People Painting People today--Aiden # 24

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http://www.facebook.com/peoplepaintingpeople.

Aiden was quite the youngster, like a commelian, he looked young one minute and old the next.  Check out these photos.

Yellow Christmas Tree Ornament

Yellow Christmas Tree Ornament.  I like painting these ornaments and small paintings.  I also like round shapes but I wanted to get away from 'round' so I painted this one.

I have to get back to painting portraits however.  This morning I'm off to paint another People Painting People portrait and it should be the second-last one.

Large Bright Yellow Christmas Tree Ornament, 6x6" oil on board, buy on DPW

Christmas Candle Holder

I should be painting on my portraits but I like to do something to get warmed up so I did this little candle holder today and put it up on DPW as a Black Friday special (even though it's really Saturday ha ha).

Christmas Candle, 6x6" oil on masonite

Joy and Abundance

Today was anything but joy as I struggled with this painting and probably should have wiped it.  I scraped and repainted several parts. What is it?  It's a little gold foil-wrapped box on a pile of ribbons.  Then I couldn't even get a photo of it because of the juicy paint and metallic pigment I used here and there.  I'm going to give it 7 days on DPW then take it down and wipe it.
There was lots of joy taking the photos of the still life setups and editing the photos and there were about 10 that I liked, so I'll probably have another go at it but will select a different photo.

Joy and Abundance, 6x6" oil painting

Thanksgiving home run

Baseball, 4x4", oil on masonite

Todays view of the water, notice how nice the reflection is on the far side and beautiful colors in the sky.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I wanted to do a small painting today.  Yesterday I couldn't find the photos I wanted to work with and spent so much time doing that that I never go to paint.  So today I thought, I'll do something quick and small and simple, at least I'll get something done. It's on the Daily Paintworks site if you want to buy it.

Yup, Christmassy today.

I got to walk today!  While I was walking, I'm thinking, what will I paint today?  I wanted to do something Christmassy.  Up the street a bit, a neighbor's tree had lots of ornaments hanging on it, so I took photos with my iPhone.  So many.  Lots of shapes and colors and sizes.  I picked this one to paint today and thought that a smaller size would work better, but now I'm sorry because there was a lot of work in it and might have been better larger.  Anyway, it will look great on a mantle or bookcase, framed or unframed.  It's on Daily Paintworks - click here.

Ornament, 5x5"

Onion anyone?

Onion, 6x6", Click to buy for Christmas!

This was fun to paint.  I have wanted to paint one of these shedding onions for a while now.  It's putting me in the mood for Thanksgiving (this Thursday).  Now I should go up to the studio and pick out whose portrait I'll work on tomorrow.  I'll have all day tomorrow to make it or break it. BUT I think I might do another small painting to warm up.  Maybe something Christmassy?

The day begins...

So here are the many aspects of daily painting.  Well, for today anyway.  Where is the fun?  It's in the problem solving.  Do I paint the object?  No usually it's the colors or patterns of light and shade that attract me.

First, go up to studio, turn on heat, find item to paint.

Second, Get a blanket to cover my lap--it's the end of November. Why didn't I think of this before?  Because I usually stand.

Third.  Figure out composition for object.  I grid off a large(ish) piece of glass into about 10 squares and use each square to compose, using a wipe-off marker, move object around, move light around, decide on favorite.  Take photos, decide on favorite lighting aspect, background, coloration, lights and darks, etc.

Fourth.  Decide on square or rectangle, put out paints, convert camera photo to computer jpg.

Fifth.  Ready, set, go.  Paint from sketch, photo and most especially the actual item.

This takes the cake.

I've always wanted to paint a white cake on a white dish, so here it is!

White Cake, 6x6", oil on Ampersand Gessobord

I'm going to eat this cake in about an hour from now with George and friends.  Yes, with ice cream too.  You can have it too, click here!

DPW makes me smile MORE!

What a delight, check this out!

I got a bid and a PICK!  for the cute little 6x6" painting little red apple pin cushion. 

DPW makes me smile!

It's only been an hour or so since I put up a small painting and it has a bid already!  I guess I should pay more attention to the little things in life. :)  ;)   :)

After working on this small painting, I was able to just about complete the portrait of Ray!  He was/is hard to paint. Tomorrow is another model for my project--almost finished with this aspect of the project.

Having Fun Again - Red Pin Cushion

I thought I'd paint a small painting this morning to loosen up for the portrait of the day.  So I decided to paint this cute little red pincushion.  It came out pretty good so I posted it to DPW.
This type of painting gets you going and usually makes you happy before delving into the work of the day.

Little Red Pin Cushion, 6x6", oil on masonite

Get it for Christmas!

Sold a painting yesterday

A woman who has shown interest in this painting for years was able to buy it.  As you can imagine, it is a long story, but she is VERY happy now.  It is a painting of her house and the pump on the town common.
She saw it in the West Newbury Library Show that took place pre-Christmas of 2011 or 2012.
We had a lovely visit at my house, she and her husband and I.  I enjoyed meeting them and plan to paint together with her husband next summer.  We have a common love of day lilies.  I was truly delighted to see that this painting found a happy home.
To see the painting, look back through this blog to October 2011.

Fighting with Ray

Ray is a portrait that I've been working on and having a hard time with.  I see that we can learn a lot from our mistakes, for sure!  And you won't believe this one, "measure twice, paint once"!  Oh well.

Portrait # 23, Charles Piecewicz

Sunday the 16th, we had our 23rd model, Charles Piecewicz.  There was some concern that being a youngster, maybe our youngest, he would not be able to sit still or last for 3 hours, BUT HE DID, and he did a great job.  Everyone enjoyed Charles as he was checking all the artists' work at the breaks and talking a lot about art and his ease with computer games.  We were thinking that another model would pose for the last couple of hours, and Grace Tierney came for that purpose, but since Charles did a fabulous job, Grace will return probably on the 30th.  My project is now going into December but I'm getting very close to my 30 people.

Third portrait - Megan

Now that I'm working every day on these portraits, I like the rhythm, more or less, that occurs of setting up and attacking the work. I did this one yesterday, and today I'm away until early afternoon, but I actually can't wait to start on the next one this afternoon.  Who will it be?  I haven't decided yet.
Again, this one still has some finishing touches that I only catch afterwards with the camera or mirror.  This one was on a strong sienna ground which peeks through a tiny bit.

I almost want to do another one of Megan, Her nose is wider and eyes are wider apart and I would work her coloring with softer richer colors.  The photo of my still unfinished painting isn't a nice as the real thing color-wise.

Second portrait almost finished

Second day of painting

Yesterday I worked on the Maureen Wimmer portrait.  I'm making a list of things that need to be done with it, and most of these corrections are a result of looking at this photo.  I think that I'll create a pile of  paintings with their lists to work on the third time around, sort of putting the highlights on a painting, you have to wait until the last minute to put that frosting on the cake.

photo

First sitting

Today I'll work on one of the children that were in the group.  I'm happy that we will  have a good cross-section of people in the Merrimacians exhibit.

Double Checking - Self Critiques

I spent yesterday painting on one of the PPP (People Painting People) portraits.  I chose the one that was bothering me the most.  This part of the process takes way more time than the actual painting done from life.  Maybe because this one needed a lot of help.  First I determined that my drawing was off a lot proportion-wise.  So along with moving the eyes down about an inch and also the ear that was the only part of the painting that I originally liked, I tried to change her expression to a more pleasant one.  I struggled with the lighting.  First I had too much light and so the overall painting was coming out too dark-thus another coat of paint.  I should have cleaned my palette and didn't so I had some muddy color to contend with.  I repositioned my back mirror last thing last night and saw some other problems to correct.  This morning I reappraised the situation and took photos.  It's always a surprise how instantly the mistakes pop out on a photo.  OK, so I made a list of corrections to be done and will wait until later (maybe today) after I've warmed up, to make those.
Yesterday I received Carol Marine's new book in the mail and read about 1/3 of it last night.  She has some mighty good tricks up her sleeve.

There is a big difference between a sketch and a formal portrait, and also between a sketch done on location in a couple of hours and a touched up version.  I much prefer the original, usually, but sometimes other work must be done to make serious corrections. I try to remember to take a few photos to document the original light and, even when in doors with controlled lighting, the light will change because of outdoor conditions---I know, hard to believe.  So I take a few as I go along and the model relaxes and things change a little.  It's nice, sometimes, to be able to have those reference photos to 'improve' the design a little.

Ready for studio painting--Yea!

 I spent the past three days lugging stuff from my downstairs (which used to be my presentation space, and is now again) to my studio upstairs.  I must have made at least thirty, maybe more, trips up three flights of steps and down again and carried hundreds of pounds of art related materials.  All this because for two years I've held my art class there.  I cancelled the class for three months (at least) for now because of my husband's health and having to either stay in his room with him, pay a caregiver, or if he's having a good day, I sneak out of the room.  Today I'm getting a baby monitor.   So now all that stuff is in my studio space and has been sorted out and put away.  My house is seriously top heavy.  If I teach again, the area will have to be left the way we found it.  I'll use my portable setup as I do when I paint outside.  
Its so therapeutic to be organized.  Usually this is the time of year when I try to complete all the paintings that were unfinished during the plein air season and post work to the totally wonderful Daily Paintworks site. Carol and David Marine have done and continue to do the most wonderful job of building that site and advertising and allowing artists to promote their work.  Be sure to check out Carol's new book.
Although my portrait project will come first, I can 'warm-up' on those paintings that need to be completed that are in the "need to be completed" pile!  

My Studio Space 28x32'

Somehow this photo doesn't begin to show how much stuff is tucked into every nook and cranny.  

Starting to edit portraits

I'm a little sad to realize that I'm only 2/3s the way through, seeing that I need another 8 portraits to reach the 30 I want to do.  I did some inventory yesterday and collected the ones I've done so far and took rough photos of them so I can access which ones I'll start to edit first.  Funny that I'm using computer lingo lately for art processes.  I could start with the ones that need the most work, that seems like a plan.  Or I could take a few that have the same 'tone' and work on them simultaneously.
Since my husband now needs constant monitoring, I'm wondering if I should create a studio in the room next to his and try to keep the fumes down.  A friend came over and helped me install an iCam that would allow me to watch him on a monitor.  My husband even said he would agree to use a cow bell so I would know when he is getting up.  I kind of like that one.
I have cancelled my art student temporarily and she is traveling also, so I won't see her for about 3 months.  This will encourage me to clean and reorganize my presentation space downstairs where I have been using it for studio space with my student.  That will feel rally good and then I'll know what end is up (where all my stored paintings are).
I also have to do a self-portrait and one of my husband to add to the project paintings.  I also have to set up a time table to get everything accomplished in time for the show at the end of January.  It's not far off considering what needs to be done.
Here is a collage of the work that has been done before the edits begin.  Total painting time over the 3 hour sitting is 2 hrs, so each painting was painted in a 2-hour painting session.