Plein Air #29, 30, Vasari, Purple, & an Oily Girl (PRT)

My friend from WetCanvas, Nancy Park came to visit NYC for the first time with her granddaughter. Nancy is one of the Oily Girls- we are a group of oil painters who chat with each other a lot. Over time we have become online friends and did a painting exchange a few months ago.

Lucky me, I got to meet Nancy in person! We went to the Guggenheim.



We went to the Vasari store and adopted some expensive paint. It is very important to give homeless tubes of Vasari paint a good paint-friendly home.



And we painted. Nancy's painting looks fine but mine both look better in the dark.

#29 6x8 oil on panel, Zorn palette, Battery Park
My foliage needs desperate help.



This one I did the next day while Nancy was at the King Tut exhibit.

#30 6x8 oil on panel- pthalo turquoise, rose madder, cadmium orange, Central Park
My weeds need desperate help.



This painting did not come out very well but I had one of those epiphanies that should have been obvious from the beginning... I know I need to work on my composition, and I need to DRAW more when I am painting outdoors. DUH. Why it took me 30 paintings to figure that one out I'll never know. I was trying to figure out my difference in approach between plein air and still life. Drawing. Important. Obvious. Basics.

Then I took Nancy's lovely granddaughter to the West Village to go shopping. There were some lovely scarves on sale at one of the Tibetan shops, and i have been wanting a new altar cloth for a long time. Purple is pretty.

Plein Air #25 and #28 (PRT)

I am not up to date on posting my plein air paintings, but here is one from last week. I went out after work and found a nice comfy spot in Central Park.

6x8 oil on panel, 45 minutes #28



Here is another one from a few weeks ago.
6x8 oil on panel, 30 minutes, Riverside Park #25

PRT Buffer #1

It starts already... this time my teeth! I'm nuts about my teeth, never had a cavity in my life, although I have had quite a lot of orthodontic work. Perhaps my great teeth make up for my wonky eyes....

Anyhow, I recently got a supercute lipstick case at the Silk Road show at the museum of natural history. It has a little mirror inside. Imagine my absolute horror when I used it and noticed my bottom teeth were turning brown! Seriously, I felt sick, but wondered what could be the cause since there has not been any indication of problems.

I did a quick google search on "brown stain near gumline" which a list of websites all related to problems people have been having for YEARS with Crest Pro-Health mouthwash. Which I started using just over a month ago. My staining issue was described in detail by many others, along with other, more serious sounding problems. I booked an appointment with the dentist today.

Thankfully, my teeth are (still) absolutely fine and the hygienist was able to remove all of the staining! I am so relieved.

Puff the Magic Badger (PRT)

Another little 2 hour study, 8x10 oil on canvas
"Puff The Magic Badger" is what I named my hand-made badger blender brush from Rosemary & Co.



A good start to Pigeon Risk Time (PRT) 2010.
Anyone else who can't stand August, feel free to join me in my alternate time frame.

Pigeon Risk Time (PRT) Starts Tomorrow!

Get ready for Pigeon Risk Time (PRT) starting at midnight!

Mala Beads & Incense

Another little 2 hour painting.
8x10 oil on canvas

Rock Candy

I am 4 glaze layers into Twilight, but needed to get some alla prima painting out of my system.

This little study took 2 hours.

8x10 oil on canvas

Twilight- Grisaille

This is the very last grisaille underpainting I will do for a long time.
Poor Twilight has been sitting unfinished on my easel for months. I'll let her dry then start the color glazing.

I much prefer direct painting.

10x20 oil on canvas, after Bouguereau

Claudine

This is a commissioned portrait of my daughter's favorite teacher.
8 x 10 oil on panel

Plein Air 21 & 22

I have been looking forward to going out painting in the rose garden since last November, and today i went! Probably I should have gone last week, there were roses out but they were definitely past their peak.

Here is the first painting, I didn't quite capture the "look" I was going after, but it was still fun. :)

6x8 oil on panel



Then I found a really cool tree and decided to paint it. It is nice to stand barefoot in thick grass and paint. As I was setting up my tripod, a storm approached but luckily I brought my umbrella. I figured I would be painting longer than the rain would last, and I was right! It is a good thing i use oil paint and not anything water-based!

8x10 oil on panel



I am going back tomorrow.

Cadmium Green Pook

It is November 21, 2017 and because of a conversation last night about Gamblin cadmium green I discovered a painting never made it to my blog from 2010.
This is a split comp painting of Carey's cat. I gave her the painting.

Carey took this picture. I could dig mine up but this is good enough.

It is 6x8 oil on panel

Pink and Yellow Rose

....aka "Heavy Metal Petals" due to all the lead and cadmium. :)

This is a wedding gift, I hope they like it. Total time was about 35 hours. Finishing this painting was my Art Goal for the month of May.

Progress shots are posted here.

16 x 20 (40.6 x 50.8 cm) Oil on panel

#20

Central Park, about 20 minutes (I think) while watching the 4 year old. It's hard to focus on painting and watch a little kid at the same time, but at least it forces me to work fast.

6x8 oil on panel

Plein Air #19

Painting in Brooklyn again today...
I used my Vasari landscape mixes, but I wish I hadn't, as the greens are perfect for some things but were too dull for today.

I didn't want to focus on color but on composition...specifically circular composition.
6x8 oil on panel



Well, it's said that it takes 100 paintings to get a good one, 81 more to go. :D

Daya had lots of fun too.

More Brooklyn Plein Air

I learned today that people are not allowed to sit on the grass in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens... unless you are painting!! Isn't that awesome?

I am now 18 PA paintings in, learning as I go. My copy of Edgar Payne's Composition of Outdoor Painting just arrived and i can't wait to read it.

I did 3 things differently today:
*left black off my palette
*did a quick charcoal sketch before painting
*attempted the pigment soup approach

This is a split complementary palette, Alizarin crimson, cadmium green, maganese violet plus white and Torrit Grey (as the mother color)

So much to learn!

6x8 Oil on Panel

Duchess

My friend commissioned this painting for her daughter's birthday. She wanted to give a gift with special meaning rather than the typical stuff.

8x10
oil on panel



I need to have April Art goals- here they are:
1) finish the grisaille for Twilight
2)study up on plein air painting and practice! I just got my copy of Edgar Payne's "Composition of Outdoor Painting", which is like the plein air bible. And I also got a sketchbook to keep a plein air journal- something I wish i did from the start. I wish I had noted down the palettes I used for different paintings- some I remember some i do not. But I put everything in to date, and will keep more detailed records going forward.
3) start that wedding painting that needs to be done before Memorial day

Spring

Yesterday I had a bad headache all day, but went out painting in Central Park anyhow.
Here are the highlights:

Paintings done: 2
Hours the weather was perfect: 24
Kids peeing on the tree I stood under: 1
Hott guys who came over to watch: 1
People who asked "Is that acrylic?": 3
People who tried to touch the painting: 1

9x12 oil on panel


I took a break between paintings and went to the Met. If you go in the downstairs entrance, they will not let you put a camera tripod in the coat check. It is considered a "sensitive" item.

The guards in the main entrance upstairs agreed that was a little wacky.



I am not happy with my plein air painting, but I can't pinpoint why not. It might be an issue of style. It isn't magical, and I want it to be magical. So I am reading a few good books, and practicing as much as I can and looking at different artists' work. I would dearly love to take a workshop but don't know if I can manage that with time - it is a lot to ask my friend to watch my daughter for multiple days at a time, and I will most probably be going to London again this year for work. So I'll just do the best I can with what i have.

The park was so pretty.












Because it is Spring, and coloring eggs is fun, Daya and I made Easter bread. :)



**************
I just realized i forgot to post these from last week!
Poor neglected blog...

6x8 oil on panel

These three were painted with the Zorn palette- cadmium red light, yellow ochre, French ultramarine, ivory black, titanium white





I did this purple tree while Daya ran around in the grass. She likes it so I gave it to her. :)

Little Yellow Rose

Here is a little yellow rose, took an hour and a half.

6x8 oil on panel

Cactus Monday: Serpentine Edition

These cacti are on the third floor of the Museum of Natural History. :)



I don't remember what this thing is except that it's really big.

Still Life with Matcha

I have been doing a master copy of Bouguereau's Twilight with my friend Nancy on WetCanvas.

But I had to take a break from the tight rendering, so here is a little still life with matcha. Matcha is the Japanese green tea powder that is used in tea ceremony. It is prepared using a tea whisk in a bowl, and is whisked to make a froth on top.

6x8 oil on panel, took about an hour.

Yellow Rose

Well, it's March and that means a new art goal. Anatomy Month was pretty short lived but at least I did something with it.

I have to finish a commission this month, so that's my goal. :)

Tonight I played around with my pan pastels some more. I much prefer using them on paper than pastel board. I need to practice. A lot. Ultimately this will really help with my oil painting, specifically in color and laying down a brush stroke then leaving it alone. Pastels, IMHO, are more difficult to work with than oils.

9x12 pastel on Canson paper

Pastel Portrait in Oils

I had little globs of leftover paint from three paintings in the freezer. That's hard to make a unified and harmonious palette with, so I didn't even bother trying.

Here is a little portrait of some of my pan pastels. :)

8x10 oil on canvas

Wake Up and Smell the....

When Daya wakes up before me now, she quietly plays in her room until I get up.

Except on Saturday morning, she came and woke me up to tell me something in her room smelled really bad, like garbage.

You can't go back to sleep after your child says something like that, so of course I got up to investigate. I smelled nothing, so went back to bed.

later that morning:
Daya; Mommy, my room smelled really bad like garbage.
Me; Does it still smell bad?
Daya: No...
Me: Did you fart?
Daya: (thinking) Oh, yeah...
Me; Do you think that's what smelled bad?
Daya; (the lightbulb visibly goes off in her mind) Oh, YEAH!!

Pastel Sunset

This is a thank-you gift for my co-worker's fiancee. She was apprenticed to a famous painter in Korea, and a book was made of his work. She gave me a copy.

8x10 pastel on pastel board (I got to play with my pan pastels!)