Painting a Day - 37

Eggplant
Oil on Canvas
6x6"
I can't say this one is my favorite but it's not too bad. I know I learned a lot from it.

I can almost make out my whole room in the reflective darkness that is the eggplant, so I was fighting being too detailed. I think I managed a fairly good looseness. I will also get a better photo of this thing because there are a lot of colors I put into the painting that just aren't showing up. I love putting pure pops of color into dark areas of paintings so it was fun to play with that. Greens and blues and cad red lights and yellows!

My eggplant also had a dent in it. I'm not sure it's showing up as such in the painting though, it gave me fits.
And I will say I've used the same back fabric and wood cutting board for all of my paintings and I think I'm getting super good at getting the wood and patterned fabric without going into too much detail, yet still tricking the eye into seeing detail.

And I'm happy my lemon painting has been sold on eBay. There are still the tomato and plum pieces, and I'll be uploading the pear tomorrow.

If they do not sell on eBay I will be posting the paintings on my new Etsy site, and updating the links on the pictures.

I've got to make my site automated... Soon!

eBay

There are still two days left to bid on the Lemon Painting.

And the Tomato Painting still has five days left!

And I just made an auction for my little Plum Piece I did: here!

Someone has shown interest in the Pepper Painting so I might not put that one up for auction. Fingers crossed!

Painting a Day - 36

Yellow Pepper
Oil on Canvas
4x5"

This piece was a bit difficult because the pepper wasn't just yellow. It was yellow and orange and green, a palette I'm finding I love more and more.

I enjoy the saturated colors I was able to find with the cadmium red light, the cadmium yellow light and the sap green. I almost wanted to limit myself and see what I could do with a simple limited palette, but I really wanted to play with the colors. I am also still working hard while trying to make it easy on myself, I don't want to get too frustrated half a dozen paintings into this.

This pepper is about to be eaten, however I paint it. Yum!

Painting a Day - 35

Tomatoes
6x6"
Oil on Canvas
Buy it Now!

At first I was not liking this piece at all, but I think it turned out pretty good. I've got it hanging on my wall before I put it up for sale. I have to say it looks nice hanging up there.

It's gallery wrapped, which I like on a wall, but I hate painting the edges. I manage to get paint everywhere!
I am not used to fighting for good pieces. I am a bit out of practice doing paintings from life. Even all the artwork and pieces I've done just aren't helpful when I'm working from a photograph. I know my mind is processing things differently, doing each type of work.

I can't recommend working from life enough. You've got to if you want to begin to be an artist.Click to Buy

Painting a day - 34

Strawberry
Oil on Canvas with easel
2x2"

I've been having some technical trouble, not being able to sign into my blogger account on my phone, which makes updating a bit problematic.

But I've got two updates today. This little strawberry didn't turn out as brilliantly as I had hoped, but I will try again. I love the little easel that comes with these tiny canvases.

I'll probably revisit this subject again so I won't say much on it. But I've got to start working bigger I think. I don't know. I think just painting is doing me a world of good.

First Painting Available on eBay

Here is a link to my painting that is available on eBay. I will be posting others soon, but I definitely wanted to get this out on my blog. There is no reserve and the buy it now price is only $30, which is a pretty good deal! Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lemon-Oil-On-Canvas-4x5_W0QQitemZ180671594257QQcategoryZ60437QQvarZQQcmdZViewItem

Painting a Day - 33

Plum
2x2"
Oil on Canvas
Bid Here

This is my smallest painting in awhile and the smallest one I've done on canvas.

The colors on this photo are a bit off, I'll try and fix that. Still getting used to this iPhone thing.

Painting a Day: 32

Pear
5x7"
Oil on illustration board
Wasn't able to upload this piece this morning, my phone was dead. This is also the piece before I put the final glaze on, but I'll do that tomorrow. It's amazing how so little can alter a piece!
It seems strange I'm doing this all on my mobile device, well, everything except the painting. The photo, the cropping, the blogging, and soon even the selling will be done entirely through this thing and the different applications I have found. Several sites still require the use of a computer, and I still prefer typing on long posts, so I can't completely give up my laptop. But I can go anywhere and be able to stay up to date with this device! It even has a Photoshop-like app that I use, and I'm amazed!
I think I'm going to do a little post on just how useful smart phones are! They'll soon replace my retail job, given a decent enough programmer who cares.
A word about my palette and process. I've settled into a palette I'm comfortable with, though I haven't painted consistently in so long I've forgotten some little nuances of colors I once could use blind folded.
I had permalba, yellow ochre, cad yellow light, burnt sienna, burnt umber, raw umber, and maybe some cad red light and sap green, though I think I only used those two on my last paintings and not the lemon or pear. I can't be positive, so I'll list them for what it's worth.
As for process I lay in values with burnt sienna and umber, then start putting on thick brushstrokes of paint. I can't thin the paint on the panel because it just rubs off. After this thick layer of paint dries, I do some glazing with burnt sienna to make the shadows warm and make them even. It's easy to use too much light in the shadows and the burnt sienna brings everything back to the right value.
Plus, working light colors into wet glaze is just as satisfying as adding highlights! Well, almost.

Painting a Day - 31

Lemon
Oil on canvas
4x6"
Sold

Starting the painting again, now that india nite is done and work has reached a not spring time of year! (at least here in Louisiana!)

Expect one a day for a while to come. It's hard getting back in the swing of things, but it's going to work out.