view from the "W"..in progress..

i'm trying to portray the cavernous feel of new york city..not sure i'm there yet but this has been fun to work on. this might be looking down broadway and i love all the bright signage everywhere. my hubby's finally on the mend..although he's still wearing his t-shirt that says "i'm not out of the woods yet"...it's come in very handy over the years...

times square..(i think)..

so i finally got back to my studio - i finished quang ho's video on the still life and you'd think i'd go straight up and do a still life..and i will...soon...i have lots of subject matter to choose from - but i have to figure out the lighting situation. when i started this daily blog, i set up very small things and i used a spotlight but i'm trying to find a way to use natural lighting and still be able to see what i'm doing. that will take some working on...in the meantime, and i'm sorry for the glare, this is from a photo i took on our trip to new york about a year ago. we stayed right on times square in the "w" ..a neat place to stay but not very roomy. they had a mirror stretching across most of the room, behind the bed, and i couldn't figure out why i looked so terrible in everything i tried on. then i realized: it was a "fat" mirror. you know how some mirrors are "skinny" mirrors and you could just stand in front of them all day??? not so much this one! so i figured i could eat anything i wanted because it was just the mirror, after all....anyway - this is not a view of times square - i know i have a couple photos of that but i think this is looking down one of the streets leading from times square. i'm not finished but i kind of like how it's falling together - loose and looser...

my sick boy...

well - i haven't done any more work on tillie and ols but i did a little project for my friend sukey today - i feel like i'm still totally immersed in art because my second batch of quang ho's videos arrived and i've been watching the one on still life...mesmerizing...i can't wait to get at it! - the problem is..i have so many things i want to try and i just need to get started...practice practice!! - i spent yesterday unpacking my package from jerry's (whee..it was like christmas!!) and organizing my paints and brushes a bit...also starting to think about the redo on the bathroom and met some nice people at lee's supply...don't give me too many decisions though...sometimes i can't decide what to order when we go out for dinner...not sure i'll get to the studio tomorrow because i have a tennis match - plan to stop at the downtown midland to work on my wall there since i sold my lady in the hat. most of all...i need to be sure my hubby's ok - he came home sick from the ER yesterday and he's been sick all day today - we're finally going to try some good ol chicken noodle soup...here's hoping!!

tils and ols..

ok - so i'm still working on these guys...i like ollie better but tillie's still not quite there...she's very angular and i don't have things the way i need them to be...more work tomorrow...meanwhile, linda callahan came by yesterday and made a cd of several paintings to show her client...hopefully we can find a fit! - and the best part:...a huge box arrived today from jerry's artarama!!! yeah@!!!!!

starting tillie and a bit more of ollie...

spent some time in my studio this morning because this afternoon holds nothing but sports! - hoosiers play at 3 and then the playoffs so i needed to get crackin!! i'm liking ollie a bit better - i softened and shortened his chin and that helped a lot. starting on tillie - they both have very angular faces, tillie in particular.. and it's tricky to capture the chin, the nose, all the angles - without making them look too old...i'm really working on getting the right drawing, shapes, proportions...color is a sidenote in these studies...ok - so off to the ballgames!

today i wanted to do a study using a lot of paint and not a lot of blending. this is a painting of my grandson ollie - i'm thinking this is what he'll look like in a few years. it's hard with kids not to get too angular and that's what's happening here...i'll work more on this tomorrow - i have a whole bunch of paint out and it's fun...can't wait to get back up there!!.....i want to give kudos to my daughter boogie. she participated in the "bop to the top" this morning! the "bop" is an annual RUN/WALK/CRAWL up 37 flights of stairs in the AUL building in indianpolis. boogs did this 2 years ago and really wanted to beat her time from then..and she did! - by a good margin!! - she's been training for this for weeks and she's so happy it's over! - it's very hard on the lungs, not to mention the rest of the body. so we are very proud of her!!! way to go, boogs!~!!!!

no painting today...

in keeping with my new year's resolution of doing something art-related every day...i spent a whole bunch of time ordering from jerry's this afternoon. plus i'm getting ready to finish a video i'm in the middle of...but most importantly...i spent some time gathering images. my friend linda callahan has a client who wants to hang several of my pieces in a hallway overlooking a stairway i think...anyway..she's only choosing giclees (digital prints, most likely on canvas) so she can get the most bang for her buck. linda's coming over tomorrow to take several for her to choose from. i'm excited and hopeful at the same time!!

sneaking up...

i'm sneaking up on them...i would love to stage a scene like this, using my kids and grandkids - and give it a go! actually all of my grands are too old to stage this - bummer! - anyway - i'm having a lot of fun, trying to mimic her brushstrokes and color ..it's been a long time since i saw this in person at the chicago art museum so i can't really remember..but i think she painted rather thickly - i think the underpainting of cool color worked as i painted over in warm flesh tones..there is so much color in her skintones..remarkable!! anyway - i'll let this rest for a day or two and go back and see what else i need to do. i have a couple other cassatt images i may tackle. NEWSFLASH: i just found out i'll be doing the last one-person show at bob anderson's stillframes gallery - that will be in april and i have much to do to prepare. i have enough pieces right now to hang a show but i sure want to do some new work especially for this opening. should be good incentive!

breakfast in bed..by mary cassatt...in progress...

so this is what i've been doing this afternoon...it's always such a good thing to copy the old masters because you learn so much...remember the vangogh sunflowers i did? - and actually i've done "breakfast in bed" before which i sold.....but that was several years ago and i'm thinking i'd like another crack at it! - mary cassatt was such a fabulous artist - i'm not sure if she started off with cool colors under her skin tones but that's what i'm doing here. the first image is her painting..then my start - getting the drawing in and starting the darks...then the cool undertones of the skin...may work, may not...but i'm thinking it will...i'm rather sneaking up on this and i'm having a lot of fun!!!..the reason it looks so strange is i completely lost track of time...(davey says i do that a lot..)...and i had to quit very abruptly so their faces are so unfinished...be patient...i'm hoping tomorrow will be good...!!

grand canyon study

6x8 oil on canvas panel

so i started the edgar payne book...it will be fantastical!!! - just getting started and so much to cram in my head - i feel like i'm in school again!...anyway - i wanted to get to the studio this morning because of the games today so i started another study of the girl from yesterday. i worked for a while and then took a break for lunch and when the bears game appeared to be a blowout, i trotted back up there to finish the piece. but....it was not working so i wiped it!!!decided to do a landscape piece instead because that's what i've been reading about...so i searched through some photos and found several from many years ago. we visited the grand canyon with our good friends tim and katie and i took lots of pics! - i did this small study..of the grand canyon...oxymoron?...i quite like how it turned out and i think i may do a larger piece one of these days for the gallery. fun day - now to the jets - patriots game which has already started AND to a glass of wine!!

study...

6x6 oil on panel
so yesterday was a very good day!!...first of all, i wanted to do a portrait study...i have so many images around and not having the luxury of a live model to work with..( by far the best scenario)...i looked through my stuff and found this exotic looking gal from an old anthology catalogue. she has a very unique look and i may just paint her over and over to see what happens. also, my edgar payne book "composition of outdoor painting" arrived yesterday..and i've really been anxious to get into that. it was written in 1941 and i can tell i'm going to absolutely love it! i have so much to learn and the principles of outdoor painting apply to every other type of painting and so i'll dive in soon!...also we went to a delicious dinner with good friends before the IU game - and we finally got a win!!!!! - they played great defense and pruduced enough offense to pull it out. the best part was that they withstood michigan's late rally and in past games they just faded...couldn't get over the hump. now they know they can and we're looking forward to the next game!!...and then, to top things off, when we got home there was a check in the mail from midland in carmel. i sold "missed opportunity", my painting of the lady in the hat. it's bitter-sweet because we were about to bring that one home and hang it over the fireplace cause davey loved it so much. ah well - at least it's found a good home and someone else is hanging it...perhaps over their fireplace?...... plus, i forgot, the pack won!!! my hubby's a happy boy!!! - looking forward to today's games - after i've painted of course!!! ("christmas vacation", anybody?)

first project

mountain stream study 6x6 oil on panel

today i tried three things: i wanted to practice tonal painting so i started with 3 values (or tones)- darkish, medium and lightish - hopefully it shows that in the first photo ( for some reason my photos are a bit glary!)..and then i wanted to maintain those values throughout the painting. i also used a limited palette: light red, yellow ochre and cobalt blue - plus black. i found a big tube of zinc white which i don't think i've ever used so i wanted to experiment with that. not so sure about the zinc white! - not so crazy about the consistency.... not wanting things to go to waste, however..(remember the starving children in china?)...i may just try it again. i'm planning to go through a lot of paint this year so maybe i need to use that up to get rid of it! (waste not want not...) i could work on this more this afternoon but i think i got out of the exercise what i needed and i may go on to something else! we're kind of snowed in today so i may just head back up there! - finished my quang ho dvd and i must say he is something - i love his philosophy and he has so much to offer!

i forgot to mention..

i plan to keep a diary of the journey i'm on - so i'll try and post as many of the practice pieces i can...sort of like starting over with my daily painting series - only with a more purposeful intention! i'm sure there will be some real losers but that will be fun too - wish me luck!

i'm getting excited....

i've decided this will be the year i get better!!..and to that end, i've spent the last several days reading, studying, ...yesterday and today i've been viewing my new video by Quang Ho..one of the artist's recommended by david slonim...boy is he good!! i am so excited to get started - but i think i need to order some student grade paint to use for practice - i really don't know if this would be a good thing - they always say " use the best quality paints and brushes you can afford"..but i intend to go through a lot of paint in this next year and i may have to think about the frugality of things...ive been through kevin macpherson's new book and he lays out a bunch of exercises - more grist for my mill...i'm thinking if i'm just doing practice exercises and not intending to sell the pieces, i might as well use student grade paint, right? but sometimes wonderful things happen along the way so would it be fair to use lesser grade paint? im at a loss! i'm posting a couple studies i did last week - they need work but they were fun to do..this one above is a ballerina tying her shoe - very loose...but fun