Breitling

Breitling  oil - 8 x 8

I did a quick little study of Breitling, a cute little "Puggle", today. She was on our boat this past weekend sporting a new life jacket. I'm not sure if it was being on a boat or wearing the life jacket but she was not too happy about the whole thing. I think if we keep bringing her along she will learn to love it. 

Tulips

Tulips  oil - 8 x 8

Thank you Leesy for sending this cheerful photograph of tulips taken by your neighbor. I love tulips. You can't help but smile when you see them. Tulips were the flowers I chose for my April wedding, 27 year ago. The florist had to wax them open for my bouquet  so they would hold up all day but they were beautiful. 

Ocean Stones

Ocean Stones  oil - 9 x 6

This is a painting I did last fall of the coast of California. I loved all the vivid colors and shapes of the rocks in contrast to the algae in the ponds and the ocean in the background. I am working on a portrait this week but I didn't post it yet since I am not totally happy with it and I want to do an especially nice job on it. I'll post it next week. This painting is for sale, framed, on my web site for $180. 

It's Not Easy Being Green

A few of us artist get together every Tuesday for lunch so we came up with the first of hopefully many painting challenges, we agreed, to do every season. Today, after changing the date several times, we finally got together to show our Seasonal Challenge: Winter, "It's Not Easy Being Green". Below is a photo of the artists. You can see me taking the photo in the mirror (I kind of like that shot of me), and the paintings in the back ground.

This was a challenge not to use other colors and to focus on the values. I found I didn't like painting in only green and I think we all agree we are kind of sick of green. With that being said, I think the little paintings came out well. Many of the artist said they will go back now and add the colors they wanted to use. We had a wonderful time and are excited to see the Spring Challenge paintings.

"It's Not Easy Being Green"

NEXT

The Seasonal Challenge: Spring 2011

"Paint an Egg"

The only rule is there has to be some kind of egg or eggs some where in the painting.

We will meet the first Tuesday in June

at Chef Lin in Frederick, MD at 12:30 pm

to show our paintings.

Me, Myself Portrait

Me, Myself Portrait  oil - 8 x 8

This weeks Daily Paint Works' Challenge, "The all about Me", was to paint a self portrait. I just couldn't skip this challenge since I have been painting so many portraits of other people. It was time that I became my own victim. So, I grabbed my camera, ran out side, pointed the camera back at myself (not an easy trick with a full size 35 mm) and started clicking. In this photo I think I forgot to smile but I suspect this is how I must look when I am concentrating on my work.  

To see other entries click here: DPW Challenge  

Kathy

Kathy  oil - 6 x 6 

This is the first painting I have done since my return from Florida. A co-worker of my daughter, sent this photo of her friend's daughter, for me to paint. Kathy is such a cute little girl with beautiful intense eyes. I really enjoyed painting her.

Morning Watch

Morning Watch  oil - 6 x 6 

The Daily Paint Works Challenge this week was a color challenge. You were to paint a painting using a complimentary color scheme. I chose blue and orange but finding a subject that worked was the challenge for me.  I haven't entered the challenges in a couple of weeks since I have been doing portraits from the photographs that were sent to me. I wanted to do a portrait for this challenge but none of my stash of photos had just the right colors. Then, I stumbled upon some photos of our dog Tug taken a couple months ago. I had already painted Tug from one of the other photos, taken that day, in a much tighter way than this looser and smaller version of her. Tug and I go on a walks every morning and she loves to hunt for squirrels, chase squirrels and sit and watch squirrels. I named the painting Morning Watch  because this is Tug's morning (squirrel) watch face.  To see Morning Watch and other paintings entered in The Color Challenge click here: DPW Challenge.

Gigi

Gigi  oil - 6 x 6 (finished) 

I took a little time this morning to make a few minor changes. I am now pleased with the final painting.

Gigi  oil - 6 x 6

Gigi is another friend of Emily's. I am not pleased with how this turned out. The photo was beautiful so I can't blame that. Sometimes you just don't have a good painting day. I painted all day on it today and even though I'm not completely happy with it I am posting it anyway. Maybe I should take a day off from painting. 

Tess

Tess  oil - 6 x 6 

In loving memory of their beloved dog, a friend of mine sent a photo of Tess for me to paint. The photo was a  little blurry and lacking directional light but since Tess is gone I did the best I could with what I had. I hope they like how the painting turned out.

Fred

Fred  oil - 6 x 6

I have heard talk of Fred but I have yet to meet him. This is Emily's husband of 36 years. She has sent a few photos for me to paint that I have really enjoyed painting so far. Thanks Emily! In this painting I included the hint of the barns in the background from the photo.  He looks like the kind of guy who wouldn't sit to have his portrait taken so including the barn I think works.  

Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed   oil - 24 x 18 

Almost two years ago Kate and Tim were married. I offered to do a painting, of their choosing, for a wedding gift. After much debate on what photograph I should use, I started painting about six months ago and finished it today. Finally. This was very tedious to paint. I had to number the buttons so I would know which one I was working on and count from the bottom up or from the top down. Each time I looked away to load my brush with more paint, I would lose my place and have to count all over again. I think I could have painted another six months and not have the buttons exactly perfect but am pleased with the finished results. Although this is not a "daily" painting, I thought you would enjoy seeing it.

Joyce Ann

Joyce Ann  oil - 10 x 8 

The hardest part of this painting was trying to decide what to title it.  Joyce Ann is her given name but we all know her mostly as Grandma, or Grandmom. To me she is just Mom. She didn't think I had a photo of her to paint but alas I did. This was taken after breakfast while visiting her brother and his wife in Cape May, NJ last summer.

Harold

Harold oil - 6 x 6

Here is a man who has worked hard, raised five kids and recently retired from General Motors. He is also my brother-in law, Chrissy's (I did a portrait of her last month) dad and a pretty cool guy. One of his kids sent this photo for me to paint. This blog has had a run on cute little girl portraits so Harold was a nice change to paint.  I decided to stay here in Florida and to continue painting daily while enjoying the amazing weather here... at least until the end of April.

Kai

Kai  oil - 6 x 6

My niece Kai will be my last portrait painted in Florida. I hope I will be able to keep up this pace and paint about two portraits a week once I am home. I have a few back logged photos to paint now.  I can always use more so keep sending them. I will get to them eventually.

Live Model

Florida Girl  oil - 18 x 14

Over the last four weeks I have been taking a portrait class at the Elliott Museum in Stewart, FL. Florida Girl is of the beautiful 16 year old model that sat for us. I enjoyed the time I had with the other artists and our model was wonderful. It is not easy for a model to sit still for three hours (with breaks) for the four session but she did very well. I took a picture of her so I could finish her hands at home since it is nearly impossible to get the exact hand position each time she sat down. But, I decided to leave it sketchy like it is. The Elliot Museum had us painting in the antique car exhibit. among antique cars. The smell of turpentine and oil paint mixed with the smell of engine oil and musty leather. The people visiting the museum didn't seem to mind us painting there. 

Photo of our model