Sunday, August 22, 2010

Almost too busy to paint!

This past week, I was extremely busy in my full-time job and had little energy left to paint. I did try to paint a few minutes every night, but with my eyes closing with fatigue...not the best conditions for a painter:-) I am posting the artistic results of this low energy week.

The first photo is of the probably finished strawberry trio: Forever Friends, three optimistic berries who don't realize that they will soon find themselves in a real jam :-)

This watercolor painting is on a white background and will be sold matted in white ( with a black core showing at the beveled edge) to 5"X 7" to fit a 8"X10" frame. It is a great companion piece for the other berry paintings shown in previous posts.

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The next painting will be on my list of "to redo". I like parts of it, but I don't find it "crisp and clean" enough , It is from a picture offered free of copyright to artists by Billie Crain on the Paint my Photo site. It is 7.5 X 9.5" approx. and would fit an 11"X 14" frame.


I also bought myself a few new toys: oil paints, brushes and medium. I don't think that I will ever find a painting medium that I like more than watercolors, but why not give oils a try. Who knows?

Have a great week and I hope that we will all have the time and the energy to create beautiful art:-)

10 comments:

  1. I continue to do more and more oils and I used to consider myself a watercolorist--Go for it.

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  2. Gary, this is very interesting. Do you choose the oils over watercolor according to your subject, your mood?

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  3. You seem to have managed quite a bit of art through those bleery eyes and tired hard worked body. Show a true gritty artist can work under any circumstances. Oils are wonderful and have such a malleable and dare I say 'sensual' feel to them!! So able to blend on the canvas and adjust as you go. Amazing contrast to the preparation one needs for watercolour, both a delight in their own right. Enjoy your new toys. I use a very expensive brand of Michael Hardings but the colours are glorious.

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  4. Wow... You paint beautifully when you're over tired. All of them are just beautiful!!!

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  5. Joan, I think that I have too much reverence at this point for oils:-) I bought Arleta Pech's book on glazing techniques with oils and I am following her first demo: it requires overnight drying after each layer of glaze and there are about 5-6 of them. I would not be patient enough for that unless I had an assembly line:-) After this demo, I may simply "play" with the oils to see what they can do.
    I did not buy expensive oils, although I did buy oils of decent quality. I don't think that the Michael Hardings are available in Canada.

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  6. Marian,thank you so much for your kind comment - your morale booster comes at just the right moment. I have been feeling down and thought that my blogging friends would be disappointed in me for posting these two paintings. I can only see the flaws in these paintings. That's what fatigue does to you I suppose :-)

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  7. Very nice, you are a pro with those berries :) I bought oils and acrylics but have not done very much with them. Let me know how you make out with the oils.

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  8. Krista, I really appreciate your comment. I will certainly let you know how I do with the oils...I will post my first attempt although so far it looks like a kindergarden pupil's work:-)

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  9. Christiane, I can't imagine anything you do as being like a kindergarden. I've tried some acrylics, but not the oils. You know, it's funny...so many watercolorists do oils because they seem to sell better...not because they like them better. Or, at least that's what I'm hearing. I know that galleries don't feature watercolors like they do oils for sure, but your watercolors are so gorgeous I'm hoping that you're not seriously thinking about changing your medium of choice. Love those berries. Did you decide not to use the lace on any of the berries?

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  10. Mollie,
    You are so kind! Thank you! I am not thinking of abandoning watercolors...I love everything about them. However, I see such beautiful oil paintings that I want to see what I could do with this medium...not much so far:-)
    Oh, I certainly intend to use the lace - this latest strawberry painting was already started when I got the lace. I simply have not had the time to take more pictures of the lace with strawberries or cherries. This is on my list for next weekend.

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