Close to home....Real Close #4/#5

Here are the two small paintings I did today, for my challenge.   #4/#5.  #4 is an 8x10" oil on linen panel.  #5 is 6x6" oil on linen panel.  Both were done really, really close to home, as in a few feet.  The Geraniums are located by our barn, and our Bernese Mt. Dog, Belle likes to stay close to me, so she became my second subject.  She has a very ski-jump type nose, although I think I got it a bit too much of a jump!  She is a great painting partner.  Our Golden Retriever, Tucker was laying somewhere else, and our older daughter's dog, Tika, had gone with her for a hike in the mountains.  A nice day of painting close by.  I still need to figure out how to transport the small, 6x6" panels, both wet and dry, and how to set them in my pochade box.  Isn't it fun to always have things to think about, figure out, and work on?  I think so!

"Barn Geraniums"   

oil on linen panel, 8x10", $150

#4 of "100 Paintings in 100 Days"

"Belle"

oil on linen panel, 6x6", $100

#5 of "100 Paintings in 100 Days

Quote of the Day:

"You can't depend upon your eyes, when you imagination is out of focus."

-Mark Twain

The Creative Journey

"Caught in the Light"  

oil, linen on birch, 6x6", $100

#3 !  I feel like the turtle right now.... slow and steady, slow and steady....  I will pick it up and do several at a time, and get them posted several at a time rather than daily, but for now, I put them up as I do them. Not great masterpieces, but each painting teaches you something for the next one.  This is of our donkey, Chocolate Drop (aged 28), standing in our front field where the light is amazing in the evenings.  He turned all sorts of lovely colors, purple, aqua, gold.  Onward.....

Creative quote of the day:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep."  -  Scott Adams

Off to a Start

"Close as Possible"  

  oil, canvas on birch, 6x6", $100

Here I go.  I actually did two small paintings today, and finished an old painting.  The old one doesn't count towards the 100 paintings, but I was pleased to have it done.  I will post it soon.  The above little painting is #2 of the "100 Paintings in 100 Days".  I wasn't 100% pleased with it, but it was fun.  Our Golden Retriever, Tucker didn't know he was a model while he had his head on my daughter's foot.  I have painted on 5x5" panels before, but the 6x6" is taking me a little to get used to.  Especially the linen on the panel.  I am trying different panels trying to find the kind that I want to take to Maine when I have my artist residency in Acadia National Park this September.  As part of this challenge I have several subjects that I want to explore, in addition to the main subject of simplification.  One is the dogs and the horses, trying to say as much as possible without over-stating, or "noodling" around too much.  

"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced"  -  Leo Nikolaevich

And...They're Off!!

"Sweet & Lowdown"  -  oil on Carton, 8x10, $125

I am biting the bullet so to speak, and taking on a personal painting challenge.  One of the artists whose work I admire, Liz Wiltzen,  (www.mountainartist.com) recently completed a personal painting challenge of painting 100 paintings in 100 days.  I have decided to do the same thing.  The reason for doing something like this has more to do with learning from the journey, than it does from getting 100 paintings out of the deal.  Granted, the paintings will be small, most 6x6", some like the one above, 8x10".  For this challenge I want to focus my attention on "simplicity".  Sound simple?  Nope, not so!  Simplicity in painting is hard.  We, or I should say I, have the tendency to noodle around when I get a little confused, and out the window goes simplification!  Simplicity in painting refers to the act of not adding what you don't need, and focusing on the essence of what you want to say in the painting.  Unlike Liz Wiltzen's paintings, which were all plein air pieces, I am going to make it a little easier on myself, and include studio as well as plein air paintings.  Looking at the calendar, starting today, August 4, I will finish the challenge on November 13, 2010.

Side note, the title from the painting above is from the film by the same name, "Sweet and Lowdown", about someone who thinks he is the best guitarist in the world, aside from Dangjo Reinheirdt, the Frenchman who created Gypsy Jazz.

Oops! I Forgot My New-Found Idea of Quotes! Here's one...

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."  -  John Lennon

Changing It Up a Little

"Shadows of Reflection"  -  pastel, P.O.R.

Several years ago I was painting primarily in pastels.  I loved pastels then, and now.  I love the immediacy of them, like candy for your eyes.  I paint with oil more than pastels now, but still from time to time, I feel a certain subject would do well in pastel.  This is a small, plein air piece done on location at the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg.  I wanted to catch the last evening light hitting the side of the house, along with the reflection of the sky and trees.  I love the whole metaphorical sense of painting reflections and what they say literally as well as figuratively.  Paintings can have so many different levels of meaning as well as the more literal sense of place.  I hope you enjoy this one.  I did!