gilly & arya

Not as pleased with this as I had hoped to be.
I was trying to concentrate on shapes of values, and, to some degree, I think that worked.
But where it fails is in expressiveness, generally, but specifically in their faces.
At least I painted today--have been somewhat lax the last week or so.
Back to the drawing board.

my cats

Drawings to paint of my cats, Melo and Sansa and Gilly and Arya.
I'm glad I decided to photograph these; looking at the photo I can clearly see a few things that need tweaking.

melo

One of my cats, Melo, sitting in a wreath.
I painted the wreath first because it was the part I was most worried about.
I kept the floor close to Melo in value because I didn't want to attract too much attention there; though I am now thinking of adding a little shadow ...

pine cone

Jo MacKenzie sent me the reference photo for this, which I painted after watching her pine cone painting videos on YouTube. Jo's emphasis on planning your values really helped.

oyster shells

The inside of an oyster shell can be so colorful. These were served on a plate garnished with strands of seaweed, which I found so visually appealing.

house sparrow

from a photo I took a couple of years ago

melo & arya

This was coming along pretty well, then I started having trouble with Melo's face ... and the overworking began! I didn't finish; though I may, just for practice.
I will definitely try this one again, hopefully having learned from my mistakes.

chickadee

A couple of winters ago, I took some photos of birds in my yard after a snowstorm. They were all overexposed but I liked the quiet wintry mood that caused.
This is my first attempt to paint from one.

holiday themes

... from last year.

cape may point park

 

(7x11)

From a photo I took this summer. I liked the dark reflections and the space of light between it and the shore. 

And, below, a little card I painted last year.

snowy pine cone

A little pine cone painting, 5x7. 

technical difficulties

(a painting done on location this summer)

Having some problems posting this week: posts sent from my phone or tablet keep failing. So, took pictures with my camera to download to laptop, but the laptop's not reading the memory card.
I've exceeded my frustration for the day--and it's only 9:30!--so I'll have to try again another day.
In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!

poppy

The first, light washes were very pleasing, then I messed up with the darks.
Plan to try it again, I think I can do better.

lady cardinal

I think I prefer the female cardinal, with her tawny coloring.
My cardinals always look cartoony to me ... haven't been able to figure out why!

value practice

The idea here was to be rigorous in establishing and maintaining values ... I can't seem to do values in color. That will be my next attempt!
I wasn't happy with how thick I let the branches on the tree get, so I added some streaks of white and splatter for snow.

pine cones

I was just about to post this, and looked at the photo, and realized I should add a few more darks.
I often see what needs fixing only after photographing it.

rhodo sprig

T

The plants here are all confused. With the terribly hot summer we had here most of my plants were scorched and near dead, it seemed, but the recent warm weather has apparently encouraged some things to bloom again.

old dpw challenge

Addendum: Sorry, I got my sources mixed up! I saw this exercise, using a DPW photo, from Jo's downloadable Visual Guide to Painting (which is on sale this weekend); ten lessons with links to her videos on YouTube.

You can see Jo's work and lessons on YouTube and on her website.

I

I came across this old Daily Paintworks challenge on Jo MacKenzie's website. I have long admired the clarity of the values in her paintings, so I decided to give this challenge, which she credits with helping her see values more strongly, a try.

The challenge was to change the color and paint the value. I didn't change the colors (much) because I couldn't decide which colors to use! But I think I will do it again, the way it was meant to be done!

 

Melo, interrupting my photo-taking. 

pine cones

Still being a little more careful than I'd like;  but, I think anyway, if I keep at it it, I'll 1) get more confidence and 2) be able to distill the cone to its essentials for representation.

apples

Trying to paint some apples a la Jo MacKenzie, who is a whiz at seeing values.
If you haven't yet, check out her short videos on youtube.

bluejay re-do

 

8x11

Painted this again, a little larger. I wanted a more high-key background and wanted to, if I could, improve on the branches. Perhaps not surprisingly, I think I prefer the branches in the first version.

But I do like the almost marbled effect the salt created in the background.

 

 

6x8

backyard birds

Two cold weather tenants: white-throated sparrow and dark-eyed junco.
I like white backgrounds, but I'd like to come up with something else ... something out-of-focus.

monday class

Trying to get back in the habit of attending class-- tho' it'll be breaking up in a couple of weeks for the winter break.
This week, working on imaginary landscapes, trying to build up from light, loose washes to darker, more descriptive ones.
My problem is I always end up covering up too much of the underlying wash, and I'm never sure where to put the darks!