Day 38 Inside Info

STICK WITH ME BABY!

STILL LIFE & PAINTING

Thought I would add the photo of my painting and my "still life" . . . it really shows how I use stuff for inspiration but I am usually not trying to recreate exactly what I have set up . . . I find it better to take things out of my painting, change them or move them around during the process rather than duplicate the still life exactly . . . too often we think we are suppose to recreate the scene . . . as an artist. . . I think it is your responsibility to show the scene as you "see"it, emphasis the interesting and intriguing aspects. . . change the elements, color, size and shapes to design a better composition, a more aesthetically pleasing product or a description of what the scene would look like if it was "made" out of your medium. . . whatever is necessary to tell the story you want to tell . . . I know so many artists who are struggling because they have a preconceived notion of what a "good" painting is suppose to be and are not putting any real effort into what "their" painting needs to be . . . this is not to say skill and technique doesn't matter . . .you do need the skills . . . just like you need to know how to spell and use punctuation and grammar when writing . . . but you still must supply the words . . . don't retell the story with paint . . . tell your story with paint! . . . and that's another week with the art geek!!!

Just think I could be watching the Super Bowl with 100 million other people this afternoon . . . you all have fun with that!

DAY 37 OPINIONS

I asked my daughter what she thought of my "Heart" paintings . . . I would like to think because I raised her to be a strong, independent , responsible woman . . . she had no problem voicing her opinion . . .which was "they're kinda cheesy" . . . so although this painting is for sale . . . it was done in honor of my daughter, Kayla! . . . and maybe that's a little "cheesy" too!WE GO TOGETHER LIKE CHEESE & CRACKERS

Day 36 What The Heck!

Hey something went terribly wrong . . . apparently my post from yesterday didn't publish???

Maybe it's this crazy painting of the eight ball that caused all the problems. . . since it has nothing to do with the images I am currently working on, nor do I even own a Magic 8 Ball or the smaller equivalent for a pool table . . . just something that popped into my head . . . the other three are from our Thursday open studio session . . . Enjoy! and now I will go do the post for today!

CRAZY EIGHT

UPON REFLECTION

LEMON SAUCE

GAIL'S ONION

DAY 35 My Favorite So Far . . .

The first one today is my absolute favorite "Heart Art" piece so far . . . I have decided to put the titles UNDER each piece so you can scroll down and be thinking about what the title might be . . .

TOGETHER WE MAKE QUITE A PEAR

LIFE WITHOUT YOU WOULD BE THE PITS

YOU ARE APPEALING TO ME!

Enjoy . . . see more tomorrow!

Day 34 More Art From The Heart

"SPROUT" IT OUT LOUD - I LOVE YOU!

OUR LOVE IS GOLDEN - LIKE 14 CARROTS! WE ARE TWO OF A KIND!

I WOULDN'T BE WHOLE WITHOUT YOU!

ENJOY!

Day 33 Heart Art

LOVE YOU A BUNCH!

YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE! "ORANGE' YOU GOING TO BE MY VALENTINE? Here are the first three paintings from the series I will be working on all this month . . . a little whimsical . . .maybe even a little hokey . . .but I'm having a blast not only painting but coming up with the titles. . . all are for sale($48 plus shipping unless you're local) . . . and all are 6" x 6" oil on panel . . . Enjoy! (more tomorrow)

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/