73. Saturday on the Plaza

12d16 oil/linen

This is not technically a daily - it took me several days off and on to finish it, but this was a conscious effort to apply some of the things I've been practicing in the smaller works.   I'm still not where I want to be, but at least I am still making an intentional effort to get there...  And really, that's all any of us can do, right?

72. Spring Chickens

1. 8x10 oil/panel

So much glare in our lviing room, so the background is really "glarey" (is that a word?)... Just wanted to keep it loose and pretty fast.... 

I'm hoping we get some little chicks this spring too... Ours will be all brown because they are New Hampshire Reds... 

71. The Boatman

8x10 oil/panel

Here's something a little different!   I had this photo from somewhere.. it was a really bad, pixelly photo, so blurry that I couldn't even see the guy's eye at all.... had to make all that up, but for some reason, it still

really struck me as something I wanted to paint.  Love the red scarf... so I went for it... using this as an opportunity for quick painterly work, and broad brushstrokes... and some knifework for the background.  My photo doesn't show some of the knife work very clearly, but I was pleased with the overall effect.

And now I am officially out of my 8x10 panels for daily work, and will have to make more.  I have a sheet of masonite that  will need to be primed, marked and then cut into smaller pieces.. but it is so very cold today that I can't do it outside (and the fumes from the oil based primer are too noxious to do inside...)  Later this week it is supposed to return to spring weather, so hopefully I will be able to make some more.. Meanwhile, I have some linen pads of various sizes I can use....

70. Miniature - Paint Foal

1.5 x 3.5 oil/panel

Yeah, this one is tiny. I found one more frame for miniatures and decided to paint this last one.  I could not, no matter what I did, get a decent photo of it... So, this'll have to do.   This one was hard, mainly because I just don't have the right size brushes to work t his small, and it is on one of the slippery panels....

Here's a size reference for you.

I found that working this tiny requires a different approach.. where I might like to put down thick paint, with looser brushstrokes, these miniatures pretty much call for a tighter approach and thinner paint.  This is the last one for a while I think!!

69. Old Copper Kettle

5x7 oil/panel

So.. i n keeping with my "getting back to the basics" idea of why I started this project and blog, I decided today to try to paint by laying down brushstrokes using careful observation of temperature and value and color, without doing alot of blending.  You can probably see this best in the copper pot and the stoneware jar.   This is still a little different for me, and doesn't come that easy. Additionally, I'm t hinking about edges, and the last thing I wanted to do was paint each petal of those sunflowers with sharp pointy edges, even if that's how they appear to be... 

This was one of those "slippery" panels again, only this time I lightly sanded it before painting.   This left a less desirable surface for some reason.... so not sure what the s olution is....

68. All Boarded Up

All Boarded Up, 5x7

This project was started so I could explore some new ways of putting paint down. It seems to have morphed into more than that, so today I thought I should get back to the "roots" of this and just have fun laying paint down... This was very quickly done, maybe 45 min. (hey, supper was on the stove!) and I was trying out yet another panel from artist friend Catherine. This one has a nice matte surface, but no absorption, and was nice to paint on. Normally, on a building, I'd use a knife, but the smooth panel with no texture doesn't lend itself so much to scraping with a knife... plus the small size.. so I just used brushes.

Painting tip for today.. snow is never white.  Find a mix to be the "local color" of the snow, and then select your color for the shadow and the areas in sunlight.   My local color was a mix of ultramarine and a tiny tiny hint of alizarin.   the shadows were a darker mix of that, and the light is white with a whisper of cad yellow light.
oh, and here's today's painting along with a couple of others... compare size.. my poor little studio is so small and crowded....

67. Trying out a New Painting Surface

5x7 oil/panel

A friend Catherine sent me a couple of samples of a different kind of masonite panel.  It is coated in a sort of enamel.   I honestly did not think the paint would adhere well, but I wanted to give it a try, as she liked it alot.

It is maybe the slickest surface I've ever painted on, but, incredibly, the paint did adhere.  It is a great surface if you want to do a wipe-off technique, as you can get back to nearly the white ground with no problem... It was actually quite pleasant to paint on.  She sent me a couple more, and I'll give them a try also... 

I do have a few reservations about long-term archival quality.. I will let this one dry and see if the paint has any issues with flaking off.. but it seems so far like it will be a nice option if you do not want to go through the trouble of gessoeing or oil priming your boards.. Stay tuned, and I'll let you know!

66. A Patch of Sun

8x10 oil/panel

Well, this was fun.  And a real exercise in color temperature... and reflected light.. there is alot of light bouncing around and shadowed areas were warmer and lighter than you might think they'd be at first glance... 

I'd love to be soaking up some rays right now too..... 

65. Where'd They Go?

Oil/canvas 4x5

another small one because I was cleaning out some things in my studio today and found this little canvas.

This guy is looking for strays You'd think they'd be easy to see out there... but those bovines are tricky.  They hide.   One might even be behind that bush! 

So I call this, "Where'd They Go?"

#63 and 64... Two for One Special!

I didn't get to post yesterday's, so I'm just gonna throw 'em both in today's post... I've been working on some miniatures... these are 4x5 and 3x5 respectively....   I'm almost out of panels and will have to make some more pronto, so using up these tiny canvases has given me a pass till I can get some more larger ones ready...

Paint Filly 4x5 oil/canvas

Cowgirl 

3x5 oil/canvas