Here is a new painting I’ve started, a “rock slide”.  I set this up inside an antique wooden crate, and lined the back of the crate with some very dark paper.  The top photograph shows very initial oil washes to reinforce the pencil layout.  The second photograph shows a second layer of oil washes, with the paint applied a bit more opaquely.  I want to explore painting varying shades of white tones in this piece, so I have started to separate the rocks from one another by mixing different shades of greys.

I’m also going to be starting a large colored pencil piece on Rtistx board tomorrow, and I’m very excited about this one!  More on that soon.

I’m also working on getting details together to have my website updated.  I can’t quite believe it hasn’t been updated since May of 2009.  More information will follow on that – specifically when a new “gallery” page is in place of my new stones pieces.

Happy New Year to all!  I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last entry.  It was a busy and fun holiday season, especially with my older son home from college and all of us together as a family, but I’m glad it’s over and we can move back into our “normal” schedules and closer to spring.

I’ve been working on this small oil (8″ x 10″) and while it’s still not finished, it’s nearing completion.  It’s difficult to paint a very white rock, and I’m finding that getting the subtle, embedded color variations requires lots of layering.  I have also started another oil painting of stones, and done an artists trading card for the first time.  It’s very interesting to work on such a small scale, and seems to require an entirely different way of thinking about composition and scale.

I still have a couple more ideas for oils and drawings in this series.  I want to do at least one large oil (approximately 3′ x 4′) and see what that brings to the table, so to speak.  I used to work at that size and larger, so it will be fun to try it again.

I hope the New Year is going well for everyone, and would love to hear from any and all with a comment!

I’ve just finished the second oil painting of stones, and am happy with my progress.  There were several things I was looking to accomplish -  better blending and change of colors in the background, more realistic colors and details in the stones.  Believe it or not, this stone pile was photographed on the same bookbinding fabric as the last painting.  It’s amazing how much variation there can be in the fabric based on the way the light is hitting it.  I have updated this post with a more color-wise more accurate photograph, but still, there’s a reason why I’m not a photographer!  The colors still aren’t anywhere close to how they really look, but it is better.  For comparison, see the small photograph below of the “redder” version.   This piece is 11″ x 14″.

I’m also almost finished with the little rock drawing being done on Canson Mi-tientes, and will post a photograph of it as soon as it’s done.

Here is my first oil painting in two or more years!  That was a long time to be away from painting, and the tubes of paint let me know in no uncertain terms, as they were stuck shut and I needed to use a pliers to get the tops off!

I completed this small (12″ x 12″) painting in about two weeks, working on it part-time, as I also have another drawing going, which is also almost finished.  Basically I’m pleased with what I accomplished which was to get back into painting.  It’s a little clumsy in places, but  a decent effort overall.  I set up several rock piles on some bookbinding fabric, and the fabric has a sheen to it, so it changes from one color to another (or two) depending on which way the light is hitting it.  One thing that is so much quicker and easier about oils, versus colored pencils, is doing the backgrounds.  Large areas of color can be laid down and gone over again more quickly.  However, I miss the unusual and vibrant colors achieved by layering transparent pencil colors.

I’m trying to push myself outside my comfort zone, and to that end, I’m going to continue working an oil painting along side a drawing for the indefinite future.  I’m off to start a new oil painting today, and part with a quote from the Boston Globe’s “Reflection for the Day” that I found rather amusing:

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.      Benjamin Franklin