Some of My recent favorites

I have been trying to do a lot of organizing.  Here are some of my favorite recent works.

A present for bunkie

My god daughter wants some zebra art for her room. This is what I came up with :)

Cupcakes

5" x 7" on Bristol board $60

More sketching

8 x 8" oil painting sketch for larger painting for the "city of angles to city of flags show"

Busy, busy

Lots of projects in the works! So thankful for the beautiful weather that allows me to paint outside!

Daily painters of NWO

This month the challenge for the daily painters is green...so with the time and other projects I have going on, this is my contribution.

6"x6" watercolor

Painted Sketch

8 x 8 painted sketch in acrylic. I can't decide which way I like it best but I'm excited to paint it on the 4' x 4' canvas!

Olitski challenge

Here is my sketch for the Toledo Museum of Art-Olitski challenge sketch. I'm doing an 8 x 8 inch and a 4' x 4' attempt. More to come!

Getting Schooled

Part of the reason I wanted to take up this daily painting challenge is to loosen up my painting.  I have typically (for like 15+ years) painted very thin with lots of blending.  Somewhere along the line my figurative paintings got really stiff.  I don't tend to have this problem when painting more expressive works or non-figurative works.  So, in order to become a better painter (and a better teacher), I am still trying to improve my figurative painting skills. 

Part of this effort involves seeking out a mentor who isn't afraid to crack the whip and beat me over the head to try to undo (or loosen) the habits of the last 15 years.  Enter Kristen Dukat.  If you follow the blog you know what my stalking of her on facebook has led to our friend/mentorship and the inspiration for me doing the challenges.  She is going to turn the world into daily painters.  You can view her blog here. So, after our first teaser of a session, I dreamt about going to her house to paint with every spare moment I have.  Of course, painting isn't a quick process, so I wanted to give myself at least 4-5 hours to learn. 

A couple of weeks ago, before the sickness arrived, I got the chance.  Kristen had this great tulip and we matched it up with a great plaid purple background and colored plates.

Seemed simple enough.  Both Kristen and I have long enjoyed painting flowers.  However, once we got the still life set up, the flower began to open up from the heat of the light, adding an additional challenge.  I struggled getting started, doing a couple under paintings and wiping them away. I think I kept shifting angles and couldn't quite get the drawing down.  I also decided to ditch the water-based oils and bring the real deal this time.  I was definitely ill equipped.  My white had stiffened.  I had weird colors that I don't ever use as part of my traditional palette set up.  I hadn't painted with my oils in a good 7-8 months...my brushes scattered.  So, I didn't have a good brush either.

ugh-Round 1

Kristen shows what's up!

Pretending to have a clue!

The set up in Kristen's studio (JEALOUS!)

So, after a little break and Kristen putting the smack down we decide to try to recover it with Kristen lending me some not sucky paint, a couple palette knives and some patient instruction.  I have to break the habit of over blending (resulting in muddy colors).  One of the steps I think I am going to have to employ is mixing the paint to the desired shade/hue/saturation/tint/etc. before applying it to the canvas.  Maybe not necessarily as strict as the one color per stroke, but I really need to slow myself down and retrain myself identify the values present and work on mixing to match said values.  I think part of this comes from being a working mom whose job is not to paint all day.  I have this little voice in the back of my head always urging me to finish quickly and it's the same voice I urge my students to silence.  I don't know when I might get back to a painting if I don't finish it in one sitting.  I don't have a studio or space that I can leave an in-progress work and still life set up.  I can paint in the garage when it is nice out, or I can paint with household approved mediums at the table...then pick up the mess before I'm done.  These factors are causing my to rush through the processes and not trust the years of training and painting to do what I KNOW I should be doing!

Luckily, I had Kristen there to try to resurrect this painting So, after more LOOKING, a lot of mixing, and a few cracks of the whip...this is what I came up with...

 

And here is Kristen's painting next to the set up:

If you would like to see what I did to her studio floor...look here

Jumping the gun

I posted the last post with the best of intentions to get back on the wagon.  I even had a studio visit with Kristen Dukat (read about it at her blog here) to keep my momentum going. 

Full Post coming soon

Then I don't even know what happened.  It's just been plain nutty around here.

The latest distraction is I was on spring break.  I was so full of hope that I would spend it painting.  Instead, in between a wacky work schedule, I was taking care of sick kids. I have basically been nursing others (and myself) for a week straight.  I'm very deserving and in need of a spa day if anyone would like to spring for one for me!

Here is the most recent drawing I completed.  Maybe I need to revisit my goals and expectations. A drawing/painting a week that is post worthy...we'll see.  I'd love to make it a daily routine, but I don't want to beat myself up for not being about to do it when I know a lot of the things that are keeping me from it are also for other artistic pursuits...and the rest are just my family and having 17 jobs.