Daub du Jour

We Are Stardust...

2008-08-04T14:33:00.006-05:00

One of my favourite songs has this line in the chorus: the haunting Matthews Southern Comfort version of the song, "Woodstock". It entirely feeds my more romantic and dreamlike ideas I had when I was a child and longing for the stars. Maybe it was the lunar landing fever of the time - the late 1960s - or the Aquarius movement, but it was timeless. Then and now.

I had to produce something new for my art panel at the forthcoming world science fiction convention in Denver, and over a 48 hour period I managed to finish one painting and complete two more. With Last Farewell, I finally brought to a close an idea I had many years ago. While searching boxes of paper for sorting and chucking, I found a small thumbnail sketch I'd jotted down at random. I looked at it for a long time, and thought "I can finally paint this!" So I did.

Stardust was just a passionate doodle featuring two of my favourite elements: a soaring, swooping pointy rocket ship and a nebulous, hazy background - this time it's a ringed giant. It was kind of blissful to do.

Starstream Camping is an idea I had this year, and had given up on after the first attempt. That initial start had included a big chunk of planet in one corner and the tent being placed on one of the asteroids in its ring. It just wasn't working, and I wasn't happy with it, so I put it aside. That was several months ago. Last week, I had an epiphany of sorts and said to myself "Why does it have to be a planet? For me, it's always been the Stars..." I whipped out a board, and a day and two painting sessions later, I had a painting that speaks volumes. One of my very favourites so far...look for the whales and inquisitive dolphin...

Starstream Camping

(10x10", Oil)

For sale at Denvention or TBA here later if not sold.

Stardust

(9x12", Oil)
For sale at Denvention or TBA here later if not sold.

The Last Farewell

(14x18", Oil)

For sale at Denvention or TBA here later if not sold.

As usual, the photography doesn't do them justice, but it's close.

Palette included: Titanium White, Viridian Green, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean, Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Light, Cobalt Violet, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue. My big blending brushes got a serious workout during this lot, plus a couple of Filberts (big and small), and a couple of pointy little Rounds.

Thanks to author Jerry Oltion and his romantic and sometimes funny outlook on outer space, and to his short story "The Big Two-sided River". River is about a miner who goes camping the old fashioned way on an asteroid in the rings of a gas giant planet. Thanks Jerry, the story and the atmosphere has lingered these past years.

Cheers,

Marianne

Little Panda

2008-06-16T15:46:00.004-05:00

Little Panda

(6x8", Oil) Price: $145.00

Well, I finally left the writing behind for a bit and did a painting. There was a good reason though: the Grand Reopening of The Art Corner in Salem, MA. Following a fire there in late April, the store has reopened in temporary new premises around the corner. Bob and I were invited up to 'paint in the window' on the day, so we did. It was going to be a bit nervy for me though, as I hadn't painted in months, and I had to start one cold. Urk. I did it though! This little panda bear started off a bit wonky, but he came out true in the end. I'm rather proud of this one, since I've been wanting to paint a panda for absolutely ages.

Palette included: Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon, Burnt Sienna, Sap Green, Terre Verte, Ultramarine Blue, and Alizirin Crimson. Two Filbert brushes and two small Rounds, plus the usual big fluffy blending brush. 6x8" canvas board, gessoed a couple extra times for smoothness.

Below is the little guy in situ. I still love my litte painting box. I wish I used it a bit more than I do.

To read more about The Art Corner, the fire, and our painting day, go to my other blog, Muse du Jour http://musedujour.blogspot.com/

Cheers,

Marianne

New Balloon Ship...

2008-03-16T18:19:00.004-05:00

Follow The Leader

(10x10", Oil) Price: $160.00

This looks a little washed out, I'm afraid. The colours are really deep and vibrant, but I'm still getting used to using our new digital camera.

I painted this at the last minute. I started out with the idea of painting another moon balloon ship piece that involved moonlit waves. The original working title was 'Wavehopping', but the ship looked lonely, and there was a negative space just begging for something to fill it. So I painted a little dolphin. Then I went 'hmmm, this composition needs some last thing'. So I painted the dolphin tail in the foreground. When I stepped back from the easel, I'd found that this little painting had developed a really nice flow and composition. Now the balloon ship looked like it was having fun, and the moon was joining in. Hence, "Follow the Leader".

I painted this in one sitting, as I wanted to get it done fast. The palette was a nice combination of Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Viridian, Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Pale, French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. Lots of fluffy blending brushes, one fine detail Round brush, and a half inch Flat, and a half inch Filbert. I also found out why these paintings were drying so fast: the Cobalt Blue was actually a tube of Alkyd paint (synthetic oil paint) rather than real oil paint. They share the same paint drawer, and I'd mistakenly picked up the Alkyd instead of the oil tube. Doesn't really matter though - it will not affect the paint one little bit. And it will all look the same. Meanwhile, I've dug out the real Cobalt Blue...

More later,
Marianne

And another rocket...

2008-03-13T12:25:00.006-05:00

Swooping
(11x14", Oil) Price: $175.00 SOLD

Here is another pointy rocket idea. I fell in love with John Harris' way of working oils and some of his romantic looking hard science fiction paintings. So I tried one of my own. Unfortunately, a lot of the viridian and pure cerulean tones have been lost to the digital camera. It tries its best, but often fails to reproduce these colours with any true accuracy. I mourn for the kodakchrome expertise of a dying technology: real film. Our local photographic lab has produced no better when it comes to taking photos of our art, because they themselves now only deal in digital photography. Needless to say, we don't visit them much anymore.

Meanwhile, I've been giving thought to my rockets and balloon ships (yes, there is another one), and I think I've figured them out. The rocket ship and the balloon ship represent 'me' - or at least my dreams and goals. So I'll keep painting them, where-ever they take me...

Cheers,
Marianne

Another Retro Rocket....

2008-03-12T09:59:00.008-05:00

Reach III

(9x12", Oil) Price: $150.00 SOLD
Okay, this is the absolute last retro rocket in this colour scheme. I only did this one because I promised a friend I'd do an extra version, and that I actually had an idea for it. Meanwhile, it's open season on other retro rockets with different colour schemes and themes. Unfortunately, the digital photo lost all of the soft tranistional colours and brushyness on this one. I have another one on the easel at the moment, but with a cerulean/viridian green type of high atmosphere, with a highlighted view of Saturn, and with a retro rocket 'swooping' in the foreground. I'll post that one when I'm finished with it. Both paintings will be going to a science fiction convention artshow this weekend.

There hasn't been a lot of time for painting lately, as I've been really, really busy doing writing for a publisher, developing some ideas that would utilize my creative side as well as my husband's.

Anyway, same palette and brushes as the last two Reach rockets.

Back soon,
Marianne

Moonlight Flight

2008-02-18T10:32:00.002-05:00

Moonlight Flight

(8x10", Oil) Price: $145.00 SOLD

I had this idea at the gym when I was thinking about the pointy rocket ships I wanted to paint in the two previous posts. I bravely looked up some viking boat references and with the distant memory of the airship from the movie "The Mummy Returns" set to drawing one up. The ship is empty while it sails the moon paths, ready to carry the viewers dreams and hopes aloft with it. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice: a lot of soft detail was lost in the cloud highlights and the moon. And I tried to colour match as much as possible.

This is painted thinly and took two coats of paint to get the sky right, because French Ultramarine is a transparent. I noodled that around with Cobalt Blue and Alizarin Crimson with a dash of Titanium White to create this simple background. A tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Hue was mixed in with the highlights, because the moon doesn't always reflect a cold white light. There is warmth in the shadows, as is usual with moonlight, no matter how cold or slightly warm that light may be. I blocked in the ship in the first session, but completed it in the second session in detail when the first layers were dry. As usual, I made great use of my big fluffy blending brushes.

See you next time,
Cheers,
Marianne

More Cosmic Whales...

2008-02-12T09:58:00.002-05:00

Spotting Starwhales II

(9x12", Oil) Price: $175.00 SOLD

I've been on a bit on an inspiration kick lately concerning pointy rocketships and cosmic whales. Not sure why. But it has made painting rather fun. I'm painting them for myself, so I get to indulge the quirky side of fantasy and science fiction art. Hey, it works for other artists and their personal works, so why not me?

This is an expansion on a theme that I painted for the cover of an Australian fiction magazine, Andromeda Spaceways In-Flight Magazine (that issue edited by my dear friend, Edwina Harvey) a few years ago. I always liked the original painting and wished that I'd accomplished it better. People seemed to like it though, and the orginal painting sold to a film director, so it can't have been too bad. Anyway, I like all of the pinks and purples that go great with the bluish whales and dolphin. And the composition is tighter in this version. The whales themselves look like they're having a blast. I wouldn't mind being in that rocket, looking at them and smiling.

So, what do the whales represent? I'm not sure at this stage. I'm still on the journey with them. However, I get the feeling that they represent 'life' and its journey throughout the realms of time and space. A higher consciousness. Greatness...the 'something better in all of us' to aspire to. I'll let you know when I know...but that could take quite a while. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the ride...

For this painting, I used: French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue, Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Burnt Sienna, Magenta, and a little bit of Cobalt Violet. Lots of blending brushes....

Cheers,
Marianne

Reach II

2008-02-09T17:59:00.002-05:00

REACH II

(9X12", Oil) Price: $175.00 SOLD

Welcome to the New Year 2008.

Things got way too busy as we neared the end of 2007, and I managed to work myself into exhaustion. We travelled; I cooked my end of year gifts to send to friends and family around the country; and I spent a lot of time helping midwife a dinosaur children's picture book, along with my husband and a friend, Cortney Skinner. I wrote the book back in November, and the boys are currently illustrating it. It is called "If Dinosaurs Lived in My Town" and will be out Spring 2009, from Sterling Publishing, via Hollan Publishing. Since I'm the techie of the family, I've been liasing with the publisher and constantly transmitting illustrations between Bob and Cort, as well as taking care of other business. This week I decided to stop helping everybody else and do something for myself for a bit. The results are some small paintings with pointy rocket ships in them. In Reach II, I revisited the colour scheme and style for my previous smaller painting, Reach, which I painted last year. It seemed like a good place to start since I hadn't painted since last August. I hope you like the result. Stay tuned for further painted explorations...

From now on, this blog isn't going to be about doing a painting a day. I proved that I could hang in there and accomplish that for a period of months. I'm now just going to post my explorations in paint and post them as 'Paintings OF the Day'. I thank you for your patience, and hope you will drop by from time to time to see what I've been doing.

Cheers,

Marianne

New Art Sale Page!

2007-10-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

Hello all,

Thanks for following my artistic endeavours this year, but I must apologise for the serious lack thereof in recent months. This is customarily our busiest time of the year, usually involving lots of travel, frantic working towards deadlines, conventions, and the subsequent getting ready for art shows. Well the majority of that has come to an end now, for the year, so I'll be getting back to some serious painting and writing real soon now. I have a hankering to continue my quirky still lifes-with-toys-and-pumpkins themes, but bigger.

Meanwhile, I thought about something a fan said to me recently in Japan. He said that although he loved my website, he didn't know what works were still available for sale, because there was no mention of price, availability, etcetera, mentioned there. So, being easier to update my blogsites than to update my website, I have now made up an ongoing blog page to list my works for sale. This includes older fantasy pieces as well as the more recent incarnations. Hopefully you'll drop by to look occasionally, and might even find something you might like. I'll be updating every week or two. When things are sold, they'll be marked as such, so there is no confusion.

The Sale Page can be found at http://artsalepage.blogspot.com/ or by clicking the link 'Marianne's ART Sale Page' at the left of this screen.

Thanks,
Marianne

The Story of Nick Paper

2007-09-11T05:16:00.001-05:00

The surface that these drawings are done on are something we call 'Nick Paper'. Handtinted drawing paper that takes Prismacolor pencil work really well. To find out how 'Nick Paper' came about, and its connection to September 11, 2001 - go to my other blog, http://musedujour.blogspot.com/ and read the full story...

Hugs,

Marianne

Day 64

2007-08-10T09:32:00.001-05:00

Little Pumpkins Too

(6x8", Oil) Price: $275.00

Well, I'm still dealing with dinosaurs. I'm trying not only to settle the contract but settle the final details of what the dino book will be called, etc. with the publisher I'm working with. Who knew that it would be so tiring and time consuming. Meanwhile, it's almost done, and now I'm packing for us to go to Japan in two weeks. I'll be taking notebooks and sketchbooks with us while we're travelling, so we can get creative during long waiting and flying times.

Meanwhile, here is another dinosaur painting. I really have to get back to painting toys...

Cheers
Marianne

Day 63

2007-08-02T08:49:00.000-05:00

Little Pumpkins

(6x8", Oil) Price: $275.00 SOLD

Dang! I didn't realise I hadn't posted in so long. This painting seems appropriate though, as I've spent the last several weeks developing a dinosaur children's book for Hollan Publishing for Sterling Books. Only I'm not illustrating it, I'm writing it.

I swiped one of Bob's dinosaur toys for this painting. He's got hundreds, so he didn't notice that one went on holiday for a bit. I also have a passion for the visual effects of little pumpkins - the bitty ones that everyone uses for decoration over here. I want to paint more with little pumpkins. Maybe I'll add tin toys - robots of course. My bow to Eric Joyner's wonderful paintings of whimsy.

Painting seems to have been put on hold at the moment. Anytime that I try and paint a full blown fantasy piece, it just doesn't feel right. I've abandoned one painting, and am twiddling with an old unfinished one as well, but neither of them are moving me at all. However, I am feeling pulled back towards painting whimiscal still lifes like 'Little Pumpkins'. We bought a couple of tin toy robots recently, and my mind is looking for things to put with them to paint. So I've started poking around good will stores to find old stuff to compose compositions with. We'll see what happens. I really need to get back to painting again...

Cheers
Marianne

Day 62

2007-07-09T21:59:00.001-05:00

Brandy Tea Roses

(4x5", Oil) $150.00 SOLD

Here is an0ther early tea rose painting - the same vintage as the ones from Day 61. I've been having some battles with inspiration lately, and finding myself blocked somewhat. Dental problems and busy business stuff, notwithstanding. We're going to Japan next month, so I'm hoping to get some fresh input from the new surroundings.

Unfortunately, the image here doesn't do the painting justice. The background is lush smoodges with some of the orangey background showing through, matching the warm shadowy areas of the roses. I really enjoyed the looseness of painting this little thing. The oil paint did its legendary blending thing on the canvas that makes painting in this medium like no other in my experience.

Bests,

Marianne

Day 61

2007-06-27T09:13:00.000-05:00

Tea Roses

(6x8", Oil) Price: $110.00

Okay, this is another 'ringer'. I've been working on a larger work that doesn't seem to be reaching it's potential, and I've been feeling guilty that I haven't posted anything for awhile. So here is a little painting I did last year. It was the original version of all that I wanted to do for this blog: painted wet into wet (alla prima) in a single session. I was always kind of proud of this one.

So, until next time,

Marianne

Day 60

2007-06-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

Sarah

(8x10", Oil) $275.00

Sorry I've not posted in awhile, but I had some 'inspiration block' things going on, and we got really busy with one thing and another...

However, here is the first real portrait that I've done in years. Sarah is a dear friend who did some modelling for my husband Bob, when he needed some specific references for a couple of personal paintings he wanted to work on. When he finished getting his photographs, I darted in with my camera and took some of Sarah in portrait poses for future reference - nicely draped in the diaphanous gauzy things she'd dragged out of her costume and sewing closet. A girl after my own heart - there's something so indulgent about luxurious fabrics. Anyway, of the forty or so photos we got, this one was my favourite - so I painted it.

I began the painting about two months ago. It was complicated by the fact that I was trying to paint a real person, which I hadn't done in many years. I surrended to my painting insecurites after painting in the base layers, forming the face, scarf and background. Part of the problem was that I didn't like the colour tones - they were mainly derivative of greens. So I put the canvas aside. I really don't like to throw away something that I've started, because I never know when I will see promise in it again - enough to transform it into something worthwhile. And this is what happened with 'Sarah'. On Sunday, I told myself that I really had to paint something so I wouldn't completely lose my momentum. After a bit of thought, I dragged out the discarded canvas and had a good look at it. I figured that I needed to change the colour tone, take a deep breath, and lay paint. Within a very short amount of time, I'd found the soul of the painting, if not Sarah.

For the palette, there are the usual suspects: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Titanium White, Alizirin Crimson, Cadmium Red Light, and Cadmium Yellow Light. Brushes consisted of three Filberts: Sizes 8, 6, and 4, and a Size 2 Round.

When I get to painting faces, I usually smooth the surfaces so that they look like they've been airbrushed. I've been trying to rid myself of this habit, as there is wonderful freedom in knowing where to put a dash here and a dab there to form the planes of the face. When you step back and look at the result, the human eye automatically blends the various dabs and daubs into a cognizant whole. I've tried for that, but a lot of it has been lost in translation to the digital image. I even had to digitally airbrush some of the reflection off the top of the painting and lost some of Burnt Sienna dots and daubs from the background. This painting is much more luminous in real life.

So, I think I'd better go find my muse and have a serious talk with her.
See you tomorrow,
Marianne

Day 59

2007-05-30T12:54:00.001-05:00

Little Dust Devil

(6x8", Oil) Price: $110.00 SOLD

Sorry the reproduction quality of this image is a bit rough.

I finished this rather quickly last night. The preliminary painty sketch of the baby elephant had been done several weeks ago - before I put it aside in a fit of 'feeling useless' pique. I found the canvas again this week, while I was looking for something else. So last night, I thought I'd better put the little chap out of his misery and finish him. I swirled in the dusty background and foreground with a big Filbert brush and a soft blending brush. Tweaked a couple of anatomical points, and laid in fresh paint. It did hit me that this kind of painting needs to be done in stages rather than one single session. That's probably why I felt frustrated with it before: everything else in this series has been done in one sitting - albeit long sittings.

So I finally painted a cheeky baby elephant. He's having so much fun blowing dust everywhere and running around in it. Maybe I should work this up into a bigger painting sometime.

Palette consisted of: Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Transparent Gold Ochre, and Titanium White. Some big brushes and some little brushes: mostly Filberts and Rounds.

I guess I'd better go find something else to paint.
See you tomorrow,
Marianne

Day 58

2007-05-27T15:34:00.001-05:00

Got My Grump On

(Northeastern Bluebird)

(4x5", Oil) Price: $160.00 SOLD

I painted this a couple of days ago. I wasn't terrifically happy with how it turned out, but it has grown on me since then. It's a very quick - for me, that is - painterly sketch of a fluffed up Northeastern Bluebird. Okay, so I think fluffed up birds are so cute - so sue me. It's probably a girl thing. Anyway, this little chap had such grumpy expression on his face when I first saw the photo, all I could think of was 'Got My Grump On' - hence the title. I changed the bird's circumstances and placed him in some foilage I took reference shots of two weeks ago in a friend's backyard.

Using the usual pretinted canvas, my palette consisted of: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Lemon, Cobalt Blue, and Titanium White. I used a Size 2 Round fine brush, a Size 2 Flat, a Size 4 Filbert, and a Size 8 Filbert by way of brushes.

I do like painting birds. There's another budgie one in the mix, but I'm not sure where my muse is taking me at the moment. I guess we'll see.

Cheers
Marianne

PS: There's a new link on my links list today. My beautiful cousin Annie has a blog called Dyed To The Bone, and it is dedicated to her own extensive creative pursuits and her lovely family. Why don't you stop by for a look...

Day 57

2007-05-20T16:42:00.000-05:00

The Grass is Always Greener

(6x8", Oil) Price: $100.00

I loved the look on this goat's face: very paintable.

I took a few different elements and placed them together in a new context. This was all painted in a single sitting. However, if I was doing this as a larger, multi-session work, then I would take several steps in glazing the fur on the goat to create the layering look. Also, I'd take more care with the flowers - in this case peonies. I did have fun smoodging the background as per usual.

The palette consited of: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Titanium White, Sap Green, Transparent Gold Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Hue, and Permanent Rose.

I think I'll go back to painting birds tomorrow.
Cheers
Marianne

Day 56

2007-05-19T19:47:00.000-05:00

The Puddleduck Family

(6x8", Oil) Price: $250.00 SOLD

Well, I've been trying to get back into doing several paintings a week, but it's been difficult with intermittent distractions. However, I managed to paint this little family of ducks... The original is a bit brighter than this image - for some reason, images post a bit darker on Blogger.

Anyway, it was a single session work, working wet paint into wet paint, so I got to smoodge the background and feathers to my heart's content.

The palette was made up of the usual suspects: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Alizirin Crimson, and Titanium White. As usual, I paintin on a prepared and dry tinted surface: the Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, mixed and blended together.

What I haven't mentioned in the past, is the type of oil medium I use. For the last several years I've been using linseed oil with a dryer in it. Commercially it's called "Drying Linseed Oil" put out by Winsor and Newton. If I need to make the drying time faster, I add a little English Turpentine.

Anyway, another farm animal tomorrow.
Cheers
Marianne

Day 55

2007-05-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

The Great Migration

(14x18", Oil) Price: $980.00

Okay, so I've been away for awhile. I got busy with business stuff, bad allergies, and painting THIS...

I've had this painting in mind since I saw the vacuum chamber nebula effects from the movie, THE FOUNTAIN last year. However, I only wanted to paint small uncomplicated pieces that weren't too demanding, so the more dedicated paintings fell by the wayside. Stress will do that to anyone's creativity. Things are improving, though.

The Great Migration took nearly ten days to complete, since I worked in extremely thin glazes and had to wait for each one to dry before doing the next. This is how I've always achieved luminosity in my paintings - whether I've been painting water or space, or just trying to achieve depth.

Stage 1 - Basic Tint. After gessoing and sanding back the canvas board, I began to tint the board with Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine. I used the Sienna in the light spots where the nebula and other light bits are situated. The combined Ultramarine and Sienna created the luminous black of space. Let dry...

Stage 2 - Underpainting. This sets up for the whole composition and tone for the nebula and surrounding space. Still painting thinly, I use Permanent Rose, Alizirin Crimson, French Ultramarine, Titanium White, and a little Cadmium Lemon to lay in the nebula and nebula off shoot. This covers any patchy coverage from the initial tint layer: you need to layer 'transparent oil paint' to get the semi opaqueness of space or other scenes needing depth. Except for the white, the colours above are all varying transparent paints. Let dry...

Stage 3 - Layering. Continue to develop the last details, brights and darks of the nebula. Spatter some yellowy-white for stars. Blur those gently with a blending brush. Paint in some stars, and spatter some more. Nebula basically now finished. Let dry...

Stage 4 - Whale Stream. Using Cobalt Blue and a little Titanium White, glaze in the blue whale stream, and blur with a blending brush. Takes about half an hour, but takes 24 hours to dry.

Stages 5 & 6 - Painting Whales. I took my time choosing references and painting each whale into the stream. They needed to be transparent or semi-transparent, to work the way I wanted them to. Painted in a dolphin too!

Painting in glazes is time consuming and sometimes finicky. One problem is that the paint dries flat and patchy, so before beginning painting on each new layer, you have to use a soft brush to lightly wipe oil into the surface to make the whole image uniform and bring out the real colour. However, too much oil will drip through the new paint if you're not careful, and ruin the effect when it dries: so be vigilant and use the oil sparingly.

Well, the now finished painting is still a bit sticky from the oiling in process used in the last few layers, so it will now take a week or so to dry properly.

Meantime, I should get back to the usual painting practices until the next big inspiration hits...

Cheers
Marianne

Day 54

2007-04-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

Spiritual Light

(8x10", Oil) Not For Sale

I discovered a new author - Victoria Laurie - two weeks ago. Her books are about a psychic who reluctantly gets involved with murder investigations. I found these books compelling, and also that they punched my own intuitive buttons on several levels. I sat down and wrote an extensive review of the aforementioned protagonist and each book in turn - which you can read on my Muse du Jour blog at http://musedujour.blogspot.com/ Together with that inspiration, came the fully formed idea for this painting. I nixed trying to paint this image in a multi-session attempt, or in a greater size: I'm having enough trouble starting the small one-session paintings I post here. Also, I haven't painted a human figure in a good long while as they are quite demanding to do. I tried last week to start painting this image - on a smaller canvas, as the support I wanted to use wasn't ready - but it wasn't working out, and I scrubbed it out three times. Deciding I wasn't ready to paint it then, and being dog tired, I gave it up till this week. So, with the right sized canvas, and sick of endlessly painting the darn thing in my head, brushstroke by brushstroke, I painted it yesterday. With a migraine...

Still it isn't too bad, in spite of the washed out face - trying to photograph a dark glossy surface is hell.

Palette consisted of a slightly larger array than usual: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Titanium White, Cadmium Red Light, Permanent Rose, and Cobalt Violet. Brushes were a 1/2" Filbert, a Size 2 Round, a Size 6 Round, a Size 4 Filbert, and a big fluffy blending brush.

Whew, now that's over, now I can get back to painting something else. The universe wasn't going to let me paint any other subjects until I'd gotten this one off my chest.

So, see you tomorrow!
Marianne

Day 53

2007-04-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

Mini Magnolias

(5x7", Oil) SOLD

Since I've been a bit distracted lately with business, I haven't been painting as much. I'm about to remedy that today. However, while waiting for paintings to dry again, I thought I'd put up this older painting. At the beginning of the month, I donated this little piece to the Alzheimer's Charity Benefit Art Show at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, Rhode Island. The show is run like an auction, and I'm pleased to find that the bids on it are now over $200. At 4pm tomorrow, the final bids will be taken. The money raised will be donated to the Rhode Island Alzheimers Association.

The gallery allowed each artist who donated something to put in an extra painting to sell for themselves. Bob's extra painting sold on opening night. I'm hoping that his replacement one and my little pansy painting might have attracted buyers as well. It always feels good when you sell something, but even better when the money goes to a good cause.

Cheers until tomorrow

Marianne

Day 52

2007-04-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

Lunar Duet

(Moonflower and Lunar Moth)

(6x8", Oil) Price: $125.00

Okay, I've been a bit slack lately. I got sidetracked by a new author and had to write a long review of her body of work for my Muse du Jour blogsite. Go look if you like mysteries...

Anyway, it seems I'm graduating to more complicated compositions. The moonflower came from a friend's garden last year, whilst I already had a reference photo for the Lunar Moth. The moon figures large in my astrological sign, Cancer, so it seemed an appropriate theme. Besides, the colour schemes complimented each other nicely. And of course, I did enjoy smoodging the background again.

The palette conisted of: Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Lemon, Alizirin Crimson, Transparent Gold Ochre, and Titanium White.

Now all I have to figure out is what to paint next. The more complicated arrangements take about the same time to paint - give or take an hour - but the concentration it takes to actually paint them take a lot more energy and mental alertness. We'll see.

Cheers 'til then,
Marianne

Day 51

2007-04-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

Courting Budgies

(6x8", Oil) Price: $120.00

I am getting ambitious!

I found out last week that budgerigars - which are native to Central Australia - are called Parkeets over here in the USA. A bit of confusion for me, I assure you, when confronting a photo of a 'parakeet', I thought "Well, that looks like a budgie, to me."

Anyway, this is a contrived setting in this painting. I found two delightful references for budgies - one male and one female - and placed them together in the framework of some Cherry Blossoms that bloom in our garden every Spring. The painting itself is a bit brighter and clearer than produced here, and I'm quite proud of it. The elements themselves, work well together, although I thought something was missing in the top left hand corner before I finished it. I thought of adding some floating blossom petals behind the birds, but concluded that that would just make the painting look too busy. In the end, I just darkened that corner with some Ultramarine and Yellow, to complete the framework and lead the eye back to the birds.

Palette included: Burnt Sienna, French Ultramarine, Cadmium Lemon, Permanent Rose, Transparent Gold Ochre, Titanium White, and a bit of Cobalt Blue. Brushes were: a very raggedy 1/2" Flat, a Size 4 Flat, a Size 8 Round, a Size 4 Filbert, and a very pointy small round one.

See you tomorrow,
Marianne

Day 50

2007-04-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

Mourning Dove

(4x5", Oil) Price: $100.00

Yes, it's another bird. I tried something a little more complicated than usual with this painting. I used the head of a statue that a seagull was gracing in another photo, and then chose a photo of a mourning dove to supplant said seagull. I changed the background entirely, and noodled lots of happy smoodges in green to give the dove's warm colouring a chance at standing out against it. Unfortunately, there is a bit of light reflection from the camera in the photo I took of it, over the dove area, washing him out just a bit.

I used the left over paint from yesterdays palette to paint this little guy and his perch. However, with a tight time constraint and not enough paint on my brush, the dove isn't quite as finished as I'd have liked. That's an old habit of mine - not enough paint on the brush. I'm learning to gauge amounts of paint needed for each brush stroke, and when to let the undertint of the canvas show through. It changes with each painting. It's funny, when I was young and learning to use oil paint, I was very impatient - as youth is - to see a finished product. Of course, my canvases were overly large and things got messy as I tried to complete each painting in one sitting. As years progressed, I began to paint in very thin layers with lots of glazing and blending. There was still room for happy accidents on the canvas, but I'd formed the habit of not using nearly enough paint on the brush. In these recent months, I've been having fun correcting that and working my little paintings up in one sitting again - just like I used to when I was young. The size, content, and paint are a lot less messy and a lot more controllable. Strangely enough, I've been consistently painting my birds on 4x5" canvasses. So much so, that's a bit daunting to go back up to using 6x8" canvasses: they now seem so big.

Anyway, more tomorrow I guess. I can't believe I've reached fifty little paintings. Wow. That's a helluv an achievement for me. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
Now, back to painting...
Cheers,
Marianne