowers are fabulous subjects to paint.  They are beautiful, intricate, challenging and in the end very satisfying.  This one is a dahlia from a bouquet I got for Mothers day.  I am finding that I enjoy painting subjects close up, at least for now.  I like seeing the textures and detail that you don't see when you are painting subjects from further back.  So, here is this darling dahlia that was interesting due to it's many layers.  I had to figure out which part of the flower I needed to paint first (and know why!)  Of course, I didn't figure that out right away.  But I got it...! Enjoy!

Darling Dahlia, 12"x12", oil on canvas

No more daffodils

Well, technically, I may paint more daffodils, but around here, in eastern PA, the daffodils are just about over for spring.  Tulips are in full bloom around here now, and spring is just moving right along!  Happy May!  Which I can't believe because I swear, March was just yesterday, but apparently April happened in there somewhere.  Anyway, here is another daffodil painting.  I actually finished this last week, however, I have been busy preparing for the opening at Art Plus Gallery, which is Tomorrow!  In addition to painting, I have been making frames for my artwork.  Not exactly my thing, but you do what you must when you are just starting out.....  I will post some pictures of my artwork at the show.  There are 3 paintings that made it in and I am excited to meet some of the other artists tomorrow night.  Now, without further ado, Daffodil.

Delicate Beauty, 5" x 7", oil on canvas

I didn't realize that painting this one was going to be more challenging than the first.  But it was...  Painting yellow, which is not really yellow, but some pale, delicate version of it (as in the petals) and then getting the multiple shades of ... salmon (?) in the front part of the flower.....  well, challenging, as I said.  Color keeps me coming back.

The Daffodils are blooming!

So the flowers are in full swing around my house.  I am so grateful for flowers and so thankful for Spring.  It is by far the most magical time of year and I wish it would last forever!  I am lucky to have many kinds of flowers planted around my very old house.  I imagine that the previous owners would get flowers every Mothers day or Easter and plop them in somewhere on the property, because they are all over the place.  Daffodils are a favorite, because they usher in Spring and are so bright.  Here is a new painting, done in the looser style I talked about in previous posts. Still trying to perfect this...

Daffodil, 6"x6", oil on canvas

Poppies and petunias

This still life came out of my head.  The flowers are two of my favorites, Poppies and Petunias...

Poppies and Petunias, acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20", 2012