Nine for Daily Paintworks

I was planning to finish an even dozen of these little 5x7 inch oils before posting any of them on Daily Paintworks but I have had several people email me about purchases so I guess it is time to send them out into the world. I'll post them one at a time on the Daily Paintworks Auction starting the first one at $30 to see how it goes. Also, I'm going to try a 10-day auction instead of my usual 5-7 days. They are shown here in their painting sequence but I'll be posting them in a different order. If you have emailed me about a purchase I have your name and I'll try to remember to contact you with a "heads-up" when your painting is about to be posted. My thanks to each of you for your encouragement of this new work.

local color and finish

Local color added to all.

"Nectarine and Cherry," oil, 5x7 inches  sold

Thanks to all who commented here or emailed me regarding the steps shown for this little painting.

step by step

From the beginning, here is a visual step by step of "Nectarine and Cherry," 5x7 inch oil still life. This is a shot of the still life step up a few feet away from my easel. I paint from this set up, not from a reference photo. Here is a link to my lighting setup idea from Qiang Huang.

That's it for now. Taking a break.

a day in May

A Day in May, oil, 5x7 inches   sold

This is #8 of my dozen 5x7 inch oil still life study paintings. I can't wait to get on to something a different size. I am learning about the medium but also taking more time with composition -size, texture and color relationships. Sometimes it is exhausting.

Beginnings

Beginnings, oil, 5x7 inches

I don't know what I was thinking...well, yes I do. I was thinking the soft felt baby shoe would be good against the shiny silver porridge bowl and crispy dried Statice. Top it off with a reflective marble. Good idea, right? Well, yes but it was a challenge to paint because each surface/texture wanted to be the center of attention. I had to choose. Shoe and silver took a back seat to flowers and marble. Or, at least that's how I see it.

beginning of beginnings

This is the beginning of a new little painting called Beginnings because of the vintage baby shoe and the porridge bowl* from my childhood. I took a photo of my still life set up, printed it in grayscale, drew a big X through it as a reference to help me freehand the scene onto a toned 5x7 Ampersand panel.

Here is the first step of painting. Notice that I had to change the lace on the shoe or make the scene smaller.

This step shows simple placement of values. Tomorrow I'll continue with more local color, then modeling the objects, then bringing it all together with a little detail and concentration on the relationships between the objects. As always, the subject is the light. The objects are there to show the play of light and shadow. *Found this porridge bowl years ago at a garage sale. It is exactly as I remember the one from my childhood but this one is more beat up.

blessed

 I love this cloudy old bottle, turned lavender by the years. Per Qiang Huang's advice, I spent a lot of time working on the composition of the objects.

Here is the line drawing done in blue colored pencil on a toned 5x7 Ampersand panel.

This is how I left the painting last night. It is good advice to sleep on a problem.

Blessed, oil, 5x7 inches  sold

Finally brought it all together this morning. Don't shake old poppy heads over your oil paint palette. I had to throw out all the poppy-seeded paint! Almost all parts of this painting were better than this at one time or another during the painting of this little scene but I just COULD NOT work on it any longer. Love doing glass. It reminds me of my perfume bottle illustration days as a young fashion illustrator.

five easy pieces?

Five easy pieces?...No, but I AM learning a lot about oil paint and about my observation skills.

Orange Cup, oil, 7x5 inches  sold

mother's day rose

"Mother's Day," oil, 5x7 inches   sold

My Mother's Day roses were the motivation for this set up but they all died days ago while I was still painting. I should have painted the rose first. When I have a dozen of these 5x7 oil paintings complete, I'll begin putting them on my Daily Paintworks Gallery for purchase.

still loving it

Shells and Spoon, oil, 5 x 7 inches   sold

I'm still loving my play time with oils. It's play because I am painting without a thought of filling gallery commitments or entering competitions. I'm just practicing and learning a skill. This is extremely freeing to me. If you would like to read more of my thoughts on this, click here.

brush and marbles

Brush and Marbles, oil, 5 x 7 inches   sold

 Learning more about oil paint and listening to classical music for the first time while I paint. Fun!

art supplies #1

Art Supplies #1, oil on Gessobord, 7x5 inches

Time to quit painting on this one and move on.

added color

I added local color. This stage is supposed to be right brain but I feel I have to be careful with placement of paint so I don't get myself into trouble later and at the same time I'm trying to not go into the modeling stage too quickly (always my problem because I gravitate to detail). I'm still very timid but I know I will get looser and more expressive with practice.

starting anew

I found an example of a simple set up painted by Qiang Huang and set up my own similar setup.

Here is the value step of my painting. I must give myself more information at this stage than Qiang would because I'm not as experienced in oil. Someday, this step should go much more quickly. By the way, this under painting or grisaille is the technique I used when working in colored pencil many years ago. See the example.