Lotus at Kenilworth Aquatic Garden

I got a large canvas -- 30 x 40" -- to get back into painting water lilies.  I even used a house painting brush about 1 1/2" wide to put the paint on the canvas.  This is how the painting is starting out. I'm going to be out of the studio for the next 6 days and it will be a nice chance to give my thoughts about this is develop.  

early stage of the painting

 

Starting to think about Maine -- updated

This is the time of year when thoughts of Maine are running through my head all the time.  The Bass Harbor lighthouse is a favorite place to visit and it's approached down a path that leads to the ocean. You can see the top of the beacon and the roof of the lighthouse through the trees.  I am just starting this painting -- there's a lot of the ground color showing through and some smearing of paint as I was getting the sketch down on the canvas -- but the basics are there.   I'll give it the rest of the weekend to dry and come back to it next week to build up the paint.

just starting this painting, more work to come

the finished painting

Pitchers & Hydrangeas

This still life has been through many iterations.  It started out as an electric blue study of the shapes of the two pitchers.  The pitcher on the right has a painted pattern on it - added, then painted out.  I put in the vase with hydrangeas behind the pitchers to make the interplay of shapes more interesting, and realized that the electric blue just was overwhelming.  Introducing a more realistic color palette that looked more like what I was looking at was a first step.  Throughout this process, I've been making the brushstrokes stronger, then smoother, then stronger again.  I think this is where it's going to stop.

Wedding Table

I had a photo of this beautiful table from a wedding last weekend and I decided to paint it.  It's a very complicated table -- flowers, votive candles, taper candles, plates, champagne -- but I love the challenge.  At this stage, I like the sense of discovery.  Not sure if I'm going to resolve it further or just set up a similar still life to paint from in the studio.

At long last, return to the studio! Flowers...

I've been out of the studio for the better part of 3, almost 4 months now, due to an injury in February.  Although I know the legend of many artists includes drunken or drugged creative efforts, but in my case, pain medication and physical discomfort made it impossible to paint.  I had hoped for a Jennifer Bartlett-type In The Garden experience, where a limited view would result in mind-expanding creativity... but it just wasn't happening.  Finally, in the past week, I have been mobile enough and clear-headed enough to sit at an easel and paint!

The flowers in this painting were fresh about two months ago and they are long gone now, so I have been working on this painting this week from the standpoint not of what I'm looking at, but what I'm thinking the painting needs in terms of intensity of color and brushstrokes.  It's evolved quite a bit since I started it in April and let it sit since then.