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.

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.

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.

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.

"A House and A Tree" & An Update

The critique for this early stage painting was that it looks like "a house and a tree." Can't argue with that.   Illustrative, but not a painting.  Time to do some scraping to unify it and bring it back again.

 

What's next is the updated version, still not done, of the painting after scraping, eliminating hard edges particularly on distant spaces and refocusing to look past (not at!) the tree.

Tulips in the Bishop's Garden, Flower Mart Painting Sale

Next week, I'll be participating in the National Cathedral Flower Mart painting sale.  It's May 3 & 4 at the Cathedral and there will be flowers for sale, paintings for sale, and artists out painting on the grounds.  I'll be there Friday afternoon with other artists.

 I've got four paintings done on the Cathedral grounds, and this one was done yesterday afternoon.  The Bishop's Garden is a beautiful, formal garden with sculptures and structures mixed in among the plantings.  The tulips were in fine form yesterday.

Garrett Park House

We had a discussion about simplification of the landscape, losing the details that may be seen on a shadowed side of a building... so I sketched this house this morning.

We'lll be back in Garrett Park later this week and next and I think I may play around with some new ideas, same house.

Small Outdoor Painting Project

It was nice to be outside, not so nice to fight with the perspective in this very simple little "warm up" painting.

Middle of the Night Painting

I'm sure there's some joke to be made about painting coffee at 2 am... I couldn't sleep, got up and went into the studio to work on the new cupping painting for Quartermaine's.  I went back to bed at 4:30, and this is where the painting is as of now.

Blossoms in the Studio

I worked on the cherry blossom painting in the studio this morning.   The top half of the painting is right where I want it to be.  I'm a bit less certain about the figures under the tree.  Time to walk away from the painting and see how I feel when I return to it.