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Going Bananas

I painted a bunch of ripe bananas today. Tried to go back to basics, and paint masses of color, so i desperately tried not to think "banana" while i painted. I was only partly successful in that. Composition wise, i should have moved the bananas more to the left so that i had more room to play with the shadows. So here is #7 in my quest to improve my alla prima skills and ready myself for plein air painting.

Number Six

When i first did this one, i really liked it. Now i'm not so sure. Now i see all those things that i didn't succeed in rendering. But part of the reason i first like it was the somewhat abstract quality. Well, go figure.

Vegies for a Change

Yes, i switched from fruit to veggies for this fifth painting.

Not sure what i think about this painting. I guess i'll have to wait a couple of days and look at it again. Right now i am uncomfortable with it, but don't know why. It has an unfinished quality, but that's not necessarily bad. It does seem a bit simplistic, but then i've been told that its not good to explain everything, that you should leave something for the viewer to finish. Anyway, just for comparison here is a photo of the still life.

PS I wonder if the painting is what my teacher calls "symbolic", that is painting what you think you see instead of what you see?

Back to Fruit for Number Four

Decided to set up my still life this time with just the three pieces of fruit. I figure that i'm having enough trouble learning all prima painting that i don't need to jump right into more difficult subjects. Besides, this is only number four.

And this is what i came up with. I didn't succeed in putting down paint and leaving it alone. More blending this time, less painterly. In some ways i feel better about this one that my previous efforts, but i also feel like i'm losing something. I'll have to reread Kevin MacPhersons books to see if i can absorb some more pointers on technique.

I did extend my limited pallette. To the Cadmium Yellow Light, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White i added Cadmiun Red Light, Thalo Green, and Chromatic Black. I use very little of the Chromatic Black, so i don't think i can blame the addition of it to my more subdued colors.

Number Three

Continuing in my Paint 100 Challenge, here is number three. It took me a while to settle on the still life objects and their composition. I added and subtracted a tea kettle and a tea canister, and ended up just with the pot and mug.

After all that, i ended up spending less than an hour and a half painting before running out of steem. So endurance is another thing that i'll have to build up before taking on plein air subjects. My major error this time was not completing the painting of the pot before adding the detail of the pattern on the pot. Therefore, the whole shadow side of the pot is too light. Drawing errors crept in too; the mug is too narrow compared to the reference. And i didn't manage to get in the brightness of the reflections in the mug. I am not producing masterpieces, but i sure hope that the lessons learned from these studies will make my paintings better by the end of the one hundred. Another of those errors is to step back sooner-- maybe that will allow me to correct some drawing errors sooner.

Second Painting

Well, here's my second of the one hundred. Took me two hours, including making sketches before i started to paint. The drawing is better than the first one. Matching colors is something i have to work on. The kiwi should be a lighter green, and the reflected light in the shadow of the cut apple is too light. The highlight on the whole apple disappeared at some point.

No photo of the still life. I ate it.

Don't Know What to Think

Attempted my first painting of the challenge. I guess its done-- i went as far as i could. Don't know what to think about it. I was very uncomfortable painting it. I tried to think in masses of color, getting my values right. I tried not to mess with my paint strokes after applied, other than to correct errors. I had to fight to not paint the local color and just darken the shadows. Its a first attempt, so try not to be so critical, i tell myself. In a weird way, it is successful. It is a step towards loosening up my painting style and becoming more comfortable with color and values, though my drawing could still use work.

So this is what #1 looks like.

And this is a photo of the still life i painted from.

My Paint 100 Challenge

I seem to remember making a resolution at the beginning of this year to be more creative, specifically to create outside of class, and to post the results here. I was unsuccessful.

This year is coming to an end, and another will soon start. We shall see if i can be better with a similar resolution. Between now, December 20, 2009, and December 31, 2010, i shall paint a minimum of 100 6 x 8 paintings. It is my intention that the majority of these be from life, whether still life or en plein air. I will call this my "Paint 100 Challenge." To keep me honest, i will post the works here, successful or not.

Fellow students turned me onto the books of Kevin MacPherson, specifically  "Landscape Painting Inside and Out". While i was at it, i also bought "Fill Your Oil Painting with Light & Color". Having read both, i have become inspired and challenged.  Challenged to take on plein air painting, and inspired to work up to that by trying the techniques first on simple still lifes. If i did a painting a day for 100 days it would more closely fit his suggestion, but i know that i will be spending time away from home so that is impossible for me. I want to acquire a more painterly style, but just reading about it doesn't do it, one has to attempt to do it.

So there you go. Thats my challenge for the year. I now have to set my mind to carry it out.

Small Steps

I've been printing off a photo from the drawing and sketching weekly challenge, but this is the first week i've actually tried to work on one. This is an unidentified leaf in charcoal on 9x12. I used charcoal pencils in addition to the willow, and they did not blend well. This represents almost two hours work and i feel like its still rather crude. But i worked on a drawing today.


That's after i painted this small 6x8 in oils yesterday. I used a bigger brush than i normally do and painted alla prima (in one session) in an attempt to loosen up my painting. My instructor recommended this exercise. I'll have to see if i can do more of these. They might not be good but they are rather fun.

Finally, Something New

After ages without creating other than in painting class, i did a pastel sketch. I'm hoping that it will end up a painting. Anyway, here it is.

The background looks a bit childish and the buds look bad, but i did something. My pastels always seem to look childish. Maybe if i would do more i would figure out how to make them a bit more polished.

Now if i can just keep this up and get some more practice in.

Spoke Too Soon

Yep, i spoke too soon. I said i was sketching again, and here its been, months. I've done nothing outside of my classes. I really need to get my act together, start creating, and then i'll really have something to post about.

Nothing more to say or show now.

Drawing again

After making a resolution to not go so long without sketching/drawing, i went over a month. Finally did a wetcanvas challenge today. A portrait, which is definately a challenge for me. The poor girl turned out looking more like a boy, but when i tried to polish the drawing it got worse, so i stopped before things got any worse. Charcoal on 14x17 sketch paper.

Took a Break

Well, i seemed to have taken a break over Christmas, without really meaning to. Didn't even do any sketching. I will make a New Year's resolution to not go so long without sketching again.

I did this pastel sketch today on 9x12 colorfix paper. Its a study for an oil painting that i want to do. I'll leave it now for a few days then come back to it to see if i like the composition.

This 6x8 oil i did before my long break, just never took a photo because the weather was mostly overcast. Same subject that i did a pastel sketch of earlier. I think that the background could be a little more uniform.

Eggs

The drawing challenge this week on wetcanvas is a photo of eggs on lace. I attempted it using charcoal on 14 x 17 paper. Never can get my eggs as smooth as i want -- i need to find a better way of blending than a blending stump or gauze. Now that its done, the shadows don't seem to agree with each other. Well, if i get inspired maybe i can correct the shadows and add more detail in the lace.

A Pastel Sketch

Couldn't come up with a subject for last weeks pastel sketch for the longest time. Finally birds were suggested, and i decided on a reference photo of a woodpecker. i think the body is too big for the head, but here's the sketch.

Something Different

I was totally bamboozled today in painting class by a landscape i've started on, so i came home and decided to do something different. The pastel sketch was done on sanded paper made with brush-on-yourself pastel ground, so the texture of the brushstrokes showed through the pastel. Although somewhat crude at least its recognizable.

Skewed Lighthouse and Another Fruit

This weeks drawing challenge on wetcanvas was a lighthouse. I gave it a try, but as you can see it wasn't too successful. The lighthouse is skewed and the fence looks dilapidated, and then there isn't much contrast or much in the way of darks. This is where i gave up. I think that i would have to start over to do any better. Charcoal on 14 x 17 paper.

I also have a small oil painting to show you, 6 x 8. Just one pear, on perhaps a too bright background. I guess i overcompensated for the apple on a boring background.

Second Try

It took me two tries, but i finally have a pastel sketch to post. The first one was on paper that i coated with golden pastel ground. the resulting textured background didn't do well with the floral subject. i also didn't crop it as closely, resulting in the lily pad and the water overpowering the image. and i plain didn't do the flower as well.

So here's my second try. Pastel on 9 x 12 art spectrum paper. still not a great example of what pastels can do, but better than my first try.

Remember my unsatisfactory palm tree? Well, i got some comments from wetcanvas that enabled me to offer this improved version.

Fruit

This weeks reference for the wetcanvas drawing and sketching thread was a bowl of cherries. Its a nice subject, i would love to attempt to paint it in pastels or oils later. Instead i drew, in graphite instead of my usual charcoal.

I also did a small still life- one apple- in oils. Painted from life using a plastic apple. I could have been more imaginative on my background though.