A Daily Painting

"Bosc Pear", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I don't paint a lot of daily painting so I decided to get a pear a prop it up and do a quick painting of it. I haven't decided what direction to go in next. I do have some old bottles that I've been considering but right now I'm still undecided.

Landscape Study

"Scarborough Marsh IV", 5"x7", Oil
I've been doing some quick studies of the Scarborough Marsh this week and ended up with this study of the area. I'll probably go back in and add some more darks in the foreground because I'm not happy with it. The marsh is really a great place to paint especially if you visit at different times throughout the year. I ended up traveling down south to the Scarborough/Cape Elizabeth area on Friday to paint. It's really a beautiful area and a different place to paint since most of my landscapes are focused on the Bar Harbor/Stonington area.

Another Candy Painting

"Jr. Mints", 6"x6", Oil on Panel

I finished this little candy painting about an hour ago. This is probably about the third still life painting I've done of candy, but I have fun painting them and they are kind of whimsical. The most challenging part of these kind of paintings are the package designs and hand painting the lettering.

I got a call from the owner of the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth, Maine which is near Bar Harbor for those of you who do not live in Maine. The owner of the gallery is interested in showing some of my work at her gallery this summer. She requested to see more images of my pastel landscapes which I sent out to her on Monday. I'll give it a week and then I'll follow-up with a phone call to find out which pieces she is interested in. My biggest problem with this whole process was that all of my Jpegs were not at a reduced size so I ended up having to make my image files smaller. I don't know how my image files are ending up so large to begin with. I'm weak in the technology area!

M & M Painting Finished

"Plain M&M's", 6"x6", Oil on Board

Yes, I finally finished this! I was getting ready to take it outside for a photo and had to stop because it's snowing. What else is new? I'm actually pleased with how this painting turned out. My favorite part of the painting is the section inside of the candy wrapper with the M & M's tucked neatly inside. You can also get a sense of the light coming through the wrapper there as well. Please let me know what you think!

New Cherry Painting

"Cherries on Green", 6"x6", Oil on Board
I finally got this photo posted with the help of my son. As I mentioned earlier, I'm having problems with my camera. Hopefully, I'll get this issue resolved soon. I'm happy with how this small painting turned out. Let me know what you think? It's great to be painting again after giving the joints in my hands a much needed rest.

Fruit Still Life

"One Pear", 5"x7", Oil on Board
I've really enjoy painting fruit so I thought this pear would make a nice still life when I found a whole bin of them at the grocery store. I kept the brush strokes a lot looser than I normally would and really enjoyed the simplistic, organic quality of the pear. With the new year coming, I'd like to paint some larger pieces as well as continue with my small paintings. It will be difficult to work on more than one piece at a time. If I don't post another painting before New Year's, than Happy New Year's to everyone. I've appreciated all of your comments and support since I started this blog back in September.

I Finally Finished This

"Cherries and Plate" 5"x7", Oil on Board
I finally finished this the other day but I didn't get it photographed until today. I took too long on this painting but I think a lot of it is just the time of year and the fact that a week ago I didn't have any heat in my studio so that certainly put me behind. I'm hoping I can get more work done after the new year. We shall see because it really depends on how much pain and swelling I have in my hands. As for the cherry painting I just finished, I'm happy with how the cherries turned out but that's about it. Hopefully, my work will continue to improve the longer I stick with it. If I don't post again before Christmas, then Merry Christmas to all of you.

Tomatoes Still Life

"Two Tomatoes", 6"x6", Oil on Canvas
I finished this last night but decided to wait for natural light this morning to photograph the painting. I used a few different reds, cad. yellow light, thalo green, white and some greys to create this small painting. The biggest challenge for me was getting that dull shine on the tomatoes. I think I'll continue with more still life paintings.

Small Paintings

"Maine Marsh", 4"x 6", Oil on Canvas
I've painted a few miniatures over the past couple of weeks and decided to paint another marsh painting because it's such an incredible area.

Schoodic Point Pastel

"Schoodic Point in Fog", 5"x8", Pastel
I finished this pastel landscape of Schoodic Point last night. For those of you who are not from Maine, Schoodic Point is downeast on the coast in the town of Winter Harbor. That whole region is one of my favorite places in the state. The day I visited was foggy but I thought it was beautiful. I'll be working on a landscape in oil today and will get that posted as soon as it's finished.

It's Snowing!

Well, we are getting our first snowfall of the season here in Maine. We're supposed to get 3 to 5 inches with sleet and freezing rain but I don't think it's going to amount to much. This is only the beginning of a very long and cold winter here. I'll try to keep you all posted with wintery pics. Most of us here in the northeast heat our homes with heating oil and at $310.00 for 100 gallons of oil (and rising), I'm afraid it's going to be a very expensive winter. Ok, enough about the cold...I've been working on some pastels, one of which I've already thrown away because I wasn't happy with it. I do have a pastel landscape of Schoodic Point that is almost finished and an oil painting ready to go on the easel. I'll post pics as soon as it's finished.

Pastel Finished

"Fall Drive", 8"x10", Pastel
I was happy to have finished this pastel landscape of rural Maine. Am I happy with it? No! I'm usually never happy with my work because I'm so critical. There is always something in a painting that I could have done differently but there is always next time. If I decide to frame this, I will not spray the pastel with fixative. I don't like fixative on the final layer because it really does alter the final colors. Usually a good tap is all that is needed to get any loose pastel dust off of the surface. When framing a pastel, I also use spacers and a mat with a reverse bevel so if any pastel dust falls it will not end up in the corners of the mat.

Olive Series

"Three Olives", 5x7, Oil on Board
Sorry I haven't posted in a week but I've been taking care of some art related items. Friday I went to the Westbrook gallery to drop off new pastels and an oil landscape. They seemed to like the work. I've also been preparing my entry for a juried show which is always fun. I finished this quick olive painting to go with the series. After I finish posting, I plan on working on my pastel that I had started and working on a new artist statement. There is always so much to do and very little time.

Pastels Again

It's a miracle that I was able to upload these photos because I've been getting error messages every time I try to load a photo. Apparently there is a known issue regarding uploading of photos within Blogger. I hope they get this bug worked out soon. I haven't worked on any pastels within three months so I thought it was about time. I'm using Reeves BFK paper with a pumice ground that I created myself. I usually pick out the pastels I need from my cases and put them in a try etc... so they don't roll off onto the floor. At $3.00 - $4.00 a stick I can't afford to break them on the floor. We'll see how this goes because I've never made my own pastel surface before. I typically use Sennlier La Carte sanded paper. I also have another olive painting started in oils for my olives series.

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.