Day 4 and 5

6x6 oil on panel $50 click HERE to buy

8x10 oil on canvas board $75 click HERE to buy

I forgot to post my painting yesterday, so it's two for one day!  I really want to get better at using the knife, but I have to say I really struggled with this.  I don't know if it's because I'm tryng to fit a lot in to a small canvas or what, but I'm going to keep at it.  The cupcake was done with brushes and is 6x6, the tulips were done with knives that Leslie Saeta recommends on her website.  (Dick Blick about $8 each and there are 3 sizes.  I'll try to get a picture for the next blog post.)

Cupcake

6x6 oil on panel $50 click here to buy

Here is my first painting of the New Year! I am going to try to do more palette knife paintings in the coming year, they are so much fun to do and people always want to touch them.  I learned the hard way never to bring a wet knife painting to an art show, they always get touched.  (I had one person get upset at ME that it was still wet.) Happy New Year everybody!!

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.

Cookies and Milk

6x6 oil on panel $50 Click here to buy. My fiance wanted to know why I was photographing my cookies the other day....The last time I tried to paint cookies I turned my back for not even a minute and someone ate them before the painting was finished. This time I had a back up plan.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

Ok, at the risk of offending some, (as I clearly did on Facebook earlier today) I can't tell you how excited I am that the kids are going back to school. I have 4 children, one with autism who graduated but is seeking out his first job, one that just started college, one in high school AND college (Mr. Smartypants) and one in Jr. High. I love them all dearly and enjoyed my time with them this summer. HOWEVER....anyone that tries to work at home knows how difficult it can be with all the interruptions. Sooo...as I said in my title "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the YEEAARRRRR....."

Ok, celebration done. The junior higher is still at home, but I did manage to finish a painting I started on my Staycation. When I was painting it on the boat I knew the values were all off, so today I took the photo of it and turned it black and white so I could just deal with value. I had no color reference, except for memory of the day, and it was very very difficult. However, I do feel that I stayed true to the values, and that is a big plus for me, I tend to make everything too dark and intense.....

Palette Knife Therapy

This is a painting I painted a few months ago, and I just wasn't feeling it. I like painting large flowers, particularly irises, but after my 2nd go at it, I decided to put it aside and try again on a later day....That day was yesterday, and I threw all caution to the wind and pulled out the pallette knives...it was fun! I highly recommend palette knife therapy whenever you get into a rut...pull out an overworked painting and just have a go at it....nothing to lose but a little bit o paint!