upside down?

JW thinks the painting looks better upside down.

more on painting

Maybe it's redundant to keep posting the same "before" photos of the paintings at each stage. But it helps me to see them all together and see how a few brush strokes can make a big change. DUH. I guess it also reinforces the helpful mantra "it's only paint."



Here is the original "Half Moon Bay Landscape" that I started in January this year! It was just too busy and I gave up on it.






Here it is at the "very green" after a few washes of greens.







It's now end of July and I'm seeing how it can be good to put away a painting and go back to it at a later date!







still in progress...

acrylic again

For tonight's painting class, I decided to go back to acrylics, since the oils are too difficult to transport while wet.

I decided to paint over an old canvas, the failed Half Moon Bay landscape that became too busy with many colors (shown at left.) I sanded down the rough spots.

Since it was supposed to be a landscape, I figured I'd stick to that idea. I mixed 3 washes of greens (a teal, an olive and an emerald green) and started to cover the old canvas. Then I added some "white" spots (thinned out white so it wouldn't be completely opaque.)

I'm trying to remember the process from the first class I took from Shilo. Thin washes in different shades of the same color, followed by gradually thicker washes in a harmonizing color. It is useful for me to try to replicate that process, since I tend to forget if I don't do it often enough. I think it was a bit of a mistake to switch to oils for the private lessons because I hadn't quite assimilated this process for the acrylic. But, I suppose I just need to do more of BOTH. "Mileage" as Shilo says.

So the painting is looking pretty green right now. The next step will be to go a little less watered down--maybe bring in the colors that are in the under-painting. I hope I don't completely obliterate the under-painting.

much too purple

The beets painting was way too busy, so I carefully mixed what I thought was a very neutral grayish purple and splashed a good deal of it to "unify" the painting. I even tested the color to match a spot on the painting. Well, it certainly looked different than I expected. Way too purple and way too much of it.
So I mixed a lighter and more muted brownish gray purple and then dripped on some off-white. Kind of "broke the rules" by going with very thinned down paint over very "fat" paint.


I'm not sure what I'm feeling about this painting...but I'm still not happy with it.

back to the drawing board

I took the whole month of June off from painting. Mom came to visit for RC's graduation and RF's wedding. Then I had to pack up the studio in preparation for house guests for the wedding.

So it feels weird to start painting again. Signed up for Shilo's class at the Art League. I'm continuing to work on the paintings from the private lessons. It feels like I'm starting over, after such a long break--back to the drawing board, so to speak.

It's been good to get Shilo's feedback. Otherwise, I think I'd be quite lost and discouraged...I have to say I wasn't too happy looking at my paintings. Only one is looking almost finished to me. The rest are starting to look overworked and tight.

week 5 - off the leash

"Maple Tree" looks completely different from the previous week. It had been mostly burgundy and violet. At class I put in broad strokes of "lights" in different shades of green with a lot of guidance from Shilo. It didn't feel intuitive at all, painting over all that other brushwork I had already done. But Shilo said "you'll see" and that I should step away from it for a while. She said to go home and put in the darks, using different brush size, brush stroke, etc. I think I went a little overboard--it's looking a bit busy, although it does look reminiscent of my Japanese maple...













I went home and painted the "lights" on "Red Chard". Again, it didn't feel intuitive. I emailed Shilo in a panic and she emailed back saying "Take a deep breath." Ahhhh.
I will add my little scribbles in greens for the "leaves" and put in some red slashes for the "stalks". We shall see.

week 4 - at home painting

I took these 3 home to work on. They're getting close.
before

after












before

after












before

after