I finished painting the spout area a few days ago and wanted to get this photo posted to update everyone on my progress with the teapot. For my artist pick of the week, take a look at Robert Jackson's work. I especially like his paintings with the balloons!
Hi Everyone! I wanted to post an update on the progress I am making with the teapot painting. Yes, it's slow going but I'm getting areas blocked in and I'm currently blocking in the area of the spout, bottom, etc... I spent the majority of my week reading chapters from textbooks. I also want to include a link to Richard McKinley's weekly blog. Richard has three great articles on "The Switch to Digital, parts 1,2,3" on how to take digital photos of your work and how to prepare them for show entries. I thought this might be great info for any beginning artists out there because he really explains everything in great detail. For my artists pick of the week, you might want to check out Nancy Depew who paints incredible florals and does an awesome job painting silk fabric under her small works. If you get a chance, also check out Adam Vinson and Tony Curanaj's work.
Here's a sneak peak of what I've been working on. I actually had another painting in the works that I had spent about a week of time on. That painting ended up in my garbage pile! I was having problems with it so I decided to start a new one to put an end to the frustration. I actually have quite a bit of this completed but I've also been doing a lot of homework from a class I've been taking. I'm taking a case management class at a local university. I already have quite a few credits towards a degree in social services and hope by taking additional classes it will lead to a job. I'm looking to get a full-time job in this area and then moonlight as an artist. 
This is a section of the painting that I'm currently working on. I hate going for weeks without posting because people end up thinking that I've disappeared. At the same time, it's hard to show everyone an unfinished painting. I've been painting my cobalt bottle again and added another reflective element that I have purposely cropped out (I think it adds an element of surprise to not show the entire painting and keeps the viewer guessing what the final piece will look like). The shadows in this piece will play an important roll in this piece if I can pull it off.
"Accidents Happen", 5"x7", Oil on Board
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
