Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Wrapping and Rolling

 
"Wrapping and Rolling"
8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
Special Christmas Price! 
$100
Sold

Merry Christmas! Wow, I really squeaked this one in under the wire - my one and only ornament painting for 2014! Last year there were two, in 2012 there were four...

You can see a time-lapse video of this painting being created HERE. Enjoy!

And have a great holiday.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I Expose My Reference

 
 "Self Portrait Sketch no. 2"
10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

I've explained it before - I always paint self portraits from photo reference. I took a slew of selfies the other day, and have been trying out a few different heads - hoping to complete a large self portrait (head and hands) before the end of the year.

It's a tall order. Good thing I'm a short person!

Here's the photo for this one:


Any other painters want to give it a shot?

Monday, December 22, 2014

Sketching Selfies

 
 "Self Portrait Sketch no. 1"
10 x 8 inches, oil on canvas

I just finished up a Christmas portrait commission, which, because it hasn't been gifted yet, is unsharable. What to do with all that leftover paint? You got it: Selfies! This kind takes a little bit longer than this kind, but it's a lot more fun.

Here's my sketch-to-finish. The pencil drawing was a quick ten-minute warmup in my studio journal.


Did someone say "Studio Journal?!" Sounds suspiciously like new year's resolution material.....

'Tis the season, after all.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Limited Palette Love

 
 "Triangle Pose"
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas

For this piece, I used a palette of Cadmium Red, Viridian, Hansa Yellow, and Yellow Ocher. I think of that either as a straight up complementary Red-Green setup, with yellow thrown in because you can't do flesh tones without it - or as a three-primaries palette, with red, yellow, and Viridian green as a stand-in for blue.
Cadmium Red and Viridian mix some beautiful pinks and lavenders, which I might never have fully explored if I hadn't tried this palette combo.

There are so many reasons to try painting with a limited palette...but my number one favorite? It saves me from having to track down all 11 or 12 of my normal colors when I'm rushing out the door on Tuesday nights!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Keeping Warm

 
"Keeping Warm"
8 x 10 inches, oil on canvas
Sold

Here's a little still life from last week. I painted it over a "wiper" canvas - you can see the ghost of the previous painting in the in-progress shot below:

 

I kept the background thin and brushy to let some of those sepia tones peek through.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

A Paean to Painting Persimmons...in Public

 "Persimmon and Floats"
8 x 8 inches, oil on canvas
Sold

I painted these persimmon pieces at a fun event called the "Tools of the Trade Show," put on by the University of Oregon's college bookstore (known as "The Duck Store," because, you know, football).  It's a mega-meet-n-greet with art supply vendors, and the store invites artists to create in the middle of the mayhem. I had a great time.


 Trying not to get distracted by all the radically reduced art supplies. 25% off the entire store!
Head down. Concentrate!


Speaking of big events, (and big discounts, come to think of it), have you heard about my Holiday Open Studio Sale this Saturday? You haven't!?! Well, here ya go: