May 30, 2013

Progress on the Meadow Painting

I've made some progress on the meadow painting, definitely working on the depth of the view and on the experience of moving through the meadow.  The trees are, in realty, more leafy and that's what I'm going to tackle next.

May 20, 2013

Painting in a Meadow

It's not for the squeamish -- I think every bug in the meadow this morning stopped by to check me out.  But I couldn't resist the view of wildflowers and the Potomac River beyond, so I parked myself in the meadow.  The color of the grass is a problem I still have to work out, while the upper half of the painting is nearing resolution.


May 15, 2013

Finished Flowers, Steve's Likeness

I worked this week on finishing the flower painting --  now done -- and on the latest commission painting for Quartermaine's.  It's another view of the cupping process, with a view into the roasting area through the window.  Again, it features Steve.  This time, as I was working on the painting, I wasn't so much focusing on Steve's likeness as making what I wanted the painting to be.  When I brought the painting to the store for a light check (seeing how it looks in the store's lighting and in the spot in the store that I thought was a dark corner... which is really quite bright), Quartermaine's owners wanted to see more of Steve's likeness than a more everyman version of a coffee taster.

And now it looks just like him.  We'll see what he thinks when I deliver the painting in a week or so after it's dry enough to varnish.



May 13, 2013

Flowers, Black Canvas

I feel a little like I'm painting on velvet (clowns?  Elvis?) because I ordered, on a whim, canvases that were pre-primed in black gesso.  Other times, I've painted gouache on black paper, I've toned canvases in dark grey, but there's something strange about going straight into black with oil paint.  Fun, strange... and a little bit velvet.

After the painting "Anniversary Flowers" sold last week, Mother's Day came and along with it, another beautiful arrangement.  It's cold outside, do I need an excuse?  I decided to paint these flowers too.  Here's the work in progress in my messy studio.

One thing about this arrangement -- you can see that it's got a pretty even height distribution across the top.  I'm going to add more flowers with height to the top.  I'm also going to play around with the background/angle that I've put in.  I think it's interesting, but the transition is too abrupt.