Me and My Shadow

8x10 oil on panel

 Erika's 8x8 oil on panel

Today I had a studio guest and since it was a gorgeous spring day we decided to paint a fresh tulip in nice spring colors.....We both thought that the simple set up would be perfect.  Not so.  The tulip opened and blossomed before our very eyes, changing entirely by the time we were done painting.  Erika managed to salvage hers in a final act of desperation that involved a palette knife and firm ruler.  I, on the hand, not so much.  I do like how the shadow reminds me of when I was a kid and posing my shadow against the wall.  I thought I was a fashion model.  tee hee.  On the other hand,  It was interesting to meet another artist messier than I am.  She didn't even notice the paint she dropped until she stepped in it at least 20 times.

Technical Difficulty

Ever since my significant other used my computer I have had issues with it. The latest is the inability to log on to blogspot. Grrrr. So this isy first post via phone. I painted this magnolia yesterday but I'm back to wine bottles today. Will post if I'm able. Grrrrr.
Anyway, I spent the better part of today fussing with a still life to match my "wild girl" wine.  This is the "good girl" version"  I'll post it tomorrow.

Friends and Family for Forty and Findlay Fire Sale

All of the paintings in the above grid are currently available for this sale!  (as of Fri 5pm eastern, grid is updated with new items to replace sold, thank you for your purchases!)

 Good afternoon friends –
I'm having a sale on all my daily paintings and you’re invited!

So here’s the deal, I have lots of daily paintings that need a good home so I can make more.  I am rapidly running out of drying shelf room, and I also need to generate some funds so I can apply to be in some upcoming art shows this year (the booth and application fees tend to be very pricey)

Here are the details…

• It's the Friends and Family for Forty $ale
• Every painting WITH SHIPPING included  (to the lower 48, international please message me for shipping) is just $40!
• Paintings are unframed
• All are painted 6x6 oil on panel
• Sale ends Wednesday february 29 at midnight

***last minute breaking news-there was a large apartment fire in the town where I live that has been wonderful in supporting my art.  25-30 families are homeless so I will be giving 10 percent of all sales of this event to the victims of the Findlay Ohio fire.

my drying wall is full to overflowing, they're now lining the floor....

Email me at kdukat4@yahoo.com or contact me via Facebook to buy a painting. First person to contact me about a particular painting can buy it. I've included a paypal link for $40 that takes you to paypal and you can pay without having to make an account.  Please just verify I still have the painting before making payment. thanks!

PAYPAL ME

Warm Regards and all that...
Kristenkdukat4@yahoo.com

This is a special introductory offer will not be offered again, (or until I run out of space, or money.  ok just kidding, I would like to make it an annual studio clean up event)
 If you're not interested at this time, but don't mind sharing with your friends, I would greatly appreciate it!  If you are super annoyed by this, let me know and I’ll exclude you from any possible future events.***I would like to credit fellow daily painter and facebook friend Trevor Howard with this fabulous marketing idea.  Feel free to check out his daily paintings as well, and follow his blog.  He's new to this daily stuff so only has a few followers, but his paintings are fabulous! and artists need all the support they can get.

Art in the Round

Oil on 78 vinyl record Click HERE to bid

8x10 oil on panel Click HERE to bid

Last night at our challenge group we decided on 2 challenges for next month, one of them is just using the theme "Green", to be interpreted any way you want.  The other was simply because I have 3 boxes of old 78 vinyl records sitting in the barn taking up space, so you guessed it, painting on the record.   Today I primed several with spray acrylic primer.  When dry I'll sand them and then paint, but I also wanted to see if I could paint straight on the record since it has grooves for a bit of tooth.  It is a very nice surface to paint on, the oils don't get sucked into the board like canvas or gessoboard.  I'm not quite sure how to deal with the hole in the middle yet, in this case, perhaps a worm in the apple?  or clock workings?  Either way, it's pretty darn cool, and for sale.  Bidding starts at $1

I also finished my painting from yesterday.

Wine Thirty

8x10 oil on panel to see finished version and to bid, click here

Wine companies are smart, because many times I buy a bottle of wine because I like the label and I might want to paint it some day.  I was lucky on this, not only did I like the label, but the wine too.  It's from a small winery on Kelley's Island in Ohio, a place we visit often in the summer.  This painting is not quite finished but it's as finished as it can be for today since its the Northwest Ohio Monthly Challenge group meeting that I host.   more later!

Wild Girl

6x6 oil on panel Click HERE to bid. Bidding starts at $30

I wanted to try to paint a wine bottle today, lord knows I have enough of them around from my glass fusing/slumping days, and of course drinking it now and again, so I thought Wild Girl would be fun....well.....I probably shouldn't have thrown in the lipstick and red wine glass to complicate things........I'll definately try the wine bottle again, perhaps with something simpler.  I had a difficult time with the cast shadows too, perhaps a clear wine glass would help. ;)  This one reminds me of my good buddy Laurie Mueller from the Aurora workshop....Cheers!

Red Barns

8x10 oil on panel click here to bid (starts at $60)

This summer I'm going to be doing a few art shows, and I realized that I need to start painting a few larger paintings or I'm going to have to figure out a way to display 6x6 unframed paintings....little easels are ok for some of them, but then i'm at the mercy of the weather.  I can frame some, but that gets expensive and people like to frame their own works anyway.  I have lots of nice wood frames for 8x10 though, so I'm going to start to do more paintings in that size, and maybe a really big one every couple weeks since those tend to draw a crowd to your booth,  but don't sell very often.

 Today I painted a farm from down the road.  I love this grouping of red barns so you will likely see it again, but I wanted to see if I could pull it off with the clear blue sky and still make it interesting.  There was not a cloud in the sky that day so it was a crystal clear flat blue.  I figured the palette knife always makes it interesting, so here is Ohio red barns on an autumn day.

Leapin Lizards it's a Leap Year Painting Giveaway

6x6 oil on panel Click here to bid

I keep meaning to post about my February giveaway....so since I remembered today, here it is!  I am so grateful for all my faithful followers and fans.  Your comments and support are what keep me going every day.  When I'm lucky enough to have a sale, I am so delighted when I learn it was one of my new good friends!  So at the end of February I will be giving away ANY one of my available daily paintings (anything I have that doesn't have a bid or has sold) (that is 6x6 in size) by Noon February 29-leap day!) to one lucky follower or fan.

All you have to do is go to my Daily Paintworks Gallery (click the lovely scrolling slideshow to the right) and tell me which of ALL of my paintings, sold or unsold, is your favorite and comment below, and I will add you to the drawing!   You can earn an additional chance just by "liking" my facebook page-see the link to the right for A Time For Art.....If you are already a fan of my Facebook Page, you are automatically entered.   Thanks again so much for your comments and support....sometimes I forget to reply back or respond but I truly appreciate all of your kind words and the time you take to read mine.  

Yum

6x6 oil on panel Click HERE to bid

I used the photo provided on Daily Paintworks for the Paint Before you Eat challenge.  Saved me lots of calories.

Difference of a Day

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid

What a difference a day makes!  I went out to the studio to tackle the White on White challenge again.  This time I decided to ignore my attempt from last night and start fresh with the photo provided by Ann Feldman for the challenge.  I whipped right through it AND did the best I could to correct the error of my ways from last night's disaster.  I may even have time for one more painting today!   Maybe one with color!

Comedy of Errors and Acts of Desperation

After

6x6 oil on panel click HERE to bid

 Before

Some days just refuse to go as planned no matter how you slice it.  The other day my eye glasses were inadvertantly stepped on and smashed by those that shall remain unnamed since he is very sorry and apologetic about it, and well, the logical question would be why are they on the floor in the first place, but that's neither here nor there.   This morning, I went to replace the glasses only to find out that my prescription had expired.  Frustrated beyond words, I questioned why after decades of prescriptions that last 2 years each, why this last one would only be good for a year.  The kind lady gently reminded me that I am now over 40, and so it goes......With no appointments available until Monday, I took my ridiculously glued, melted, and taped glasses and stomped away.  (yes, melted, because at one point during the repair process I thought if I just melted the plastic frame they could meld back together.  Word of warning: Plastic is highly flammable!) 

Having had a late and frustrating start in the studio, I put it out of my head, excited at the prospect of starting my painting for the White on White challenge for this weeks DPW challenge.  I've admired the paintings of other artists that can paint values and shades of white like it's their full time job.  Today was my day, and I was ready.  I had already sketched out my panel the day before, having spent hours on various set ups, and it was just waiting for me to start putting paint to panel.  Then I noticed I had misplaced my wallet, last used at Meijers the day before.  I scoured every possible nook and cranny in the house, the car, called the store, retraced my steps, still no wallet.   Realizing my continued search was futile, I vowed to make something good out of the day and headed out to the studio.  yeah, i'm sure you all know how the rest of the story goes.

Needless to say, it's hard enough to paint without prescription eyeglasses, let alone with the despair of your lost wallet.  Why I tried is beyond me, but still I forged ahead.   After about an hour of laying paint atop of muddy paint, only making it muddier, I stomped off in disgust.   Looked around for the wallet again, sighed, went back to the studio, and in an act of sheer desperation, decided to give the paining just a few more swipes of the brush.   Rarely does this ever work, but this one of those one times that I saw just a glimmer of hope and decided to just leave it for now.  It likely will all be wiped off in the morning to just start fresh, but it was one of those times that you just wanted to end the rotten day off on a good note, and this was one of them.  Although I don't have a complete painting, I realized where I went wrong, so when I start over tomorrow, I get to start off in the right place.  TGIF.

(Top painting, added the next day, is the corrected version of my painting, hooray, what a difference a day makes!)

Valuapple

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid

Yesterday I painted an apple using just burnt umber and value.....Since it was dry today, I figured I would just paint over it with my imagination.....sometimes it's fun to just be creative, even in the simplest of ways.

One of the things I LOVE to do, as my kids would say, is to "creep" on other artists blogs.  And when I creep on them, the first thing I do is go to their very first post.  I get so much inspiration by seeing where artists started and compare it to their current work.  In the world of daily painters the progress and advancement of their skill comes fast and it gives me so much encouragement to just keep painting every day.  So whenever you get discouraged and think you're not making any progress, it helps to check out all the other artists that felt the same way!   I didn't start this blog until a week or so after painting daily but I can assure you, my first painting is agonizing, but at the same time, priceless.   At one time I had it for sale for $10 for at least 9 months.  No takers.  At some point  near the end of my self inflicted year of daily painting, I realized I never wanted to sell it, as it was a priceless memento of where I started.  It hangs proudly in my studio now.  Today, I creeped on Jeff Mahorney's Blog.  He started in 2008 and I am amazed at how quickly the quality of his work grew.  Be sure to check out his very first post and then look at now, I am amazed!  I'm going back out to my studio to paint......see ya later.

Apples with Fred

6x6 oil on panel Bid starts at $20

click HERE to bid

Today I had a studio visitor, a fellow Findlay artist who has done mainly pencil drawings and would like to try his hand at painting.  I did the usual demo of  a value study with burnt umber, and then the one color per stroke, with an apple.  Here is my effort for the day.  Although I didn't quite get the apple and values correct, I kind of like the feel of this apple...kind of glows....

Here is Fred, he is a member of our local monthly challenge group and last month he brought an amazing portrait replica he drew after the artist Vermeer.  He has an incredible ability and talent to capture portraits in graphite, this photo does not do his work justice, but here is a pic of him with it from last months' challenge.   I shamefully forgot to take a photo of his painting today, but I'll get it next time.

Kissing Kisses

6x6 oil on panel Starting bid $30 click to bid

The last in the series of the silver kisses, I might try a red one tomorrow, but time to move on for now!

Kisses

6x6 oil on panel

If I can paint one, how hard can three be?  Today's kiss attempt.  I have at least 2 more planned then I'll take a little break from them.

Kiss

6x6 oil on panel

Yesterday I did a few set-ups for chocolate kisses.  I had a potential customer ask if I would try to do one before Valentine's day.  Now I know why there just are not that many paintings of them out there, they're harder than they look!  The one I attempted yesterday I ended up wiping off and started over this morning with a simpler design.  I'll probably try 4 or 5 of these.

Prison Break

6x6 oil on panel Click HERE to bid 

I have overhead studio lights directly above where I have my still life table and usually they are off and I use an adjustable lamp for my light source, but when I was setting up these flowers I liked how the shadow landed on the table.  However, it didn't hit the flowers so well, and I didn't notice this until I was almost done painting and so I turned the front light on.  That brightened things up a bit but now it reminds me a bit of a scene from a prison break movie with multiple lights all on the perp. I may try this set up again tomorrow with different lighting.