"A Companion of Diana" - WIP Corner

4" Oil on unstr14 1/2"x 8 1/etched gessoed canvas.

Click on images to enlarge.

Stage 1 and 2.

To see close up details go to my other blog -
"Marilyn M King Studio".











The latest in Karin Jurick's DSFDF challenge was a photo's of the marble sculpture of a nymph and her dog titled "The Companion of Diana".

I spent a lot of time visualizing what I wanted the end result to be before I even prepared the canvas. That is not what I usually do, but I wanted to create a background that added movement and free brush strokes that worked with the image in a supportive way. It was similar to an athlete going through the process of visualizing the next pitch or jump and getting his body to follow through with the internal image.
I had painted these background strokes in my head over and over for about three days before painting. This exercise proved to be very helpful. The initial stage seemed to to paint itself. Quite a surprise! As I continued on with the sculpture, I drew with brush and paint with the attitude of a calligrapher, creating stokes with gesture and different pressures. I wanted the painting to have a feeling of spontaneity but worked very slowly. I thought out each stroke before it was place and checked distances constantly, while paying close attention to edges and values. I think I achieved the look of a quick "sketch" but it really took about seven hours to complete. This was done in one day in order to work wet into wet.

I've been working so small for so long that this "larger" size really freed me up to do some bold painting for me. I wasn't too excited about the challenge, but it has turned out to be my favorite so far. I really learned some valuable lessons, some of which will change how I paint from now on. Thanks to Karin for continuing to STRETCH our skills and artistic vision through her challenges. To visit "Different Strokes from Different Strokes" click here.

Tabasco Sauce and Sardines - SOLD

"Midnight Snack"

12"x 9" Oil on gessoed board.

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Sold

This painting is about four times the size I'm accustomed to painting and now I'm not sure what to do with it. It has been suggested that I begin painting some larger works like this to hold back for something in the future. If that would be a show somewhere, or just developing a "body" of work for a gallery presentation, I'm not sure if this painting would be appropriate. I have so much to learn!!!! I'm just tempted to list it on ebay with the rest....... but I've always thought I'd just stay with the smaller formats ( 5x7, 6x6, 6x8 ) for ebay. Hummmm , any thoughts?

You must think... LARGE ? 12x9 is not large! It is for me! LOL My thoughts were, "what am I going to do with all this room around the bottle?" The spot of light on the right was created to give some relief to all that darkness, but I was very happy with the visual effect of the bottle emerging from the dark background. By the way, I'd never eat this at midnight! I'd never get back to sleep after this snack!

Carousel Stallion - SOLD

"Horseplay"

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6"x 6" Oil on gessoed board.

sold

Some of you may remember this painting from last September when I posted it as a work in progress. I finally finished it last night and am posting it again before listing it on ebay tonight. I had intended to do a pair of fair ride paintings, planning an elephant ride to pair with this one, but lost interest in doing another very tightly rendered piece. Sometimes you just move on and don't look back! I've got a "hot" painting coming up next.....

Black Cadillac - SOLD

"Black Caddy"

6"x 6" Oil on gessoed board.

sold

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Finally taxes are off in the mail and I was able to finish this painting tonight. I started it Sunday after seeing this 1957 Cadillac at our local pizza shop. It was parked right in front of the patio that is painted a terracotta color. The red reflections along with the wonderful shape of the auto inspired be to shoot numerous photos from which to paint. My husband and I are never without our digital cameras and often come home from an outing to upload all our new treasures.

I wasn't sure how I would paint this image but just dove in with paint and brushes without thinking about it. I did try to keep the paint a little fluid and "brushy" without approaching photo realism. It is hard for me to see this painted too simplified though because I would think antique care enthusiasts would want to see all the parts and details well represented. Those details and reflections were the very things I wanted to paint! A note to all you landscape painters: the trees were the most difficult thing for me to paint in this piece. I'd better get outside and paint!

Tarzan and Mary Jane - SOLD

"Tarzan and Mary Jane"

6"x 8" Oil on gessoed board.

sold ( to a Mary Jane )

Click on images to enlarge.

My personal assignment here
was to paint a subject in a loose style that contained type. I wanted to handle the type in a way that would look appropriate with loose brushwork in the other areas of the painting. I began my painting with a pencil drawing, including the type and sprayed it with retouch varnish. This allowed me to paint with glazes and most color with the pencil drawing showing through. After applying the yellow and reds, I was able to go back in with black paint to paint over the visible type. It was a very successful method that I saw on a blog somewhere but can't remember who to give the credit to.

This old Tarzan book was my mom's when she was a girl and I can remember this candy as a favorite when I was a child. I got the idea when seeing the Mary Jane's at our local Cracker Barrel restaurant. At first I was just going to paint the candy but thought the book would be a nice addition.

Just a note (or question): I noticed a week ago that my "user stats" on my blogger profile page quit counting. I know that I've had a lot of visitors from my Feedjit gadget, but wondered if anyone else has had the same thing happen with their blogger stats?

Update on blogger counters: The change to the profile counter is intentional due to a "performance/design compromise". It appears that accurate counts were producing problems for sites with high traffic.
It is suggested that you upload widget for counting such as "stat counter" or "sitemeter". I have found them to be very informative and an excellent tool.