Day 12 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days and the Stages of a Winter Scene

15-12 Just a Little Garlic - Oil on Copper, 3"x4"

Well, my painting name organization needs better organizing!  I realized today as I was posting photos of this little garlic painting that I somehow messed up my numbering - I missed 6 (I think - I'm not totally sure yet).  Tomorrow I have to figure it out and then rename them properly on Daily Paintworks among other sites.  Y.U.C.K.

Okay, on to more fun topics like GAAAHHHLIC!  I did this little painting of garlic yesterday.  It's small - only 3"x4" unframed (about 8x9 framed).  I enjoyed painting the "white" of the garlic.  Nothing is ever truly white, except possibly a bright reflection, but still, if you look closely, it probably isn't stark white - it probably has a bit of yellow or blue in it.  Anyway, this garlic had so many colors in it when I studied it.  Some teal reflected off the garlic from the fabric, the shadows in some areas looked pinkish and in other areas it looked violet-ish. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to paint and I may be painting some more garlic in the future!  I really did enjoy it.  If you're interested in purchasing "Just a Little Garlic", click here and you'll be redirected to my Daily Paintworks gallery where you can purchase this or some of my other available paintings via PayPal.

Very beginning of the painting - laying in color

This morning, I started another copper painting - this time a little bigger:  8x10.  I have been thinking about doing a winter scene since last week when one morning I looked out at the orange sunrise and saw how everything not in the sun was shrouded in violet.  This painting is 3/4 from my head and about 1/4 from different reference photos.  It still has some work to go, but here's the start.

This first photo shows the very beginning stages.  I wanted to keep this to two colors again - violet and orange.

A little further along, starting to put in some details

In this photo, I started adding some detail.  I got a nice dark color by mixing the violet and orange together.  I felt it was perfect for the trunks of the trees.  I also started working on creating the depth by pushing the trees back and bringing the snow/ground forward.

Starting to add in high and low lights as well as
refining details

In this stage, you can see I'm starting to add in some highlights from the sun as well as some deeper shadows on the trees.  I still need to add some darker values in the trunks and fill out some of the details for the branches.  I don't want to do too much more as I'm liking the simplicity of this.  This is a terrible photo - it's hard to get a good photo after dark.  What you can't see is that in the distance behind the trees, I only used a very thin layer of paint so a lot of the copper will show.

 Finished painting tomorrow!

Stella is doing much better today!  Franklin felt she needed some TLC so he obliged.  He really loves Stella and is completely over-protective of her.  Although, I'm not sure she fully enjoyed the TLC as his head must weigh at least half of what she does!

Day 10 and 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

15-11 Sunrise Over Carillon - Oil on Copper

15-12 Celebrate - Oil on Copper

I started painting Sunrise over Carillon yesterday and I just wasn't feeling it.  I laid the basic background colors in and started painting some of the cloud detail and realized I wasn't feeling very inspired.  So rather than paint something that my heart wasn't in, I decided to take the rest of the day off.  It felt weird not posting my "30 in 30" painting but I figured it is called 30 Paintings in 30 Days, not 1 painting a day for 30 days.  So, as long as I get my 30 in, I feel like I'm fulfilling the challenge!

This morning, I picked back up where I left off yesterday.  I'm pretty happy with the result.  I enjoyed laying in the wispy clouds and jet streams, but my favorite part was painting in the city in the distance.    If you're interested in purchasing Sunrise Over Carillon, click here.

After I was done, I decided to do a small copper piece.  I originally thought about doing a sunny marsh, and it somehow turned into fireworks!  You may or may not know that I LOVE painting fireworks!  They are so much fun to paint and figure out where the shimmers will be and what the reflections will look like.  If you're interested in purchasing Celebrate, click here.


I actually finished tomorrow's post today and also finished up a couple of commissions.  I guess the day off did me some good!

Stella has been under the weather. Not exactly sure what she got into, but her stomach is definitely off.    I just took this photo of her while I was typing.  She's resting on the back of her couch.  The photo of Franklin was taken earlier today.  he was totally bundled in Jeff's quilt, loving every minute.

Day 9 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days - Kind of like an apple a day!

15-10 An Apple a Day 4x4 Oil

I was thinking this morning about the fact that I'm almost 1/3 of the way through the challenge and how this 30 Paintings in 30 Days is kind of like the old saying "An Apple a Day".  I find it is really challenging me and helping to make me a 'healthier' painter.  While I paint almost every day, I don't always FINISH a painting every day.  This challenge is helping me better plan things like color selection and brush strokes among other things.  Other things being a simple enough composition so I can finish it and yet still challenge myself.  I get bored easily, so changing things up keeps me going.

On this train of thought, I decided to paint an apple!  A little apple - 4"x4" oil on textured Ampersand board.  Originally I wanted to only use two colors plus white again and use the complimentary colors of green and red.  I realized when it was done, it kind of looked like a Christmas ornament and was quite boring.  So I opted to use teal for the background and added some teal into the apple to tie it all together.  So three colors plus white this time around.  I did keep this at under a half hour though.  I started it early this AM, got it almost done and decided I didn't like it (Christmas ornament) and wiped it.  I started it again after work and finished within the half hour timeframe.  I wonder if that counts! If I tack on the time I spent on the first apple, I spent over a half hour, but since it was a total wipe, I'm calling it a half hour for the second try!  TGIF everyone!

Day 8 of 30 in 30 and Baby, It's Cold Outside

15-9 Florida Dreaming, Oil on Copper

Wow, it is COLD.  Granted, I just got back from Florida so even though I was only there for less than 48 hours, this chill is a shock to my system!  Although I'm pretty sure it still would be even if I didn't go to Florida.  I will say, I miss that January Florida weather already.

I enjoyed the sunrise in St. Pete yesterday and snapped a few photos, one of a palm tree.  I based this painting on that photo.  It's oil on copper and is 6"x6"

I wanted to challenge myself so I used only two colors plus white:  blue and orange.  The two complimentary colors were really fun to work with.  And by mixing both, I got a nice "black" for the silhouette.  I also timed myself.  I didn't start this until after work and I wanted to finish it within 45 minutes, so I started at about 5:30 and finished before 6:15.  I really worked to limit the brush strokes, so I laid in the color and then used a dry brush at the end to soften and blend quickly.  I also wanted to make sure I got some movement in the palms too.  It was fun and I may try another one with two colors and time constraint tomorrow.

Stay warm! It's freezing!  Literally...

Day 7 30 Paintings in 30 Days and Back to the Cold

Beautiful sunrise in Florida this am!!

I'm attempting to blog from the mobile app. So far, the verdict is out. It kind of leaves a lot to be desired! This painting below is another I did ahead of time since I knew I'd be unable to paint for a few days. I'm calling this 15-8 "Shake it Up" and this one is acrylic on gessobord, 8x6I'm about to head out to the airport to fly back home. I hear it's pretty cold there! I will miss this:

Day 6 of 30 in 30 and Flying the Friendly Skies

15-7 Calm Before the Storm Redux

As I'm typing this, I'm probably about 40,000 feet above Virginia (hi Tim & Tara!).  I love technology!  I'm flying to Florida for a quick day job trip and was up early (4:30) to catch my flight.  The pups all woke up of course and wanted to follow me downstairs, which probably means Jeff woke up too.  Sorry Jeff!

Calm Before the Storm Redux is a smaller take on a 16x20 I painted early last year.  This one is only 6x6 and is oil on gessobord.  I enjoyed painting this subject again - I love painting clouds.  I also enjoyed painting this in smaller format.  I wasn't sure exactly how it woould come out.

And no, I did not paint this today.  I actually painted about 4 extra paintings over the weekend knowing that I wouldn't have a chance to paint while in Florida.  Happy Tuesday all!

Day 5 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

15-6 Pear Inspiration - Acrylic and Oil
5x4 on stretched canvas

I started this painting last year and it sat on my desk for at least 6 months.  This morning I was inspired to finish it!  I was going to call it Resolution 3:  Finish what you start, but then I thought I might be getting a little out of control with the resolutions.  I get frustrated though with how many paintings I start and don't finish.  I should just finish them or scrap them - it bugs me to see unfinished paintings sitting in the corner.

Tomorrow I head to St. Pete for a quick Florida trip. I leave early in the morning and come home late on Wednesday.  I've been looking forward to snow and wouldn't you know that the first good snow we're going to get, I'm going to be down south!

I finished up enough paintings this weekend so don't fret - I will be posting in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge (because I know that was stressing YOU out....).