Portraits from Ratfest

I use oil pastels exactly once a year- at Ratfest to do commissioned portraits. This year I did 5 portraits. It makes me so happy to make other people happy with my artwork.

All are 9x12 on archival vellum.

Meet the Oily Rats!

Ratfest was this weekend. I will post pictures later.

Two Siamese rat girls came home with me! I am SO EXCITED to have rats again, I really missed having them around these past 5 years.

Of course I named them after oil paint.

Quinacridone (Quin) is a blue point Siamese and Alizarin (Ali) is a seal point.

They are friendly and curious, and Daya LOVES them. My cat is jealous of them but she has always tolerated rats before and I have no reason to worry about it this time either.

Williamsburg Cadmium Red light

Another one today!

6x8 oil on panel
40 minutes

Vasari Pthalo Turquoise

While i was waiting to pick Daya up from school I did a little painting.
Vasari Pthalo Turquoise
6x8 oil on panel
45 minutes

Kindergarten!

Daya started kindergarten today! She is there right now. It is a half day, so I have to pick her up in a couple of hours. She has been so excited, I have been freaking out. They grow up so fast, it's both sad and exciting.

Old Holland Violet Grey

I bought this tube of paint today with a 40% off coupon. Isn't it pretty? :)

6x8 oil on panel
1/2 hour

Plein Air 31

I am so glad it is September. PRT was wonderfully uneventful this year, I am very glad about that. Now i can look forward to the weather changing and the days getting shorter.

School starts this Wednesday. I am really nervous. The school is not great at communicating, and i finally got the registration confirmation with this schedule... making me wish more than ever that I had other schooling options.



Scary. This from a SCHOOL.

Today I went with my friend to Central Park. It was a lovely day. Everyone is out of the city on account of Labor Day. I did one little painting. I have painted often enough in Central Park now that when I walk around I recognize my previous painting spots! I fondly passed by three of them today.

6x8 oil on panel, half hour

Willow 7 (PRT)

9x12 oil on panel

Willow 6 (PRT)

9x12 oil on panel

Willow 5 (PRT)

9x12 oil on panel

Willow 4 (PRT)

Still painting the willow tree...
9x12 oil on panel, 3 hours

Willow 3 (PRT)

I am very pleased with tonight's painting. I learned a lot- very specifically about thin application of paint while working alla prima. This is something I have been really struggling with, especially working small-scale en plein air.

The palette is a combination I discovered while experimenting back in college. It makes nice subtle tones and I enjoy working with it occasionally: Venetian (or Indian/any earth) red, naples yellow, and cerulean blue. (with mars black and titanium white)

6x8 oil on panel, an hour and a half

Willow 2 (PRT)

Another image of the willow. I actually did an acrylic painting tonight for the first time in 10 years!

9x12 acrylic on panel 2 hours

Willow 1 (PRT)

Here is another practice painting.
I like it and don't like it all at the same time.

The original image is one I took of a willow tree in Brooklyn. I am thinking I might do a little series on this image just to play around and see what happens.

8x10 oil on panel, hour and a half, split comp palette yellow green, red, and violet.



While I was painting this I listened to a Wayne Dyer lecture on living an inspired life. My subscription to the Hay House Radio archives auto-renewed, and as a free gift I got the 6 CD set in the mail... unexpected. What a nice surprise. (And I do love Wayne Dyer)

Towards the end of the 6th CD he spoke about prayer and specifically St Francis. The "Make me an instrument of thy peace" prayer. For the first time I really get how that prayer works... it has to do with aligning yourself in remembrance to Source and attracting that source energy because God can only be what God is and God is not lack. Wayne said it better than I am writing it, but I really got it. "Peace" can be substituted with anything. Anyhow while I was painting something really clicked and I had a wonderful moment of clarity. I even had to stop painting for a moment because I had such an energy surge.

It is something i will always remember and associate with this particular painting.

More Alla Prima Trees (PRT)

I'm still practicing alla prima landscapes. Here is a little painting that took one hour and 20 minutes, from one of my Central Park photos.

It was supposed to be a split complementary palette of violet, yellow orange and yellow green, but I chose incorrect pigments for both yellow orange and yellow green. As a result my color mixing was completely thrown off and I had to add a blue pigment in... my new Vasari Video Blue.

Lesson learned: inaccurate color selection for split complementary palettes makes a HUGE difference.

I like last night's painting better than this one.

6x8 oil on panel

Spring in Central Park (PRT)

I am supplementing my plein air work with some study and practice at home.
Here is a little painting from a photo I took on a plein air trip last spring in Central Park.

9x12 oil on panel, took an hour and a half

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