Old School - Daily Painting #16

"Old School" 6x6 Oil on Panel Daily Painting click here to Purchase

I was starting to feel in a bit of a rut thanks to monsoon season.  Not rain, but monsoon season.  It started raining Friday night and hasn't stopped all day today (it is Monday afternoon).  That gets me down after a while.  Thankfully, Daily Paintworks had a challenge up.  I was hoping someone would start another challenge group after Karin Jurick's "Different Strokes" blog kind of petered out.  I would have, but I don't have quite the following that she does.   In any case, I found this challenge to be tons of fun, and quite a challenge.  All of the reflections!  The hardest part was not looking at what other people had submitted so far.  That was tough.

In other news, school starts today, and I am very stoked.  I was never this excited about business school in undergrad.  Maybe it's a sign?  This semester is Cityscape, so I'll be wandering the city, taking my paints with me!  Oh, I can't wait.

Hot n Chili - Daily Painting #16

"Hot n Chili" 6x6 Original Daily Painting click here to Purchase

This painting involved a lot of experimenting with gray.  I kept coming up with purple every time I combined Alizarin and Viridian (dark red and dark green).  Usually, these two colors are supposed to yield a nice deep black, but I just got purple.  They probably both leaned too far towards blue to do a good job of making a black.  So instead I tried cadmium red and viridian.  I got this beautiful gray to work with.  Just love it!

Kiwi Cup - Daily Painting #15

"Kiwi Cup" 6x6 Oil on Panel click here to Purchase

I am almost back into the swing of things.  After going to Taipei, I had a two day training for Photoshop and Adobe InDesign.  A fantastic course, if I must say, but I'm definitely glad not to be cooped up on a classroom at the moment!  This was the last one of the kiwis.

Strike a Pose - Daily Painting #14

"Strike a Pose" 6x6 Oil on Panel, click here to purchase

As I was painting these kiwi slices, I just kept imagining these models, turning this way and that for the camera.  The kiwis started to take on a personality of their own, and before I knew it, visions of Zoolander were running through my head.  I'm off to Taipei, Taiwan tonight to see a childhood friend I haven't seen since 1996.  It should be exciting!  I promise to post to the Dillon Factor Mom!

Vain Kiwi - Daily Painting #13

"Vain Kiwi" 6x6 Oil on Panel Daily Painting click here to purchase

This week is definitely Kiwi week.  These two look remind me a bit of the shoving matches my brother and I used to have as kids to look in the mirror when we were kids.  Never mind the fact that neither of us could really see into the mirror, or that you don't need to see yourself brush your teeth, we each HAD to stand in front of the mirror.  One of those small sibling rivalries.

Kiwi Glow - Daily Painting #12

"Kiwi Glow" 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas click here to Purchase

I was in the grocery store earlier in the week and saw some Kiwi fruit from Italy.  Kiwi fruit - from Italy!  In the middle of winter!  I was completely amused by it.  Once I set these guys up, the light was shining through them in a really neat way that made them glow.  Being able to paint Kiwis reminds me of beach, and summer.  I miss the Lowcountry!

Ivory Tower - Daily Painting #11

"Ivory Tower" 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas click here to Purchase

Doesn't the coffee mug look quite the smug one, looking down from its tower of peons? I really enjoyed painting all of the reflected colors from the background. Between the incandescent light and the background, these objects were anything but white.

On another note, I think I figured out my photography problem. The side patio where I was taking the photographs is surrounded by white buildings. Well, this creates some horrendous reflected light, even in places I thought were shaded! Kind of crazy. So I took the advice of Layne Cook, (who has a fantastic daioypainting blog of her own), set my ISO to 200, the white balance to cloudy, with vibrant color. Then I parked myself on the back side of the building, which is completely in shadow, and viola! Better pictures. Much less glare and color correction needed. Finding that completely shaded spot was key. I'll probably put up a tutorial on how to do this later in the week once I get my (formerly dead) computer back up and running.


- Posted from my iPad

Glass Stacks - Daily Painting #10

"Glass Stacks" 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas click here to Purchase

Glass bowls stacked on a reflective surface, oh my! This was definitely a challenge, and it took me a few tries to get it right.

It has been kind of a rough weekend, to say the least, so I found getting back into the studio today a welcome distraction. On a good note, I was able to catch up with a friend that is pretty tough to track down. The hubby's and I are going to Italy in March for two weeks, so I was trying to figure out dates to see the friend. I'm going to be taking my paints and new pochade box with me; it just arrived this week. Painting plein air is going to be interesting!

- Posted from my iPad

Critique Friday

I was very intrigued by this painting, "Moving On," by Carol Carmichael. It is just so vibrant and colorful. It also has a very interesting composition. So, I decided to try and dissect it a bit to figure out why it works, why it is so eye catching.


I do this quite a bit, analyze others' work. If you take it apart, you can start to understand why it works, and use these insights in your own artwork to strengthen it. So, without further ado, here is some of what I found (the lines might not be totally straight, I apologize).


1. This is where my eye initially catches in the painting. Carol has put the lightest value in the painting right next to the darkest value, creating a strong contrast thar will attract the eye. She also did a good job of not placing it directly in the center. A lot of teachers would recommend putting it further down and gurner to the left or right, but it works here because of the secondary focal point (#5), which is mire in the spot that the rule of thirds recommends.

2. Rather than have the viewer's eye get stuck from such a centralized focal point, my eye is drawn up the swan's body, to the head, end of the beak,and out of the painting. This is good. You want your viewer's eye to move around the painting, so they don't get bored.

3. Although my eye is moved out of the painting with #2, it is brought back in with the angle of the head and the light hitting the swan's head on the far left. My eye then moves down the body again, to the feet, where it hits:

4. The shadows. These shadows are a powerful feature of this painting. The strong lighting is reinforced by the shadows, and they continue to create a very pleasing rhythm. Imagine if the light were coming from the other direction - none of the forms would be defined nearly as well, and most of the ground shadows would be lost in the feet! Carol picked the perfect lighting angle for this piece.

5. After the ground shadows, my eye heads to the central swan, which thankfully is in the back. Otherwise, if he were in front, he would take up too much attention because of being in the center, and the composition would not be as successful. The angle of his head then leads my eye to the secondary (and much more interesting) focal point.

Ack! I haven't even touched the wonderful interaction between colors, but this composition just absolutely intrigued me. The viewer's eye is lead around, so they don't become bored, but it is not so complex as to be confusing. Great job, all great decisions.

- Posted from my iPad

Hup, Two, Three, Four - Daily painting #8

"Hup, Two, Three, Four" 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas click here to Purchase

In keeping with the anti-rain and gray skies, I had some more fun with lemons today. These guys are looking a bit disorganized,but give them a couple more seconds and they will fall into line.

I really love all these colors together. After looking at it closer, I realized this was a split complimentary scheme. This is often a very pleasing color scheme for a viewer. The primary and most pure color os a yellow/yellow orange. I then used a red violet and a blue violet in less saturated hues. The blue violet was the color that I desaturated the most, as it is the most dissimilar from yellow. By using the split complements rather than the true complement, violet, the piece is more harmonious. You have to be careful with a straight complimentary scheme. Putting two completely opposite colors together can be really jarring to the viewer.

- Posted from my iPad