Horsing Around

"Palomino Roper"

oil on canvas

12" x 24"

My daughter, Allison, is a western artist - horses and cowboys and all that. Sometimes she just makes it look like so much fun that I want to join in, especially when she's willing to share reference photos! Here's an oil that I finished up on Sunday.  I'm hoping that it, along with my little indian boy drawing (see earlier post) will both get into the Bosque Art Classic this fall.  Allison and I have both been in that show a few times and we always have a great time at the opening reception.

Pansies and Donuts

 

"Wall Flower II"

oil on Gessobord

7" x 5"

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"Powdered Donuts and Cocoa"

oil on canvas

8" x 16"

The top painting is a little pansy painting that I did this week.  It is available through the Daily Paintworks website. I now have a gallery on the Daily Paintworks site and will be offering small paintings and drawings for sale through that website. 

The second painting shown is a still life from earlier this year.  I had a  lot of fun painting this one. Over the years, I've painted quite a few donut paintings.  (They say you should paint what you know!)  I will be painting many more donuts this summer, getting ready for a donut and coffee themed show that will be at Artifacts Gallery in Eureka Springs in October.  I'm really excited about this show! 

Surprise!

"Little Aztec Dancer"

graphite

14" X 14"

Surprise! I've been un-blogging for quite a while now, but I have returned.  I have actually painted quite a bit since my last blog post (we won't talk about how long that's been!).  I'll post some of my more recent paintings in the next week or so.  However, a few weeks back, I felt like doing a graphite drawing and this is the result. 

 

I took the reference photos for this drawing way back in 2006.  We were visiting my sister in New Mexico and we went to the New Mexico State Fair.  There was a group of Aztec Indians from Mexico City performing and this little tike was there with his family.  He was only around 20 months old at the time, so I guess he's about 7 years old now.  I always meant to do this one - started it once in colored pencil, but didn't care for how it was looking. I had a great time drawing it in graphite!

Black Gouache

"Orchids"
gouache and colored pencil
8" x 14"

I like the dramatic look that a black background can give a drawing or painting. One of the drawbacks to colored pencil, though, is the time and effort that goes into creating a really dark background. This is my first effort at using gouache and colored pencil together. I first drew my composition in lightly with graphite. Then I painted the background with black gouache. Finally, I used colored pencil to "paint" in the orchids. This was done on illustration board. I really liked the richness that the gouache gave to the black background and the time-saving. (It went much, much faster than colored pencil would have.) The only thing that I didn't like was trying to draw with colored pencil on the illustration board. It just didn't handle as well as the Stonehenge paper that I'm accustomed to drawing on. Next time, I might just get brave enough to do the entire painting in gouache...

More Pansies

"Pansy Bud 3"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

"Pansy 4"
oil on canvas
6" x 6"

Consequences of Success

"Pansy Bud"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
5" x 7"

"Pansy Bud II"
oil on gallery-wrapped canvas
6" x 6"

I painted the first painting shown here earlier this week. The second one was painted yesterday. When I got finished with it, I was saying to myself "Wow! Did I just do that?" Apparently, the stars lined up right - I chose the right background color and got the colors and contrast right, capturing the sense of brilliant light on the flower bud. In case you can't tell, I'm very pleased with this last one! Yes, my reference photo was good, but trust me, the painting ended up being better than the photo.

I suspect that I'm not alone in my initial reaction to success. Whether it's producing a better-than-my-average piece of art or winning an award, my first thought is "Yay!", but the second thought usually is "Will I be able to repeat this, or better yet, top it?" As artists, we want to believe that our best work has yet to be created. It's a paradox - we strive to produce our very best painting and always hope that the particular piece we just completed wasn't it.

Success can sometimes make you feel that you are at a good stopping point. I must admit, I haven't picked up my paint brushes today, choosing instead to putter around some and do some housework that was easy enough to ignore earlier this week. But, I know that I'll be back at it - I must, it's what I do. And I think for the moment sadly on the death of Steve Jobs this week. Now there was a man who never let past success keep him from pursuing future successes! Thank you, Steve, for your example to us all.

Return to the Dark

"Quince"

oil on linen panel
7" x 5"

I came across this quince fruit at my local Wal-Mart supercenter. I really liked the bright yellow-green color of it and thought "This will look great on a pink background." I was so wrong... It didn't look good with any of the pastel colored backgrounds that I've been using lately for my small fruit paintings. So I returned to the use of a dark backdrop and that worked to make the color of the fruit really stand out. I had fun with the box as well - see the nail head on top? That was my favorite part of the whole painting to do!