Call

"Call", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

Another street scene to end the week.  I see people riding in the back of pickup trucks a lot.  I can't imagine it's very comfortable.  But the iPhone is ubiquitous.

Scooter

"Scooter", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

I've been enjoying grabbing reference of random people I see on the street.  I've been inspired by the work of Vivian Maier (www.vivianmaier.com), whom I learned about only recently.  I can't hope to get as close to the subjects with my cell phone camera, but I can still get some interesting views.  I like the pictures better when people are unaware.

Conversation

"Conversation", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

These teens were sitting on the wall outside of my gym.  The black tights (in 80+ degree weather) and the total engrossment in the smartphones struck me as funny.

More Fruit

"Cherry Bowl", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

"Abstracted Fruit", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

Since I was lax about posting last week, I decided to do a bonus painting for today.  I've been wanting to play more with the 'smear' technique.  I really like the way the background and the bowl came out in the abstracted piece - feels a bit like a Cezanne.  The cherries read better in the first one, I can't quite figure out how to apply the technique to small areas.

The large painting I started today is a hybrid of the smears and my usual style.  I'm curious to see how it turns out - seems promising in its early stages.

Gnarl

"Gnarl", Acrylic on Panel, 9x12"

Click here for purchase information

Here's a tree for today (i can't seem to stop painting them...).  I'm playing around with a larger format - I can get a lot more detail into the image.

Plain Cherries

"Plain Cherries", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

There's something nice about showing the fruit on a plain background.  It puts the forms and colors on clear display.  In the painting process, it's interesting how much of a difference the highlights make.  I finish almost everything and it looks flat and dull. Then I dab on some highlights and all of a sudden the fruit is three dimensional and the colors are richer.  Ah, the mysteries of art...  I'm all out of cherries, so I'll have to move on to something else tomorrow.

Cherries

"Cherries", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

You can tell what's in season from my daily paintings.  Cherries are much more fun to paint than peaches - shiny.  On a side note, I also made the bowl in the painting (though you can't really see it that well).  It's from an earlier pottery mania.

Father's Day

"Father's Day", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

Here's one I did for my husband in honor of father's day.  I think the expressions on the kids faces are hilarious.

Peaches

"Peaches", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

I didn't get around to posting this yesterday, so here it is today.  Peaches are much harder than apples or peppers - it's hard to capture the softness of them - no strong highlights.  I think the one on the right works a bit better.  I might have to play around with a layer of soft yellow/white glaze.

Dryad B

"Dryad B", Acrylic on Panel, 8x10"

Click here for purchase information

I've been working on a new series - integrating figures into my tree/landscapes.  This is the second I've done (I posted the first to my FB site) but I'm still working out how I want to proceed.  I like the idea of modern-day dryads, but am worried that it's too kitschy.  What interests me is having the form of the body echoing the form of the tree.  I think however, that these are getting a bit too close to illustration.  I'm going to try a bunch in this smaller size before committing to another big panel.  Maybe they just need to be looser?  Maybe the content is too traditional?  I've thought about really pushing the 'modern' angle, e.g. dryads drinking Diet Coke and smoking, but that may make the whole problem worse.  We'll see...

Peacock 4

"Peacock 4", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

I'm still painting peacocks and I think this is my favorite of the bunch.  I like how it looks unposed and captures the motion of the bird walking.  I've been a bit caught up in my large painting this week and need to find something else to paint for the rest of the week's daily paintings...

Peacock 3

"Peacock 3", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

Click here for purchase information

It's a brand new week and I'm back to painting peacocks. I like how the tail echoes the shapes in the foliage in this one.  I'll be better about actually doing my daily paintings this week, since my son started camp this morning.  It's amazing how little work gets done when there's a six-year-old in the house...

Peacock 2

"Peacock 2", Acrylic on Panel, 6x6"

Click here for purchase information

Here's another peacock.  I ended up taking a lot of pictures of them...  I think because they were so tame that I could get up close, which I found unusual.

I like the pop of red in the background - sets off the colors of the bird.

Peacock

"Peacock", Acrylic on Panel, 6x6"

Click here for purchase information

I was over at Mayfield Park this morning scouting locations for my upcoming figure shoots & so I had to take some photos of the ubiquitous peacocks.  It's amazing that such a lovely bird can have such a raucous, unpleasant 'voice'.  I just love the colors though.

Dance

"Dance", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

Here's another dancing trees painting.  I'm going to be doing more figure paintings, but I need to collect more reference.  Soon.