Cobalt & Persimmon- Dec 2011

I might have to photograph this one again. The persimmon is much brighter than in the photo.

Little Pumpkin Little Painting - Dec 2011

This is indeed a little pumpkin, and an even smaller canvas - only 4x5 inches. This size is huge compared to Austin artist Felice House's http://www.tinylittlepaintings.com/ which are only 2 1/2 x3. She inspired me to give this tiny format a try. I learned that I am just as slow painting a tiny painting as I am at bigger ones.

Alpine Butte - Nov 2011

Mike and I love to visit the West Texas Big Bend area. This scene is just outside Alpine, on the road to Marfa. We took a trip to there in September. I took a photo of this simple butte in the early morning which was the reference for this painting. This is my first lanscape painting and my first painting on a stretched canvas. I feel as though I am becoming a real painter.

It has been a while since I posted. This painting was finished in November but I just now got it photographed. A visit from my mom kept me busy for two weeks in November along with Thanksgiving and house parties.

Jack-O'Rat - Nov 3, 2011

Halloween was overshadowed by Carl Weymeyer's birthday and a trip to Fort Worth to celebrate it. I talked Jean into carving pumpkins with me on my birthday instead of the 31st, before Halloween was too far in the dust.

This pumpkin has a front face side and a back side with this little surprise. Mike gets the credit for the name and the photos.

I am still painting. This week I started my first landscape and my first actual stretched canvas painting rather than painting on canvas paper or a canvas board.

Best Wishes to the Winn's - Oct 2011

One of the reasons less painting has been going on in October is this wedding present project for Anne and Bobby. I did not make the pillows; I embellished them. We were a little tardy in completing and delivering our gift to the newlyweds who married in September. But now the deed is done and more painting can move into all the spare time I will now get back. I was happy to see that the pillows on their bed coordinate with their bedding even better than with ours. (their bed in photo below)

Asters & Bottles - October 2011

This painting was inspired by you Mom, your favorite flower, asters. This is Mike's favorite painting to date, and only the second one I felt was good enough to sign.

Two Vases - Sept 2011

Jean is trying to loosen me up. We followed a painting exercise from Ted Goerschner's book, The Workshp Experience. This is the resulting painting. I like it! The next step is to try the technique again using a live setup. Wish me luck.

Tomato & Knife - September 2011

We were in Costa Rica during 1 month of the tomato season this year. Capturing this one in paint helps me hold the memory of that flavor. Of course with no rain the tomatoes in my garden should be forgotten.

Knit Art - Summer 2011

I promised all kinds of art as the focus of this blog, not just painting. This little lady I call "Ballerina Rabbit". I am experimenting with knitted animals, made from leftover bits of yarn. There are ALWAYS leftovers and I hate to see them go to waste. BR was gifted to the grandaughter of a friend. When the temperatures get a bit cooler in Central Texas, I will be more attracted to some knitting projects. Today we have heat (still more than 100 degrees), wind, and now fires. It is only the hope of Fall that keeps me going. Today it is back to the paintbrushes.

Hot Mama Reclining - August 2011

In August Central Texas celebrates Hatch Chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. Jean spent some time pawing through all the peppers in the bin at the grocery to find peppers with interesting shapes. This one reminded us of a reclining nude. The name refers to what the pepper invokes, not it's heat. Hatch Chiles may be either spicy hot or not.

Summer Stone Fruit - August 2011

When we got back to Texas I was feeling rusty and anxious that I had forgotten everything that I had learned since I hadn't painted in a month. Jean re-started me with some simple shapes to build up my confidence.

These are organic plums. Not only are they pretty but they also have the most delicate perfumed flavor.

June - Early July 2011

I am not ready to show the projects that I worked on from mid-June through mid-July. They are larger and more complex subjects and I haven't finished them. Jean's painting mentor and friend, Liz Maness, thinks that I tried to be too aggressive in my subject matter for this stage in my development. But I can't leave these projects unfinished so I will get back to them, and when I do, they will show up here. Hold this space.

In mid-July we went to our home in Costa Rica for a month. I did a lot of painting there but it was of the exterior wall type.

Rock On Ribbon - June 2011

I pestered Jean to paint something hanging. We saw a painting at the Greenhouse Gallery show in San Antonio and for some reason the set up of objects hanging fascinated me. Maybe the shadows get me. Hanging objects to paint isn't a new idea. I have seen vegetables hanging in a gallery in San Miguel de Allende. I think Jean wanted to surprise me by accomodating my request in the strangest way possible. It took me more than one class to get this done. The painting Jean did of this hanging rock sold on Daily Paintworks. Go Jean!

Lemon Through Glass - May 2011

The object of this study is seeing and painting an object through glass. It is amazing how much the object is distorted. The amount of distortion, of course, depends upon the thickness of the glass. Glass turned out to be not so scary. You paint everything that you see that isn't glass; then you paint the glass. It just appears.

Carol Marine Apples - May 2011

With my confidence up after Blue Drape I tried to duplicate a painting that I like by Carol Marine, a local Austin Impressionist artist. Apprentice artists during the Renaissance learned their craft by copying paintings. I used her painting as practice for duplicating shapes and capturing folds. Carol's original is called "Delve Into Chaos". It is reassuring that Carol still finds folded fabric a challenge with all of her experience. I liked the result so much that I gave this piece to my mom for Mother's Day. Of course since it isn't my work I didn't sign it.

Blue Drape - April 2011

I am probably not alone when I admire how the Old Masters were able to paint fabric. When it was my turn to give a cloth drape a try, you know I was really nervous. I kept saying silently to myself that of course it was possible. The Old Masters painted intricate fabric over and over again. This drape wasn't even velvet. Now that I have done this once, I have confidence that I will be able to do it again and even enjoy it.

Plaster Remnant - April 2011

Well this is different, huh? Jean found this plaster decoration from an old building at an antique store. So of course she wanted us to paint it. What I want to know is, now that we have painted it, what is she going to do with it?

Rogue Lemon - April 2011

I decided to apply what I have learned so far painting from someone else's painting rather than a live setup. This simplifies the problem because many of the decisions have already been made by the original artist. Still it gives me a chance to try to mix colors that duplicate the original. The original was painted by Julian Merrow Smith, an English artist who lives and paints in Provence.

Avocado - April 2011

We completed the tour of the color wheel with Green. Where do we go next? I swear that I was not thinking of the alphabet when I suggested that we paint avocados. I just love the way that they look, and taste for that matter.

The next post is NOT going to be bananas! I promise.

Green - March 2011

Getting the shape of this pepper was tricky, but I like the way it turned out.

Blue - March 2011

What? No fruits or vegetables? Jean thought I wasn't ready to paint blueberries so we painted this little handmade blue ceramic pot that she has. Jean collects little pots so there were lots of choices. I am practicing soft edges.

Violet - February 2011

I am abandoning specific dates in the title since I didn't keep records to show what I did on a specific day. The sequence will be correct though. From my perspective the process is more interesting to share than the details. My hope is that we will all be able to see what I am learning via the little paintings.

This eggplant was a lot more fun to paint than the evil red delicious apple. Can you tell?

Red - Februrary 9, 2011

Mike had grocery shopping duty on this date so he chose this apple as the subject for Red. It was more difficult to paint than I thought it would be. I still don't like it. (sigh) I'm glad this red apple is behind me.

In addition to the color value study, for homework I did the requisite values scale. This should come in handy for reference. These samples watches are the hues in my palate and their complements. For each hue out of the tube (row 1) 100% I mix in 50% white, row 2. Then I add more white to make row 3. The samples along the bottom rows are the complements of row 1. I follow the same process, creating different values of each hue.

Orange - February 2, 2011

Every new painter's friend, the color wheel, gives you a preview of where Jean and I will be going in this painting class. This week is orange with its complement blue. Painting an object really helps me to remember the hues and their complements.

Ta da! An orange orange. The other colors in the unlighted side of the fruit are really much prettier in person. Did I tell you that Jean's specialty is Still Life? I bet you guessed. It's all about light, shadow, and "seeing".

Yellow - January 26, 2011

This is my first effort. The yellow apples gives me a chance to explore the hue yellow and its variations, and its complement, purple. Jean was clever to design the course for me to get a quick result, right on day 1.

This photograph of the study is cropped. The actual study includes samples of each color used with notes about what colors are mixed to make it. These "thumbnails" will be useful in the future if I want to make this color again. "Now how did I do that?" Here is another photo of the apple with the crib sheet.

Next week, on to Orange....



The Beginning - January 19, 2011

My painting challenge started in January as the title says. My first order of business will be to catch you up on what has happened between January and now, the end of August. So let's get started.

My painting teacher, Jean, and I meet and agree on the basic logistics of how we will work together, painting every Wednesday afternoon at her home. Lucky for me Jean lives literally just down the road. I am Jean's first student. When we get together on this Wednesday we are both very nervous. Jean gives me a list of materials to buy for our painting session next week.


We discuss how to approach this class, at least at the beginning stage. The first objective is to learn about colors, explore the color wheel and how to mix colors. Each week we will tackle one of the colors on the wheel, explore its complement and do a small painting using these colors. In this way i will learn how the colors are mixed and how they relate to each other. Jean will paint the study along with me and I secretly hope that she won't be completely bored.