Double Pear

Well, I like the pears, but the whole composition is too heavy on the right.

I might do this again and see if I could get maybe a third element in the empty space. Maybe just space the plate differently.

I need to keep working on the set-up.

Second white pitcher

I reworked the background on the right side of the pitcher.

I learned that gray in pastel needs to be a mixture of colors, not black with a lot of white in it. If you look at the previous blog, and compare it to this one, you might see the difference.

The area is under the spout and to the right.

I want to do something else and work with the grays.

White pitcher

This is a study of a white object on a colored background. It got a little messy, but it was fun to do.

red grapes

My final painting for the workshop was this little sprig of grapes. I spent about 30 minutes working with different objects to get a composition I liked.

It was good to know that others have to take a long time to get set-up too.

If I don't feel inspired by the set-up, the fun goes out of the painting process. And that is what I have found to be the point of painting...not the product, but the experience of painting.

Oranges and Plumb

This painting was a four color challenge with three colors close on the color wheel, blue, turquoise, and purple, with the compliment, orange.

It turned out better that I thought it would. I was very leery of the background blue being so intense, but then I watched Carol go even more saturated with her demo. Very exciting.

Tea and Strawberries

This is my second painting from the workshop...I also painted these strawberries 8 times in an exercise in quick 2 minute intervals.

By the time I was done with these berries, they were roasted from the lights.

I noticed that the interior ellipse on the cup is off.

I practiced ellipses because they are challenging and Carol said to stretch and be challenged. There are 4 in this painting. Can you count them?

Some Like It Hot

This is the first of the paintings I did for Carol Marine's workshop this last week.

It was an excellent jump start for me after a year of not painting much.

The exercises were challenging and met with much whining on my part, but I learned a lot from each one. And I would have not done them on my own.

Carol is very attentive and a really good teacher. Which I can't always say about good artists whose work I admire. Having both talents is unusual.

Gourd and Queen

This didn't work the way I had wanted. I like the butterfly tho.

Fairy butterflies with Pepper

These tiny butterflies are so cute. I wasn't thrilled with the pepper, but learned from doing it.

peppers and cabbage butterfly

I did this one in an hour. It felt good and I liked the immediateness of it.

Questionmark and Pepper

I had a second butterfly in this one and it looked awful. I was ready to chuck the painting when a friend suggested taking out the second butterfly.

I have learned to use a rubber tipped tool to take off wet oil and employed it here. Simplifying the subject matter helped.

White Cabbage sulfur

These cherries were so dark I had a challenge getting the red in highlights.

I think I could have used a warmer foreground. The painting is a little cool. Maybe it is the hot weather out that makes me yearn for cool paintings!

The finished painting:"Goeatweed Emporer"

The last step was to add the background color and highlights on the apples.

Block in objects for painting

This is the next step in the painting of this lovely Goatweed Emperor and green apples.

First stage

This is the block in for a painting I did this week-end.

"Pipvine on Trumpetvine"

This painting is about the light when it hit the little vase.

Dogface and Grapes

I love this one. Finally one I like. I knew it when I finished it an hour short of what it usually takes. It didn't overwork it.

Giant

This butterfly was given to me by a friend who found him dead. It made me feed good to know I didn't have to kill a beautiful thing to paint it.

I enjoyed putting him with some new small tomatoes.

Buckeye and Greenies

I like the apples best in this one. I could have a better color choice for the background to make the little orange bars on the butterfly stand out more: bet you didn't even see them.

Morning Cloak and Apples

This is one of my favorite butterflies because of the rich brown of it's wings and the blue dots. I like the apple slices and the rhythm of shadows across the canvas.
I wanted to go in and change the shapes of the wings some, but decided to stop and not over work the painting, which is my biggest challenge.