Fuji Apples & Lillies

February 23, 2016 6"x8" on Watercolor Paper

Palette: Yellow Ochre, Terre Verte, Chinese Orange, + W

February 24, 2016 5.5"x8.5" on Watercolor Paper

Palette: Yellow Ochre, Terre Verte, Chinese Orange, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Yellow, B + W

February 26/27, 2016 8"x6"" on Claybord

Palette: Yellow Ochre, Permanent Yellow, Prussian Blue Chinese Orange, + W

February 29, 2016 7" x 5"" on Aquabord

Palette: Yellow Ochre, Permanent Yellow, Prussian Blue Chinese Orange, + W

Into the Mirror

Usually, I like to begin with the post of my favorite recent painting and then give a little recap. This time, however, I feel like I need to admit something I am a little embarrassed about up front. Despite painting in oils through and after college, and despite drawing portraits often in high school, I have never painted a portrait. I've created one quick, far away figurative oil painting in my first semester of Painting 1, but then my artwork departed from representation. 

Last night I did a few sketches of the regular items - coffee mugs, tea kettle, etc. - but they weren't able to hold my attention. It was my last day of the weekend, and with a meeting scheduled for tonight I wanted to have a focused piece. So, I decided to give a self-portrait a whirl! Since I've never had to mix skin tone paint colors before, I limited my palette immediately to one of my go-tos: ultramarine deep, burnt sienna, and yellow ochre. There are a few colors I'll need to add in to the mix if I continue to do portraits, but this helped tremendously for my first go.

February 22, 2016 5.5"x8.5" on Watercolor paper

Palette: Ultramarine Deep, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre,+ White

To my relief, it turned out all right! Not perfect, but a good start. There were a few areas of the skin that started to get rough, since the gouache would only let me work over it so many times. I forgot how fun it can be to paint people (even myself), so I may need to drum me up some models for the future!

Vase, Mallets, and an Obscene Shade of Orange

February 20, 2016 6"x8" on Claybord

Palette: Chinese Orange, Carmine, Terre Verte, B+W

Available on Daily Paint Works

It has been awhile since I sat down to do a larger, focused painting on claybord. (As a side note, it is strange to consider 6"x8" as large after doing 4 foot paintings for awhile.) This is a little red ceramic vase with a beautiful glaze that was really tricky to capture. It drips and swirls between white, deep red, and an almost green. I've mentioned before that painting on claybord can be a frustrating experience for me, but I loved being able to pick up the paint for colored highlights in the glaze. The bright reds were created this way, and the edges formed by the action worked with the pattern in the glaze.

I used my painting from the day before as a prep-day, and did a 20 minute gouache sketch to take a little time to consider the lighting and shape of the vase.

February 19, 2016 4"x6" on Watercolor Paper

Palette: Carmine B+W

February 21, 2016 4"x4" on Claybord

Palette: Flame Red, Juane Brilliant, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Deep, B+W

Available on Daily Paint Works

After a day of spring cleaning, I settled down to paint and wanted to paint something BRIGHT! I looked around my studio and my Art/Work book stood out as a good backdrop color to use. For the subject matter I decided to take my husbands advice, for the probably the first time ever when it comes to subject matter, and painted his drum mallets. My loose approach to them didn't work great when it came to the tight wrapping of the yarn, but I did enjoy mixing all of the colors. I think I might return to the mallets for a longer composition when I feel like doing some tight, detail work.

February 18, 2016 ~0.75"x1" on Watercolor Paper

Palette: Raw umber, B+W

And I suppose I should tack on my late-night painting sketch from Thursday, as well. I worked an evening event and just wanted to practice something quick! A teeny, tiny bottle did the trick. 

Kitty Cat Toys

February 16, 2016 4"x4" on Aquabord

Palette: Ultramarine Deep, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, B+W

Available on Daily Paint Works

The aquabord I used for this little painting was originally used for the first try of my rum composition. After realizing the painting wasn't working (maybe an hour of painting), I took it to the sink and rinsed off all the excess paint. There was still a shadow of the composition, so when I returned to use it again I decided to go with a dark subject matter. It was another evening painting, and I wanted to grab something fun that I could be looser with my brushstrokes. Since I am always tripping over little mice, I decided to paint this little guy. This gray and blue mouse is among the favorites of Copper, my younger cat, so it is often quickly lost under couches, chairs, stoves, fridges, you name it!

February 17, 2016 4"x4" on Claybord

Available on Daily Paint Works

Okay, I admit it! I've been slacking on noting my color choices. Before, I was writing the color selection down each time after I finished a painting (or before I began the next one and put my previous paints away) but I didn't do that this past week. I can't quite remember which paints I used for this carrot cat toy... I want to say lemon yellow, terre verte, juane brilliant... or it might have been lemon yellow, prussian blue, chinese red, and juane brilliant. Ah, well, it was another fun, silly still life.

Onward to Month Two: Tea & Singing Bowl

January 31, 2016 4"x4" on Claybord

Palette: Lemon Yellow, Burnt Sienna, B+W

Available on Daily Paint Works

I have completed one month of daily painting! I have gotten so much delight out of being able to say "I have created 16..23...28 paintings this year!" When I sat down for my final painting of January, a little TNG mug, I opted for one of the Ampersand Claybords since it had been so long since I'd painted on them (a whopping five days), and I felt it. Painting on watercolor paper and the Ampersand Aquabord is a far more intuitive process for me, so I'll need to keep the Claybord in regular rotation if I want to improve.

This morning feels differently than the days preceding, not like a month has passed at all. I feel aware of how easily painting every day has returned to my habits, and how easy it could pass back out. I know there are '30 paintings in 30 days' challenges, and I'm glad that I didn't opt for that goal. There is something more to learn from this experience.

February 1, 2016 5"x7" on Aquabord

Palette: Yellow Ochre, Flame Red, Peacock Blue, B+W

Available on Daily Paint Works

For my first painting of February, I selected a singing bowl that sits nearby my painting desk. I wanted the lavender fabric to mimic the motion the mallet would take in a trip around the bowl, to give the painting a silent echo. This is a subject matter I hope to return to once I give myself several days to complete a composition. There are many lovely details on the bowl that will take close concentration and time to capture. I did my best to give a quick idea of them here.