Windy Day

"Accidents Happen", 5"x7", Oil on Board
Yes, I'm finally finished but not without problems. Yesterday when I took the painting outside to photograph, a huge gust of wind blew the painting down on my garage floor while I was setting up my tripod. HOT TIP: Never photograph wet paintings outside on windy days. I actually cried when I picked the painting up because the background had dirt, debris, etc...stuck to the wet paint. It took me about three and a half hours to clean off the ruined paint and then repaint the background and the upper part of the glass. Yes, I know I'm an idiot. Since Halloween is pretty serious around here, I'm not sure how much I'll get done tomorrow.

Glass Painting Finished

I finally finished my glass and spoon demo oil painting. I'll post a better photo as soon as I can get outside. I feel like the whole past week and a half has really messed up my painting schedule. In addition to last week's car repair weekend, I finally went to the doctor's on Friday for some help with a sinus infection. They gave me these huge horse pills (antibiotics) of 1000 mg. 2x a day. Whatever happened to taking 500 mg. a couple times a day? I'm sure these pills will kill off any friendly bacteria I have also. Anyways, I had this terrible sinus headache all week right between my eyes and really didn't accomplish much. I just want to feel better so I can start doing some more oil paintings and pastels.

Painting the Spoon

I didn't reach my goal today but I'm happy with the way my spoon is turning out. I spent hours on the little section that I worked on because I wasn't satisfied with it. I'm missing a highlight on the spoon as well as a few others. I'll also need to glaze over the swirls that are behind the spoon to tone them done. I was a little intimidated at the thought of painting glass, reflections etc...but I've been trying to simplify the piece by concentrating on the shapes and painting the color notes that I see. It seems to work better than thinking about the difficulty of painting glass. I can't wait to see how much I finish tomorrow.

Plugging Away

I've gotten a little more finished on my demo painting although this painting should have been finished by now. The bottom of the glass is missing some reflections and those will be added towards the end when surrounding paint has dried a little. Tomorrow I hope I will have the spoon finished and maybe the top portion of the glass. The background should go quite quickly.

Car Repair Weekend

I didn't get much done on my demo painting because my Jeep ended up breaking down and needed repairs over the weekend. Whenever my computer goes on the blink or my car breaks down it seems like life comes to a complete stop. To top it all off I think I'm coming down with a cold...like I have time for this! I ended up going to Riteaid to try and find some miracle cure for the common cold. I came home with a product called Zicam which is supposed to help me get over my cold quicker and with less severity. At this point, I'll try anything! I'll check back in here tomorrow night.

Demo Continued

I didn't get as far as I would have liked on the painting but it's a start. I'm not sure how much I'll get done tomorrow because I have to go to an artist reception at the gallery in Westbrook tomorrow. I look forward to attending gallery events but at the same time feel frustrated when I can't spend enough time in the studio painting.

Painting Glass and Water

I've decided to post my process of completing an oil painting. This painting will probably take more than a few days to complete because it's a little more detailed so I'm posting it as a demo. I'm obviously not an authority on oil painting but this is my process. If I'm painting a detailed subject I start out with a light pencil drawing. I'll have to keep my pencil lines light because they could show through my paint layers. When I have some areas blocked in, I'll post another photo. I hope viewers will let my know if painting demos are of any interest. I've also provided viewers with the opportunity to subscribe to my blog via email and I'm hoping that's something folks will be interested in as well.

Another Marsh Painting

"Scarborough Marsh II", 6"x6", Oil on Canvas
I actually painted and finished this yesterday but didn't have time to get it posted because it was late when I finished. I have a mixed opinion on this one because there are some areas that I like in the painting and other areas that I'm not happy with. It does go great with my other marsh painting. I'm not sure what I'll attempt next, maybe another still life.

Cloud Study

"Clouds", 6"x8",Oil Primed Linen Panel
I wanted to paint something a little different and ended up doing this cloud study. I really just loved the colors when I looked up in the sky.

Final Olives

"Manzanilla Buddies", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I'm happy with how my new olive painting turned out! I'm seriously thinking about doing a series of these because they are just so fun to paint. I'm also grateful that it wasn't raining here this morning so I was able to photograph the painting. I get frustrated if I'm not able to list a new painting as often as I would like but I'm realizing that painting and keeping up on a blog is a lot of work. I really commend all of the daily painters out there who are successful at keeping up their pace.

I Finished the Olives

I finished the olives today and I'm satisfied with how the painting turned out. Unfortunately, we had a rainy day here in Maine today and I wasn't able to get outside to photograph the end product. One of the items on my to do list is working on indoor lighting for photographing artwork because with the weather we have here in the winter there are going to be a lot of days where I won't be able to photograph outside. I've also been busy reading a book called "Art Marketing 101" by Constance Smith. The book had some valuable information for fine artists with info on everything from shipping and displaying artwork to grant writing and artist residencies. I thought it was a good read! I'm not sure what my next painting will be...and actually the pressure is on to create some new pastel work. I don't know how I'm going to get it all done.

A Break From the Studio

I haven't posted in a few days because I decided to get outside and do some plein air painting. Needless to say, I feel like I'm horrible at it. I think it's good to get out of the studio once in awhile and paint outside because it energizes my work. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I'm much of a plein air painter so I won't bother to show you my results; however, I do plan to keep painting outside once in awhile. This was the small still life of olives that I had started on Saturday. I was able to get back at it tonight and get it moving along. Hopefully, I'll have this completed tomorrow sometime.

Gallery Trip

I made my trip to the Westbrook gallery yesterday to drop off some more of my work and to do an on-site painting demo. It was really worth the trip because when I arrived, internationally renowned watercolorist, Tony Van Hasselt, was also dropping off his work for a show that starts on the 19th of October and I had never met him before. He and his wife were both very nice, really genuine people. His work consisted of plein air landscapes that were rendered in watercolor. Watercolor has never been a strong medium for me but Mr. Van Hasselt honestly makes it look effortless. He didn't talk about his work at all but was rather interested in mine. When he left, apparently he was on his way to teach a workshop in New Hampshire. He and his wife travel all over the world to paint and teach...what a life! I started a small still life today...more olives. I like the idea of taking a simple subject and doing something with it. I'll check back in tomorrow to share my progress.

"Morning Coffee"

"Morning Coffee", 8" x 8", Oil on Canvas
Here's a better photo of the coffee painting. Today will be a busy day as most of the day will be spent getting ready for my trip to the gallery in Westbrook tomorrow. I need to get some of my pieces framed...this is usually put off until right before I need to drop them off at the gallery or a show as I hate framing.

Coffee Cup Painting Finished

I finished the coffee cup and spoon painting about fifteen minutes ago. Some of the reflections were a bit of a challenge, but I hung in there. For the most part, I'm satisfied with it because I've improved tremendously over the past two and a half months. If it's not raining in the morning, I will take a decent photo of the painting outside and select a title. Good night!

Still Painting

I haven't posted anything over the past three days but I have worked a little on this 8 x 8 oil painting. It's obviously not finished but I think it's OK to show the painting process. Sometimes I work the whole piece all over or I wait to put the background in last because I don't want to smear the background as I maneuver the painting from side to side for better painting angles. I had a flu shot on Saturday and ever since then I haven't felt well...maybe the shot was a mistake. At any rate, I hope to get back to painting in the morning. I'll post my progress on this tomorrow