Camellia and Rice Bowl -Revised 2/6-SOLD

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6"x8" Oil on stretched canvas.

I was never satisfied with this painting. The flower just wasn't finished and the photo was not a good representation of the piece. I "oiled -up" the dry painting and painted over the camellia and the left side background. Now I feel much better about offering it on ebay.

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I found this bowl at a consignment store and have been looking forward to painting it. The camellia seemed to be the perfect companion and would have been if I could paint flowers! I'm not sure why flowers are such a struggle for me. I try to paint the shapes and colors and not "think" flower, but I still don't have the hang of it. Other artists fool us into thinking they are easy, but NO! I love my bowl so all is not a loss. :o) Does anyone know what the Chinese character means?

Jefferson Memorial - DSFDF

Publish Post

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6"x 8" Oil on canvas panel.

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. was the subject of the latest Karin Jurick's “Different Strokes for Different Folks”. The nighttime photo provided a challenge in rendering the luminous lights casting their glow on the architecture.

The sky was originally a clear blue night sky but the moon and clouds were added providing objects for a reflection on the sidewalk in the foreground. The ground was painted wet as if a shower has left puddles on the walk. My hope is that combining the two has achieved a convincing scene and added interest to the composition.

Ripe Berries on an English Tea Towel - SOLD

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5"x 7" Oil on Ampersand Gessoboard.

sold

I'm back to my fruit still lifes to loosen things up a bit. It sure was fun painting and not needing to being concerned how fat or long a particular berry was! I did work hard to get the colors right though. My camera has never been able to reproduce Alizarin Crimson and does not show the strawberries well. This reproduction is way too tomato red and lacks that cool and deep red in the shaded side of the berries. You'll have to use your imagination.

Self Portrait

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8"x 8" Oil on Ampersand Gessoboard.

Completing this self-portrait was a New Year's resolution ... so I'm done for the year! lol I was determined to finish this before beginning anything else ...

My husband said to me the eyes were just right. This thrilled me because painting eyes has always been a struggle for me in general. And going for a "piercing" eye effect and making the eyes the focal point was a major goal in this painting.

I learned so much through this exercise. Working from a photo, it became apparent that I needed to frequently check the mirror to move toward getting a true likeness -- it hadn't occurred to me just how much the [ original ] photo was distorted. Although using a grid for the pencil drawing ( seen in a previous post ), constant measuring was still necessary in the painting. The left eye was completely wiped midway and moved to the left. This stage of the painting took about three days to accomplish.

Now I understand why portrait painters get the big bucks! And there's a new admiration for their work. Though very pleased with the outcome, I learned through the process that I still need much practice in measuring and drawing plus some lessons in mixing the proper colors for flesh.

DSFDF Portrait Swap - Christine

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10"x 8" Oil on Ampersand Gessoboard

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are having a good new year so far! I want to thank all who visited my blog last year and especially all your comments. That feed back helps to keep me going when I get discouraged or when I just need that one positive word to assure me that I'm on the right path. So thanks from the bottom of my heart!

This portrait is the latest challenge from that amazing Atlanta artist Karin Jurick. Her "Different Strokes From Different Folks" blog offers artists a chance to paint from a photo that she provides once a week, and a week later we post our painting on her blog. For the end of the year challenge we were to send in a photo of ourselves and Karin paired us up (randomly) with another artist's photo to paint.

This is my mystery artist and she has painted from my photo. It was fortunate for me that the photo that I was given was excellent. It provided an interesting angle and dramatic lighting that was very challenging. The angle gave me a struggle with the getting the eyes just right. They appear to be different sizes due to the angle and furrowed brow, but I think I finally achieved a convincing likeness. Check out the site to see the 130 artists that participated. The portraits have been posted as they come in and the final ones will be in by Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by!