#277 and #278 Two Cats, an Unknown and Randall, 1/25/2020

With the pie painting completed, I was feeling good about myself.  Whenever I complete something that I've been putting off, I feel great.  Part of me wonders if I subconsciously put things off, so that I will have that sweet little high when I finally get to it.  Thinking, thinking.

Nah, I'm just lazy.

On the Daily Painting website I'm currently a big fan of two particular painters, J.Dunster for his (or her) cat paintings, and Ans Debije for her (or his) glassware paintings.  J.Dunster referred to a particular book he had growing up by Foster, How to Paint Cats.....I also had a book growing up called "How to Draw Cats" and I wondered if it were the same book.  I found it on a google search, and it was a different book than I had had.  I thought perhaps I could find some inspiration with this old book, found one on Amazon relatively cheap and bought it.  When it arrived the package was damaged and the book was missing.  Rats!  The PO stamped it "damaged, contents missing".  The seller on Amazon refunded me.  I found another copy then on eBay, and bought it - and it arrived in good shape yesterday.  Today I attempted one of the cats in the book.  He ended up looking really scruffy, and I re-worked him several times over the course of the day.  He still looks scruffy.  He was supposed to be an extra-fluffy kitten, but he looks like a grizzled old cat.  I thought if I gave him a collar, he might look better.  Eh.

5x5 canvas board, painted red to start

Then I started in on another kitty, this time a picture of Randall.  Randall was Matt and Eva's 2nd cat who sadly got very sick with a virus when he was only about a year old and he died.  He's buried in our backyard right next to Charlie (our beloved cat who died of old-age).  Eva said she'd like it if I painted Randall, so here he is as a kitten.  He's on a little 3x3 canvas so it can sit on the tiny easel.  He turned out perfect.  Why did this guy turn out the way I wanted but the other one didn't?  It is one of the great mysteries of art.

#276 Pie Cooling on the Table 1/25/20

I inherited a bunch of old rolling pins when Bev passed last year.  Nobody wanted them....so I took them.  I was going to give one to each of my kids, that would leave 2 for me.  That's 5 rolling pins Bev kept....she was a bit worse of a hoarder than me.  One of the pins was from Germany, and was worth a little bit of money on eBay.  She likely got that one when her (then) husband Jack was in the Army and she was pregnant and flew over and lived there, delivered a baby there (Dave), and by her own admission ate a ton of sauerkraut there.  She claims the reason Dave is so smart is because of her German diet.  I couldn't give these pins away, my kids wouldn't want them, would they?  I decided they would make an interesting display on the wall, line them all up.  I toyed with how to do this for several months.  Then one day I was set up at the Farmer's Market, and the man across the way from me who makes bird houses had some new projects set up for sale.  It was a board that you hang on the wall and railroad spikes were placed in such a way that you could store your wine glasses (upside down) between the spikes.  For hours I gazed at it, then in an instant I knew that those railroad spikes could also hold rolling pins.  He agreed to make my display board...Dave was summoned to bring the 5 rolling pins so the woodworker could have them for measurement purposes.  His daughter suggested some open space at the top of the board for some "balance".  I agreed, with the thought I would paint something at the top of the board.  So, for months now the board and the pins have been displayed in my kitchen.  But nothing has been painted in the open spot at the top.  I didn't actually like the idea of painting directly on that board, so instead I thought I'd hang a painting in that open spot....so I could swap it in and out of that spot on a whim.  For a while I thought I should paint a sign that said "The cook is armed!  Use caution if criticizing the meal!"  Or something to that effect.  But no, that might not seem as funny to others as it did to me.  It needed to be a pie.  And it need to be long but not tall, because of the open space dimensions.

Today I ended the procrastination on this project.  I had previously done a search of "pie paintings" to see if it might work.  There is NOT a lot out there!  I found two, one with potential.  I shamelessly copied the still life, but free-hand (so it would fit on my 4x12 inch canvas).  And I altered a few details here and there.  It's been some time since I attempted anything this complex and I felt it best to jump in with both feet.  After a simple sketch on the pre-painted (red) canvas, the first thing I painted was the rolling pin, I liked it.  Then the pie edges, because I feared they would not look like the crimped edge of a pie unless I used some painstaking precision.  Uggh, this pie might take all day with painstaking precision and I haven't got the time!  The sketch of my pie was just an oval, I had to figure out the crimping on my own.  I dabbed some dark brown, then some light brown, then some yellowing brown, then some whitish brown....and by some miracle it looked like a crimped edge.  That gave me the confidence to keep going.  It's not a great painting, it's kind of "primitive", but it's the effect I was looking for - the primitive wood board with the old railroad spikes and ancient rolling pins...it had to look like an old painting.

Found this with a google image search "Pie Painting"

My Rolling Pin Display board

My 4x12 Painting

#274 and #275 Square Abstracts 8 and 9 to complete the Grid, 1/18/20

The completed Grid (still needs 9 frames, yikes)

Tonight I worked on the last two abstracts to complete the grid of 9 that I had planned.  These came together with a little more pleasure than I experienced with the middle event (numbers 2-7).  I think if I do more of these, I will be more experimental in the textures of the colors and the shapes of the black lines.  Number 9 I added additional black lines as I went and was happy with the outcome.  Also, number 8 I decided to make the tiniest space have the bright red....read that somewhere, it's an old-master's trick to keep all the colors bland, but allow just a few tiny bold colors and that makes them special.

I must say that I'm disappointed with the cerulean blue paint I've had.  Have I already complained about this?  Let me complain again.  When I bought my first round of oil paints for the class I took in the fall of 2018, cerulean blue was on the list of what to bring.  I was at Michael's, they were having a big sale (when aren't they having a big sale?) it was buy 2 tubes of paint get the 3rd free.  The class list had 8 colors listed, so of course I got 9, duh!  But the cerulean blue was 3 times more expensive than all the other colors, what the heck!?  So being the frugal person that I am, I found a cerulean blue "hue" that was a "water mixable oil colour" and it was the same price as the other regular oil paints I was buying, problem solved.  Whenever I would use this particular paint it seemed to behave "weird".  It didn't cover territory the same way as the other paints, and it seemed to have a different texture.  So, a few months ago I spent the money and bought regular oil cerulean blue (no hue in the name, and not water mixable).  But it's the same deal - it doesn't cover, so you load more paint on the brush and then it just kind of looks like you put a thin layer of concrete down.  It does blend with the other blues, so that's how I've been using it.  But on number 9, you can see the pretty pale turquoisey blue corner - that is the cerulean blue by itself (with the white canvas coming through).

Square Abstract #8

Square Abstract #9

#273 Goldfinch 1/12/20

Still using those 3x4 wrapped canvases...tonight's bird?  A goldfinch!  Note once more - a black eye on black feathers.  This must be a genetically advantageous thing to have.  I must be at a complete genetic disadvantage with brown eyes on tannish-pinkish skin (oh my, I was going to say "white skin" but with a year behind me of working with paint it would be a total false-hood to say "white").  Perhaps the black feathers around the eye cut down on glare, since birds have to rely on keen eyesight to get away from their predators.  I might be ok then.....most of my predators are indoor (that's where the couch and cookies are, ha!)  I might need to tweak this painting a bit...the yellow is much too uniform and it makes the bird seem kind of flat.

#272 Chickadee 1/7/20

Yes, I let a whole week slip by without painting....once you let go of your goal and accept that it's over it's so much easier to be a slacker.  In the interim I attempted to move all my art pursuits from my regular computer desk to my inherited roll-top desk.  It was my Uncle Gene's and it has lots of drawers and slots and more draws and all kinds of places to put painting supplies.  Dave got me a lap top computer to travel with, so I put it on the roll-top and tonight I attempted to paint in the new location.  The light is not as good and I sort of felt like a fish out of water.  Plus the chair is not as comfortable.  It might take some getting used to.

I continued with the 3x4 inch bird series tonight.  A familiar looking chickadee.  They're so cute, these chickadees...must be why they were given such a cute name.  I tried to show how I painted the sides in my photo here.  Even on the thin canvas wrapped boards I am painting the sides to match the front...just can't stand for any bare-naked canvas to show.  With these thicker canvases, there is lots more area to paint on the sides, but I figure it leaves the option to not frame the thing open.  I visited a new office last month one day, and there was artwork in the hallway....a very large wrapped canvas in a float frame - and you could see the edges of the sides of the wrapped canvas - they were bare-naked and it completely took my eye away from the painting and directly to the unfinished nature of the the thing.  If I knew the people in that office better I would have offered to take it home and make the necessary corrections!

Note there is another black eye on black feathers here....

#271 Baltimore Oriole 12/31/19

After work and before going over to a friend's house for New Year's Eve festivities, I thought I would start this painting....and then finish it tomorrow on a very welcome day-off.  But alas, Dave was running behind and I got it done before we left the house, amazing.  I might have dinked more with the background and the foliage, but I'm going to keep it as is since it kind of makes you look only at the bird.  The bird went down easy, easier than I anticipated it would since he has some complicated markings.  The biggest challenge was that I needed to get a black eye to show up on top of black feathers.  I did that by painting a grey eye first, then painting a smaller black eye on top of the gray, then the teeny tiniest little light grey fleck in the middle of that eye and there you go.....he's a living creature.

#270 Heron 12/30/19

Here we are with just 2 days left in 2019 and it is quite obvious I will not make my 300 painting quota.  Ahhhh, youth!  I was so naive in 2018 to think it could be done.  But I will forgive myself and keep moving toward it, even though it will be a bit late.  This is something that happens when youth is over, forgiveness comes easier.  So, even though I'm tempted to try Red Bull for the first time and see if I can power through 30 paintings in the next two day...I will not. 

Tonight I got out some 3x4 inch wrapped canvases from my stash....very cute, 3/4 inch thick.  In the house we vacation in sometimes up in Michigan, is a beautiful painting of a blue heron.  It's big, it's in the living room.  I salivate over it.  It looks like it flowed out of the artist's hands in minutes.  My tiny heron here took more than minutes....it took me a while to get the beak and eye to look right.  But the rest of it went down in minutes.  I tried too to get a bit of reflection at the feet of the heron since he's standing in shallow water.  Someday, I will paint a giant heron painting and it will hang in someone's vacation house on the water somewhere.  Ahhhhh, youthful thoughts!

#264 thru #269 A bunch of Abstracts to group with the first one 12/29/19

Since I enjoyed painting the abstract yesterday, I sat down to paint 8 more....so that I could group them in a 3 by 3 grid pattern.  I only got 6 done tonight and by the end of them, they lost their fun aspect for me.  Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to do so many in a single sitting.  I still liked playing with the colors and the squiggly lines, but I don't find as many abstract "things" in these.  Maybe I just got lucky on the first one?  They say beginner's luck is a real thing - that a beginner is not weighted down with expectations of what's the right or wrong way to go about it, and without expectations the deep-brain can make decisions on it's own without the bossy interference of the outer-brain.  So maybe my outer-brain got in the way with these?  I think once they're in their grid, I'll be happier with them.

#263 An Abstract 12/28/19

This painting was inspired by a trio of framed abstracts that I saw on Pinterest.  Like my "use the left-over paint on the palette" paintings, I thought these (because they were smaller) would be fun to finish up a night of painting.  No thoughts of horror over a bad drawing, just draw some lines with black and fill in the rest with some nice color.  Once I finished it I decided I was going to do a whole series, as I found it very therapeutic.  I painted this one with a particular orientation, but when I rotate it I see different things, which makes me like it more!

tap dancer

hand-stand

ballerina

brisk walker

#260, 261 and 262 My hotel room, 12/28/19

The week before Christmas I was on a business trip to Vermont, a training class for some new software at work.  I'm not a fan of this software, but the decision to use it was not mine to make.  But the software is mine to make work.  Ugggh, trying to keep a good attitude, but I'm not succeeding.  Between work and holiday prep I haven't been able to paint.  So when I was packing for the trip to Vermont I thought I'd take some canvases. What else would there be to do after class???  Well the new job meant a new laptop, which I can take on trips like this....so I am able to work at all hours.  But one night I put the laptop down and sketched what was in front of me....my lovely hotel room, at the Hilton Doubletree in Burlington.  It was a nice room.  Once I was home, and the holiday rush was over, I painted my sketches.  We have the conversation corner, the desk lamp and the trusty Keurig coffee machine.  Shadows and light was my theme for the first two....just getting the shape and function of the Keurig was the third.  I kept the palette very limited.  I don't know that these will appeal to anyone besides myself, but I enjoyed the exercise mostly because it put a paintbrush back in my hand!

#259 Three Cardinals in Winter 12/11/19

In my bird file, I've had this picture for a while.  I love the muted colors of it.  I don't think I quite captured it, but I enjoyed the effort.  Once I finished it, and photographed it....I decided the bottom cardinal was suffering from "fat beak".  The paint was too wet to fix then....and once the red beak dried enough I was able to chisel it into shape with some whitish-grayish paint.  I also added some additional snow on top of the branches.  I'm a bit happier with the painting now, though my phone's camera is perpetually changing oranges into yellows.  But even with that excuse, I should have made the birds a bit more tan.  I may have to paint this photo again!