Hand Study #4

"Hand Study #4", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

Here's the last hand study for the week.   I'm off to great northwest to see family (and escape the heat!).  I'll post again starting in September.   I think the break will be good for me - a creative recharge.

Touch

"Touch", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

Click here for purchase information

This is my favorite so far.  It's still not easy, but getting easier.  The key seems to be keeping the paint very thin.

One more day and then I'm off to Seattle for a couple of weeks, so I'll be taking a break from painting.  Too bad, since I just got another batch of great reference photos. Only one of the two I booked for today turned up (a hazard of hiring via Craigslist), but she was great.

Hand Study #2

"Hand Study #2", Acrylic on Panel, 5x7"

Click here for purchase information

I figure if I just keep doing these, eventually hands will become easy.  Right now, that's not the case...

Father & Daugher

"Father & Daughter", Acrylic on Panel, 7x5"

Click here for purchase information

It's a day late, but here's the first of my hand studies.  I pressed my husband and daughter into modeling for me.  I like the delicate, almost watercolor, feel.

I did actually do one yesterday, but discovered that using re-gessoed boards (w/lumps because I didn't sand it down first) doesn't translate well to this sort of subtle work.  I then tried to go w/a thicker, more expressionistic style to fix it, but it just ended up looking more scabrous than before.  I know I was supposed to post it regardless...but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Feather

"Feather", Acrylic on Panel, 30x40"

A new color scheme, as promised.  I like how this one turned out.  It really captures the way the light looked coming through the branches.  It's different from most of the trees that I tend to pick, since the branches are spindly rather than thick and gnarled.

This next week I'm planning on doing a series of hand studies for my daily paintings.  Perhaps not the most exciting, but it will help refine my technique for the figure paintings.   And who knows, maybe they'll be interesting on their own.

Lean

"Lean", Acrylic on Panel, 18x24"

And yes...another predominantly purple painting.  I'm planning on swapping out my colors for the next one.  :)

I love this pose - so gracefully awkward.  She seems to be looking through the gap in the tree - like something interesting is happening just outside the frame.

Path

"Path", Acrylic on Panel, 14x11"

Click here for purchase information

I find that I tend to use whatever colors are on my palette at the moment, so I end up with a string of painting with similar color schemes.  This one was done from the same palette as Lean Back then Mist and I have a figurative work on my easel at the moment that is going to end up with the same greens and purples.

A gallery owner once told me that customers don't buy paintings with a lot of purple.  This was disappointing because it's one of my favorite colors.  It hasn't held me back (much) from using purple.  I especially like it up against yellow/green.