Day 32 Establishing A Style

Oranges #1Oranges #2
Oranges #3

Probably the hardest thing for me to do is maintain an established style . . . a lot of this has to do with allowing the painting to become what it is during the process (they have a mind of their own you know) . . . even though I have a general image and idea when I start . . . the finished painting may or may not be what I envisioned . . . these three paintings were all done within a day or two of each other and are a great example of where I am currently at with my work . . . I (think) am working toward a combination of what is represented here . . .

Oranges #1 this is the bright clean palette I like. . .plus lots of brush strokes, broken lines and swatches of color to create form and movement . . .you can see how the painting is put together . . . and to me that is very important (maybe even equal to or greater than what the image is). . . I want the viewer to see enough "parts" to get an idea of the process behind the finished product . . . Carol Marine is a daily painter that totally nails this style . . . see link below to view her work

Oranges #2 I like the deep rich colors and semi realistic image . . . and I'm feeling pretty confident about nailing this technique. . . when you look close you can see the "painterly-ness" of this but all in all it looks more realistic than not and the process is almost completely "covered up". . . viewers tend to like this style as it "looks real" and meets the traditional standard set by the majority . . . it's "comfortable" . . . and while I enjoy painting like this . . . the finished piece doesn't hold my attention for long . . .

Oranges #3 Super loose . . . this really shows the process . . . in fact the charcoal drawing lines are added to give it a very sketchy feel and provide the viewer with a sense of the underlying structure . . . every thing is done in a more graphic design mode rather than as a realistic rendering . . . this is a lot like my previous work (in cattle markers) . . . and I like it . . . however while it is an interesting use of oils it veers away from what I call "truth to the medium" . . . it doesn't show off the great properties of oil paints and thereby comes up a little short in trying to portray the process and the essential characteristics of the medium. . . that's fancy talk for it doesn't look like oil paint! . . .

. . . and thank you for all the wonderful compliments (in person & via e-mail) about my work/blog. . . but please remember I am just an art geek not the art guru . . .so share your thoughts, likes and dislikes, suggestions . . . you can leave comments below each post too!. . . finally . . . I am scum . . . as I promised my February theme paintings would be up today . . . have 5 or 6 done . . . but it got too late to shoot the photos . . . it's such a hassle to set up the lights so I try to get them done in the afternoon . . .so tomorrow for sure! Enjoy!

click here to see Carol Marine's Blog work http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/