Day 5 - Vintage Phone

I am drawn to the lines and style of vintage phones...I have painted a few in the past year and today's entry is another great old phone that has such wonderful contours..  Present day cell phones will never compare...
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Thanks!

Vintage Phone, oil on panel, 6" x 6"
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October Newsletter

My October Newsletter is out!  I am running a special deal on commissions this month (and into November)  If you ever thought about commissioning me to paint a pet portrait, now is a great time to do it.  Pet portraits make wonderful gifts!  Think ahead to surprise a loved one!

If you are not a subscriber, you can read my newsletter here... http://eepurl.com/GP1An

If you'd like to become a subscriber, click here... http://www.karenweberfineart.com/subscribe.html
I also always try to include tips about oil painting and information about upcoming art shows and events!
Thanks and enjoy this rainy day!

Unlikely pear, oil on canvas, 6"x6", $75.00

Happy Pachy

If you have kids, you know they amass a collection of knick knacks, gadgets, toys and otherwise.... stuff.  A lot of it is fun to look at and, what else to do with it once they lose interest but... Paint it!  So this is where the inspiration for this painting came from.  This little elephant was a toy of my daughters as she is also an animal lover.  I always thought she looked happy, so, I titled this one, "Happy Pachy" (as in pachyderm.... get it?)  And the flowers, well, they are in full bloom on my amazing weeping cherry tree in my front yard.  This tree must be over 70 years old and is one of the most beautiful trees in all of St. Lawrence this time of year.  (I am biased...!)

Happy Pachy, 10"x10", oil on canvas

After thinking about painting an elephant I decided to look up information on them and came across this website, which is a little sad, but has made me think about doing some more paintings and donating proceeds of sales (if they sell!) to this organization.  Here is a link to their website if you are interested in checking that out.
 http://elephantsumbrella.org/

Sweet and Sour

Still lifes present unique challenges.  The initial challenge being what do you put into the still life?  I am forever pondering this and often the things I put in are a combination of things I find interesting aesthetically and things that need to be there for the composition to work.  This particular still life includes two pitchers that I found at the Good will and I liked their profiles.  Marbles are just fun to paint.  Jelly beans and the lemon?   Color, baby!  I am still learning the intricacies of painting white.  Not as straight forward as you may think, as white objects, especially shiny ones, reflect the color that surrounds them.  Lots of looking!

Sweet and Sour, 12" x 12", Oil on canvas

Orange slices on summer

There are so many great artists out there painting oranges..... (seriously, just google paintings of oranges...)  so I decided I needed to give them a shot.   Believe it or not, orange is a tough color to paint and maintain it's vibrancy.  And, when you have orange slices strongly lit, there is this gem like glow that happens that is fun to try to capture.  Definitely a subject matter I will return to.  The plate reminds me of summer with its bold colors and fresh flowers... Hence the title, Oranges slices on Summer.

Orange slices on Summer, 6" x 6", oil on canvas

Bunny, tree, bowl and pitcher

I finished this a few days ago.  Again, some of the things were found at the goodwill, and others were things I have had and loved for awhile.  This painting was my practicing painting white and painting clear glass.  I love the little bunny.  It is a tiny pitcher I got for my Daughter a few years back and have always loved.

It is done in oil and measures 12" x 12"

Original drawing on canvas

Initial blocking in

Further on

Final painting, fresh off the easel... still shiny...

Tall vessels

Got some stuff at the Thrift Shop.  (by the way, love the song of the same name!)  I love the Goodwill for still life items.  You can find things there that are cheap and oh so interesting to paint.  Not sure I am content with the overall colors in this, but I was more going for experimentation with shapes, strange color combinations and tall composition.

Owl Still Life

Owl Still Life, 12"x12"

Here is the final painting, cropped and slightly brightened and contrasted because the photo was a little darker than the actual painting.

Owl painting from start to finish: Final part

The last pictures

Maybe for the next time lapse I will better edit my photos.
Cropping is probably in order.

Continuing to refine.  I wasn't happy with the vinca coming out of the vase, so I got rid of the offending part.  I am also figuring out how I am going to represent the metal candle stick and the white of the vase.  I used the impressionist trick of mixing the complementary colors of purple and yellow to make the grays in the white.  Does that make sense?

And it is basically finished.  It was a challenging painting for various reasons.  Painting glass so that it appears transparent and "glassy" takes close observation, and painting metal also poses challenges.  The vinca continued to trouble me due to the slight foreshortening that happened near the bottom right of the canvas.  I feel that I didn't actually leave this part as un-finished as it looks in this picture.  I will have to investigate to see if I finished it and forgot to take the final photo.  The owl is a bit shell shocked, also, but I think that is kind of why I like him.  Never blinking, always alert.

Owl painting from start to finish: Part 2

Below are pictures of the Owl still life painting in progress.  I started this one with a sketch in thinned down oil with an and tinted the whole canvas that burnt sienna type hue.

The sketch is kind of loose and not perfect but I do try to get proportions and positions as accurate as possible in the initial sketch.  Here I tried the sketch in oil, as opposed to pencil or charcoal.  It has it's pros and cons.  Notice the marks on the sides of the canvas marking it into thirds and halves.  Place these markers on your canvas as reference points as you sketch your painting.

Here I am trying Carol Marine's method of painting in what she calls "islands of color",  In other words, colors that need to remain vibrant and pure, paint them in first, as islands that you then surround with the background.  I have typically found painting the background first seems to make more sense, but I wanted to look at things a different way.

After I have the main objects blocked in, I start blocking in the background.  I am not concerned yet with minor details.  As I work, things will come together.

I just noticed the poor quality of these photos. They are quite blurry.  If I have time, I will see if I have any that are better quality.  As for now, they get the basic point across.

A painting from start to finish: Part 1

Below I decided to record my progress on this still life.  The little blue owl is actually a kitchen timer I bought from 5 below that neither times correctly nor rings consistently...  But other wise is very cute.  He is in 2 of my paintings actually.  I may have to paint him again in different colors and settings at a future time...

I first set up a primitive still life stand, arranged my objects and carefully lit it.  I chose the things because of their relationship of shape, color and size.  And because I like each thing individually also.  In addition I took a reference photo of the still life.  Photos help me to better break down the composition.  I also use photo editing tools sometimes to add contrast to the lights and darks.

 Or take away the color to make it monochrome

...Or blur it to replicate what happens when you squint.  Squinting is important when trying to see the large areas of light and dark.  I have a photo editing tool as an app on my ipad.  I forget the app, but there are quite a few great, and FREE photo editing apps out there that are wonderful for artists.  The tools available to artists today, versus 5 years ago is just staggering. 

...Next post will have the actual painting.

Things I like to put together

These still lives are a series of objects that I bought at the goodwill, or commandeered from my kids toys, or just simply like the way they look and keep them around so I can see them every now and then.

 One of my current favorites.  Little buddha, 6"x6".  I was just reading about Buddha this morning.  The last buddha spoke about reincarnation and said that that would be his last incarnation because he had finally realized that the soul is but an illusion.  Something to ponder.  If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

 Cruet and Vase; Nuts and Marbles, 8"x8"

 I currently have stacks like this in my studio of my paintings.  I guess I will just have to start selling them or something.  I wish there was an easy way to draw people to know about my paintings.  I am such a novice at the marketing and business aspect of being an artist.  I suppose, I better start learning and employing the knowledge soon, otherwise, I am going to run out of room...

I am currently trying on different color pallettes for my paintings.  I am often inspired by the color collections you can pick up for free in the paint section of any local hardware store.  I keep them around so that when I start a new painting I can look through them for ideas on palletes to set just the right tone. 

More little paintings of fruit

I completed these two paintings this week to continue with the small paintings of fruit theme.  Lemons are just as nice to paint as pears and I think they look pleasing together...

Pear and Lemon on stripes, acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6", 2012

Lemon and Pear, acrylic on canvas, 8" x 10", 2012

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