Waiting for Sushi

Waiting for Sushi
8x10” oil pastel on paper

I cropped the reference photo close in. And when I did, it somehow reminded me of Edward Hoppers "Nighthawks" ( a painting at the Art Institute of Chicago)

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/highlight_search?acc=1942.51&page=1&ArtistID=116

What I wanted to play up was the contrast of warm and cool, dark and light, and activity and waiting.

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The reference photo for this painting came from WetCanvas.com member Weckster, in a WDE.

Wet Canvas.com is an online artist community. A weekly event that happens there is something called “The Weekend Drawing Event” or WDE. For the WDE, one person provides about 20 reference photos for people to choose from. The object is to see how much of a painting you can do in 2 hours. Then share what you have done and see what everyone else has done. Since members of WetCanvas are from around the world, it is a great way to find painting subject that I had not thought of or would not have a chance to photograph myself.

Here is where this painting was at 1 & ½ hours:

It took another 2 & ½ hours to get to the finished painting shown at the top of this post.

Majestic -Sunrise or Sunset?

Majestic
8x10" oil pastel on paper (SOLD)

This is so different from what I've been doing.
I wanted a softer look and wanted to use a limited number of colors.
At first I didn't think I could get the soft edge look using oil pastels. Then I tried using a dark colored paper and blending with a dry brush.
Those two things made a huge difference.

This is a landscape from my imagination.

3rd Ave. Fruit Vendor

3rd Ave Fruit Vendor
12x12” Oil Pastel on canvas


(This photo of the painting has a bit of glare from the camera flash. Being winter, my preference of photographing in sunlight is not easy to do!)


This painting evolved so much from what I envisioned it to be when I started.


The reference for this painting is a photo I took in NYC when I went to LI to say goodbye to the family homestead.

The vendor in real life was on a busy street corner.
See the reference photo at right.

I liked all the visual activity of this busy scene but as I began painting I found that the busy background was too distracting.
But then a plain ground and wall were too, well, plain! So I added the torn sign on the wall and the trash can in the foreground.

I am happy with the way this painting turned out but I am still intrigued by the photo. Maybe I’ll make a series of paintings seeing how else I can depict this street scene…

A lonely endeavor? Not really.

Creating art is and is not a lonely endeavor.
Only I know what it is I’m trying to make the painting do. (Although sometimes I’m not so sure!)
But when I’m stumped or having difficulties, I bring it to my weekly painting night for input or I post an image of the painting on WetCanvas.com for help and encouragement from the artists there. And in that way, it is not a lonely endeavor. When I get input from other artist in the creation process, my painting becomes so much better than it was. My painting technique has improved so much in the last few years because of wonderful artists both locally and at WetCanvas.com who have shared their insight and encouragement.

And it is not just other artists who have helped me along in my artistic journey. When I share my paintings with friends and family through this blogsite, hearing positive comments about my work just gives me so much joy. It also makes me want to paint more. And as with almost anything else, the more you do of it the better you can become. So the wonderful comments I have gotten about my work have made me want to paint even more.
As I reflect on this past year of painting, I feel that I have made great improvement. A lot of that improvement came from painting more. And the desire to paint more came from the encouragement and help I have received.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments.

Happy Holidays

"Our First Christmas Together"

8x10" oil pastel on paper

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The reference photo for this painting was taken in the lobby of the Luxor hotel on our recent trip to Las Vegas.
This double portrait was fun to do. I wanted to capture the essence of the two of us as a couple without getting caught up in details.

Can I fill the bucket?

"Can I fill the bucket?"

This is a small painting

Oil Pastel on canvas, 6x6"

Painting Sold

Gardener with hat and trug

8x10"

oil pastel on canvas

This painting was sold this week...

Pumpkin Carver

A painting made for Halloween.

Pumpkin Carver
oil pastel, 11x14

In case the Angels drop their bowling balls

In case the Angels drop their bowling balls
Oil Pastel on paper, 8x10"

Oil Paint Sticks

I’ve been experimenting with oil paint sticks. These are a kind of cross between oil pastels and oil paint. The sticks are much larger than oil pastels.
To give an idea of size, here is a pencil with an oil pastel and a paint stick.

Because these paint sticks are so large, I used a large canvas, about 24”x24”.
Here is the painting I did. I’m not sure yet if it is finished…

Oil paint on canvas, 24x24”

The overall colors in this painting are a bit different than my typical. I only had about a dozen colors. Although these paints are in stick form, almost as soon as you rub the stick on the canvas, the paint liquefies. So it becomes difficult to lay down several clean colors in the same area. Luckily these paints dry quickly, so I can come back later and put one color over another. This is a very different way of working. I’ve picked up a few more colors and will try more experimenting with this medium.

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And some days, whimsy just takes over…
One day as the above painting sat on my easel; I glanced at it and thought “they look like social butterflies”. And since I was in the mood for a bit of whimsy, I did a quick sketch of these “social butterflies”…

Metallic oil pastels on black paper, 6x8”

Hope you got a grin out of this, I did….

Gardener with Hat and Trug - work in progress

Here are some of the "work in progress" steps from this painting...
I am trying some underpainting in this painting. I've done it before in oil paints but not in oil pastels. Under painting is a layer of color under the actual painting. For a painting with a lot of greenery, underpainting in red is a way to bring some warmth to the cool green tones.

At first I was going to underpaint the person in more of a warm purple. But I thought that might loose the warm sunlit feeling I'm going for. So opted to use the red. I tried both dipping a brush in turpintine and then brushing the Oil Pastel to get color. And I tried scribbling on the canvas with the Oil Pastel then brushing the canvas with a brush dipped in turpintine. I liked the second method better. With the first method. I found splatter dots all over the place!

I'm hoping underpainting will mean I use less Oil Pastel as I won't have those "white holes" to fill in on the canvas texture.

I've done a little more on this painting.Here are the next two progress photos.






I'm not blending or smoothing at all. And not trying to fill in the "holes". All a very new experience for me. So far I'm enjoying it.
This canvas board is 8x10" so it won't take that long to finish.

I'll definitely try underpainting again. But surprisingly, it was difficult to NOT fill in the "holes"! but I do like the warm coming through from the underpainting.
I tried to keep the landscape loose which is another thing I'm working on.

One thing that bothers me is the shoe. That's the only place that color appears and when I saw the painting on the computer, that shoe really drew my eye.
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I've added some lights and shadow and removed the shoe.
Here is the finished painting.

Gardener with Hat and Trug
Oil Pastel on canvas, 8x10”

Some favorite paintings from the last year

"A Mother-Daughter Moment"

11x14" oil pastel on paper

"A Long, Hot Line"

5x7" oil pastel on paper

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"A Calm harbour"

5x7" oil pastel on paper

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"Pink Hat"

8x10" oil pastel on paper

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"Rose Bower"

8x9" oil pastel on paper

"The Aviator"

16x20" oil pastel on paper

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"Strolling thru Moreton"

8x10" oil pastel on paper

"Playtime"

8x10" oil paint on canvas

"Fountain Dancers"

10x20" oil paint on canvas

Introduction

This site is a way to share my paintings and my artistic journey.

I work predominantly in Oil Pastels, which is a largely unknown medium for painting. Oil Pastels are sticks of creamy, vibrant color. I had been working with oil paint in tubes for the last few years. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the rich colors that I craved with oil paint. The harder I tried, the faster I seemed to mix colors into mud!

I have been working in Oil Pastels for almost a year. And have been doing so much more painting because I am so much happier with the outcome.

Last month I submitted three paintings to the First Annual Oil Pastel Society Show. The Oil Pastel Society, an international artist organization, put this show together. The show, containing 88 paintings from around the world, displays the great versatility of the oil pastel medium.

I was awarded an Honorable Mention for my entry entitled “Gazing out to Sea”.

The online art exhibit can be viewed at http://oilpastelsociety.com/2005Show/Beginnings2005.htm

The majority of my artwork is in Oil Pastels. However, I have started experimenting with both digital painting and digital manipulation.

Digital painting is painting on the computer using the screen as a blank canvas and the mouse as your brush.

"Woman at Beach" is a digital painting.

Digital manipulation alters and distorts a photograph to create the final image.

I see both of these digital ways of creating art as major art forms in the future. They are not replacements for traditional forms of paint and pencil. But I do see them taking a place along side of the traditional art media.