Shore

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

This is my submission for the Daily Paintworks "Non-dominant Hand" challenge. I did, indeed paint this using my left hand, which I thought would be easy, but was harder than I thought. What I didn't expect is that mixing was even more difficult. Who knew.

The subject is actually another painting. It was a lakeside village my father painted ages ago, and which hangs in my apartment. I was sitting in the increasing gloom last night and let my eyes go out of focus and I could see the buildings as rocks, so I thought, I'll interpret it that way and see what I come up with. I didn't do a lot of color evaluation since I was relying on a painting as my source, so I tried to keep it as close to that as possible. Naturally I failed there, but I did keep the general tone. 

Ruby Glass

Acrylic on Panel - 6 x 6 inches - sold

Oh, how I'd like to paint the challenges on Sunday as they are assigned, but I'm seem to be falling into my high school mode of turning in assignments at the zero hour.

This week's theme is (was) glass and you can see the other entries at Daily Paintworks.

I've painted this bit of glassware many times, but I thought of a novel lighting method, using a flashlight. It looked amazing in real life, less so in my rendering. Sadly, it really doesn't have many transparent areas, which is the real point in painting glass (and half the fun) but it gets the job done.

The contents of the glass are simply cubed ice, and cranberry juice. In a case like this, there's really no point in trying to ply the model with booze.

That Purple House

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches Donated

It's been as close to freezing the past two weeks. Wearing sweaters and coats inside the apartment kind of weather. Today, it broke 60 and felt like Spring. I just had to go paint outside. In January! With no jacket either.

Just down the street is this little purple building that always pops out at me. I had to work fast because you could see the shadow of the building behind me creeping up.

Despite the sudden stage fright, (it's been a while) no one wanted to have a peek or offer any advice. See, there was nothing to worry about.

I wasn't too thrilled with the results when I got home, but now that I look at it, it doesn't really bother me much.

Glass Haus Watercolor

Ink and Watercolor on Paper - 10 x 14 inches - NFS

The first Daily Paintworks Challenge of the year is to "try something new." Though there are many things I've never tried, I tried to think of some visual media I had neglected. I was a recent tutorial on pen and ink drawings that were colored with watercolor. I've always liked this look in sketchbooks, but never have watercolors with me when I'm out sketching, so I thought I'd try it out at home.

I have some really nice watercolor paints, but the tubes are over twenty years old, so they were a bit stiff. I also didn't have any greens and for some reason couldn't mix one either (I know, yellow and blue, but it just turned out grey).

Disappointed, because it didn't turn out how I imagined it, but I'm not sure what I was expecting anyway. Maybe a lighter touch?

Rainy Oak

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - SOLD

This week's assignment for the Daily Paintworks Challenge was to paint the rain. Yeah, right. I started trying to paint the rain, but it just kept coming out like some abstract vertical nightmare. I should have posted one, but I was in such a hurry to paint over it, I went with this instead.
It's still a wet, rainy night. Maybe more of a painting of lights and reflections, but that's what rain means to me. 

Racer 5 Orange

Acrylic on Panel - 6 x 6 inches - Click Here to Bid

Here's an update on the race car with the orange, as I originally imagined it. Orange and blue to conveniently vibrate nicely. I guess I just knew that intuitively and couldn't help putting that fruit in there. Then again, it's probably the universe acting through me. Or something like that. Right?

Here's an update to the image, with a few tweaks....

Racer 5

Acrylic on Panel - 6 x 6 inches Ω

Just finished my submission to the Daily Paintworks Blue Challenge. And I had all week, but no, I had to wait until Sunday afternoon. I'm really slipping. Like everything else, I'll just blame it on the holidays.

This is a toy car I found lying about the apartment. The cue ball in the background is really an orange, which I may render more faithfully later, but in rereading the instructions for this week, I noticed that we were encouraged to not use large orange shapes to offset the blue. Naturally I totally ignored this suggestion as I photographed the set up, but in painting it today, I left it grey anyway.

Despite that, the oddest thin that struck my was all those little orange highlights in the wheels/tires. Not sure where they were coming from.

Convenience

Acrylic on Panel - 8 x 10 inches - Click Here to Bid

This is a close-up view of the same corner I painted a few days ago, with the tall palm trees.  Trying to get bigger and yet stay loose. The timer is helping. It's not relaxing, but it does help me focus.

here's an update with a little bit of adjustment...

Palace

Acrylic on Panel - 5 x 7 inches - Click Here to Bid

Another timed painting. This time, just twenty minutes. I pulled out yesterday's palette and just dove in. I'm not sure why I take so many askew pictures, but even more puzzling is why I don't correct them before painting them. Something in the subconscious must be hard at work. 

Amy at the Market

Acrylic on Panel - 6 x 6 inches - Click Here to Bid

Just a random candid photo from this summer I never got around to painting.

I'm trying to do timed paintings now. I find if I give myself only 30 minutes to paint, I jump right in and just try to render what is there without over-thinking it or planning what steps I might take. I didn't even do any sketches or preliminary drawing on this one. I just started with the brim of the hat, the shape of the face, the neck, the shirt and I was well on the way.

I'm also still using the Golden Open Acrylics, so things stay wet and messy. I think they keep me focused and in the moment, because in a timed painting I can't wait for an area to dry before going over it, so I just have to deal with my placement of shapes or accept that painting into an area will blend with whatever is already there. I can, however, glob on thicker applications of color toward the end, as in the white on her shirt. (that was still a bit wet the next day – a real surprise for someone used to acrylics).