Supposedly Wednesday but really Thursday

I was attempting to paint last night until just about midnight but ended up wiping out what I'd started and being extremely frustrated. After work I thought I'd just try to salvage a still life but drawing it out on the board but ended up with this. Not bad for an hour's worth of work. Now if I can just get this computer to download the photo.

Tuesday

This a-painting-a-day is very not easy to do, especially on nights I work late...and after all that, I just have a sketch that I will have to work on Wednesday night. Also pictured here is the photo of the set up. Stay tuned for more later today, I hope before midnight.

Monday's plein aire is plain awful

Here's today's painting. I'd like to attempt this scene again, but from a different point of view, maybe across the street but more facing it from the front. I'll post a couple of photos from different perspectives, also. I started with the green wall on the right, but decided against it as it was looking a little too Utrillo-ish. The colors are not very true to what I have, but it's obvious I am still trying to figure out this landscape thing, especially with architecture. I have a new appreciation for anyone who goes out and does this on a regular basis. I need to draw more, especially with perspective which has never come easy for me. Practice practice practice. "Argh!", to quote Nathanael.

Yesterday's

Here's the beginning of last night's painting. The "real" still life first and then the underpainting/sketch. I'll work on it more tonight and post what I have later, maybe around midnight or so. I am still so in awe of Morandi's work, so this will be a modest homage of sorts. The way his forms melt into one another, how everything is connected is not just a painting, it's like a philosophical meditation that happens to be in visual form.
Addendum (Monday night, July 27): top most image in this post is what I've done so far. More to do, but this is the progress I've made. If this doesn't come out the way I would like to see it, I'll do a second version, or a variation on this theme.
Further addendum (Wednesday, July 29): the second one down is where I am now. I took out the blue rounded vase as it didn't seem like removing it would hurt the design. It still doesn't feel finished, but I've got to go on to the next one now.
Final addendum: the top picture is the final pass on this one...gotta go!

I really have been working

This actually loaded above, but I started this one on Saturday night, July 25. I ended up staying up until three a.m. which was so strange. I completely lost track of time and had no idea I'd been out there for four hours. So this was done at night. Even though they are "organic" forms, shells are so mathematical in their shapes, they are difficult to draw, or at least I find them challenging. I had to redraw this one several times and I'm still not entirely certain I got the true shape of it.


I have been working on something every day, it's just that it hasn't been all that fabuloso. I will post the last stuff I've been doing although these will probably get more attention paid to them in the next few days before they are finished. This was from Friday, July 24, on campus. There were sheep in that field and I was planning on having them be part of the picture, but they had other plans and took off for greener pastures after I'd set up. They really do act like sheep and followed the leader. In fact, they were very efficient about it and while I was getting my brushes together, I happened to look down for maybe a minute, maybe two and when I looked up again, they were gone. So, I concentrated on the tree in the foreground. I'm very interested in how things in the foreground are so dark while further away, tends to fade in value. I wanted to lock in the composition, although I'm not sure it's succeeding. I still might work on this, trying to unify the whole plane...we'll see.

I started another still life last night, July 26 and will post later today. Today, Monday, July 27, I'll be going out to Sacramento and will post a landscape later.

Day Three

This will be a landscape, but for now it's a place-holder. I'm not happy about this one, so I will probably cheat tomorrow at some point and try to fix it up a bit. So, until then, no pictures of the day's attempt at a painting.

Second Day

It's my second day and I finished another painting (bottom picture). These are not exactly how I envision how a piece will turn out, but they are also intriguing to me. This one is another corner of my space. The first one I did like this was in acrylic last year (top picture) so this was interesting to see if I could do something similar in oils. I am relying heavily on the dark outline. It keeps things spontaneous for me right now. If I were to work more on where surfaces meet I know I would fuss more on that relationship, so this is what I'm doing here, not letting myself get too fussy. The underpainting of Venetian Red is working well.
Other than the painting itself, I am a little panicked about getting boards ready in time. I am thinking about having them professionally cut so I can save time. It takes almost as much time to get a panel ready as it does to paint it.

Today's Painting

Here's today's painting. Working on a small wooden surface that's been underpainted has worked well for these sketches. I hope I can build some momentum and keep working every day. The two next subjects will be a corner of the shed and a landscape. Time constraints are frustrating but kind of invigorating and forcing work to happen quickly with minimal fussing over details.

Painting A Day

I've decided to take the challenge and do a painting a day. I'm going to cheat ever so slightly and post yesterday's painting. If I'm lucky, I'll get today's up later today. This is the third of a little series of still-life on the floor. Oops, it's sideways, but there none-the-less.