Turquoise Tango - Oil Study



Turquoise Tango
(5 x 7, oil on panel)
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This was painted just the other day, another exploration in using exaggerated color. I'm interested in just seeing how far I can push the color in shadows and in the backgrounds. Besides exploring color I'm also making things up which is simply not what I normally do.

Setting up the still life is a hugely creative part of the painting. Instead of making decisions as I work my way through the painting I plan them ahead of time when I'm setting up a still life. The lighting is carefully planned to create mood, objects are placed so that a rhythm is established, shadows are planned similarly, and folds in fabric are used to point to the focal point. I choose a fabric color for the background and foreground or use lighting to influence the color of the wall. After the planning is done and the decisions made I observe carefully and try to paint what I see.

Turquoise Tango and the other studies are completely different. In nearly all of them the background or foreground is a made up color. I have to use my imagination and go with my gut feeling. It's more immediate and very rewarding. Being studies there is no concern about 'will a gallery like it' or 'will the collector who commissioned it like it'. Will it change how I paint? Not completely, the act of quiet observation and the challenge of capturing what I see has it's own rewards but as time goes by there will be a bit more freedom in my work as I continue with the studies, time will tell.

Waiting for Spring



Apple Study
19 x 15
Oil on Canvas

February and the first half of March were spent illustrating a children's book and I didn't have a lot of opportunities to paint or to post any previous studies. The book art has been shipped and I can spend some time with oil painting again. It's interesting doing both illustration and the still lifes, it requires quite a mind switch. One day I'm painting whimsical little characters and scenes straight out of my head and the next I'm painting a still life that is set up right in front of me or from a photo.

This painting was another exercise in looking for colour in white, the shadows were vaguely purple but I pushed them as far as I could. Normally I lean toward accuracy but it's been wonderful fun to exaggerate the colours I see. How will this affect my regular paintings? Will it be a sublte extra bit of color or will it be more obvious - it will be interesting to see.

Apple Study was done in January but reminds me of the fresh greens of spring that I’m waiting for.

Oil Painting - Looking For Color in White

Chinese Bowl with Mandarin Study

This winter still finds me working on studies with an emphasis on whites and how they are influenced by surrounding objects and the light source. It's amazing how much color is there when you really look and of course exaggerating that color is exhilarating. It will be interesting to see how these studies will affect my regular paintings. If I could I would do one of these a day, they're that fun, but commissions and illustration assignments have to be tended to as well.

Working with white and specifically looking for the color in it has made me notice more color in the whites of snow. I never realized just how much red can be detected in snow. What a lovely bonus.

Contemporary Still Life Site

Just the other day my work was added to Contemporary Still Life. I feel hugely honored and somewhat out of my element. This site is produced by several artists from the Netherlands and they have some fabulous work there. The artists deeply revere the still life and make no apologies for it. I visited many an artist's website and am feeling pretty darned humbled and a lot inspired.

Anticipation

Red Pears With Silver
16 x 20
Oil on Canvas
Sold

This is the last of the year's commissions. Commissions are always interesting things. Made to order paintings that are a wonderful challenge yet are fraught with the inevitable worries that the painting may not be what the collector had in mind.

On the flip side of that are the studies that I've been doing which are done purely to examine, explore and practice. Whether it turns out good or bad isn’t such a concern. In painting mileage counts, the more you paint the better you are bound to get if you are willing to explore and try new things that will inevitably bring about failure. Happily our successes are built upon our failures and improvement is inevitable.

Red Pears With Silver is a quiet and more formal painting than the recent studies and I'm glad to say it looks better in real life. The photo somehow sucks the life out of it and I can't quite figure out what I've done wrong. As I carry on with the studies I wonder what my painting will look like a year from now.

And speaking of years, here we are, another one gone. Elections, political upheaval, economic disaster, strife of all kinds around the world and yet I feel incredibly hopeful and full of anticipation. As I sit in my studio today watching the snow fall I realize that the cycle of life just keeps on keeping on. What is happening in our world today has always happened in one way or another yet new lives are created while other lives end, joys continue to be had and sorrows too.

I feel incredibly blessed to live the life I lead and thank you all for following and sharing my art. My wish for you all is continued awareness and enjoyment of the beauty in life. How lucky we are!

Happy New Year.

Reflecting Light - Oil Painting Study

Reflections on White

Another quick two hour study. Normally I try to make my color and values as accurate as possible, only emphasizing them when I think an area needs enhancing or toning them down where required. I keep my brushstrokes quite controlled and not overtly visible but as I do more of these studies I see how making the the marks big and bold is simply another measure of control as is manipulating the color. Brushstroke placement, thickness and direction are even more important when they're large and bold because they are so very visible. One ill placed mark and you've got a bulls eye on your painting. I'd love to do one of these every day but illustration and commissions have to have their share of the time too.

Interview with Oranges & Sardines

I recently had an interesting interview with Dini Menendez of the Oranges & Sardines blog who interviews poets and artists. Answering the questions for interviews always makes me think about my art in a way that I don't always do. After all we're busy making it and we sometimes we go along not really paying attention to what, why and how we make our art. Things like this really makes you a bit more aware of your artistic self.

Pomegranate Study

Pomegranate Study
11 x 14

I'm loving these studies. They're such a great opportunity to practice, experiment and take chances that I might not otherwise do for a commission or a painting destined for a gallery.

Studies in Oil

Pear and Bottle Study
11 x 14
Oil/Canvas

The little studies have been so much fun but then so are the bigger ones, this one is only 11 x 14 but I recently did a bigger one about 26 x 26. I'm finding that the bigger I go the bolder and freer I get. Big brushes and lots of paint, done in 2 hours or less. A great exercise initially given to me by Doug Swinton (www.dougswinton.com), an excellent artist in Calgary from whom I get occasional instruction. He's good for me because his work is the exact opposite of mine.

The recent studies have been very fun and liberating in that they've been quite experimental without my usual carefully planned set up of lighting, backgrounds and foregrounds. In fact some of them have been done from two separate photos. I know, I know, I usually say how important it is to paint from life as much as possible but sometimes I find that I get overly careful and maybe a bit afraid to take chances, after all this is my living and I want the paintings to turn out well, but there is something about putting two separate pictures into one painting, making up the background and shadows that is incredibly exciting and causes me to exaggerate colours, values and brushstrokes more than I normally would. Add to this recipe a time restraint and things get happening! I love it.

Miniature Studies in Oil

Small Autumn Squash
Oil/Canvas
3 x 3

Yup, you read that right 3 x 3 inches. A miniature painting like this is great fun to do especially with a bigger brush. I'd been doing tiny little 2 x 3 inch oil studies in my sketchbook then remembered a lilliputian canvas that seemed so right for the pint sized gourd. You can see that I'm really in the mood for red lately.