Small Spaces

Drove down to meet some friends at Los Rios, San Juan Capistrano. Didn't get settled to paint until 10:30. Light was changing and I knew by the heat, that it would be a quick painting period. So 6 inch square and a small space would work. Light will always move. It is much easier for me, to keep track of shadows and light with simple shapes and composition.
So here it is. Enjoyed a nice lunch and drove home. Perfect!

Sparky

This little guy just had to go on a 6x6 format. Such a funny little Yorkie with big ears.

Sunflower Fields

Just finished a section on Van Gogh at work for K through 8 and did this little tribute to him.  It was very quick and has lots of paint.  I was trying to imagine what it was like for Vincent to paint with such a thick application.  I can't imagine taking my stuff out in the field and working in such a way. I am sure he did lots of his bigger works in studio, but I am not really sure.  I wonder how many times he had bugs and things land in the paint? 

6x6, oil 

Cloud Cover

Here is a 6x6 pastel of Central California.  This was a day of mighty clouds that towered over the land.  Fun to observe and wonder how to paint.  I find clouds somewhat tricky with their bellowing shapes and values.  I will keep at it and hopefully get to where I can paint them on a larger surface with confidence.

An Apple A Day

I wish that is all it took to stay in good health.  The season of festivities is great until stepping on the scale or not being able to remember the last time I hiked more than once in a week or two.  So the diet begins.   Healthy food and thinking about what is best and not what tastes best.  I did enjoy the season and now it is time to pay for it...OUCH!

$25 starting Bid

sold

Holiday Blues

This guy just could not hang on any longer.   He is too blue.  

Christmas will be here soon.  Many blessings to all of you! 

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Hanging Christmas Balls

More on the Christmas theme still life.  I get in my head and think about these Christmas ball as people hanging around with the guy on the box offering a hook up.  I really need to do more real people.

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Holiday Dine

Getting in the holiday mood?  This is a 6x6 oil.  After doing still life for a while it starts to make me crazy.  It is always a good exercise for so many things, but the items selected can get silly.  Like this one of silverware, christmas balls, stripes and polka dots.  

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Looks Familiar

I managed to get this posted on Daily Painter Originals, but missed my blog.  This 6x6, is pastel on Pastelbord from Ampersand.  It has a much more even texture than the hand textured boards I did on the last 3 posts.  I like working on these hard surfaces.  Mainly because in the end it is easier to pop them into frames.  I still need a spacer and glass, but it goes together much easier and handling is easier as well.  The pastel seems to stay put and I am getting uses to the sound of applying the pastel to the surface.  That might sound funny, but it is important to feel comfortable.  Soft surfaces make one sound and hard surfaces make another.  When I work there is a rhythm that happens, almost like music.  It feels tribal and I love how sound inspires me.  Sound creates movement.  That for me inspires creativity.  I find art is completely sensory and good music, sounds, rhythm, vision and beautiful movements are  important as I create.

What's Next

Sometimes we wait a long time to get to a place we have always wanted to go and there is only one day to see it all.  It can feel like a chore checking off the list and overwhelming too.

Observing Life

Chicago Art Institute is one of the greatest places to observe the observers.

Pastel on hand textured hardboard using marble dust, gesso and a paint brush is a 6x6.

Interesting

This little 6x6 pastel is done on a hard board using gesso and marble dust as a surface texture.  I painted an under painting using pure pigments in complimentary colors.  The scene is from our trip to Chicago Art Institute a few years ago.  I loved the body language.

Take Your Places

Happy Day After to all.  It was a great day.  I ate way to much.  We just sat around and talked and played a game.  Love listening to the kids talk to each other.  Lots of stories.  

Here is another one for composition.  Using the silverware is like drawing lines through the composition to divide up the space.  I am still exploring.  Might move onto the peppers I have in the fridge next.  

Enjoy the long weekend.  

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Pep Talk

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love making food and eating it.  Mainly I like spending the day with my kids, husband, brothers and sisters of mine and my husband and all the kids and their kids.  Again, I love all of this and the fact that great food is at the center of the day.  Everyone brings something yummy to share.   Now with all that said, the work involved is a labor of love by all and requires a few pep talks to get it all done.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

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Bloom'in

Here is another composition of the little vase and dish towel.  Funny the difference it makes when moving that little view finder around.  I changed the lighting to a cooler bulb too.  I figure I will learn more by experimenting.  

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Hanging Out

This little vase traveled with me to Sedona and I never got to paint it.  So here it is along with the dish towel I forgot I brought.

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Nice Slice

Composing a still life takes time.  Cropping the composition in a view finder is an experiment at times.  

8x8, oil

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Morning Hike

This is a 6x6 oil of a local trail I painted once before.  The last time I did it I used pastels.  It is fun to see the differences in the mediums.

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Mighty Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus Trees are trees I have enjoyed most of my life in Southern California.  

They are trees with beautiful bark and tall, graceful profiles.  They are the mighty giants I remember that divided large parcels of land.  It was tricky putting a big tree in a small place.  Working small is a challenge for me in pastel.  Mainly because I like to work with chunks of chalk.  Working that way makes it difficult to be exact and supports my impressionistic style.  I am just loving color right now.  This is a 6x6 painting in soft pastel on Uart sanded paper with a compliment under painting.  I have been having fun paint with pigment as a foundation to apply pastel.  Sometimes the paint shows through and other times I cover it up.  I am okay either way.  

Clinging With Touch Up

6x6 Clinging needed some attention and advise.  I was able to take a second look and apply many of my comments from yesterday to finishing up this piece.  It is working much better now.  I could noodle this to death, but it is time to move on.  Thanks so much to all of you who gave constructive criticism on line and off.

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