4 Lemons

Oil on canvas 6x6 Sold
Okay, I think I have determined that I don't care for the canvas on this batch of panels. Too bad because I have a lot of them.....
This one was done while looking at the lemons. If I had more time I'd grab the last 2 lemon paintings for comparison. #1 from my head. #2 from #1. #3 from real lemons.
I haven't decided yet if I have a preference, but I'm leaning away from #3.
Thanks for stopping by.

Minor tweaks=big changes

Art gazing study 12X16 NFS

Progress 2
I'm always amazed at how the tiniest stroke results in huge changes on portraits. The bottom progress shot shows that I darkened her chin today and made it a little smaller. I lightened around her eyes and took the arch out of her eyebrows, and repainted her mouth fifteen times. All while trying to get rid of a German Shepard interloper who spent hours tramping through my garden, peeing on everything. He's completely untrained and wearing no ID. No one has reported him missing to the general store or the library. I tried setting my old dog out to chase him off but that didn't work. The GS is completely lacking in social sensibilities and has no idea where to go. I also had to rescue a garter snake today. I had laid some bird netting over my strawberry patch because something had been snagging the berries before they ever have a chance to ripen. Not a red one in sight and it's June 17th! The snake had managed to catch itself up in the netting. I did not look forward to cutting the netting away from it until I looked it up online and learned that Garter snakes eat SLUGS and rodents. That changed my attitude. The snakes are my best friends now.

Um. Back to the portrait. On the top version, which I declare FINISHED, I lightened even more around her eyes.

Thanks for hanging in there for the diatribe.......

In progress

Oil on linen 12x16 Still working on it.

Yay, I'm happier with the palette I used on this one. There are many areas that need addressing but I thought I'd post it before I wreck it. haha. I need to darken the chin and maybe make it a tad smaller. Reduce the contrast over her left eye? Undecided about leaving the background alone. this was very fun to do, though.

Thanks for looking. Reactions appreciated.

Friends

"Friends" Oil on canvas 12X16

I posted the earlier version of this either last fall or winter. Go to the very bottom of this post and work back up. This final (I think) version solves the season puzzle.

Progress 2 Here I raised the viewpoint by adding some sky. Defined the buildings with light and such. I thought I was done (again) and resigned it. But after dinner I looked again and realized that the mountains were in winter. No good. I wanted to suggest that the higher elevations had started showing the autumn color, while it was still predominately green in the valley.
Progress 1 I blocked in some trees, creating the shapes of farm buildings a little way back from the girls.

Initial work.
I thought I was done. I signed it. I showed it. It came back. I decided to see if some changes might improve things.

Who's in Charge?

Oil on Canvas 6x6
I did one of these months ago titled 5 lemons. It was from my head, not looking at any lemons. I liked the way it came out and had in mind to do a companion right away. Best laid plans, but at last I gave it a go. I found it interesting that it was so challenging to recreate the style of the brushwork of the first. Maybe the second canvas was single primed instead of double. Maybe I used bristle instead of sable brushes. Maybe I shouldn't have looked at the first painting, but done the second without reference also. Maybe I was listening to different music or my studio space was tidier. Hmmm. I'll try one with 7 lemons (from my head and with sable brushes).

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Goldfinch #2

Oil on Canvas panel 5x7

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MS. X

Oil on canvas 5x7 N/A

I had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend because my daughter Casey came up. She agreed to sit for a portrait but we got started late and only had an hour before Denny called us to dinner. She was sweet enough to sit again the next day for about 15 minutes before we headed to an art show. I think an hour should be enough time to get a likeness. I didn't manage it here. Wrong proportions. But my focus was on color and value. She seemed way too gray to me when I got any distance away from the painting so in the end I abandoned my piles of premixed paint and gave her some orange. If she ever agrees to sit again (for some reason she didn't rave about how much fun it was), I'll focus on a likeness. : ) Thanks Casey!

A Strange Sighting

The strange sighting of the title is this. I was on a blog today, Drawing the Mot-mot. In a comment I asked the author to please send some of her blue buntings to me. Then I looked out the window and caught a glimpse of what I think was an indigo bunting. First I've seen in YEARS. Seemed bizarre to me. I wondered if I should request the winning lottery number......

Anyway, then the rest of the day was spent completely distracted as I kept looking out the windows for the bird. I didn't see it again. Hopefully tomorrow.

News of the Day

Sometimes life is good. : )
Artist Doug Lazarus has put together, with the Willowell Foundation, a show of art with Lake Champlain as the subject. This year is the quadracentennial of Samuel de Champlain's exploration of the lake. It's been quite a project, spanning almost a year since the call to artists. I learned last fall that one of my paintings was to be included which made me very happy. Log onto the website for more info.
Champlain's Lake Rediscovered .
The show has opened at its first venue, Shelburne Museum, near Burlington, VT. Next month it goes to the National Arts Club in NYC.

Frosting on the cake is that my painting was included in Vermont Life magazine's article about the exhibition. It's in the summer edition, which just came out yesterday! I feel honored by the acknowledgement.

Shasta and Blue Salvia

Oil on canvas 5X7
No, these are not blooming in my garden. Yet. It's been great weather, so I have no excuse for not going out to paint. The most difficult parts of this painting were photographing it and signing it. :) Below are the progress shots, bottom up. Obviously.




Thanks for looking.