Superior Buttercup

"Superior Buttercup and Delicata Squash"  8 x 10  oil
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I was going to paint a picture of a pumpkin for the DPW Challenge, but I only had a couple of squashes in the house. I did an under-painting using the Fast Matte oils, and the next day finished it up with regular oils.

The buttercup squash had a sticker that said Buttercup Superior. I tried to paint it, but not sure it shows as a label in my painting. The Delicata squash (in the front) was very challenging.

the setup

the under-painting in Fast Matte paint

I recently tried the Delicata squash and I LOVE it! It has a really nice flavor with almost a 'sweet corn' after taste. I found it is really simple to cook squash in the microwave - cut in half and seed, then put in a lightly covered dish and nuke for 4-5 minutes. My kind of cooking!

First Frost

We had our first heavy frost of the season last night. When I looked outside this morning as the sun was rising, it was beautiful with a frosty fog and the glow of the bright red leaves of my sweetgum tree.

Simplify Cute Challenge

Blue Dress Day, 8 x 10, Fastmatte Alkyd oil

I painted this for the DPW Painting, "Simplify Cute Challenge". I really simplified the scene and put her into a light blue dress. I had started this using Gamblin's Fastmatte Alkyd paints, thinking I would come back later with regular oils on top. The alkyds are on the dry side and I seem to use them thinly with a dry brush technique. It gave me a different look than I was originally going for, but as it developed, I kinda liked the brush strokes and the haunting look to the little girl. The style of this painting reminds me of another artist's work, but can't recall which one. I wanted to keep her facial features hidden. She sure doesn't look as happy as in the photo. It is easy to imagine a dark story behind my painting.

I really had difficulty getting the hand holding the bag to read correctly, but I think it finally makes sense. Below, are process shots. I had a "Yes!" brand canvas panel already toned with a thin black acrylic on my table, so I used that.

Framed

I popped my painting from yesterday into a frame and it looks really nice. It is shown beside one of the gouache studies inside the same type frame. I really like the square format.

Below these is the photo I painted from, and to the right is an older pastel called "Pear Pair". One of my favorites.

Studio Work Sunday

Alum Creek Fall, 6 x 6 , oil

I painted this in the studio from a photo I took last weekend up at Alum Creek State Park. 

Here is what the canvas looked like after I toned it with acrylics and the photo to the right:

I tried to finish the piece I started yesterday, but it was a failure. So here it is in the TRASH! Can't win them all!

Blustery Plein Air

For the last outing of the year, my group was invited to paint at the beautiful private gardens of the Schnormeier's near Gambier. We painted there last year in July, and it was very hot. Today it was high forties and blustery winds.

I.Hate.Wind.

I tried to make the best of it and enjoyed helping my friend Chris from work, as this was her first plein air outing. We painted a couple hours and then walked the grounds taking photos. I did paint, but am not happy with it so, plan on working on it tomorrow (in the calm surroundings of my studio!). I may just wipe it off and start another using some of the photos I took today.

More Gouache studies

Our plein air group decided to start painting indoors a couple weeks ago because it had turned really cold. Then this weekend, it was close to 80! Too bad they decided to paint inside after all. If I am going to paint indoors, I would rather do it at home, then to haul supplies to the art center for only 2 hours....Instead, I went for a drive both days and took lots of pictures of the change to fall in Ohio. Hopefully I can use some of these for inspiration for paintings this winter.

So I haven't painted much. I've spent a lot of time getting my studio re-organized and cleaned. I'm still playing around with gouache. I am trying out different boards and papers. Still having trouble actually applying the paint. Because it feels almost dry with it goes on, it seems hard to 'mush' around - it just kinda sticks. There is a fine line between too wet and workable...I am still not getting the look I want, but will put some more time into it.

Here are three quick ones. The first is on Canson art board in black.  I liked the feel of this. The wetness didn't affect the board much at all.

The next one is on Canson Mat Board in a nice buff color that I like quite a bit, but it has a bit of texture instead of the smoothness of the art board above. I like to tape off a frame around the painting area so that the buff color shows. This is not really finished, but I got bored with the fence and gave up on it.

And lastly, hot press watercolor paper. This was my least favorite support. I worked on it dry and it seemed to buckle quite a bit for watercolor paper. Perhaps I needed to stretch it and wet it down before starting.